Day 3

Not quite as active of a day as the past one, but lots more sight seeing and exploring.  Woke up and decided to make the several-mile hike to the America bookstore with some friends.  Much better than taking the bus for me, especially since we really have no idea where they are going.  We did have a map...and thankfully someone that could read it.  But we did stop and make some detours....


First stop was...the Pantheon!

So the Pantheon was originally built and dedicated as what is believed to be a monument to the ancient Roman Gods in 27 BC.  It still today is the largest free-standing concrete dome structure in the world.  The structure we see now isnt completely from that time.  There were several large fires where the Pantheon was burned to the ground.  Current Pantheon was believed to have last been modified in 202AD.  There is a large oculus in the middle, which provides the only light into the temple.

It is really just monstrous.  Because of the crowd of people, I couldn't even get a good picture of the whole thing...or go in yet.  Something I noticed walking behind it was that the bottom of the structure was about 30-35ft lower than current sidewalks.  That's because Rome has burned so many times, that they just rebuild over the ruins, and has led to a huge difference between current elevations and ancient elevations.




Searching Rome's ancient monuments, it wasn't long before I saw some of the most famous arches in the world...

 The golden arches...












Continued on our journey following signs until we reached the Trevi fountain.

One of the newer structures(at least by Roman standards) the Trevi fountain was completed in 1762.  Although the water source that is used for it has been leading to this area since around 19 BC.  Through aqueducts, the water travels around 14 miles from outside of Rome to here.

Roomate Casey, and two girls i met right off the plane, Shannon and Charlotte.  The fountain really was beautiful and I definitely want to come back at to see it at night sometime.









Not much more sightseeing for alot of walking, although we did manage to find the Manhattan of Rome.  Gucci, Rolex, Prada, Cartier, Burberry, any upscale-luxury retailer was on this one street.  Numerous AMG Mercedes, Aston Martins, Jaguars and M3s lined the streets.  No one was using their bumpers to try and squeeze in between.  The streets are so tiny and packed with people, yet cars still make there way through somehow.  I actually got hit by one, granted it was only the mirror on a van that broke.  Finally made our way through the hordes of people to the Spanish Steps.

Spanish steps were really impressive, although we really couldn't see through the thousands of people that were there.  Originally the design was submitted as a competition in 1717 to build steps up to the French church.  

Massive amounts of people!!  Finally ate gelato, even though I felt like I was cheating on ice cream.  It really is awesome, plus didnt hurt eating on the Spanish steps.

Not really sure what church this was, but it was gorgeous.  It's extremely hard to get a feel for how big these structures really are.  Doors inside are almost 30 feet, and they are not even in the picture.










After trying to find a bus back, we had almost made our way back to where we could just walk back to campus.  About another 6 mile hike, but at least its good exercise.  Took a nap then walked around the streets to look for espresso and something to eat.  Found cool panini place and got food there. Went out later and night life in Rome is crazy.  So many people line the streets and it is a very light-hearted atmosphere.  Having 9 people with you probably helps.  On way back at around 2:30am, stopped for wine and appetizers.  Night life doesn't stop until really late here. Streets were still packed at 3:30am.  Had a blast with my new friends.

Not quite as many pictures or ancient monuments as blog before, but just as exciting of a day.  Kinda nervous, I hope my following blogs can compete with the previous after these two days! Loving Rome.