Buona Notte From Roma

Jo Ann went to the 6 p.m. feast day Mass at Our Lady Of The Snows, the church above. This church was erected in 352 A.D. after a snow fell on the ground where it now stands. The date the snow fell: August 5.

Here's a view from the mass inside....

We're watching a movie in the room. Up early tomorrow for our day at the Vatican. Joanna booked us a Scavi tour—the excavations below S Peter's Basilica. We have to dress in a manner worthy of viewing S Peter's tomb. Seriously. Jo Ann can't have bare shoulders. And Grady and I have to wear long sleeves and long pants. Jo Ann was asked to leave a church yesterday cos her dress did not cover her shoulders. After the Scavi tour, we're gonna try and get a Sistine Chapel tour. They don't do online registration for that one. You have to show up and stand in line. So we'll see how we feel. Dressed in a manner worthy of viewing S Peter's tomb is kind of at odds with the sweltering Agosto figlio here in Rome.

Today, we went the Museo de Borghese, which is around the corner from our hotel. A stunning collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture mixed with modern (for Italy) works by Caravggio, Bernini, Raphael and a ton of others. The Bernini sculptures there are, literally, stunning. We'd never seen leaves and fabric and skin and musculature carved out of marble so precisely. All of these details depict the finite and the grotesque details of life centuries ago. I don't think we'll ever forget the dozens of works we saw today. Jo Ann suggested that we buy the audio tour. She was spot on. It made the difference to walk through the museum with the facts being piped into one of our ears as we were guided to just the right spot on a massive work of sculpture to see just the right detail that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

OK. Buona notte. See you tomorrow.