kdubsisters: When in Rome

Arrived into Rome right on time. Hopped in a cab and gave the driver our hotel address.

He pulls up to this. No hotel sign, no one answered the doorbell...

So we checked out the neighborhood a bit.

Hotel clerk got there soon after so we dropped our bags and started walking. Piazza Navona. Was built on the footprint of an ancient stadium and that's why it's elongated in shape (you'll have to trust me on this one)

Pantheon. One of the most intact of the ancient buildings. It may has served as a temple but no one knows for sure. This structure, the third on the site, was completed in A.D. 128. In 609, it was consecrated as a church to the Virgin Mary.

Trevi Fountain and gelato for breakfast

Someone stole the DC Circulator and brought it to Rome?

Colosseum. Biggest amphitheater ever built. Could hold between 50,000-80,000 spectators. Bad stuff went down here. But now, it's a wonderful tourist attraction for Rome where they can convince tens of thousands of people to wait in overwhelmingly long lines and pay them money. #Kdubtraveltip: buy your ticket in advance online.

Views from the Colosseum.

Common theme- Alexis as navigator

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuelle II. Built as a monument to Emanuelle II, first king of a unified Italy. Completed in 1925.

...other ruins? It's an embarrassment of (ruinous) riches here.

Lunch time*

[insert two-hour nap]

Castel Sant' Angelo. Originally commissioned by Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for him and his family. Then used by popes as a fortress and a castle. Is now a museum.