Waiting for the bus

We had a long wait for bus. But it finally came and took us down the Appian Way to the Catacombs of San Callisto.

Our tour of the catacombs was led by a priest as a church is now responsible for the maintenance and upkeep. There 4 levels to the catacombs, each level is around 12 meters deep. There are around 20 kilometers of corridors here and around 500,000 people were buried here at one point. Today there are few if any still buried here. Most of the remains have been taken to another site for safe keeping mostly because of the looting over the centuries. Christians would practice their faith here and the Romans (and others) would persecute them for it. Of the people buried here, 16 were popes and bishops of Rome. Did i mention the looting? The place was forgotten for long stretches of time.

The crypts were small as befitting the size of the people from the time. You can see the tool marks in the walls and crypts where the volcanic ash and stone were cut away. Down a corridor there could be 5 to 8 crypts high lining both walls. The floor of corridor was cut lower as people were buried. There are chambers off the sides for families, guilds and people who wanted to be buried together.

We had another long wait for bus back. Mary and I split from the others since they want to go to the Colosseum to look for souvenirs for the girls and something for Tommy. Mary and I were more interested in lunch.

Lunch was some outstanding polenta for me and some great cannoli w/ pumpkin for Mary. It was most excellent though expensive at 50 euros. Perhaps when I consider the water, wine, appetizer and desert along with the main dishes it's not that bad ;-)

I'm not a coffee drinker, never developed a taste for it. At the recommendation of a friend, I tried an espresso after lunch. It was very good. I must now pause to hurl many curses at Steve for introducing me to this interesting elixir. And i may have to search out a good espresso when I get back home. Damn you, steve!

We walked a bit after lunch before Mary and I split. I head back to apartment to take a nap, she is off looking for interesting treasures to bring back home.

Everyone else return 5 minutes after I do, Sammi, Kate and I spend a few minutes comparing snow globes (I picked up one from the vatican for a friend) and Sarah showed off the small statue that she picked up as a memento of her time here.

Mariola calls Mary and arranges to meet her so they can go shopping together. Tom spends a while herding cats trying to get Kate, Sammi and Sarah to start packing up their clothes. It's pretty amusing from where I'm sitting.

Here's the quote of the day from Sammi: "When I get married, I'm going to take my husband here for our honeymoon." She's almost 12, already getting married and telling him what to do. Too funny!