Wednesday November 21 started out great but ended badly. Amy really wanted to see the Sistine Chapel again. The last time she saw it was 30 years ago.  Danilo arranged tickets to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel for us on Wednesday morning. He offered to accompany us and to serve as our guide in the museum. He did a wonderful job.

I love the Sistine Chapel especially when the 100 guards yell out, "silenzio", or "no pictures". It really adds to the experience! After the museum Danilo took us into Vatican City as his guests. We visited the stores and picked up a couple things.

Danilo went off to attend to other business and Amy asked if we could spend more time in Rome. We decided to take the metro to Piazza Popolo and walk down to Spagna, the Spanish Steps. From there we walked to San Lorenzo in Lucine. This is one of my favorite piazzas in Rome. It is conveniently located to Fontana de Trevi and the Spanish Steps. Amy and I stopped here last time in Rome as well. It was great to sit and relax, have an appertivo, and people watch.

From there we went back to Spagna to catch the metro to Termini station for the train back to campus. The metro was very crowded and Amy and I were briefly separated. Some little kids took the opportunity to relieve her of her wallet from her purse. The got her credit cards, driver's license, and some cash. We then had to call the banks and have all of our credit cards cancelled. After we returned to campus, Danilo took us up to the police station in Castel Gandolfo to file a report in case the cards were used before being cancelled.

We were worried because on Friday we were leaving for Montepulciano and Assisi. Traveling without credit seemed a little unnerving. I talked with the banks but they could not overnight me another card before we left because Thursday was Thanksgiving. Danilo did offer to give me an advance on my weekly stipend here in Rome. This along with the cash I had on hand would have to cover the trip. I also had some euros left on my AAA travel card. We decided this would not spoil our Thanksgiving or our trip.