Rome Friday 21 April

While our friends headed to the Vatican City and St Peters, we decided to walk across the Tiber to Trastevere, spent some time looking at the art in Santa Maria de Trastevere, and then headed down to Santa Cecilia where there are underground excavations of old roman foundations and mosaics. As we emerged some texan tourists mentioned a fresco in the monastery next door, so we tagged along s they rang the door bell, and were granted admittance. After paying a small fee, we were taken by an ancient nun, the size of a hobbit, with large knowing eyes, but a blank face, into a lift, where she deliberately pushed the button and we ascended to the second story and were guided into the room of the fresco. It was only two thirds complete,very old,at least five hundred years, and i gained the impression that the small guardian of the fresco had been oversighting its continued preservation for at least half of that time...after a respectable ten minutes viewing, we were guided below again, the procedure of the the deliberate pushing of the correct button being undertaken in reverse....

We wended across the river, into the jewish quarter, with a dozen or so hebrew /italian restaurants the most visible presence of its existence...heading east we found our next objective, a church in the piazza minerva, next to the pantheon. This was less impressive, so after some lunch, we headed home for a rest.

Later in the afternoon, we headed across to the cathedral of san giovanni di laterano, the pope's personal cathedral. For my taste, this church was completely over the top, a literal product of the gilded age. The most interesting sight was of an elderly monsignor sitting alone in a confessional, reading his kindle while waiting for penitents. He didn't seem to have many takers, indeed he didn't have any at all. Boronia suggested that I must have something to confess, which i clearly do, particularly my backsliding around the rules for placing the washing up brush on the sink. In any case, as contrition and a commitment to not sin again is essential to a true confession, I decided to give it all a miss.

After a short visit to the la scala sancta,which can only be ascended on your knees. I gave that a miss. As we emerged, past the two military guards with their sub machine guns, and below the huge huge advert for a Toyota yaris, I felt strangely moved to take a greater interest in agnosticism.

These journey there and back was interesting, mixing with the roman workers heading home for the evening. We headed back to our own neighbourhood, a drink in a bar, which merged into a light meal,.