Rainy Rome

We woke to find that it was raining. Not just a bit of a drizzle but a heavy downpour. We googled what we could do around our apartment. And came up with four nearby attractions. Have I mentioned that Tom is supremely disinterested in churches? Guess what all the nearby attractions were? We started off at Basilica St Maria Trastevere - church that Tina had raved about when she visited here last year. It didn't disappoint. Below is the ceiling.

There are always a lot of statues of dead dudes who seem to be sleeping peacefully in their little marble beds in their little marble slippers.

And here is the gob smacking glittering mosaic cupola reaching high over the altar. Mary does seem to be a bit younger than Jesus which is a bit odd.

And here is the facade. Notice the little mosaic of Mary just under the bell.

Here is a man who has one church notched up and is ready for lunch.

Now that's a lot better than all those churches which all look the same.

After a fortifying lunch we set out to find Tempietto Di Bramante or little temple. It was up some hefty flights of stairs and was supposed to be a perfectly formed example of a building that epitomises the Renaissance zeitgeist. Wow! What a find and only a twenty minute hike from our apartment.

So what did we find? Another church. The guide book called it a little temple but we are discovering that unless a building is a restaurant or a souvenir shop it is most probably a church.

Outside the church was a lovely view of Rome.

And then it began to rain really hard.

The water fountains reflected the downpour from the heavens. Men appeared like magic hawking umbrellas and rain ponchos.

We were following google maps to find the Basilica Di Santa Cecilia which was the last resting place of the patron saint of music. Google maps let us down and we found ourselves wandering around in circles. In despair we asked a friendly tourist if he knew the way to St Cecilia's. He didn't but said we should visit the ornate church on the corner. So we did. It was called S Maria dell 'Orto and wasn't in our guide book at all.

The tourist was right, it was an ornate church. Tom tried to hide his delight with the good luck of finding  another church which wasn't even on the itinerary.

And then it was off again to find the elusive St Cecilia's. And we found it at last.

Another fine example of mosaics. This time with Christ surrounded by the apostles.

And just under the altar was a marble statue of St Cecilia's miraculously preserved body which was unearthed from the catacombs in 1599. She doesn't look as happy as that last marble sleeping dude.

Maybe it's because she's missing the cosy marble slippers.

We had one last church to find. Chiesa Di San Francesco d'Assisi S Ripa. And we found it.

And here's poor old St Francis. He was supposed to have stayed here in the thirteenth century. He doesn't look as miserable as St Cecilia but he isn't as serene as the first dude in the slippers. Maybe his feet are cold in the sandals. Or maybe his rope belt is too tight. Or maybe it's because he just isn't wearing those comfy slippers.

This is a just a random statue of Christ on a wall. The Romans recycled things. When they built something new they used old sculptures and carvings to decorate the new buildings.