Rick Steves' book suggests a "Night Walk Across Rome." The first stop for us that evening was the Trevi fountain. It was very crowded and the rushing water was loud. We tossed a coin in the fountain to ensure our return to Italy. The fountain was completed in 1762. The figures are Neptune and two Tritons.We next stopped at the Pantheon. Each column is a single piece of granite 40 feet in height. If you click on the photo, you can barely see Sally standing at the base of a column. The current structure was built around 120 A.D. It is a marvel of Roman engineering. They say it is the best preserved ancient building in Rome. It is lined with tombs holding the bodies of Italian monarchs. On day 2, we return when the Pantheon is open. More on that later.
The final stop on our walk was the Piazza Navona. Lots of entertainment with live music, jugglers, fire eaters, vendors, etc. We ate dinner outside on a beautiful evening.
We ate artichoke/shrimp salad for the antipasti. For the prima entree, we had ricotta/spinach ravioli and spagetti with meat sauce. The fresh ingredients made the sauce incredibly good. For the secondi, Rich had filet with gorgonzola cheese. Sally had veal with prochuetto. We had vino rossa - a Chianti. We topped off the feast with tiramisu and cappiciano.
It's a good thing we had a ways to walk back to the hotel after all that food! We were exhausted. It was a full day - literally. We had been traveling and touring for nearly 24 hours.
