Italy, Day Two: Rome

Rick Steves said if you get to the Pantheon before 09:00 you have it all to yourself. We didn't make it there until around 09:30, but he was (as usual) right. The square was almost empty, very peaceful compared with the previous afternoon's madhouse.

We fired up our Rick Steves Audio Guides and walked straight in.

It just doesn't look real. How can it be real? Two thousand years old.

We walked by the Pantheon several times in the evening, and my favorite thing is that it sits there, in the middle of the neighborhood, without spotlights or fanfare. It's just part of the neighborhood, a church still in use today.

We also walked back by the Trevi Fountain, which was not crowded, either. We were catching on pretty quickly that mid-day is always the worst for everything. There were guys sucking the previous day's haul of coins out of the fountain, which the city uses to fund services for the poor.

Monday was the Ancient Rome day. For whatever reason, it hadn't really sunk in until a couple of weeks beforehand that Rome was, you know, ROME, seat of the Roman Empire, and that I was going to get to see all these ancient things. I love ancient things.

We passed through Trajan's Forum on the way, which is visible from the street but is closed to entry on Mondays.

  

I was already starting to see why nobody paid much attention to the Largo di Torre Argentina. They already have quite a lot to deal with.

We had some nice tourists take our picture.

Once again we used Rick Steves' audio tour while wandering around the forum. These are all via a free app and, while nerdy, they're a great way to get oriented to things.

The green bronze doors are original to this building, which dates from 300 AD. 1700 year old doors, and the lock even still works.

This is still in use as a church.

The pools of the Vestal Virgins still exist, in the shadow of a complex built on the hill by Caligula. I'm not sure I knew the Vestal Virgins were actually a real thing before this.

We also saw the exact spot on which Caesar's body was burned. Amazing.

I didn't really know what to expect from the Forum, but it wildly exceeded any expectations. It's absolutely fascinating.

There were quite a few people at the Colosseum. Lots of people wandering around with official-looking shirts trying to scam you into expensive tours and extra tickets, too.

The Arch of Constantine nearby.

We went inside and, of course, it's quite impressive.

Ten years ago, Ben and I went to the colosseum in El Jem, Tunisia, which claims to be the second biggest in the Roman world, second only to Rome itself. We had to stay an entire day, because there was only a morning train and an evening train into El Jem, and there is absolutely nothing else to do in town. We sat and read our books on the ancient stone seats as the sun set. There were, at maximum, 20 other people who entered that place the entire time we were there.

That was not the case in Rome.

On the way back to the hotel we passed the Victor Emmanuel II Monument, which is absolutely ridiculous. You can see also someone posing near the fountain for Instagram. The selfie situation at tourist spots was by far the worst I have ever seen it. Facebook has officially ruined everything.

After a rest, we went out for a walk. We were only about 5 minutes from the river, from which St. Peter's was clearly visible, so we decided to walk over to the Vatican.

The Castel Sant'Angelo was on the way. Built around 130 to be Hadrian's Tomb.

The Vatican at night was beautiful. The scale is difficult to comprehend until you're there. I'm especially grateful we went over there at night given how absolutely nuts we were to learn it is during the day.

Crossing the Tiber back into our neighborhood...

...and stopping for dinner at a random restaurant on the way back to the hotel. The food in Rome was incredible. Even in places that seemed touristy, it was always consistently stellar. This was one of the best meals of the trip.

I love Rome!