Familiar Faces

Today, I saw two of my old co-workers from ACGME, Pat and Mary, in Rome.  They are here on vacation and going on a tour of Italy.  They had a free day today and start with the tour tomorrow.  They are going to Pisa, Florence, Venice, Assissi and one or two other places I can't remember. 

We met for lunch at the restaurant Giuseppe and Francesco work at, Le Caveau. Francesco was working lunch today and took great care of us.  We started with a rosemary flatbread with fresh mozzarella and ham...delicious! We shared a bottle of wine and each got a pasta dish.  Francesco talked me into getting the spaghetti and lobster dish.  He knows I don't do well with spaghetti and I had another rough-go-at-it. Francesco attempted to show me again how to twirl it, but I think i'm just spaghetti-challenged!

After lunch, we walked to San Clemente.  I had never heard of this church before.  It is a three-tiered basilica. The first tier, built in the first century, was a home to a Roman nobleman.  The second tier was built in the 4th century, which is when the building was converted to a basilica.  The third tier was built just before 1100 and is the present day basilica. It was very interesting to see the different levels and how well they have been preserved over the years. There were still frescoes in fairly decent shape from hundreds of years ago. It continues to amaze me how old the buildings in Rome are and how they are still standing today.

The closest train stop to San Clemente is Colosseo (Colosseum).  We, of course, had to stop and take a picture.  Here is Pat and Mary: