Rome 3: Trevi Fountain

I'm blogging from the home of Giorgio and Patrizia and their three lovely children here in the Trentino region in the foothills of the Dolomite mountains, but more on that in a later post....
For now, back to Rome.
We spent 4 nights in Rome and managed to see a lot, but inevitably you can only just scratch the surface of this amazing city. During our stay Rory had stomach pains, Jasper had a nagging cold and we were all pretty much worn out, but we still managed to see and learn a lot.
The Pantheon is the only building to survive intact from ancient Rome. It was originally a temple to all gods, but was converted to a church in the middle ages, sparing it from destruction. It's an impressive building and the model on which most of our state capitol buildings are made.



Rory and Jasper's favorite thing in Rome was the Trevi Fountain, which marks the terminus of one of Rome's important aqueducts. According to popular belief, if you throw a coin into the Trevi fountain you are assured to return to Rome. Over 3,000 Euros a day are thrown into the fountain which are collected and used to subsidize food for the poor.








During our stay in Rome, we heard about a park at the origin of the Appia Antica, one of the oldest and most important Roman roads. You may remember that we started in Italy at Brindisi which was the terminus of that same road. So we felt compelled to go check it out. Unfortunately, we had a very poor map. Although we'd expected a very short walk and then a nice dinner overlooking the park, we ended up on a very long hike at dusk (and on into darkness) through a huge wooded area. At times I was sure we were heading farther into nowhere but then we'd be passed by a jogger or a couple walking.
We finally did end up on the Appia Antica, completely exhausted, only to find that we were miles from any place to eat. All was well though, we caught a bus and found a nice ristorante.








The pictures are: Inside the Pantheon, R and J at Trevi Fountain, outside the Pantheon, Rory, Jasper, and Theresa just beginning our Appian way adventure, and finally, R and J reliving the adventure later of a good glass of vino rosso.