Thursday morning found us on the bus headed for St. Peter in Chains Cathedral. We saw the actual chains used to imprison him. Next we walked to the Coliseum and then back on the bus; we next saw the Forum, the Palatine Hills, Circus Maximus, and the site of Caesar's assassination. After lunch we spent three hours touring the Vatican, which was amazing and overwhelming. We saw the exhumed body of Pope John XXIII which was found to be in tact and was then overlayed with wax. The Vatican paintings, tapestries and sculptures are beyond description.
Some of us walked to the Church of the Bones where Capuchin monks took the remains of their deceased members (those which the Vatican decided must be removed from its grounds and buried elsewhere) and decorated the area adjacent to their own church with the bones of the dead.
It was morbidly beautiful--and kind of creepy.
Feeling very Catholic after this busy day, we walked to the Spanish steps where we happened upon a protest march over taxes, complete with carabinerie in pursuit. The girls got a real cultural immersion! We gave them time to eat dinner and shop a bit and they were back to our scheduled meeting spot a half hour early. We boarded a crowded subway car and returned to our hotel, exhausted and satisfied that we had seen all a day would allow.
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