Here we go...Rome #2....finally!

We stayed at a B&B in Rome and got breakfast every morning at a little "bar." We had our choice of delicious pastries and a cappucino, complete with a perfect heart poured into it. Mmm, it was good!

On our second day in Rome we walked a LOT! First we walked to the Trevi Fountain. No, this is not it...:) I believe this is the Fountain of Triton, made by Bernini in 1642. We didn't know what it was at the time, but thought it looked cool so we took a picture! Now that I know what it is, it's a bit more impressive! :)

We arrived at the Trevi Fountain after a very HOT walk. I think the temperature that day was around 104...

It was much bigger than I expected actually! Very impressive in all of the details too! This is a picture of Eric and I throwing a coin into the fountain. Supposedly if you throw a coin in over your shoulder, you will someday return to Rome. Hopefully it won't be quite so hot next time! :) The water felt amazing though! I just wish we could have jumped in!

Here is a picture of the whole thing. There were TONS of people there, so it was hard to get a good picture, but this one wasn't bad. :) It was packed and we had to push our way through to the front, but it was very neat to see!

A short walk through the skinny streets of Rome and we came upon the Pantheon! It was pretty impressive! It was originally built in 27 B.C. by Marcus Agrippa, but burned down later and was rebuilt by emperor Hadrian around 118 AD. It was dedicated to Marcus Agrippa though and his name is still on the front. It was the first "dome" of it's time and has a hole (27 feet across) in the ceiling of the dome. It was really cool to see the sunlight coming through it.

Here is a picture of the inside of the pantheon. It became a Christian monument at some point in history, and is to this day.

After lunch (at a great little place we read about in Rick Steve's book and got free strawberry wine!) We walked across town to cross over the Tiber River to the neighborhood of Trastevere. This is us on the bridge to the island in the middle of the river. The river was pretty murky looking, but still water all the same!

Once we crossed into Trastevere we walked around for a while and came across this church. We didn't know what it was at first, but found out that it was the Santa Maria which is thought to be one of the oldest churches in Rome, though no one is sure of the date. It was very elegant on the inside! The funny part was, when we first got there we were so hot we just walked into the covered portico and sat without going in for about 30 minutes because we didn't know what it was! After we went in though we were pleasantly surprised!

In the covered portico where we sat, the walls were covered with pieces taken from all over ancient rome. Some of the pieces were clearly christian (there were a lot of Chi-ro (sp) symbols and fish) However there were a lot of very non-christian symbols too. Pretty cool!

Once we finally went inside, we ended up wandering around for about an hour because it was so impressive! The whole ceiling was gold! We have tons of pictures of the inside, but I just picked this one for the sake of space. :) When i finish my photobook you can see more!:)

After a rest inside Santa Maria, we decided to walk up to the top of a large hill in trastevere (I can't remember the name of the lookout, but it's pretty well known). On our way up (and finally out of the crowds!) we came across this huge fountain! There were only like 4 other people there too! It was very refreshing to put our feet in! I haven't been able to figure our what fountain it is, but it was very cool!

Isn't Rome supposed to be romantic?? :) What can I say, it was Christina's idea!

This was the view from the fountain overlooking Rome. The big building there is the roman Capitol building. It's pretty huge too, but we didn't stop to see it. Just saw it on our bus ride home that evening. Pretty amazing view though!

I don't know what this building is, but it was right next to the fountain and was pretty, so we took a picture. :)

We continued our walk to the very top of the hill and got an awesome view of St. Peter's Cathedral and the Vatican! The view from the fountain of the whole city was better than from here because there were too many trees, but this was pretty neat!

After this, we walked down the hill to the city again and found a place for dinner. Christina and I shared a tiramisu for dessert and it was SO GOOD! Definitely the best I've ever had! MMmmm!

End of day two!