Our last full day in Rome was completely devoted to exploring all the delights of the city center, eating too much, and shopping our was across the city! All the things a good tourist should do! But before we got a jump on the latter two items, we still had a few touristy highlights to hit…
Once again, we made an early start… And thank goodness the weather had decide to cool down just the tiniest bit! We got off the subway, and made our way through picturesque back streets to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain! Both were incredible master pieces… I have to admit that I didn’t really know anything about the Pantheon beforehand, but when we got inside it was such an amazing contrast, given that we’d just spent the entire previous day exploring the epicenter of Christianity… The Pantheon was originally designed as a pagan temple to “all of the Gods” (the Greek translation) of Rome, and later taken over as a Christian Church. But it’s pagan influence, including the shape and architecture, was clear in comparison to the most Christian churches.
The Pantheon! The largest free standing dome in existence, and quite impressive if I may say so myself! :)
My first impression of the Trevi Fountain was that it was SO much bigger than I had expected! It literally comprised an entire side of a building! I guess it’s magnitude had never stood out in pictures, but it really was an incredible work of art inconspiciously nestled in between these little back-alley streets… Who would’ve known?!
Trevi Fountain! We hit it early and managed to miss most of the masses!
The kids found a quiet shady place to rest by the Fountain… Quite a feat considering it was tourist-central!
The streets around the city centre were almost my favorite site of the day… They were just out of a picture-book… Relatively quiet, shady, and full of lots of little places to fulfill Carolyn’s souvenir shopping and my mom’s post-card addiction! :)
Shopping, Shopping, Shopping, Picture, and more Shopping… :)
Outside the Pantheon… Ready to head back into the heat…
We headed home for a nap in the afternoon, and returned to the city centre later that evening to see the Spanish Steps and Piazza del Popolo… We stopped for a wonderful pasta dinner while in the city… And even stopped back by St Peter’s Square with mom, again later that night… It was a perfect relaxing evening to end what had been a busy, but wonderful family vacation!
The Spanish Steps… Which were packed in the evening!
In the Piazza del Popolo… Where we stopped for a delicious dinner on our last night in Rome!
The next morning we waved goodbye to the Eternal City… But given that we were only there for 5 days, we all felt like we’d accomplished everything we had wanted to… It was a gorgeous city, full of amazing history, architecture, engineering, and great food… Exactly what Drayton, Carolyn, and I wanted when we listed Rome as the one place in Europe we all had to go as a family during our time living in Germany… And thus another chapter in the Bird Family Adventure is complete! :)
With Love from Roma… <3 Mary Elizabeth
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