Rome : Fontagna Di Trevi, Pantheon & Spanish Steps!

Rome : Fontagna Di Trevi, Pantheon & Spanish Steps!

Tuesday (the 18th December), was a new day after the storm I guess and after a bit of a sleep in to try and remove the remnants of the horrendous headache the day before we decided to set off for some more sightseeing. Steve and I went down to Roma Termini for a bit of breakfast and faced the day fresh and in hope of covering more ground and getting to more of the beautiful sights that Rome had to offer. A couple of panini and due capuccini later -we were off!

We had a rough plan of where we wanted to go so we jumped into our picture map and planned to visit some of the cute little picture places along the way. Firstly we came across a street called "Via Delle Quattro Fontane - Street of the Four Fountains". Yeah I know it can't get any more obvious, but still it was a popular place to stop and take photographs because I wasn't the only one dodging traffic and people in order to get a clean shot of all four fountains. The church on the corner "San Carlo alle Quattro Fontagne" is designed in beautiful baroque style by architect Francesco Borromini constructed between 1638 - 1641.

Our feet then took us up to Quirinal Hill, where we found Palazzo Del Quirinale. This is the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic. Previously, it had been the residence of the King of Italy before the fall of the monarchy in 1946 as well as housing the Pope before 1871. The obelisk was erected by Pope Pius VI in 1786 next to "The Horse Tamers". At that point I was keen to get to the Trevi Fountain and turned to Steve to say "Let's go to the Trevi Fountain" and this point he said "The what?" Laughing out loud- I couldn't quite believe my ears and thought I had imagined he had just uttered those words. Traditionally there are a few things that come to mind when you think of Rome. These are "The Colosseum", "The Vatican", "The Spanish Steps" & "The Trevi Fountain". I guess he can be forgiven for not seeing the movie "A Roman Holiday" with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn nor hearing the song "Three Coins in the Fountain."

So I grabbed Steve's hand and some time later found ourselves at "Fontana Di Trevi." It lived up to almost every expectation I had about it.. but I imagined it to be in a large piazza full of people and little stalls of food. Where we found it was truly remarkable. It was in a tiny little square surround by what seemed like a million people and what looked like residential buildings with a stream of shops on the ground floor and several food/souvenir stalls. It was actually impossible to get a decent picture with all the people around it and the buildings encapsulated it so much you couldn't get enough distance to get a a complete photograph.

The fountain has an interesting history. Originally the fountain was a junction for an aquaducts that supplied water to ancient Rome from a located source around 13km from the city. This served Rome for around 400 years until the aquaducts were broken in 537-538AD during the Gothic War. Work on the present fountain begun in 1732 after Pope Clement XII ran a contest to design the fountain. An Italian Architect by the name of Nicola Salvi was awarded the privilege and his work was completed in 1762, 11 years after his death. If you know the story then you know that tradition/superstition says that for luck you should throw Three Coins over your left shoulder into the fountain. To be honest, my need to eat overthrew my need for good luck and I completely forgot! Apparently about Ɛ 3,000 go into the fountain each day and are removed at night and put to good use for those in need in Rome!

At that point my tum was starting to rumble so on our way to the Pantheon, Steve and I looked for a snack. To be honest after 3 days in Italy I was slowly beginning to get tired of only Pizza & Pasta as an eating option so imagine my excitement when we came across a place that had Crepe's! YUM! So one banana & Chocolate Crepe later Steve and I wandered towards the Pantheon.The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to all the Gods and the name Pantheon is applied to any monument as a places of rest for people of importance! Just like the Pantheon in Paris houses important people such as Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo & Marie and Pierre Curie, the Roman one is a place of rest for artists Raphael, Annibale Caracci , composer Archangelo Correlli and King Vittorio Emanuele II & Umberto I. This current building dates back to 125AD as the previous one was destroyed in a fire in 80AD. Since the 7th Century the Pantheon has been used as a Christian Church and still serves as one in the present day. In comparison to the one in Paris, this building is substantially smaller yet it is amazing to think that it is still standing.. its inconceivable to think it has stood there since 125BC.

From the Pantheon, Steve and I decided we should get to the Vatican Museum so we had enough time to get through the Sistine Chapel so we pounded the pavement via Piazza Navone across the Tiber River. Along the way we came across Castel Sant' Angelo and decided to sit down and have a rest because our feet were complaining a little bit. Castel San't Angelo is actually a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and served as a fortress and castle for a thousand years. This dates back to 138 - 139 AD. We didn't actually really know what this had inside of it because we wanted to get to the Vatican after missing out on half a day the day before because of my illness. Unfortunately, what we didn't know is that we had a time constraint on the hours the Vatican Museum was open. When we got there which was just after 2pm the Museum had closed! I couldn't quite believe it actually and was disappointed because when we got to Rome all I wanted to see was the Sistine Chapel... I spose there will be a next time!

So after that, Steve and I grabbed a cup of coffee to warm up and something to eat in a cafe across the road and proceeded to head back into town and slowly head back towards our hotel room. On the way back, we actually hit a trendy part of Rome with some well known exclusive brands. Imagine my surprise when I came across a store named after me.. or vica versa.. either way it was spelt right.. "Eleonora" . Wow my name up in lights! My name journey continued when we visited Naples but more of that later... until we reached the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps all 138 of them join Piazza Di Spagna with Piazza Trinita Del Monti. The sun was starting to go down at that point as well as the temperature as well as Steve and I were starting to feel hungry so we decided to head back and find some dinner. Lucky we detoured because we accidentally found the Hard Rock Cafe and made and executive decision to have our dinner there.... Mmm Potato Skins.... Since it was my birthday the next day (and we were travelling to Naples) it was kind of an early Birthday dinner... and a nice cocktail later Steve and I retired to our hotel room to get some rest and pack up and leave for Naples the next day!

*Zzzzzzzz*

For more smashing photo's from Rome : http://picasaweb.google.com/hillsj/Rome

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