Welcome to Rome!

Our first day in Rome was packed!

We left our hotel in Mykonos at 8:30am, and caught a 2 hour flight that landed in Rome at 11:30am, Rome time.  After a train and metro ride we eventually ended up 400m from our B&B, just a 10 minute walk from the Colosseum (you can actually see the Colosseum from the front door).

Andrea, a boy Andrea, met us and introduced himself as our host.  We got settled, rested for a bit, as it was the heat of the day, and decided a plan for the late afternoon/evening.

We decided to walk down to the Colosseum, and on our way we picked up some decent pizza and Coke, and cooled off a bit, as it was around 36 degrees.  From here, we followed our map towards through some of the neat streets and touristy areas, taking pictures of some of the fascinating architecture and neat old buildings (these buildings are the things about Rome that I appreciate the most).

We eventually end up near the Pantheon (shown in the 2 photos above) and explored the piazza around it, and the inside of it.  Thankfully, Rick Steves, our ever-faithful audio-tour-guide had a tour on the Pantheon, so we were able to understand it more and appreciate it better.

It is a really neat building as it has a large hole in the top of the dome, which is the only source of light.  Obviously then, when it rains, it gets wet inside, but the floor has been sloped to the edges, and also has holes for drainage.  This building is also the best preserved ancient Roman building as it has always been in use, first, as a temple to "all gods", ("pan" meaning all, and "theos" meaning gods) and then it was converted to a church as a basilica.  It has the remains of Raphael in it and other important Romans, so very cool.

From here we made a quick 10 minute walk to Piazza Novona, which is the biggest and most famous piazza (or square or meeting place) in Rome.  There are probably hundreds of street performers, artists, vendors, and restaurants clamoring around trying to entice you into the most touristy of artwork, food, and entertainment, but it is wonderful!  Lindsay is very interested in having a charictature portrait done of the two of us as she wants to know which prominent facial features of mine they will accentuate...I have not been persuaded yet as I know my facial flaws already :)

We then walked around a bit more, exploring, and then found a mediocre restaurant to eat at (we ate their mostly because it was cheap and included wine for Lindsay) and then walked to the Trevi Fountain.  We then walked around a bit more, and slowly made our way back to our hotel for the evening.

We also came across a very talented street performer, who played the trumpet, so Mark, this video is for you!