When in Rome.... DAY 3!!!

Day 3- Churches and the "Heart of Rome" Walk


So....Sunday morning came and the world was looking a lot better after a great nights sleep.  Apparently there is a Roman time warp though, because when we woke up, our watch and the clock we had brought were an hour different, even though when we went to sleep, they were the same time.  I swear.  Luckily, I had put on my "I'm cool, laidback, and not at all stressed when my day doesn't go exactly as planned" glasses and dealt with it (although we did miss breakfast).  The shower, though tiny and interesting, felt great and we were ready to hit the road pretty quickly.  We decided to take the metro to Piazza Repubblica to start at the Baths of the Diocletian.  These are the ruins of the ancient Roman baths where they have also put the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.  It was beautiful and the first of many gorgeous cathedrals we saw in Rome.

The Baths

The church- designed by Michaelangelo 

Beautiful Organ

Time line by Galileo

The main chapel where they were holding Mass

   

Piazza della Repubblica and Jordan    

After the baths, we walked to the closeby (and closed for the low season) Opera house.  We had to snap a few pictures anyway:

If only..... :)

Then we walked around the area some more to try to see the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria.  It was closed, which was sad because it held a pretty famous Bernini sculpture made even more famous by its presence in "Angels and Demons." Oh well.  We then went to the National Museum of Rome, which holds the "greatest collection of ancient Roman art anywhere."  That's probably true, but most of it is in busts of Romans I don't know, so it wasn't as cool as some of the other things we ended up seeing.  Still, there were some great pieces:

the remains of an ancient calendar

REALLY old coins.

Roman copy of the Greek Discus Thrower

I just thought this was pretty....

"What knockers!!!!" (Anyone???.....)

After the museum, we successfully got on the right bus to get us to the Campo de' Fiori (NO thanks to pretty much any tourist information kiosk in Rome.  Seriously, they don't believe in bus schedules or route maps...we had to guess.)  We ended up at the start of one of Rick Steve's Self Guided walks.  (Note: I HIGHLY recommend getting a Rick Steves tour book.  This thing not only saved our live and sanity, but gave great and free audio tours, maps and awesome recommendations for everything.  Worth its weight in gold.)  This was called the "Heart of Rome Walk" and it was great!!

 

Me in the Campo de' Fiori

The Campo de' Fiori (Field of Flowers--only anciently) is now a fruit and vegetable market.  There was a stand of TONS of kinds of pastas.  Amazing.  It was very cool to walk around and see all the wonderful foods.

We kept walking and ended up in the Piazza Navona--one of my favorite places in Rome.  So romantic!  There was live music all over, artists selling their paintings and of course, food.  In the center is the famous Bernini fountain, the Four Rivers.

Amazing street musicians

Piazza Navona

The Four Rivers Fountain (representing the four known continents in 1650)

The Church of St. Agnes--so beautiful inside.  It is to the west of the fountain.

My handsome husband by the fountain.

We continued our walk through the streets until we happened upon the Pantheon.  It is Jordan's favorite thing in Rome.  It was amazing to see something built 2 millenia ago that is still standing.  Its an architectural marvel and truly incredible.  The columns in front are one single piece of granite and the dome was what inspired other famous domes--St. Peter's and the Duomo in Florence.  Its also cool to see how the building is sunken below the current street level, showing how the city has been built up on 20 centuries of rubble.

Boom.

One of Jordan's favorites!

Entryway

The incredible dome.  Seriously, how did they do that???

Tomb of Raphael

We kept going (and yes, we were walking a lot) and saw Italy's parliament building, where Jordan decided to take a bit of a break and play with his camera....

How lucky that there were two other people wearing red!!

The parliament building

We were walking SO MUCH, in fact, that we decided we needed gelato.  Rome's most famous gelateria is called Giolitti's and it was delicious, but so crowded!! An experience I'm glad we had, but am glad we found other places that weren't so cramped.

Yummy!

Next, we continued on to the Trevi Fountain.  It is HUGE!! And quite the gathering place, I might add.

 We went back to the hotel for a little nap and then made one of our better decisions:  The Target Restaurant.  Oh my goodness.  Unfortunately, I was in such a state of culinary euphoria that I did not take pictures, but I will describe.  Jordan and I shared an antipasti platter which introduced me to TOMINO CHEESE--one of the best things I have EVER put in my mouth.  Oh my gosh!!!!!!  The proscuitto was buttery and I was already on the edge of happiness.  Then came my main course.  A fresh ravioli filled with pears, ricotta cheese and truffle sauce.  Yeah.  Heaven.

We got a little turned around on the way home, but we saw the gigantic Santa Maria Maggiore and finally got back to hotel, happy and full.

Onto day 4!!!!!!!!!!