We spent the first hour of the day trying to straighten out the tangle my SIM card had become after switching from TIM to Vodaphone. Don’t ask, because I still don’t fully understand it. But our landlords, surely the most benevolent Romans in the city, took an hour out of their morning to shepherd us to the Vodaphone kiosk at the station, and negotiate the most appropriate deal for my circumstances. All that, and the light in the entrance of their apartment would have inspired Raphael.From there we hied ourselves to the forum. The sprawl of ruins effortlessly accommodated the thousands of tourists tramping the ancient paving stones and gazing at fragments of grandiose temples. The bathroom lines were another story, and one I am not going to tell. On a happier note, this was my view from the Trajan’s arch.  We walked the Via Sacre, the very same route traversed by triumphant generals parading their spoils past the citizenry. I listened to Rick Steves’s sometime respectful and often irreverent commentary and quoted the funny bits to Robert. Or, in the case of Vestal Virgins who lost their chastity, the gruesome bits.

Rain threatened, so we walked to lunch and then visited Moses in the nearby San Pietro in Vincoli church. Most appropriate, since it was, in fact, Michelangelo Buonarroti’s birthday.

Before we returned to Trastevere, we popped into the hotel where I’ll stay for the last two weeks of my trip. It’s always a roll of the dice when I book these places a year in advance from a continent away. It seemed more than decent, the staff was friendly and I like the vibe of the Monti area.
Our final stop – the basilica of Santa Pudenziana, a 4th-century church of Rome with gorgeous mosaics.