when in rome....

hello! sara here to update our faithful family and friends on our travels. disclaimer: this post is the first of many that will include lots of reflections and opinions on historical art and architecture because i have a degree in art history, and i like reflecting on historical art and architecture. if you don't like reading about my reflections or opinions on what i spent 4 tedious and years of blood, sweat, and sleepless nights learning about and studying (i.e. historical art and architecture) go read something less stimulating. people.com is a good start. end disclaimer.

as jonathan said, our time in siena was heavenly. i highly recommend at least two nights in siena if you are ever in italy. we are so thankful to have a great guidebook which guided us to NOT drive in rome. instead, we decided to park in the quaint town of orvieto (which had free parking!) and train it into rome for a mere 12,00 euros each. this was definitely the way to go as our hour train ride took us through the beautiful tuscan countryside and right into the termini train station in the center of rome.

we found our hotel pretty easily and took it easy for the afternoon. it was back to the guidebook for a night walk through rome which started out at the Campo di Fiori. we had a great dinner at Magnolia where we had an American waitress (Julianne) from East Lansing, Michigan. we learned a lot about Roman/Italian culture from Julianne. Julianne told us she knew we were Americans right away because it was cold and Jonathan was wearing a North Face fleece. apparently only Americans and Canadians wear those types of things. if we wanted to blend in she said we needed to wear leather. hmm. she also told us that Jonathan could order the girliest drink they offered - with sparklers and umbrellas and fruit in a tall pink glass - and he would still be considered macho in Italy. who knew? but even after Julianne's pep talk, Jonathan still ordered a beer. thanks again, Julianne, for our introduction to Rome. we wish you all the best on your botany degree!

after our colorful dinner we began our walk. in my opinion, Rome is best at night. there is something magical about the way it looks after dark. anyway, our walk took us from Campo di Fiori through the Piazza Navona where there were lots of street painters and musicians. unfortunately, the 4 rivers fountain by Bernini which is located in the piazza was being worked on. from there, we weaved our way to the Pantheon. yes i did spell it correctly - the Pantheon is in Rome, the Parthenon is in Athens. if you don't know what the Pantheon is, go look it up. the Pantheon was constructed in the 1st c. AD (i think). it has a perfect dome that is 142 feet high and wide. even the renaissance guys couldn't figure out how to build a dome this well so the powers-that-be in Rome gave Brunelleschi permission to cut into the dome to see how it was constructed. (if you don't know who Brunelleschi is, shame on you! go look him up too.) across from the Pantheon is also the nicest McDonald's i've ever seen in my life. moving along from the Pantheon we saw an Egyptian obelisk which was taken from Egypt by Augustus after his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra. we then watched the secret service escort some important Italian cabinet members back to their home (i think they thought we were tailing them for a while - don't worry, mom, we didn't get arrested). after a near brush with the law, we found our way to the Trevi Fountain by Nicola Salvi. now i am not a Baroque fan. in fact, i usually detest Baroque art and its way of being too over the top and flashy, but this fountain, in my opinion, redeems the entire Baroque period. if you love Baroque, you'll love this fountain. if you're like me, go see it anyway, but go see it at night. legend has it that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the Trevi Fountain it means you'll return to Rome soon. our walk ended at the Spanish steps which was good because i was tired of walking. unfortunately, the metro from the Spanish steps was broken so we cabbed it back to the hotel. day 1 in Rome was complete.