Italy - Day 3 / 4

I'm going to try and squish these two days into one blog....hold on! Sunday was mainly spent walking and shopping. We found a particular part of town that's call the "shopping triangle" and spent the morning and afternoon strolling the streets of Rome. All the shops were much more expensive than here. Each store was either a tourist "nic-nac" shop or a fine clothing store. It was interesting to walk past so many expensive clothing stores right on the streets of this crazy old city. Once we had window shopped our hearts out, we ran into the Pantheon! I know that sentence sounds so ubrupt, but that's how crazy it was when we stumbled onto it. I'm sure this massive structure could have once been seen for miles away, but it was now hidden beneath street after street. "Beneath" is actually a very true word. The Pantheon now sits 25 feet below the actual surface of the current streets. I have a feeling that this has quite a bit to do with the fact that this building is a mammoth!! Once inside your eyes are immediately taken to the very peak of the dome where the circular sky-light makes this structure unique. The fact that the dome was never completed (I'm guessing because of structural limitation back then) makes this sight all the more amazing. The Pantheon is now owned and used as a church, but was free to the public to view.
We spent the event roaming through the Trastevere area. This area of Rome is a very trendy, college-age, book-readers-R-us type of neighborhood. We got lost down a side alley and stumbled upon another amazing little restaurant. I had lasagna and I'm pretty sure Jayme had spaghetti w/ tomato sauce...again!! We finished up the night with a quick bus ride back to the hotel!

Day 4 started with some much needed sleep time. We had seen most of the sights and were needing a little relaxation. We left around lunch time and headed to the Vatican. Upon arrival to St. Peter's Square we were immediately dwarfed. A vast square over-looked by statues of all the saints. St. Peter's Basilica casts a shadow over EVERYTHING! Throw the beautiful art, the dead popes with open caskets, and all the history out the window and just stand back and marvel at the size of this "church". I don't think our pictures even do much justice to the the incredible size. We paid the small fee to make the hike to the very top of the dome and were once again taken-aback by the sight of all of Rome. Once out on the balcony we saw all of Rome....ALL! We actually snapped shots of the Pantheon dome from across the city. Eventually I will try to post some pictures on here, but in the mean time, just email me and I'll send you the link to our dropshots page. St. Peter's Basilica was the most awe-inspiring spectacle of the trip. It is sobering to know that the humble and genuine beginnings of the Church in the NT grew to such a hollow, works-based, money-hungry religion. The story of Martin Luther going to Rome, visiting St Peter's, and returning to his home to abandon his life in this religion to begin the reformation makes so much sense after seeing St. Peter's. After spending a couple hours speechless we rapped up our trip to Rome with another incredible dinner and an evening strolling the streets once again.

Tomorrow morning, we will wake up and hop the train to Pisa. See you then. Hope and peace!



The Pantheon






St. Peter's Square (from on top St. Peter's)






One of the "saints" overlooking Rome.






Jayme and I from the top of the dome at St. Peter's.






This picture captures some of the size of St. Peter's. If you look real closely at the bottom right corner of the picture you will see Jayme up against the wall. And this is only the dome, the very top of the church!!!!!