Our second day in Rome! We did quite a few things today! After breakfast at the hotel (complimentary), we walked to the Metro station and took the train to the Colliseum. Once there, we spent several hours walking thru the Colliseum, then moved on to the Forum. The Forum is mostly ruins, still under excavation. It never ceases to amaze me, the age of things here. The Collliseum, the Forum and the Pantheon were all built about 2000 years ago (give or take a few hundred years). And they are still standing!!! There is history everywhere you look.
After seeing the Colliseum and the Forum, we took a taxi to the Pantheon. We decided to eat lunch first, so ate at one of the restaurants-La Reita. The food was fantastic, the day was sunny and warm, a gorgeous day! I had Seafood Risotto, the others had pasta or pizza. We shared a bottle of Prosecco. The other funny thing about Italy I had forgotten, is when you ask for water, they ask you "gas or no gas?". Which means, spring or flat water or sparkling water (frizzante). We have fallen into eating Italian style- late breakfast, lunch at 3pm, dinner at 9pm. We'll see what happens when we get home, lol!
The Panteon is entirely intact, mostly due to it being taken over by the Church, which kept it from being taken apart and used to build other buildings in Rome. Most of the murals were done by Raphael so he is buried inside the church. I'm not sure modern man could have built these buildings! After this, we went to the Piazza Navona and walked around, then sat in one of the cares and had a cocktail and people watched. This is the part of Rome I would stay in if I came again, rather than near the Vatican-more places to shop and eat! Then we walked over to the Trevi Fountain. This Piazza was packed with people! We took pictures then threw our coins in. One coin if you wish to return to Rome, two coins if you want to find true love and three coins if you want to find your true love in Rome (just like the movie!).
While walking to the Metro station, we found an Italian deli and bought bread, crackers, 3 cheeses, 3 kinds of meat, olives, cookies and wine and brought them back with us to the hotel. Did I mention how hot and sweaty you get walking and walking and climbing stairs around in the heat and sun? So we all took showers, then met up again on our balcony for a picnic dinner. Even the deli food was great-or maybe it's being in Rome, with good friends. Maybe all of the above, lol!
Tomorrow we leave for Florence. Right now, it's bedtime!
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