Living Outside the Box: Rome: Day One of the Sites

Our official first day of seeing some sites in Rome went a like this: Doug had his conference for the morning and then I thought it was best to let Ella have a nap before venturing out. It was about 2pm before we started our day, but it was jammed full of seeing Rome. With our little tourist map in hand and having my navigator Doug with us insured that this day was going to be more eventful.

Everyday we walked by the Plaza Della Repulica where they have a beautiful fountain. It was the most amazing at night time.

Right near the Plaza Della Repulica was a gas station similar to the ones we had seen on our bus ride from the airport into the city. They are very small and are more like a pull off from the main street. I do not feel this picture does much justice, but I decided to share it anyway.

We then walked right past the hotel where Doug had his 1 1/2 day conference. It really was stunning and Doug said inside was even more amazing. We had the option to stay the night there while Doug had his conference, but with the steep nightly price we chose a cheaper one. That way we could stay all five nights in the same hotel and not break the bank. The three extremely large arches you can see is just the entrance!!

Next we happened to walk past San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (which means The Church of Saint Charles at the Four Fountains.) We took a picture and googled it later since neither one of use knew anything about it. It was absolutely massive. I went across the street to try and take a picture. Online at (http://romafelix.com/scarlino.htm) I found this picture which shows you how big it really is as well as some much more detailed pictures. I just can't get the settings right in different lighting situations for great detailed pictures with our camera.
Basically it's a Roman Catholic Church in Italy and construction began in 1638. It has some history to it but I'm not going to get into all of it.

This is a government building that literally was as long as the street. It went on and on forever!

After finally passing the entire government building we stumbled across a changing of the guard ceremony outside of it. Not sure if the guards are all from Italy or from other counties as well. They sang a song which we believe was their National Anthem. It was interesting but would have been nice to know a bit more about. There was quite a large crowd gathered there so it must be a "touristy" thing to see.

Finally we got to the first real attraction we had on our list: Fountain de Trevi.

We met a very nice girl from the U.S (can't remember where) who offered to take our family picture!

It is the largest Baroque (a period of artistic style) fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. The fountain is at the end of a Roman aqueduct that was constructed in 19 BC. It brings water from approx 20km away and supplies the fountains in the historic center of Rome with water. Legend has it that if you toss a coin into the fountain you will ensure a return trip to Rome. You are suppose to through it over your shoulder with your back to the fountain. Ella threw two coins into the fountain (however not over her shoulder). We also visited the fountain at night where I got a chance to toss in a coin!

We both decided Ella can return for a vacation....but never to move away from us!

The one thing you notice very quickly is the amount of scooters. It's no wonder that's the way to travel in Rome. The streets are so tiny and narrow, I would NEVER want to drive a car. I don't know how many times Doug winced in pain as we passed a Mercedes or BMW with multiple dents and scratches.

Most of Rome is filled with multiple "Piazzas". It's a city square found along the coast and surrounding regions of Italy. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish "plaza". We walked through several different Piazzas which had fountains or statues in the center. Today we walked through the Piazza Colonna, which is the historic heart of Rome. It is named for the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius (one of the greatest warriors of the Roman empire) which has stood there since 193 AD. This column features a spiral relief which tells the story of Marcus Aurelius. A sculpture in relief means that it is suppose to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. This column has five horizontal slits that allow light into the internal spiral staircase leading to the statue on top. On the top of the column was a statue of Marcus Aurelius; today, a bronze statute of Saint Paul stands there.

And now the Pantheon; a building that was commissioned as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome and was originally part of Augustus Caesar’s plan to rebuild Rome in his image. It was rebuilt in about 126 AD.

Almost two thousand years old and the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.

The tomb of the first king of Italy:

The floors had mosaic tiled patterns in places, along with the rest being marble.

Although not the greatest picture of Ella and I; this shows how massive the pillars are outside the entrance.

Here we are at Piazza Narona. If you look closely in the background of this picture you can get an idea of how a "piazza" is set up. The middle had some fountains and a market of some kind going on.

Here is just one of the buildings and a fountain at the Piazza Narona.

Ella feel in LOVE with fountains during our short trip. Since they are everywhere, every time she saw one she wanted to go right over to it. She enjoyed having some time out of the stroller and the Piazza's where the best places to let her free for a bit.

This hotel building was on our way to our final tourist stop of the day. It was so long and skinny. It had a road on either side of it which made it even more interesting. It was as if it was just plopped there.

Finally the Spanish Steps which are located in The Piazza di Spagna or Spanish Square. The square is connected to a church at the top, via the stairs. It is the widest staircase in Europe. At the foot of the stairs you can see the famous Barcaccia Fountain.