Tuesday was much about hitting the classics. We met up with Mike and Cor at the Spanish Steps. From there we worked our way to the Trevi Fountain picking up a couple of columns and piazza's along the way. We worked our way toward Santa Maria della Vittoria with 
the goal of seeing Bernini's Ecstasy 
of St. Teresa, but we just missed the closing time for lunch.So it was off to the Museo e Galleria Borghese to get tickets. You have to book in advance, usually by a
couple of
days. They let in these size limited groups to tour the galleries for two hours. From there we wandered past the gardens, through the park -- awesome views of Roman Pines -- past the zoo and ended up at Piazza del Popolo.We then headed back to Santa Maria della Vittoria and saw the Ecstasy. One of the most incredible sculptures I've ever seen. As I stood there mesmerized I listened to this American woman complain to her
husband about the "gawker", meaning me, who was in the way of the shot she wanted to take. Apparently she didn't realize I spoke English. She also complained that the position of the sculpture was rather poor, as you couldn't get a good look at St. Teresa's face. All of us found the whole thing quite funny. For the next few days Joe would tease me whenever I "gawked".From there it was back to the hotel for a quick rest and change before meeting up for an early dinner and then the opera. We ate at George Byron's cafe, Via Nazionale 250 - Via Firenze 20. It's a bar than restaurant, but the food was excellent and the price was not tourist, which given it's location made it a great find.
Mike and Cor know their opera and had gotten all of us tickets to see Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West). There was something very ironic about seeing an opera that had debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York more than 100 years ago, about a prostitute, a sheriff and the California Gold rush. Nonetheless, it was a great moment. The only real disappointment was that we were surrounded by American exchange students. Not that I mind American exchange students, but I can be surrounded by American college kids in the States pretty much any time. It was also nice, listening to their banter about the kids that got box seats and one girl who kept checking her email to see if she'd been accepted to grad school. Made me laugh.
It did make for a bit of a late evening. The opera started at 8:30p and didn't finish until just before midnight.
