Failblog Day 2

Because I had only blogged for one day before I missed a day. To my defense, we had an incredible day of walking after only 5 hours of sleep the night before; so, when we got back to the hotel for a pre-dinner nap, I ended up falling asleep through the night until this morning. Anyone who knows me, however, wouldn't be surprised since I am fully capable of falling asleep anywhere at anytime. I like to think of it as selective narcolepsy.

Anywho, let me tell you a little bit about why I was so tired. We left our hotel after breakfast al fresco on the roof heading toward our first stop of the day, Trevi Fountain. As it happens we were sort of haphazardly wandering in the right direction because as we neared the end of a narrow alleyway, the rush of water became audible and all of the sudden there it was:

I tried to get a better shot but that brown-haired thing was in the way.

No matter how many times I've seen The Lizzie McGuire Movie, no film or photograph can truly do this magnificent monument justice. The thing is massive, first of all. You can hear the water from a block away, and it literally forms the base of the building. Rather than being free-standing, it is very much connected to it's backdrop with concrete "water" rushing out of the bottom windows to form the sea in which the sculptured tritons on horses are swimming. Rumor has it that if you throw a coin backwards over your left shoulder into the fountain, you will to return to Rome. Unfortunately I did not read this juicy nugget of information until after I threw the coin backwards over my right shoulder (I'm right handed, it makes sense). Hopefully that doesn't backfire on me and result in my death (by gelato) next time I'm in Italy. 

After staring in awe at the Fountain for at least an hour, we carried onward, passing fabulous building after building, obelisk after obelisk, trattoria after trattoria. Wasn't long however before we hit the Pantheon. All I can say is WTF. How is it possible that people two thousand years ago could build this:

I would have made an awesome obelisk. But if I was a Roman statue they'd have made me naked with no head.

The Pantheon is enormous. My Rome book says that its walls are 20 feet thick and now I definitely believe it. Probably the coolest part about it however is that it's squished in between two rows of buildings, an obelisk, and a fountain. And life just goes by around it like it's not even there. I had a Mugatu moment where I wanted to tap someone on the shoulder and shout at them, "doesn't anyone notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!" It looks so out of place with the commerce carrying on around it, yet it is so fitting with the rest of the city. Everywhere you turn there's another unbelievable work of architecture.

Rotunda inside the Pantheon. What happens when it rains?

I'm really into photography now.

Since we had such fantastic luck seeing everything I had wanted to by early afternoon, we took off in search of another monument we had seen in the distance from the top of our hotel. Not much to go on, but since Rome is pretty small we had no trouble finding it. 

Kinda looks like it belongs in Washington, D.C., right?

It's called Il Vittoriano, and apparently everyone hates it, calling it nicknames like "the wedding cake." That's because it was built to honor the first king of unified Italy, Victor Emanuele II, but they had to destroy some of imperial Rome on Capitoline Hill in order to do so. On the taxpayers dime. No buono. But it looks pretty cool and sports some gnarly views of the Eternal City. 

We went back to Trevi because it was so legit and took an obligatory dad-daughter picture.

Photoshop Mom and Beth in here and we've got ourselves a Christmas card.

Gotta go grab a bite to eat before I write about today's funtivities. Pizza, pasta, insalate? I like my options.