Day 2 - Part 2 - Downtown

Day 2 - Part 2

After spending the entire morning exploring the ruins of Ancient Rome, we trecked up into the city center to explore the more modern areas.  (Never mind that the more "modern" parts of Rome still predate the start of our country by a few hundred years.)  After a delicious lunch we tried to avoid the rain by ducking into the original gothic churches in Rome.  Santa Maria sopra Minerva.  Besides the classic Gothic architecture, it was fascinating to be able to walk up the sculpture of Christ and Cross and see that it was an original Michelangelo.  No security guards.  No rope holding you back.  No plexiglass.  Just you, and the church, and the art.

The altar at Santa Maria sopra Minverva

 One block away from the church was the famed Pantheon.  I won't lie.  I had heard of the Pantheon, but until our 30 minute audio tour, I had no idea what it was.  Interesting facts:  The hole (oculus) in the center of the dome is a permanent fixture.  I guess having a giant hole in the ceiling solved the centuries old problem of getting some decent light into a cavernous building that has no windows.  While we were there it was raining, and the rain came straight down through the oculus in the dome make a large wet spot on the marble floor.  The dome is the worlds largest un-reinforced concrete dome.  (Yes, you are standing under 9,000 lbs of concrete.)  The Pantheon has been in continuous use since its construction.  In addition to a couple of Italian Kings the Pantheon also contains the tomb of the famous artist Raphael.

This is an 8 shot panorama of the interior.

Touring the Pantheon was exhausting, so it was time for some gelato.  We found a colorful, but somewhat generic gelato shop behind the Pantheon. 

 

Once we were done with our gelato, we did the only sensible thing we could think of.  We walked around until we could eat more gelato.  This time we ended up at one of the most famous gelato shops in all of Rome the world.  Giolitti.  We benefited from it being somewhat off season and the cool weather.  In the summer months, there can be lines out the door and down the street.

 
This wasn't even the half of it.  And all of it is fresh , from scratch, made on site from all natural ingredients.

Strawberry and Pistachio.  Keep in mind, that the "ch" in Italian is pronounced like a "k" so when in Rome, it's sounds more like "pistackio".  However you say it, it's delicious.

I took this next picture to illustrate one point.  Doors in Rome are HUGE.  I swear that ancient Romans must have all been 15 feet tall.  Everywhere we looked there were these gigantic doors.  It was really something.

 At this point we started wandering.  We walked around a corner and woah... Trevi Fountain.  That's quite the site to see when aren't expecting it.  It was on our itinerary for later but I think it was more fun to be suprised.  It is surrounded by buildings, so you don't see it until you are right on top of it.  And it is huge.  Really impressive.

 

At this point we were pretty exhausted so we started to wander back towards the hotel.  At one point I glanced back and saw this site.  The dome at St. Peter's Basilican (in the Vatican City) across the rooftops.  From where I took the photo, the dome is almost 2 miles away.  It's almost always visible from high points because by law no building in Rome is allowed to be taller.  (At least that's what I regularly read.  I don't know if that law is still on the books.)  That's where we are headed tomorrow.