Saluti....

Finally had my first capuccino this morning with breakfast. It was made in one of those all purpose commercial machines, you know dispenses everything from espresso, American coffee, Latte, hot chocolate... it was fantastic! I couldn't believe the quality. I guess the 5Eu charge for breakfast helps pay for it!

I slept like the proverbial log last night. I was sooo tired from traveling that I nodded off while having my dinner of Fettucini Alfredo and Insalata BellaVista. Restaurants may be open all day but will close between 5-7:30 when they open again for dinner. We tourists stick out like a sore thumb. Italians DRESS for dinner and to go to work I might add.

Well, I hit the bricks around 8:30 this morning. Watching a part of this great city gear up for another day was delightful. Vespa's buzzing around all over the place competing with cars and pedestrians for maneuvering room. It's almost like watching a very bizzar ballet. The first place I headed for was the Pantheon. Oh my Gawd! It's magnificent. Besides being a church it is also the final resting place for Italy's first King, Vittorio Emmanuel II and his queen. The artist, Raphael is also interred in this building. The dome is open at the top, so the flooring, marble of course, is slightly curved to allow for drainage. Here are a few pics.

I spent a little more time absorbing the atmosphere in the Piazza then wended my way through various alleys, thank God for the map, to the Trevi Fountain. So incredibly beautiful! Of course, I tossed another coin in as I did 7 years ago. I hope it won't take another 7 years to come back!


My next stop was Adrianna's Temple. All that is left now are the columns and some of the front wall. Rather than tear it down thugh, they restored what they could and incorporated it into a new structure. I don't know how old the new section is but definitely built within the last 1000 years! I have a nice picture of this but moving pix around in this forum becomes real cumbersome when you can't cut and paste and all picutures are put at the top to begin with. Will have to figure it out somehow.

Anyway, I then walked to the Palazzo Venezia which houses one of their national museums. I went to see the Leonardo Da Vinci touring exhibit which is there until August. It is a tribute to the man's genius and focused on his mind, his studies and his inventions. Imagine Stephen Hawking but with many many interests, questions, ideas and no computer. He even invented drafting implements to help him prove some of his theories. They found their way into the marketplace and are still in use today.

By 2:00 pm I was tired and hungry. I wandered back toward home base, lunched and went for a nap. Two days is not even close to being enough in this amazing city. But, I'll take what I can get. Tomorrow, Florence.

Ciao for now