Another beautiful bright day, with high temperatures close to 60 F.

We took the bus down Via Nazionale to Piazza Venezia, where we walked around to view Trajan's Column and Markets. Continued around the Victor Emmanuel monument to the Capitoline Hill and Michelangelo's Campidoglio piazza with the statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback. Mike commented on his lack of stirrups, demonstrating one reason why the Romans were defeated in mounted combat by barbarian cavalry that had figured out the advantage stirrups gave you in staying on your horse during battle.

We stopped in at the Museo di Vittoriano for a a handy bathroom break, along with an interesting (free) exhibit on recent history through the viewpoint of state monopolies -- salt, tobacco, quinine, and lotteries.

We then walked on past the Turtle Fountain to Campo de' Fiori and its lively market. We checked out Pasquino, the talking statue, who had some nasty things to say about the "B" guys -- Bush and Berlusconi. The last church we visited in Rome (Sant'Ivo by Borromino, at left) was a very interesting counterpoint to the first one (Bernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale). They could hardly have been more different. Sant'Andrea bristled and swirled with Baroque color and thrusting, twisting statues. Sant'Ivo was geometric precision and cool white austerity, with all its motion concentrated in the exterior spiraling dome.

We decided to relive our favorite lunch experience -- that amazing antipasto at L'Orso 80 -- then treat our tastebuds to one final Giolitti gelato, along with a last walk through Piazza Navona. Too late to do us much good this trip, we finally found the cheap supermarket we'd been looking for near our hotel -- on Via del Viminale, 35. We bought 6 bottles of water for only 1.50 -- the same price the pushcart vendor wanted for a single bottle -- and I indulged in a jar of Nutella to take home.

Our last dinner in Rome was a delightful evening with a young Roman woman I had met when she visited the States and came to tour Orchard House. Sabrina has her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Rome, and specializes in the works of Louisa May Alcott. We shared Neapolitan pizza at La Gallina Bianca and enjoyed chatting about everything from the Alcotts to politics and life in Rome.

If you've read this far, you may have noticed that we skipped those staples of the Roman tourist circuit -- the Vatican, St. Peter's, and the Colosseum. Well, those were the things we managed to see on our only prior (and very quick) visit to Rome about 10 years ago. This time we were concentrating on some of the city's many other wonders. We were curious to find out how we'd feel about Rome, since on that first whirlwind visit we weren't able to get a good sense of the city. Since then we've been to Paris twice, a hard city to compete with. I guess the answer is that we're glad Europe includes both those cities, each so wonderful in its own way, and each with its own endless repertoire of fascinations to draw us back again and again. We like to find places we enjoy coming back to, and we now know Rome is definitely near the top of that list for us.