Rome - Day 9

Rain, rain, go away!!!  We planned on using Tuesday to tour Pompeii.  However, all that was in the forecast was rain, rain and more rain.  Monday night I frantically posted on tripadvisor.com in desperation asking fellow travelers if they thought the rain would ruin our day.  I was thinking about the outdoor excavation site, mud, cobblestone, no shelter from the rain, etc.  The majority of them though I was crazy for considering ditching Pompeii, but one person and Rick Steves suggested an alternative - Ostia Antica.  As I started researching the site, I realized that it would be very similar to Pompeii without the EXPENSIVE train ticket (over $150 US per person).  Ostia Antica is connected to Rome's subway system, so it was only 2 euros each for us to reach it!  Pompeii was destroyed by a volcano, but Ostia Antica was one of the very first ports cities in Italy.  It was basically just abandoned thousands of years ago and no one has lived there since.  It is one of the best perspectives of what Roman life might have been like around 150 A.D.

Sounded good.  And we knew that if the rain started to pour, we were just a short walk from the subway and could be back to the apartment in a matter of minutes.  So, we left our place around 10:00 and boarded a 10:45 train to the site.  We paid 6.50 euros per person to enter.  This was the only "tourist" attraction we visited where we could be completely on our own, roaming through fallen buildings and rummaging wherever our hearts desired.  We saw the city's Necropolis (cemetery), Warehouses, Baths, the town square, and the Theater.  Although most of the buildings were crumbling, you can see in the pictures that the foundations remain intact and you can really get a good feel for the layout of this once thriving city.  We really enjoyed roaming around town on our own.  We stopped in the cafe for some lunch and a break from the light sprinkle.  We purchased some items from the gift shop before heading back to Rome.  Here are our favorite shots from the day in Ostia Antica:

Brett takes pride in finding statues with "sweet beards."  This is one such statue:

Statue still standing at Ostia Antica, headless as usual:

The is the Necropolis or cemetery - the arches are where they kept urns of ashes

Weaving through the old walls of homes that once stood here:

The theater:

Another view of the theater:

This is what remains of what we would consider an apartment complex:

This is the mosaic floor of a public bath:

Here we are in the cemetery...aww:

Around 2:00, we were back in Rome and decided to stop at the Colosseo train station in order to visit St. Peter-In-Chains Church (which opened at 3:00).  We stopped in a nice little shop for gelato.  Brett got "After Eight" which is basically mint chocolate chip (his favorite US ice cream flavor) and I tried out the chocolate.  Once again, it was really good!  We were not disappointed.  While we ate the ice cream we sat down for a perfect view of the Colosseum.  I read about St. Peter-In-Chains Church in my Rick Steves' guidebook (of course) and thought it would be intresting to see the Peter's chains from which an angel of he Lord set him free as told in Acts, chapter 12.  Here are some pics of the church and chains:

The church was small, but impressive.  The chains were a highlight, but we spent most of our time looking at the Tomb of Pope Julius II.  It was a monstrous sculpture started, but never completed, by Michaelangelo (he was called off the job by another Pope to pursue a little project called the Sistine Chapel). In the middle of the tomb is an intense sculpture of Moses, seen below:

After this, we headed back toward the apartment, but Brett wanted to find an Italian bike jersey from a local bike store.  I had researched the internet for what he thought was a bike shop.  However, after 30-45 minutes of roaming around Rome, we found a bike rental store...and it was closed.  Of course, we weren't happy and our dogs were really barking, but we prevailed and continued on to the apartment.  We took a nap and then decided to venture out to find some dinner (in the rain).

We just roamed around the neighborhood and found a restaurant called Ristorante Jolly.  They had a buffet that looked really nice, but we didn't recognize any of the food, so we decided to order off the menu.  We were kind of intimidated since we hadn't sat down in an actual restaurant.  Our waiter could tell that we are American, but didn't know much English.  We did a lot of pointing to the menu :)  although, I did get to use SOME of the Italian words I worked so hard on memorizing!  We got a bottle of the house white wine for 7 euros, I had the house Ravioli stuffed with cheese and Brett had a calzone (little did he know there was going to be eggs inside...lol).  Our meal went pretty smoothly and the waitstaff was very friendly.  I did get the chance to say "Il conto, per favore."  Meaning, "the check, please."  The waiter understood me!  I felt great!!!!  After dinner, we walked back to the apartment and watched some TV before going to bed.  Tomorrow is our last full day in Rome and we want to make the best of it!