Orvieto is another hilltop town with beautiful views, but this time we had a ride up in a funicular railway. There is a church there with stripes along all the sides, but the front is very beautiful with lots of frieze paintings. The stripes look funny. There was a museum with photos of an underground network of tunnels. These were used to obtain water which was lifted to the town by an aqueduct system. There are also homes within the tunnels. It was very interesting. There were also lots of ceramic shops. They were all terracotta with bright painted decoration, some pieces as large as outdoor tables and 3' high urns. Each of thee shops had a different style of decoration - some local scenes, some fruit and several had strange faces. It was very interesting to walk around and I was able to take photos of some. We then drove to Rome where we went for a walking tour of the old area. I am surprised at how much of the Roman buildings are still here, and within the city centre. Today's Rome is built on top of the old Buildings and in places you can see down to the old street levels, about 5 - 7 metres below the current streets. We saw the Trevi fountain and threw in our obligatory coins - 1 to come back, 2 to get married, 3 to get divorced! Or so the guide said. Then we went to a local restaurant for dinner were we had a guitar player serenading us, and selling his CD. After dinner we drove around Rome and finished at the Forum which was all lit up. It looked amazing. Today we walked around the Vatican museums, the Sistine chapel and St Peter's cathedral. There are so many art pieces - statues, tapestries and paintings it is a continuous panorama of art. The ceilings are all highly decorated, some painted, and some have gold leaf on plaster moundings. The Sistine chapel was not as large as I expected, but has paintings all over. There are always stories, many from the bible which are being illustrated with the paintings. The guide, a local lady was pointing out the features she found interesting - like the facial expressions. After lunch we drove to the colosseum - a hugh amphitheatre where the gladiator fought each other of the wild aminals. The gladiators were slaves captured from other countries and trained to fight. There was seating for 50,000 people and standing room above for another 35,000. UNderneath there were cells for all the lions, tigers, bears and crocodiles which were displayed to the people and then fought. Now we are enjoying a siesta! The weather has been warm (35) for the last couple of days and with quite a lot of walking around so it's good to put our feet up. Tomorrow we have an early start and are going to Naples and Capri.