Rome, Italy June 20

We started off the day with breakfast in our apartment. I'm getting much better at making coffee in a machinetta, and will probably end up getting one in the future. Last night we decided we'd do the Rick Steves "Heart of Rome Walk," which pretty much takes you through some major sites and through the center of the city. After all of this, I'd say I have a rough grasp of the city so far.

We started out with Camp Di Fior. It's an outdoor market about half the size of Florence's Central Market, but it outside. Which I loved. If we weren't going to be out all day, I would have bought some things for tonight's dinner. They were selling produce, pasta, cheeses, meats, souvenirs, fresh juices, etc. The history behind this has to do with the Baron, which we took a picture of the statue, and that's about all I know! Baaaaad tourist on my part! I can't remember much of what I read about this. I crammed in a lot of info on one day.

Craig in front of the Bruno statue. There wasn't a lot of space to back up and get everything in, so we figured this would work.

Bruno from below.

Bruno from stepping back as much as I could.

The market surrounded the Bruno statue.

I didn't buy anything, but this has been my favorite market, so far.

It reminds me of the Farmer's Markets at home but 10 times the size.

After this, we walked to Piazza Navona. In the center is a fountain done by Bernini. His style is very elaborate and dramatic. It's interesting to see the Baroque style in form of a sculpture. I'd say I'm more used to looking at Caravaggio's paintings to get a sense of the Baroque period.

Piazza Navona

The fountain before you see the Four Rivers.

Craig was grinning when he took this picture of me. I wonder why??????

Beautiful!

My favorite part of this fountain.

Merman.

Craig in front of the Four Rivers fountain. Each male figure represented a river (Ganges, Danube, Nile, Rio de la Plata) and these were representative of each of the continents known at that time.

It was interesting to see Bernini's work next to the mountain. To me, it looks incomplete because of the rough, inconsistency of the mountain next to the flawlessness of Bernini's human figures.

After the Piazza Navona, we found the San Luigi church that had 3 Caravaggio Paintings in it. He is one of my favorite Western Artists, so any chance I can, I'd like to see his in person.

Kinda fuzzy, but this is the interior.

Me and "The Calling of St. Matthew"

A fuzzy Craig and "The Calling of St. Matthew"

Then we walked to the Pantheon, which was definitely the highlight of the walk. I am ashamed to say I didn't know much about the Pantheon other than that it was an important landmark. It was not hard to fall in love with it by simply seeing it.

Craig in front of the Pantheon

These giant columns are unique because they are one solid mass. Many columns are constructed in sections and you can typically see the lines.  Craig and I marveled at the precision these entailed with getting them upright and straight. Not only that, we found out that these were shipped from Egypt across the Mediterranean!!!

This is the view looking up at the dome inside. The hole lets in a lot of light and when it rains, the rain is let in, too. There are holes in the floor tiles that drain the water. These indented squares are important because they take weight off the dome, but still maintain the structure's strength.

This is the tomb of THE Raphael inside the Pantheon! I overheard a tour guide say that it used to be at another location but they moved it to the Pantheon (can't remember the year).

The Pantheon predates Christianity, and use to be a place where anyone could come and worship their god of choice. It is, of course, now dedicated to Christianity.

Opposite wall of Raphael's tomb.

Outside, back side part of the Pantheon.

 Trevi Fountain, which was a bit disappointing because it's being renovated so it didn't seem as powerful because they had it all blocked off by plexiglass and there was no water.

No Trevi Fountain for us.  Guess we'll have to come back!

We passed the Spanish Steps, but were on a mission to find something to eat first. We settled for a place called GiNa's. It looked different and modern from the outside. I wanted to sit down after all of that walking in the heat and have access to a bathroom. Craig was not impressed with the prices (average $10-11 for sandwiches) and would have rather left, but I wasn't leaving there without eating something. It's different going into a restaurant here because they include the cover/service charge into their menu prices. So when you first see them, it's a shock. The cover/service charge pays for you to eat in the restaurant, the server, and restroom. A lot of cafe's will offer you a cheaper price if you take things to go. I had been eating a lot of street food, so I stuck to my guns on this one and got the "Agata" which was a pesto, tomato, feta, and walnut sandwich. Craig got the "Cuccio" which was Turkey, Mayo, Lettuce, and Tomato. The bread was really good and different. It was a bit thicker and fluffier than a pita bread, but still flat. We sat at a community table and a girl who came by herself sat next to us. She ordered proscuitto, mozzarella and tomatoes. It was interesting to watch her eat (out of the corner of my eye, of course). This ball of mozzarella was at least the size of a baseball. I was thinking, "She's going to eat all of that!" I was just thinking of that ball of cheese sitting in her stomach. Maybe she didn't. But it looked like a refreshing meal at the same time. Very simple. She drizzled it with olive oil, and sprinkled it with salt and pepper and ate one item at a time. I would have cut everything into smaller pieces and mixed it all together.  A couple things about eating out that make me miss the U.S.:

1. They charge for water
2. They charge for the bread basket
3. The glasses for water and other drinks are like what we use for juice glasses. I often roll my eyes at how us Americans can have the whole attitude of "Bigger is BETTER!" So, I've learned that I have a little of that in me, too. But It's water!!! I need to drink a lot of it. I feel parched quite a bit.
4. Their coffees are teeny tiny. Once again, it's coming out it me, that American! Now, when I'm home I usually get the coffee that's consider a "small" the 12 ounce. In Italy, I haven't even been offered a size option they just give me my wimpy 6 ounce latte. I think that's why I've been driven to figure out the machinetta.

Those were just a few thoughts I had while in the restaurant. I really liked sitting at the community table. There was a couple from D.C. that talked to us. They said they've been coming to Italy every year for the past 10 years, and the husband proposed in front of the Trevi fountain. They encouraged us to take it easy and enjoy. It was nice to have a brief conversation in English.

After lunch, we went back to the Spanish Steps. I took a few pictures, but Craig took most. I started to feel tired after eating food and didn't want to climb anymore since we were going to trek back to the apartment. Total, we walked 5.25 miles today. Thank you Florence for preparing us.

The Spanish Steps. There were vendors that kept shoving flowers in my face trying to get me to buy them. It was pretty irritating.

Craig took this shot from above.

Can you find me? I'll give you a hint: I'm sitting down and wearing red.

After taking a breather at the apartment, we went to the Mercato Trionfale. Another city market, but most of it had already closed. I was at least able to get some much needed produce, and there was a small bakery where we could get some other needed items on the way back.