The weather continues to be beautiful with bright sun and temperatures topping out in the mid-70's. We devoted a good part of the morning and the early afternoon to exploring the National Museum of Rome. We started on the top floor as recommended by Carla, our guide on our first day's tour. It's an amazing collection of mosaics, frescoes and sculpture from 100 BC to 400 AD. The detail and realism created in the mosaics, sometimes using colored chips of tile no more than 1 mm in diameter, is awe inspiring!

Many of the frescoes come from the very large and elegant Villa Farnesina, discovered in 1970 when the banks of the Tiber were being reworked. The entire villa, walls, floors and ceilings was decorated with frescoes, mosaics and bas relief carvings. The most interesting feature was that, using computer generation, they walked you through the entire villa showing each room entirely decorated and intact!

Many of the other mosaics were salvaged/saved when the train station was rebuilt in 1947-49. Unfortunately, much of this effort was haphazard and brutal, and many pieces were lost or damaged.

After lunch we visited the 4th century Baths of Diocletian (30 acres), which are no longer in evidence except for some inaccessible ruins BECAUSE, in the 1560's the entry to the baths was converted to the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, designed and decorated by Michelangelo. The nave is huge, 15 stories high.

After some R&R, we walked to (and from), the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, first Christian church in Rome, originally built in 318 AD, after Constantine became a Christian and outlawed paganism. Most of the current church was built in the 1600's. (The mosaics in the dome are from 13th century.) It is the church of the bishop of Rome , who also happens to be the Pope. Once elected at the Vatican he must be consecrated in this church.

Walked - 6.4 miles