In-laws in Roma

Thursday was a day in Rome for the in-laws, but not without Lorenzo's "price". They'd never seen the Sistine Chapel so we got up early and took the train into the Eternal City, special Vatican tix in hand. After arriving at the St. Peter's train station it was a relaxing walk to the Pope's Closet (Vatican Museum) where we skipped what was a shorter-than-usual line and got right in. We took a short-cut to the Sistina, looping back to the sculpture section afterwards. Patti and Bob were sort of speechless after finally seeing the famous frescoes but also enjoyed seeing the sculpture section again. The Pope allows no photos for the most part so we reserved photography for other works of art, mainly the two-wheeled and drinkable kind at the Ducati Caffe.
Our friend, "Il Ducatista" back home had practically begged Lorenzo to visit during our time here and it was not a tough task to get him indulge his love for all things two-wheeled, especially when they're Italian! Lunch here was his price for going along to the Vatican Museum yet again so soon after our "cheapskates do Rome" visit.Here is what appeared to be a genuine Ducati mounted on the wall in this chic bar/ristorante/lounge in the heart of Rome. They of course have the own "Desmo Rosso" vino, made exclusively for them, in Vicenza of all places. Larry was certain it would be an Emilia-Romagna Sangiovese, but in any case it was a wine worthy of the Ducati name, served in their own special glasses.

After pranzo it was off to the Capitoline Museum to enjoy viewing some other art work (the refurbishing work recently done here is excellent!) before a brief, open-top bus tour around some of the ancient sites of Rome before we returned to St. Peter's and our train home.

An express train with only three stops had us back to Viterbo in time to enjoy a Negroni before dinner at Porta Romana where the nice lady owner happily remembered Lorenzo as a "buona forchetta" from our previous visit.

After dinner we collapsed into bed and slept a bit late into Friday morning -- the final day of Patti and Bob's visit to Viterbo. We'll miss them but somebody has to enjoy the Amalfi Coast next week -- but it won't be us!