June 24-27, 2006
This building sat on our side of one of the bridges, and
when we saw it, we knew we were not far from the hotels. My feet loved
seeing this building. |
Here is a close-up of the horse-drawn chariot flying off
the top of that building.
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Here is a bridge we could see from our bridge. |
Ah, the hotel can't be far off now! Soon we'll be
at the bridge!
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I want to dig out my guidebooks and find the name of this
piazza. We turned a corner and found it when we were looking for the
Pantheon. |
It was SO HOT but all the fountains splashing water made
it seem cooler.
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We just flew in to Rome this morning. We took a
taxi to the hotel (because our pre-paid shuttle never showed up) and found
the Bender clan waiting for us. o we struck out, to lunch and then to
find the Pantheon. |
I appreciate art.
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The piazza was crowded with painters and tourists and
Italians. |
We realized we'd passed the Pantheon. We'd just
started working our way back north and voila, we came upon this unattractive
brick wall.
This could NOT be the Pantheon. It was too ugly.
But how many giant round buildings could there be in Rome? So we
started walking around to the front.
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Here is some more of the round brick wall, less ugly.
With every step, my excitement grew. As did my blisters. |
Ha! You expected a photo of the front of the Pantheon?!
Well, we collected all the Pantheon pictures in one spot -- you have to go
to the bottom of this page and click the Pantheon button.
Here is our happy little group, pausing while Lisa tried
to figure out where we are on the map.
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This
is a little weed growing in the wall that encloses the Vatican. A
favorite quote from Jurassic Park, "Life will find a way." |
Here is another view of the building at the end of the
bridge that led to our hotel.
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Coliseum
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These guys sit above the door into the Vatican Museum. |
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This little old lady approached the Vatican guards, and
they clustered together so she could get a good photo. We caught her just as
they started to separate and get back to work. |
Lou and I mapped out the route to the door of the Vatican
Museum, and we timed it. The desk clerk said 10 minutes. It was
evening, and the sidewalks and streets were jammed with people out for a
stroll or dinner or shopping, so it took 35 minutes. The next morning it
only took 20 minutes.
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Fountain |
Barefoot in Rome! We tried to call up to the
Benders' room to see if they wanted to have dinner with us. The Hotel
Isa was fantastic, but the phone in their room was not working. So we
headed off down the street to eat, and Lisa ran downstairs and down the
street to see what we needed. Notice the guy on
the motorcycle driving straight for us on the sidewalk! Pedestrians are not
safe in Rome.
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