Today started out... well poorly. I woke up at 7am and had the worst migraine ever. It was so bad I became nauseous. I managed to eat and get some ibuprofen in my system before falling back to sleep with Hunter watching over me. I managed to sleep till 1pm waking up without a migraine, but wasting much of the day. I felt so bad because I know Hunter wanted to go explore, as did I, but apparently, my head had other plans.
At 1 pm we got up and got going. We headed to Piazza del Popolo, an area with Rome's oldest obelisk and the city's northern gate. There are also many churches. We looked around some then searched for food as we were both really hungry. We found a bakery type place that sold sandwiches and got one to share. It was pretty good.
We continued walking, passed some fancy shops like Louis Vuitton and Hérmes, and ended up at the Spanish Steps. It was packed full of people. We walked up the steps to the top where there was a French church Trinità dei Monti.
Approaching the Spanish Steps
The view from the top of the steps
Since we only had a small Sandwich, we were still hungry, so we continued to look for food. Our data wasn't working well so we found a McDonald's with wifi to try and search where the best place to eat was near where we were. One suggestion was a mall, which turned out to be a bust, so we instead walked to the Trevi Fountain and had pizza at a place Google recommended. We got slices and sat on some steps near the fountain and just enjoyed looking around. It was nice to relax and enjoy time. We also got some awesome gelato and then went and walked around the fountain. It was quite magnificent. Did you know they collect about €3000 euros a day? The money goes to a Catholic Church that does all sorts of good things.
We passed by a candy store and I had to go look
After enjoying the Trevi Fountain we headed to Plazzia Novana. Along the way, we stopped at the Pantheon. It is an architectural wonder. Raphael's, the famous painter, sarcophagus is located here too. I am blow away by the magnificent structure. The dome is 43.3 meters and makes a perfect sphere. The concrete used at the base of dome is different than that used at the top. If the same concrete had of been used throughout, it is estimated that the stressed would have been 80% greater. Also at the top is an oculus (hole) that also helps reduce the weight of the sphere. It also allows rain to fall inside which is drained by 23 holes in the floor. Overall I was blown away by this amazing piece of history.
All that is left of Il Tempio di Adriano (first a temple (145 A.D.) then stock exchange)
Side view of the Pantheon
Catholic church of Louis de Los Franceses
We continued to the Plazzia and looked at the beautiful fountains and watched some street performers. We watched a humorous magician. We continued on to find a snack (yes we are endlessly hungry it seems). I recall reading in an article about the best budget places to eat, and they mentioned Supplizio, a place that serves suppli which are Italian snacks consisting of a ball of rice with tomato sauce. We ordered three to share, tradizionale (pork, mushrooms, grape must, parmigiano cheese), Crocchetta Affumicata (potatoes, smoked pecorino, smoked mozzarella), and Carbonara (egg, pecorino, bacon, mozzarella). They all tasted delicious. Pecorino is a hard cheese made from sheep’s milk and must is a type of juice that contains the whole fruit so for a grape must include seeds and stems.
After eating we continued exploring and went for a lovely walk along the River Tiber to a popular bridge, Ponte Garibaldi, looking at an island with a hospital on it. It was very nice. The sun was setting as well so we got some pretty pictures and listened to someone playing the accordion.
The hospital on the island
Hey look its Hunter and I
When I looked at the time, it was already 9pm! The sun sets quite late here. We decided to head back to the AirBnB to try and go to bed early so we could get a good start to our day tomorrow, however, both Hunter and I were still hungry so we decided to try the Greek place near our hotel. It was pretty delicious and filled us full. We went back to the AirBnB but not without dessert. We got two little cannolis from a shop on the walk back. It was delicious!
Hunter always gets the best photos of me
Dessert
Date: June 1st, 2019
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