When you are at Rome live in the Roman style; when you are elsewhere live as they live elsewhere.

I took the train back into Naples and then switched over to the one heading to Rome. When I excited the train station, I could hear some pounding techno in the distance. I followed the sound which was conveniently on my path to the hostel and ran right into an open rave party. there were numerous sound trucks with some massive speakers all pumping out some music in the Piazza della Repubblica. It was nice to see an open, large party where people were having a good time, able to drink if they wished, and everyone respected each other without issues and I wished many local government policies back home were as liberal.

I checked into the hostel and walked back to the rave party before heading off to other sites. As I had recently reread the book and knew the movie was coming out within the next week, I decided to hit some of the sites mentioned in 'Angels and Demons'. After wandering into a few random churches along the way, I made it to the Santa Maria della Vittoria, the fire pillar of science. This is the location of Bernini's Ecstasy of St Teresa of Avila and is considered one of the best Baroque sculptures in Rome. In it, one of Bernini's best and most well-known works, an angel is about to pierce St Teresa's heart with a dart of divine love, a scene described in her mystical writings. I was able to get in a few shots before a service started and stayed to listen, though it was all in Italian, for a while. After leaving, I stopped by Bernini's Fontana del Tritone and then headed towards the Spanish Steps and listened to the chorus singing during a service inside the La Trinita dei Monti church for nearly an hour.

I then wandered over to the Piazza del Popolo that had a large event highlighting the anniversary of the Roma Police with an extensive driving demonstration and display of all kinds of equipment used by the department, including a Lamborghini. As another prominent site in the book/movie, I also stopped in to check out the Santa Maria del Popolo church, the earth pillar of science, while there however couldn't remember the details of that church in the book and failed to look for or notice the inverted pyramid that I later figured out was to be the highlight. I walked across the Tiber to the Castel Sant'Angelo (again a major site for the book/movie) to get in some sunset shots. Wanting to finish the saga, I headed over to the Piazza Navona which is of course yet another big location in the movie/book with the centerpiece of Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, the water pillar of science.

After a long day of travel and walking, I wandered in a restaurant called 'Il Fico' where the language barrier foiled me again. I intended to just ask for a glass of wine, however apparently I was given a half liter of some potent wine. Well, who am I to make a scene and not accept it. At least it was really good and went quite well with the lasagna. I finally hoofed it back to the hostel.