| Glenn's Rome Journals 4-23-02 Tuesday morning we awoke to another beautiful day and a wonderful breakfast of apricot juice, croissant, and muffin. The first agenda item was to verify that Alessandro Hostel had room for us as we had told M&J's Place that we were moving on. Alessandro's did have accomodations for us so we spent the morning, along with Sylvia and Andres, moving around the corner. The four of us decided to hang out together today, so we started the day heading to the Villa Borghese. The Villa includes the largest park in the city with over a 6 kilometer perimeter. The park includes many varieties of plant life. In the midst of all of this is a small lake surrounded by an elegant garden known as the Giardino del Lago. A temple dedicated to Aesculapius rises on the island at the center. We enjoyed the remainder of the morning in and around the park. It was a very relaxing place to be in such a busy and noisy city. We exited the park heading westward towards the Tevere (Tiber) river. Our first stop was the Piazza di Spagna. We wanted to see the Spanish Steps (Scalinata di Trinita dei Monti) which lead up to the Piazza de Trinita dei Monti. The steps are beautifully presented with gorgeous spring flowers covering, what looks like, most of the steps. At the bottom of the steps is the Fontana delle Barcaccia which represents a sinking boat leaking water at the stern and bow. We then walked by the Accademia di Belle Arti, the Mausoleo di Augusto, and the Piazza Augusto Imperatore. There seems to be something of historical inference on every corner. We could not continue to stop and stare at every thing we saw as we would not leave the city for weeks and we only had one week to "see it all". We continued until we had made it to the Piazza Navona. The square covers the site of Domitian's stadium which held almost exclusively sporting events. The square, today, is famous for Bernini's Fontana dei Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) which represent the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile, and the Rio de la Plata. Aligned with the Fontana dei Fiumi are the Fountain of the Moor and the Fountain of Neptune. This along with the local market and tourists makes the square quite a happening place. We had a chance to look at some of the art work on sale as well as performers entertaining the crowd for money. Now we were off to Campo de Fiori with a flower and vegetable market almost every day. The piazza was a place of execution during the Inquisition. We definitely enjoyed the beauty surrounding the market place along with surrounding palaces. The Pantheon was our next stop which included enjoying the view while we ate lunch at McDonald's located right in front. The Pantheon was built in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus. It is considered the best preserved building in Rome. The dome itself is considered an amazing feat of engineering for it's time as it is a perfect sphere measuring the same in diameter as the heighth of the rotunda. This marvel was also cast in a single operation over a wooden framework and raised in it's entirety. There are many more stories to tell about the Pantheon and all of the other sites we saw today, but hence I continue. We were pretty worn out by now both physically and mentally, so we headed home. We had dinner with Andres and Sylvia at a little cafe near the hostel and called it an early night, if 10:00 pm is early for you. We had an early morning ahead of us as we planned to see the Pope speak in public tomorrow morning at the Vatican. |
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| The Scalinata di Trinita dei Monti, or Spanish steps, fronted by the Fontana delle Barcaccia |
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| The Roman Pantheon |