Benissimo...

View from the keyhole, this is incredible! It really is tiny and has the most amazing view... pretty much looks like a postcard!

             Sperlonga!




   Bernini's St. Teresa in Ecstasy 

What a wonderful last few days. I never thought anything could beat Venice but the last few days have done just that! We all turned in a huge paper on Wednesday and proceeded to celebrate till the sun came up on Thursday. One Thursday we went to a hew Churches, one of which was where Robert Langdon in Angels and Demons in order to save one of the Cardinals. We were at the Santa Maria dell Vittoria church with the Bernini sculpture of St. Teresa in Ecstasy. This sculpture was too "risque" for the Vatican,  so it had to be put somewhere else in Rome. But it is a wonderful sculpture. The rest of Thursday we simply recovered from the night before.

On Friday we went on a group excursion to Sperlonga, a beach town about an hour and a half south of Rome. We had the best weather possible! We walked along the beach with our shoes off, it was so nice to feel the sand in my toes and stick my feet in the water. We also visit the ancient "play house grotto" of Tiberias. And we ate a fabulous lunch overlooking the water. Couldn't have been a better day!

On Saturday, a bunch of us decided to be real tourists for the day and go explore Rome. We started off by heading over to the market in Testaccio. This market is a lot like the Campo but has more locals and a lot less tourists, therefore it is much cheaper! We got all sorts of fresh fruits and veggies plus dried fruit and nuts. After the market we headed up to Aventine Hill to check out the "keyhole." The "keyhole" is an actually keyhole in a door built by the Priory Knights of Malta. When you look through the keyhole there is an absolutely magnificent view of St. Peter's Basilica. It is hard to believe that this view is from a little tiny keyhole. We then headed back to the apartment to drop off our groceries and pick up some sandwiches from our favorite deli. And then went on to the Spanish steps. We picked up a few beers, sat in the sun, and ate our sandwiches right on the steps. It was such a beautiful day and it felt like the rest of Rome was sitting on the steps too! After our relaxing lunch we went up to the Borghese gardens and rented bikes. Now these aren't regular bikes, they are four person little "car" looking bikes. We rode around but it was very difficult because the park was INCREDIBLY crowded and avoiding people became quite difficult. But we had a blast. Our great day ended with iced coffee and a wonderful dinner! Can't wait for tomorrow!