Catacombs of Priscilla

We couldn't get out of bed this morning, everyone slept in. After Josh's ride was scuttled due to wetness (it had apparently rained at night although I didn't hear a thing), he set Olivia and Avery up with a snack and the Disney channel, and came back to bed too. Before we knew it, it was 10:30am. After a late breakfast we were off to visit the Catacombs of Priscilla.

These catacombs are off the main tourist track -- actually around the corner from our home -- and so it's a rather low key affair. After we bought our tickets, we stood around for a while waiting to see who and how we'd be escorted to the cemetary. It's a brief 30 minute tour but once we were in the depths of the catacombs, both Olivia and Avery had to go to the bathroom!!

The frescos in these catacombs date largely from the 3rd century. There were 40,ooo buried here. It was very cool to see the various ways the people of that time honored the dead. The frescoes are quite good considering they were done so long ago and painted by ordinary people (not professional artists). The land for these catacombs was a donation from the woman, Priscilla, who lived in the villa -- part of which is now Villa Ada -- and these catacombs claim to have the oldest fresco of the Madonna.

Josh rushed through the back half of the tour to escort the kids to the loo...it was another beautiful and sunny day once we all emerged from underground.

Also, today I figured out where Doria Pamphilj is....the Galeria is not in the Villa, nor in the Palazzo, rather it is in the heart of the Centro between the Fontana di Trevi and the Pantheon! Not at all near the Gianicolo where we thought it was last Thursday.

That mystery solved, we went shopping in our neighborhood on the Viale Parioli. The kids needed socks and my Mom bought the girls bracelets and headbands (just as Grandma Dale had done a few weeks ago -- seems you need a lot of these if you're a girl aged 7 to 12). Then my Mom and I went grocery shopping while everyone else had lunch next door. The reviews were not so good; convenient but not too tasty.

In the afternoon, my Mom did homework and made crepes with Olivia, while Avery napped and Charlotte was at swim practice. Then in the evening -- after the 7pm dinner bell rings in Italy -- we took the kids out for Pizza. We tried a new spot in Prati. The drive over on Cola di Rienzo was interesting for my parents. The Street is lined with shops of all kinds and was buzzing with life on a Saturday night -- a very lively environment. The pizza place was okay. Charlotte's Funghi Porcini Pizza and my Mom's Pulcinella were the best of the lot.

After dinner, we drove in to centro to have gelato at the Trevi Fountain. Avery had much too way too much energy. My folks were glad to see the Fountain again after so many years, they both said it was much bigger than they remembered.