Rome Day 2

After a rough night trying to adjust to the time difference, we awoke and were down in the hotel lobby at 7:45am. We were picked up by our tour company and headed out with about 12 fellow travelers to take a tour of some of the monuments around rome.

We started out at Trevi Fountain, where we each tossed a coin in so as to assure our return one day (turns out that the city sweeps all the coin out of the fountain twice a week and gives it to charity). We then walked to the Pantheon which stands out quite a bit from it's surroundings. Inside this ancient building is a large dome which is comprised completely of stone with a large opening in the top. This is in fact the largest dome of its kind in the world. The interior of the Pantheon has been converted from a temple for all gods (the name pantheon actually means "all gods") to a christian church. This is also the location of the resting place of the famous renaissance artist rapheal, who died at age 37. We walked from here to piazza navona which used to be a location for chariot races, but is now the location of a palace built by an emperor for his mother in law. We stopped here for a capuccino and we learned that if you buy the coffee to take away it costs a third of the price you pay if you sit at a table.

Next, we boarded a bus and headed to Vatican City. It was a Wednesday so the Pope was at St Peter's and this was obvious by the sheer volume of people in the square around the Bascilica as well as the large screens showing the Pope's readings in multiple languages. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, we were able to enter the church. St. Peter's is the largest and tallest chruch in the world. Inside the church is filled from floor to ceiling with great works of art in marble. Hundreds of statues and giant mosaics of religious figures are around every corner and in every crevace. Some highlights are the Sculpture of Pieta by Michelangelo which is arguably the most beautiful scuplture on earth. this is the only sculpture behind glass after being damaged by a visitor in 1972. We also saw the 800 year old bronze statue of St Peter. So many people walk by and touch Peter's feet that its foot has been replaced 3 times already. This is also home to Michelangelo's second most famous ceiling as he is the architect of the High dome at St Peter's. This was the end of our tour and we headed back to the hotel.

We decided to head down toward the ancient area of the city and grab some lunch. We found a restaurant called Wanted, and sat down. We ordered some prosciutto and melon as an appetizer, followed by pizza (we quickly learned that one is plenty large enough to share). Lunch was very satisfying and we headed on down to the Roman forum shortly afterward.

The area of the forum is filled with ruins of collumns, roadways, arches and buildings. My only complaint is that the city has placed some modern suplture around the area. These scupltures (which are beautiful) seem extremely out of place and really detract from the feeling that this area has. I am really confused by the city's decision to do this. We took a short jaunt to the colosseum and walked around. This is a really amazing place and unfortunatley pictures don't do it justice as to the feel of the environment or in its size - the stadium would hold 40,000 people!

We decided to take the subway back to the hotel, change and head to dinner. We stopped in a small place just near piazza barbarini. We had some caprese salad, pasta carbonara and homemade tortelini. After dinner we headed back to Trevi Fountain. The Fountain was much more busy in the evening than it was at 8:45am. We had some gelato and walked back to the hotel where we called it a night.