Wednesday afternoon

It really is Very Hot. We braved St Peter's this morning. The crowds were not completely overwhelming and it was lovely and cool inside. All going well until they announced that we couldn't take the stroller inside. Eva had just fallen asleep in the stroller. It was all rather down hill from there. Eva, not surprisingly did not like being woken up and complained bitterly for the duration of our visit. I gave up somewhere on the left nave and left Carolina to visit the museum alone whilst I sought emergency gelato outside. We have decided not to take Eva to the Vatican Museum or the Sistine Chapel. St Peter's was, nonetheless, extraordinary. Of course. Every mm of wall bedecked with decoration and not a bible story untold. I do find myself rather fascinated by the stories of the saints. St Jerome particularly appealed to me this morning (large and incredibly fine mosaic in right nave). According to that wonderful resource: Saints for Dummies (on kindle), Saint Jerome is the patron saint of the Bad tempered and of translators. He spent 30 years translating the various books of the old and new testament from their original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic into Latin and chose to live as a hermit because he found it so difficult to control his temper, particularly when he was interrupted in the middle of his work. He was supposed to have been very brilliant but scared the living daylights out of St Augustine. I wonder whether he had a touch of Asperger's - Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) springs to mind.

Perhaps it is my protestant origins, but I must admit to finding  these highly Baroque churches a bit over the top. Give me an austere Lutheran cathedral anyday.

As a complete contrast, and to at least 4 of us, rather more meaningful, we found the Jewish quarters (the old ghetto) yesterday afternoon, at the end of a very long, hot day of sightseeing which started with the Piazza Navona, progressed through the astonishing Pantheon, proceeded to the Piazza Venezia, continued through the Palatine Museum and ended finally at the Synagogue and Jewish Museum. The story of the Jews in Rome goes back to at least the 2nd century BC and is one of fluctuating tolerance and persecution, with an emphasis on the latter. After the Spanish Inquisition, the Jews of Spain, Sicily and Southern Italy all proceeded to Rome which was considered more tolerant. Each built their own Synagogue but when the winds changed, the Jewish population was confined to a Ghetto and allowed only to be money lenders. They were also allowed only one Synagogue which had to serve the many different cultural and religious variations practiced by the diverse groups. After the Risorgimento in 1870, Victor Emmanuele II granted the Jews full citizenship and the old Ghetto which was in a terrible condition, was destroyed and new buildings constructed. The new Synagogue is very beautiful. It has a very high dome (so that everyone can see where it proudly stands - no longer needing to hide) and it has beautiful art nouveau/arts and crafts decorations. It is strangely congruous to see Liberty textiles in the Roman Synagogue. There are now 16 synagogues in Rome, all orthodox.

Sam with Romulus and Remus in the Palatine Museum

Surrounding the synagogue we saw the Jewish school and lots of Jewish restaurants, which I was very keen to try but the children were beyond it by that stage and we crawled home instead.

Alex with his lunchtime pizza - Piazza Venezia

The children were quite taken with this shop selling Priestly and Nunly garb, near the Pantheon

The steps to the Palatine Museum take on a whole new meaning when pushing a pram.

One of several restaurants in the former Ghetto area specialising in Jewish-Italian cuisine

another Jewish restaurant

and another

and yet another

The beautiful Synagogue

Sam has been quite disapproving of the Roman way of life. In particular, he thinks they smoke too much and don't use enough sun block - they are magnificently tanned. He also complains about their driving and parking and has taken some incriminating  photos to demonstrate:

Surprisingly, very few cars appear scratched or dented.