Today, Roma!

We left the beautiful Amalfi coast this morning to head for Rome. Along the way, we stopped at Montecassino Abbey, home of Saint Benedict. It has been destroyed and rebuilt four times with the last destruction taking place during World War II. If I understood correctly, it was the Americans who bombed the abbey, thinking that Germans were hiding there. There are a few original areas left, but almost everything has been reproduced. Something original is a rock with an indentation just the right size for an elbow. Traditional holds that one time when Saint Benedict fell, God softened the rock and his right elbow sunk into it in order to protect the arm and hand that he wrote with. We all had the opportunity to rest our arm in that very same place.

Both Saint Benedict and his twin sister, Saint Scholastica, are entombed there. It is high on a hill with an awesome view of the the surrounding countryside. We spent about an hour there and got to see the room where Saint Benedict lived, which is now a chapel, as well as the main church, which holds the remains of the saints.

After our visit to Montecassino and a stop for lunch, we headed into Rome. Our tour director took us on about a two-hour walk to orient us to the city. We visited the Spanish Steps and had our first gelato. It was very crowded at the Spanish Steps with a "flash mob" dancing in unison at the base of the steps. That was quite an experience. We then walked to the Trevi fountain, and here is Catherine enjoying the experience after tossing in a coin and making the wish to return to Rome.

We had dinner on our own tonight in Rome, and it's a little bit intimidating to find a place to eat among all the possibilities. We are very proud of ourselves that we found a great "taverna" where we had a wonderful meal in pleasant surroundings. We shared the "special" salad of greens, mozzarella, shrimp, and cherry tomatoes. I usually don't like tomatoes, but the Italian ones are an exception. Bellisimo! I also had spaghetti carbonara that was to die for, and Catherine had mixed grill -- a combination plate of beef, veal, pork, and chicken that was also delicioso. We meant to take a photo of our food, but we forget :(

That's all to report today -- it doesn't sound like much, but we did a lot of walking and are looking forward to resting our feet. We're both holding up really well with no blisters or any other maladies to report. We will tour the Coloseum and the forum tomorrow, and then on Monday, we'll visit the Vatican. We're hoping to visit the catacombs, but that's not on our tour, so we'll have to see if we can arrange it on our own.