Day 2 in Rome (part 1)

The title says it all I guess, I know it's a little boring but, hey, it gets the job done. So here we go Day 2........
     
      We woke up the next day feeling hungry. Luckily for us, the hotel we booked offered us a "free breakfast" however;  not luckily for us, Italy doesn't really count breakfast as a meal. Usually people will drink Coffee and if they are feeling extremely hungry they will have a small pastry. Naturally, what was provided was warm milk, coffee, and a very small basket with some strange sort of stale bread covered in powdered sugar. (not great) I figured we could grab something else while exploring the city anyway so no big deal. We had made a plan the night before that today we would make our way towards Vatican City to see St. Peters and the Sistine Chapel.  I asked the guy at the front desk if he had a map and he gave us one that had pictures of major points on. The map that would later become, "our bible." Since we were still on the early days of our trip, we decided we would save the money and take the whole day to walk to the city. Instead of paying for a bus or taxi. Our plan was to take our time and hit the different pictures that were on the way, so we began walking. Along the way we quickly realized the whole "no breakfast anywhere" thing. Unless we wanted to pay 20 euros to get one meal. We both decided it wasn't really worth it and just stopped for a soda.

     Of course, I wanted to revisit the Pantheon in the daylight and see what it was like. So we went back around the corner to continue our daily ritual. There wasn't really anyone in the square except a couple of young muscular men dressed up in novelty gladiator costumes to take pictures with the tourists for money. I really wanted to go inside but the doors were shut and I could hear music coming from inside. I later learned that it was because they were having church. Apparently a lot of old monuments are still used as such. DESPITE the fact that there is a church of some kind on almost every corner of the city.

     Along the way, we actually ended up getting a little lost and went the wrong direction around the block. In doing so, we ran across the Column of Marcus Aurelius. This CARAZAY column that tells stories of the wars fought by Marcus Aurelius with an angel on top. I forget which one. It was still early in the morning so the sun was coming up right behind it making for an awesome view. (so there may be a lot of pictures in these posts.You can click them if you feel like it) We also went through the Piazza Navona which had Scott's favorite fountain. "The Fountain of the Four rivers" but I'll talk about it another day.
     
     We decided to place checks on the map next to the different things we had seen. So "check" next to the column, "check" next to the Piazza, and moving onward! We had a choice of different bridges to cross and chose one that would take us next to two more landmarks. The Justice building and the Castel St Angelo. It also set us up for my mothers favorite picture of our trip. A view of St. Peter's Square from across the Tiber River. It was gorgeous, like just sit and stare for a while gorgeous. I really feel as if we could have done that through most of the city. I was, after all, in my dream destination. I honestly wish we would have slowed everything down a bit and just took the world in. At least we did it there. We even spent time in the park behind the Castel St Angelo to sit in the shade and people watch. It was a wonderful place to watch the local people just be with their children and pets. Nobody being a silly tourist except us. We found our first "Caesar" statue there as well (more on those later). Scott was even kind enough to take a picture with me. 

     Once we got close to the Vatican we walked past two (not so muscular) men dressed in gladiator costumes. Asking to take pictures with us. I tried to say no, having walked through Vegas and knowing they only want your money, but Scott (bless his heart) Jumped at the opportunity. So we took silly pictures and had a good time, but then one gentleman comes up to Scott telling him he owes them money. I started to tell them we didn't have any and can delete the pictures when Scott proceeds to mention the only thing he is carrying is a 20 euro... *palm to face* ugh. OF COURSE they then say. "That's perfect because it is 10 Euro's a person".... not cool Scott... not cool...  Second silly tourist moment? CHECK. We give the man the LAST 20 euros we have with us "guess we're finding an ATM on the way back" and FINALLY make it to the Vatican....