Rainy day in Rome

We did another load of laundry, but this time, we had to hang it inside the apartment. It rained on and off most of the day--mostly on--so it was good to have some inside activities this afternoon.

Before the rain, we walked out and found the Spanish Steps, which are a famous architectural feature built on the request of a French diplomat. Unfortunately, the fountain at the bottom was under updates for the Jubilee, so the view wasn't that great.

We walked back and had a coffee on the Piazza del Popolo, and then went to see the Basilica of Maria de Popolo. The art was really fantastic and it was free to enter. It is an active church, so it is closed throughout the day for Mass.

After we walked over to the Tiber River and found a different grocery store to pick up today's supplies. We saw people rowing on the river and also a heron fishing from a tree. On our way back, it began to rain more, so we brought our groceries back and had lunch.

Since it was raining, we decided to go to the Leonardo di Vince museum near our house. It was not really worth the 26 euros we paid to get in. We had just watched a PBS special on Leonardo, and most of this was a repeat. Only replicas inside the museum, although everything was nicely displayed, and there were about 50 machine replicas on hand from military inventions, attempts at flight, and lots of others.

It was really raining hard when we came out so we came home and I made Tomato, Potato, Basil Soup for supper. It's our favorite in a cold, dreary day and only takes a few ingredients.

Tomorrow we go to the Vatican. I have tickets at 9:30 to enter. There are two buses and the Metro that will get us there near our house.Read more