Saturday:
Strolling the streets of Rome after lunch, wondering down pedestrian lanes lined with antique dealers. Not our style but no doubt a Mecca for some. Reminded us of a few of the Italian rellies lounge rooms!!

Drawn in by a fruit market and sold a bag of dried porcini mushrooms, the smell of which acted as an aromatic signature to the rest of our time in Rome.  Wandered into Plazza Navona more by chance than plan, and discovered a Christmas market and drunken street 'sculpture'.

First stop on our journey was The Vatican. Well first isn't exactly true as we were distracted by a great delicatessen and shops! But we eventually made it and what a presence it is.  Its sheer scale is hard to imagine.  A church capable of containing 60,000 people!?

We started in St. Peters Basilica.  As we had been impressed by size and grandeur of provincial churches - it should not have been a surprise that in the home of Catholicism stood the most incredible monument to the Catholic Church.  With a Catholic upbringing - Danielle felt it was disappointingly unholy.  And she reluctantly broke a long running tradition of always lighting a candle for my Nannas when ever she went into a church - as none were provided.  Only a small alcove was dedicated to it's true purpose of prayer. 

We climbed the dome of the Basilica- 320 steps supposedly.  It spiraled unendingly and narrowed as the dome bent to the cupola and you had to lean as you climbed.  However, it proved well worth it for the uninterrupted views of the city. (And justified a hearty lunch!).  

We had a delicious dinner in a restaurant close to our hotel; the only real tourists in a restaurant full of glamorous looking Italians.  Danielle was pleased to see the sophisticated donna next to us tuck her serviette into her top!  We guessed this was a girlfriends not wives sort of place.  We ate well and celebrated four years of marriage. Ahh!  

We had an evening passagetta to the Trevi fountain;  a very popular place.  Danielle threw our only coin backwards over her shoulder guarantee a future return to Rome.  On the way discovered some of the eccentricities of Roman shop front designers.

Sunday:
Finally the chance to light a candle in a church stranded amongst the shopping strip.  A quiet relief from the bustle of the wet streets outside.  

Even coming out of the metro at the stop called Colloseo, like all first time visitors we guess, we were hit by the size and presence of the Colleseum.  We got an immediate sense of excitement and sometimes felt you could jam 50,000 excited fans into it today.

It was busy with tourists though (and this is December); the queue to enter went half way around the circumfrence.  We satisfied ourselves with walking around it and peeking through the bars.

Close by, we explored Roman excavations that lead to the National Museum and the Vitorriano monument.  Again, the sheer size of it made it hard to get a measure of scale.

Links:
Romaturismo : The official Rome tousism site.
Hotel Locarno: Our hotel in Rome.