Sunday in Rome

This morning we were awakened by rolling Thunder and torrential rain! We were not meeting a guide   so we were having a bit of a sleep in! Heaven!
Marion had left at 6:30 as she had an early flight to London and we were to meet Judy and Joan for a last breakfast a bit later as they had a flight home at noon.
By the time we were ready to go out the rain had stopped and there was blue sky and sunshine! We did not have a "plan" so we were strolling in the Trastevere area, which is an made up of narrow streets, little shops, churches, bars, restaurants and markets. We hadn't gone too far when we popped into a shop where a purchase was made by Sandy.
We were heading for the church of saint Cecilia, who is the patron saint of music. It was recommended by Joan that we should visit it. Cecile's tomb was opened about 250 years after her death and her body was surprisingly intact. There was a beautiful white marble statue of her in repose that was done by Bernini. The church was built on Roman ruins that house the crypt under the floor of the church, a nun was present and would unlock the doorway so you could go down and have a look.....we did not as she didn't look very welcoming.
We decided to cross the river to the little island and when we went down the steps to the riverbank, which has a wide pedestrian walkway we had some fun taking pictures with the selfie stick. Selfie sticks are great fun and there are so many people hawking them that you see them in use everywhere you go. So now instead of asking a stranger to take a photo of your group you just pull out your selfie stick!
Back up from the river we left the island and walked through the Jewish section, there were some ruins in the process of restoration and we walked through the area. As we walked we were looking for a Jewish restaurant, hoping for some matzo ball soup or Flafels, after awhile having no success we decided on a busy little Italian place called Benito Osteria. Well, Sunday lunch is a big deal of which I'm convinced ALL Italians partake, and most,of them seemed to be at Benito's!!!! Sandy and I crowded into the small doorway while Joanie and Jan waited outside......how long for a table we Inquired......oh ...hand signals indicated 5-10minutes.......not so. More people arrived who seemed in some cases to be regulars and they miraculously found seats. I hate to report that we waited about 45! Minutes for a table......yes, Jeff, Mike, Chris and Graeme would have been out of there! The problem was we knew the situation would be similar all over and we decided to wait. Just before we were seated we were given a small glass of Prosecco, late but better than not.
We enjoyed most of the lunch, a couple of pasta dishes, a couple of appetizers and a wild boar dish, we shared it all,  along with a bottle of red., and two delicious desserts. By the time we finished there was just us and one other table in the restaurant...Sunday lunch was over!
We resumed our walk and arrived at a gigantic white building the Vicctori Emmanuel the first king of  United Italy completed in 1935, it houses the National Museum and there are awesome views from a walkway that can be reached after climbing many many many heart pounding steps! Once up the steps you can look down on the coliseum, the Forum, St Peters Basilica. We were there just before sunset and Rome looked beautiful as the sun went down and lights came on in the buildings. As we left the viewing area we entered a doorway and we were in the Basilica of Santa Maria, a very beautiful church with a gorgeous patchwork of marble floors and many hanging Chrystal chandeliers.
This building has huge pillars supporting a many curlicues on the roof and magnificent white statues of men on horses flanking each side......the word is that Romans do not like this building as they feel it is too ostentatious.  We descended the many steps, which was much easier than the ascending had been.
We then made our way back to our hotel, retracing our steps back through the Trastevere area where the shops were still open and people were out and about.
Our plan was to rest a little and visit a restaurant for a small snack.....truth is we were all still full from lunch and tired from our day, the rain was again teeming, thunder was booming and we stayed in! Weather report is fine.
Tomorrow will be another day!