Being a tourist is a lot of fun. All day I got to walk around some of the most beautiful places in Rome, take a lot of pictures, and partake in certain traditions. We got to walk around the Coliseum, the old Roman Forums, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. After our walking tour, a small group of us went to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.
The walking tour was the most informative tour of my life! Our guide was so intelligent and she knew everything about the places we were seeing. The Coliseum is bigger than I would have ever imagined. I got to see Caesar’s tomb in the old Roman Forum. Piazza Navona was a scene in a popular movie. But my favorite was the Pantheon. It is the burial place for my favorite artist – Raphael Santi. He is buried in one of the recesses because the Pantheon is actually one of the oldest churches in Rome. It was a totally incredible experience. I never will see Rome the same way again.
The Trevi Fountain was the most spectacular place I have ever seen. The water was a crisp clear and the energy of the people surrounding the fountain was electric. It is customary to take a coin and throw it over your shoulder into the fountain and make a wish. I got my coin, made a wish, and threw it over my shoulder… then I threw in another. You can never have too many wishes (and the money goes to charity, which makes the wishes a lot more rewarding). A quick pizza lunch (buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomato, and arugula – such good toppings!) at the Trevi Fountain was so fun with all of my friends. We were able to sit down and “people-watch” and eat our food; it was so sweet seeing everyone, young and old, going up to throw in a coin.
Remember when I said being a tourist is fun? Well, what is not fun about being a tourist is getting lost. Which we did. A lot. Our next excursion was to the Spanish Steps and we could not find it. It wasn’t on our map, there wasn’t an arrow pointing the way, it was like it disappeared. We finally talked to a police officer and he pointed us in the direction we needed to go and we headed off. We finally got to a lovely piazza with one flight of stairs in front of us. I looked around and was a little miffed. Everyone said that the Spanish Steps are big and beautiful and are really difficult to climb (there are 138 steps). Making the best of it, we climb the stairs (all 15 of them) and looked out on Rome. It was then when we saw the Spanish Steps right below us. The police officer gave us directions to the top of the steps! I could not help but laugh. I am a firm believer that it is moments like these that make trips adventures. So I “climbed” the Spanish Steps today, just not in the traditional sense.
FUN FACT! I learned today is that the Romans were very resourceful, especially those ancient Romans. When a structure fell into disuse and was not maintained, the pieces were used to build other buildings. When the Coliseum fell into disuse, the Vatican used it as a source of marble – a lot of the marble used to build St. Peter’s Basilica is from it. Go recycling! There were also iron pins holding the blocks of stone together in the structure of the Coliseum. Now the façade is filled with holes because people actually removed the iron to use it somewhere else.
I am having such a good time in Italy – I’ve had great food, met great people, seen amazing sites, and got lost and laughed about it. I can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow!
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| The Trevi Fountain! |
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