Roma!

We finally made it to Rome at about 6:30 PM, Italy time. Somewhere we pretty much missed all of Tuesday, but we made up for it with the activities of the night. We took the train from the airport to the center of the Rome train lines. We then walked about 746 meters (thank you dad :) to Hotel Sonya. We are on the third floor looking over an opera house, Teatro dell’ Opera.

After checking into the hotel we walked along the gorgeously lit streets of Rome to the Fontana di Trevi. It was just about dusk when we got there and it was beautiful! It was pretty crowded with lots of people trying to distract you and get money. Some of them were even handing out roses. We walked around the fountain for a bit and then got some pizza and walked to the Pantheon.

By this time it was completely dark, but the streets were very well lit. There were a lot of quaint restaurants along the street, countless Gelato shops, pizzerias, and endless shoe and bag shops. The Pantheon was very stunning, especially considering how old it is. It was amazing to see the “new” buildings mixed in with the really old buildings. This city has so much history! Everywhere we turned it seemed like there was some building with incredible architecture.

Nearly all the buildings had ornate Corinthian columns or various pediments. Some were half circles, others triangles, and some were just flowery and decorative. The walls are all a unique color—I’m sure we’ll see that more tomorrow when it is light—and the streets have a lot of personality.

Driving in Rome is supposedly very crazy and most people suggest you don't do it. Well, this intersection would prove that theory. It is probably about 2-3 lanes wide on each side of the road, there are about 5 different roads, no traffic lights, no stop signs and no lines painted on the road. You just go. It was crazy to watch! The picture doesn't do it justice obviously, but it was extremely chaotic.



While we were walking from the Trevi Fountain to the Pantheon we saw Pinoccio so we decided to stop and take a picture. There was also a shop close by that had ties and scarves for a really good deal.

After we visited the Trevi fountain and the Pantheon we walked around and just looked at buildings for a while and then… we got gelato. For those of you who think gelato can’t be much better than regular ice cream—think again. It was amazing! We tried four different flavors: hazelnut, chocolate fondetta, chocolate cream, and cinnamon. Everyone tasted all of them, but Brianna and I shared the bowl with hazelnut and chocolate fondetta. It was divine! The chocolate fondetta had such a rich flavor and when it was mixed with the hazelnut it tasted like Ferrero Rocher. Mmmmm… delicious! As we finished eating our gelato we walked back to the Hotel and now I am posting this to the blog. What a day!