rome, first real day

the coloseum, early in the morning.
paola and george in front of fountain of trevi



because we didnt get home until about 1am last nite, we woke up a bit late this morning. we started by looking for a place where we could get some good for breakfast; we decided on some fruit, bread, and prosciutto.

to make clear our accomodations, we are staying in an apartment that is in the same building that paola’s dad used to live in. aparently the owner of teh building is away, and we are either in her apartment, or in one that she has specially set up for renting on a weekly basis as a guest place.

so we got up and saw lots of things today. we walked to piazza venezia. it is rather big, and paola says that it is the parliment building. from there we could see the coloseum, so we went down there, and inside. it was neat. we then roamed around the forum, or palantie hill, which is right next to the coloseum, and is old ruins of the main center, etc. it was neat to roam around the old ruins.

we then went to piazza novona, which has a large fountain in the middle, and is surrounded by many restaurants. it is a long oval square, and the main building was covered by scaffolding, so we really couldnt see it. it seems that everywhere we go in italy, they are cleaning some old building, covering it with scafolding, and obstructing everyone’s view of classic architecture.

the pantheon was a short walk from there. it is an ancient building, and the oldest roman dome still standing. it is considered a marvel of ancient roman architecture.

finally we saw the fountain di tevi. it is a large fountain with all sorts of scuptures, neptune among them. for me it was the hi-lite of the day, even though it was so crowded. it was very awe inspiring.