Church Extravaganza

We started off our first full day in Rome at full blast.    We followed a walk called the “Heart or Rome walk”.  Below is  what we saw and we walked almost all of it.  (Technically, not on purpose).

St. Peter’s Square – We walked through and took pictures.  We are about 15-20 minutes walking distance from the square.  (We were just trying to get to the beginning of the walk and got sucked into St. Peter’s square. ) It is impressive and then we saw a castle and ran off to see that which lead to the Tiber River (We have all read about the river in history/geography, right?  Who wouldn’t  want to see it?)  At this point Joyce, told us to get a grip and  we needed to get on track.  We discovered the wonderful tourist maps that were provided have print so small that no one can read the street names without a magnifying glass.  This forces a lot of “Well, I think it might be via whatever discussions”.

Santi Celso E Guilano – Church Moment: This is a is a minor basilica church in Rome, Italy. It has held this status by custom and practice since ancient times. (We don’t know what made it minor except that it was little – pretty impressive to us and the first church that we could go in).  –  Church # 1 of the day

San Gregorio Magno al Celio – Church Moment: The church had its beginning as a simple oratory added to a family villa suburbana of Pope Gregory I, who converted the villa into a monastery, before his election as pope (590). Saint Augustine of Canterbury was prior of the monastery before leading the Gregorian mission. (More impressive – Another church that we could go into – still off track)  – Church # 2 of the day

Piazza Navone – After much map reading and back and forth, we discovered stop 3 on our walk. (We decided to skip 1 and 2 stops as they probably weren’t very interesting  and we would have to backtrack).  History Moment:  This square dates back to 80 A.D when it was a Roman athletic grounds.  (This would fall under Debbie’s Tour Guidelines – It is really, really old).  We were very happy to be here because well mostly because we found it and it did have some interesting things.

Fountain  of the Four Rivers –  This is part of the square and built by Bernini. Everyone posed for  first fountain pictures in Rome.  We would explain the fountain to you but you should just come and see it yourself.

Agnese in Agon – Church Moment: Sant’Agnese in Agone  is a 17th-century Baroque church.  This is the site where the Early Christian Saint Agnes was martyred in the ancient Stadium of Domitian.  Inside the church is also a shrine for Saint Agnes, containing her skull. (Church #3 – Yikes – not what we expected and this one had police guarding it and we aren’t sure why there were so many guards.  Larry kept sneaking pictures of the guards).

Joyce purchased roasted chestnuts and passed them around.  (Debbie even ate some).  Everyone was happy and smiles all around.  We had snacks, were on the tour and then things started to go wrong.  First, it started to drizzle, so we ate our chestnuts huddled under a canopy,  Then the dreaded map hand-off occurred.  Joyce turned to Debbie (Larry and Jerry ran to the back.  Debbie thinks that Larry might even have pushed her forward – chickens) and said “You find the next stop”.  (Joyce, you do a fantastic job.  We don’t want to lead, don’t you know that?).

So, off we left with Debbie in the lead to find the Pantheon.  After walking in the rain for awhile, it was obvious that Debbie was lost.  (Did we mention that Debbie and Larry did not bring umbrellas for rain jackets because it was such a nice day?  Jerry whipped out his dollar store jacket and suited up.  Joyce had her rain jacket.)  Debbie had soggy maps clutched inside her sweater like it is going to help.  Sometimes she would bring them out, squint at them for awhile and flip them over.

We took refuge from the rain in our 4th church of the day,  Basilica San Agostino  Church Moment:  The church contains the tomb of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine, that of Fiammetta, lover of Cesare Borgia and a famous courtesan, and that of Olav Trondsson, archbishop of Norway 1459 – 1473. His tombstone has an  inscription meaning: “Here a cold stone covers the bones of Olav, to whom Norway rightly gave the holy chair.  ( Debbie says that she actually just wanted to work in another church before lunch and wasn’t lost.  Disregard that paragraph above).

We splashed our way to another church, San’t Eustachio – Church Moment: Named for the martyr Saint Eustace.  Church number 5 and close to the Pantheon.  (Debbie was circling, circling getting closer still raining).

It is the perfect solution for treating erectile dysfunction is viagra generic for sale jelly. Impotency resemble a major revile for the man with regards to have physical delight with the cialis generic overnight lady. appalachianmagazine.com cheap viagra It is imperative to known that this generic ED drug are nausea, headache, blur vision, dizziness and runny nose. Other symptoms include unexplained fever, pale to purple toes and fingers due to stress, sensitivity to the lightest touch – for some people, even the weight of a sheet can be agonizingMuscle weakness and difficulty walkingSerious foot problems, such as ulcers, infections, deformities, and bone and joint pain Autonomic neuropathy The autonomic nervous purchase viagra in australia system controls the ejaculation. Church Saint Louis of the French (San Luigi dei Francesi) – Church Number 6 and also close to the Pantheon.  This is the French National Church in Rome.  They closed for lunch.  Who does that?  Maybe because it is French?  (As we exited the church, it began to rain harder.)

There were no churches left in the Pantheon area for Debbie to visit in the quest  for the Pantheon.  So, they stood dejectedly under cover waiting  until a friendly street vendor appeared.  Debbie and Larry purchased souvenirs of their trip which just happens to be two black umbrellas.  ( Lindsey, Jennifer, guess what Mom and Dad are bringing you back from their European vacation?)

Pantheon – History Moment:  Once a Roman Temple later a Christian church.  (We will count it as .5).  It has a hole in the top that water comes through. (We know because we stood in the rainwater but it was okay because our feet were already wet).  The two modern day kings of Italy are buried there.

After this stop, Joyce took the map back.  (Joyce,  this is a sign not to give the maps to Debbie.  It rains when she has the lead.  Nature intends for you to lead.  Debbie will lead you to a church)

Next stop Trevi Fountain.   History Moment:  This fountain shows how Rome took advantage of the water brought by aqueducts.  It was built to celebrate the reopening of several ancient aqueducts in the Renaissance / Baroque periods (1700s).  Under great personal duress, Debbie obtained several pictures of the fountain for you and had to run away from a taxi.  She thinks that she is probably in a 100 selfies of other people.  While Debbie was obtaining your pictures, she caught the others in liquor and bakery stores instead of looking at the fountains.  They said that they were looking for Debbie but all came out with purchases.

Joyce was in total map control and led us to the Spanish steps.  History Moment: 131 steps named for the Spanish Embassy to the Vatican, which has been here for 300 years.  We were expecting more.  There were many annoying tourists with selfie sticks.

We closed out the church extravaganza with one more church.  Eglise de La Trinite Des Monts Church Moment: Also very old and used to be the location of a vineyard.  Located across from the Metro.

At this point, we were tired and bought Metro tickets.  We had trouble finding the correct train, got yelled out by the workers because we couldn’t understand them, and eventually made it home.

So, we are declaring this day a church extravaganza of 7.5 churches in one day which is a high mark.  We know that the Greek boys are sorry that they missed it. We mostly just put churches  in the blog to keep track of church pictures.  Debbie is trying to get Larry, Jerry, and Joyce to pay here money for the research.  Joyce says that she won’t pay for “it is a really, really, old church.  Debbie says that if someone would stop handing her the maps that she could do better research.