Rome Day 3!

Our last day in Rome was just as full as the rest. We started our day off with breakfast at the bar and headed out to see Castel Sant'Angelo. On our way to the Meideval fortress, we met an Australian couple and gave them some tips on the Vatican and Rome in general.

We got to the castle with the intention of viewing it from the outside only, as our day would be cut short being that we had to be at the train station by 8:30pm. However, we decided to tour it anyway, there's no way to see all of Rome in three days, you need at least a week. After buying the audioguide, we made our way up the spiral ramp. There was also an 18th century elevator inside, amazing! The castle is built on top of Hadrian's tomb. Also, at the top of it is a Cast Iron statute of Archangel Michael. Legend has it that he appeared on top of the castle and thus a chapel, designed by Michaelangelo, was dedicated to him as well as a terrace. There were too many things inside the castle to go into detail about, but let's just put it this way, it was definitely worth visiting. The view that you get from Archangel Michael's terrace is worth the entry fee alone. It's almost a 360 degree view of Rome and a very good view of the Vatican. After several hours at the castle, we decided to walk to the Pantheon.

On our trek to the Pantheon, we made a stop at Piazza Navona. This square is unlike many others. Of course, it holds typical things like fountains, vendors and over-priced restaurants, but it also holds and obelisk and three amazing fountains. Unfotunately, the most intricate of the three was under restoration, but Pox managed to get at least one good detail photo of one of the statues.


We continued on our way to the Pantheon. Once we got there, we were dumb-struck by the ancient (125 A.D. designed by Hadrian) building, now the Chiesa di Santa Maria ad Martyres. We first walked through one of the typical, cobblestoned streets to a little gelato shop. (yes, gelato again, it's good!) We got our fix of ice-cold heaven in a cup as we sat on the steps of the fountain that gazes at the Pantheon. After wiping our faces clean, we walked inside and were, yet again, dumb-struck and slack-jawed by the magnificence of the roof and church. The building was constructed with a circular opening in the roof. It allows for light to enter the building and when it rains, the water is drained through 22 holes in the floor.


Wanting to see as much of Rome as possible, we walked to the Vittorio Emanuelle monument. It was quite a walk too. When we got there, we walked up its slippery marble steps and admired the view. We saw three armed officers protecting the tomb of the unknown soldier at the center of the second level. Athena, fully armed with a silver owl in hand, watches over Piazza Venezia on an altar on top of the tomb. We went inside the museum and in search of a restroom. After walking through a very high and ricketty scaffolding, Cindy found a restroom with a very long line. Pox went off to take photographs of the view, he got really good ones. After finishing up at the monument, we were starving. We had shared a panini almost 7 hours earlier and Cindy was still craving herself some nachos from Hard Rock Cafe. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the cafe, but we did end up eating American food. We had filet o'fish combos from McDonald's at the train station.


After our dinner, we headed to the hotel to pick up our luggage and made it back to the station on time to catch our train. We rode in a nearly empty coach for two hours and were happy to be back in Florence. We missed our little apartment. Unfortunately, Rome was our last scheduled weekend trip and there is only a little over a week left in our vacation, but it's not over yet. We'll keep you posted.