Day 16 - Necropolis of Rome

Today we spent most of our time touring cities underground - necropoleis - City of the Dead. Having permission to pass through the men in court jester suits (the Swiss Guard), we went 3 floors under St. Peter's basilica, on a special tour of the scavi (excavation). It wasn't until the 20th century that they actually started excavating under the basilica, and found bones that scientifically have the same similarities of a man from the 1st century AD who lived to be in his 60s, and had no feet bones. The Catholic church officially recognizes these bones to belong to St. Peter. We saw these very bones! We also went one floor up to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II, which was significant as he is about to become beatified.

Ironically, as we were exiting the basilica for 3rd time in one day, the line to get in (get through security, technically) stretched around the entire St. Peter's square!

Next we figured out Rome's bus system so we could go out the ancient road, the Via Appia, past Rome's walls to another City of Dead - the San Callisto Catacombs, where 500,000 bodies were once buried. The 12 miles of graves are empty now, except for the remnants of 2 sarcophagi on display.

Then we had out last gelato, got our packs, and settled down in a park-side bar in front of Rome's train station (termini), waiting for our train to Munich.

We had no idea what to expect from our 11 1/2 hr "night train" ride, but it started out well, with the very nice train porter giving us both a compartment to sit in, and one to sleep in! Each compartment converts into 4-6 bunk-style beds, and you are provided with a pillow, sheet and blanket.

As it turns out, "sleeping" on a night train can be an interesting experience! Our bunkmates were kind and quiet all night, but Greg did not get any sleep.