We got a late start but finally made it out the door. At Bar Farnese they knew our order and made it with a smile. We love this bar already!
We had downloaded a Rick Steves guided tour for Tratevere so off we went, walking along the river and passing by the big synagogue, we crossed the Ponte over Tiber Island.
Rick was entertaining if a bit too corny for me but we enjoyed the tour and the price was right.
First stop was the church of Saint Cecilia:

The day was warming up–it was a bit over 80° today and the interior of the church was nice and cool and full of beauty. I’d forgotten just how beautiful these churches are and how I can feel them deeply. My favorite part was the prone statue of St. Cecilia at the base of the altar.
We walked by this sign which made me chuckle:

Following Rick’s lead, we walked through the small streets to a busier part of Trastevere and visited the big Piazza and church of Santa Maria, The fountain is beautiful and the mosaics sparkled.
We walked back home from there for lunch. Ken had to have another porchetta panino but I just ate an egg and cooked some spinach and had some goat cheese we bought at the supermarket.
We had a good restful afternoon and took off at around 5:30 for Vatican City. We walked over the Vittorio Emanuelle bridge enjoying the views of Castel Sant Angelo and realizing just how many thing we aren’t able to do and see on the one week trip.

St. Peters–no line in the late aftenoon but still plenty of people. We listened to the whole Rick Steves tour before we sent so we had a good feel for what we were seeing.
They had a lot more of the Basilica roped off/closed to the public and I think it took away from the over all impressiveness (also it was not my first visit) but it was still awe inspiring.
From there we walked all the way around to the entrance to the Vatican Museum where we had a voucher/reservation for the Friday evening “Vatican Under the Stars”.

It was such a different experience than last time when we were crammed in shoulder to shoulder. While still a little bit crowded we could easily see whatever we wanted and listen peacefully to the audio guide we bought for 7 euros. The museum really is over whelming! We tried to go through quickly so we wouldn’t be burnt out by the time we got to the Sistine Chapel and we were fairly successful. There was just too much to even comment.
We walked back to Campo dei Fiore (yes my feet are getting a great work out) and stopped at Il Fornaio for some pizza, spinach pie and amaretti cookies. Came upstairs and drank a nice chilled bottle of Prosecco and called it a day.