Day 9 - Mar 13, 2013 Last updated: 4/6/13 2:00pm PT
We walked past the Trevi Fountain on our way to the Pantheon. The first day in Rome, we walked here and because it was warm and sunny (and late afternoon), the place was very crowded. This morning it was cold and rainy and empty. We did not throw a coin in the fountain, I’d rather spend the coin on gelato.
The Pantheon is one of the best preserved buildings from ancient Rome, because it’s been in continuous use since its construction about 2000 years ago. The ‘skylight’ at the top of the dome is actually an opening. It was raining, and the rain comes in and drains through holes in the floor.
There are signs posted inside asking visitors to be respectful of this sacred place and to please be quite. Then every 5 minutes over the loudspeaker someone would announce that everyone should be quite.
We were listening to the audio guide.
The Capitoline Museum had a confusing layout and a bunch of typical Roman artifacts. We definitely went to too many museums.
A Roman chariot.
A view of the Roman Forum from inside the Capitoline Museum.
We took the rest of the day off after about 1:00 to recuperate and get out of the rain. Dinner was at Shawarma Station for shawarma. We needed a change. The Italian food we had was not all that impressive, nor was there much variety. Maybe we just went to the wrong places.
They picked a new Pope today and we watched it on TV from the comfort of our hotel room.