What's Not To Like In Italy?

Despite the 7 hour time shift and the 3 hours delay in our arrival time due to mechanical difficulties at OHare we easily navigated our arrival at Rome's Leonardo de Vinci airport and soon thereafter were checking our bags at our hotel destination. Friends had recommended a lovely hotel near the central Rome train station that positioned us nicely to take public transportation to every possible tour site. Fares were 1€ to ride anywhere for 90 minutes - a good deal.

We headed immediately to the Metro and were quickly whisked away to the old Roman world as we exited the Metro station and were immediately confronted by the amazing and humungeous Coliseum - right there before our very eyes. It was a little like a time machine experience where we went from 21st century Rome to 531 AD.




We strolled along the ancient cobblestone streets past the Arch of Constantine - the warrior emperor who added "Holy" to the Roman Empire to please his Catholic mother, Monica. We viewed what is referred to as the Roman Forum. Here the archeological digs show remnants of Buildings that represent the earliest days of the Republic. It was amazing to see the place where representative government was born in 509 BC.







After climbing to the top of the Capitoline Hill we found our way up to the roof of the Capitoline Museum where had a most enjoyable lunch while the breeze refreshed our souls and the views of the city provided us with such a heavenly treat.



From there we pressed on past the Victor Emmanuel Monument - the first President of Italy and considered to ne the "father" of Italy. See below!



We still had energy to move forward to the Pantheon - a building in Rome, commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome. The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of huge granite Corinthian columns. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.


It was a jaw-dropping experience even though Debbie and I saw it when we visited here on our Rick Steves tour three years ago. Somehow we convinced Ann & Skip to drag themselves forward to Trevi Fountain where the traditional coins were tossed in the fountain.



With no sleep for almost 40 hours and 7 hours of walking the streets of Rome we took the Metro back to our hotel to shower and unpack.

The evening was still not complete but more about that later!

GOODNIGHT!!!!

Location:Rome