Got It!: Rome Day 7

Today was a busy, busy day! Anthony was actually awake at 4 am because he went to bed so early last night, so he left the hotel around 6am to go take pictures in the square while it was empty and while I continued to sleep till a more "proper" wake up time. My lungs and throat were exchanged for a head cold! So today I have been having to stay on top of the cold medicine and I'm afraid I was a bit rude at times with the runny nose and use of lots of Kleenex.

This morning we started at the Pantheon. We were hoping to do an audio tour, but they weren't starting those until late in the day, so we just took another look around and took some more photos inside.

After the Pantheon, we headed up to the Vatican to take better pictures and to see the Nativity that we couldn't see too well when St. Peter's was really busy on Thursday. We also went up that way to use the post office to send out some post cards.

After that we walked over to Castel Sant'Angelo/Hadrian's Mausoleum. The Musuem was actually fee today and we seemed to have good luck of getting places ahead of the lines! We have been pret lucky about not having to wait too long for things, but part of that is the time of year I think. Castel Sant'Angelo was pretty awesome to walk through. We saw were Hadrian was once buried and learned how the Mausoleum was transformed into Castel San'Angelo and used in the Middle Ages.

Next we walked to the Ara Pacis/ Altar of Peace. This was an altar built and used in the time of Augustus. The Alter was pretty neat to see because you could walk all around it. Then, we went to the art exhibit attached. There was a lot of really famous art, but we didn't stay long because it was SUPER hot and crowded. We did see a painting by Van Gogh and another by Monet.

Next to the alter of Peace was Augustus's Mausoleum. This isn't open to the public right now, but we looked at it outside. Hadrian used this mausoleum as a model for his own, so it was neat to see how similar they were from the outside. While touring the outside we saw so e fancy small, Italian sports cars including a Ferrari! We walked through the fancy shopping district and even stopped in the Ferrari store. The car on the street may have inspired us! I wanted to get Camden a little Ferrari toy, but they were super expensive.

W walked though the expensive shopping district and ogled at the high end items on the display. Along with their prices. Sheesh! So much money for fancy name brands. We then took the Metro to our next stop. I'm getting more used to the metro and have it figured out okay, but I have found that I am a horrible navigator in this city. It is so confusing and I turned around really badly.

We got off the metro and went to visit that Baths of Diocletian. These were baths long ago, but like most important ancient sites, it was turned into a church. The church was beautiful and had things in it to help tell time in the marble. I'll have to read more about it, but how the sun comes through no opening in the ceiling was supposed to tie with makings on the floor!

The National Museum used to be baths, so that was our next stop. We saw Statues of Epicurus, Augustus, Julius Cesar, Socrates, and an exhibition of "monsters." The monsters were mythological creatures found in art, pottery and other items. The creatures includes the Sphinx, sirens, Pegasus, centaurs, and more. There was also a coin exhibit at the Museum. My favorite pant was the the old roman jewelry exhibit. It was neat to see the jewelry they wore long ago and how well preserved some of it still is. There was also a really well preserved mummy of a young girl who died at about eight years old that I want to read more about.