Day 2

Italy 2011

Day 2

It would seem there are several meanings of the old saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, meaning there are many things to see in Rome.  We choose a route that cut through the center of Rome that we got from a Rick Steves travel book.

We started from our hotel that is fairly non-descript from the street.  When we tried to find it, we had to ask for directions when we were less than a block away.  The street numbers are chaotic and there is little signage.  We are sure glad we don’t have to a car to either drive or park, as this is the scene in front of our hotel.

When on your own, map reading is very important.  Street names change, sometimes more than once or twice.  The names, at times, seem very strange.  We doubt that Via Propaganda will be used as a street name in St. George, or Utah, for that matter.  You'll notice the street signs are marble and made part of the buildings.

This street is not far from the Trevi Fountain.  Moving water into the City was a trademark of the Romans a couple thousand years ago and thus the great numbers of fountains.  The sculpture is even more impressive than the size.

They say if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, you will return to Rome.  The guy next to Shari looks like he might have been hit by a stray coin and would vote for forward throwing.

We continued walking to several more ancient monuments including the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon.  Rome has the Pantheon, while Athens has the Parthenon.  For being over 2000 years old, the Pantheon looks pretty good.

We walked miles and miles, so we stopped from time to time at lively outdoor bars to have a drink and hors doeuvres while watching street performers and all the action around us.

We ended our tour by walking to a section of Rome called Trastevere that is located across the Tiber River.  It is very colorful, sort of the Grenwich Village of Rome.  We ate at a restaurant called Da Lucia, where we ate in 2004, and met some very interesting Americans.