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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

ROME - FIRST IMPRESSIONS


When you come from a place where the land itself is ancient but there are very few man made structures which are more than 100years old 
and you walk around a corner in a new city looking for a supermarket to buy to tea, bread and coke only to be confronted with this,


it is a little difficult to take in !!


This is the Pantheon in Rome and it is just around the corner from where we are staying. 
Now this is a seriously old building. 
It looks terribly old too. 
It was completed in 125 AD and has survived intact till today.
That's over 1800 years old ! ! !

Inside it is just awe inspiring.


The dome is very high and it was the highest dome in the world for hundreds --no, more than a thousand , years. The only light source was the oculus at  its highest point.


This is the original marble floor. Still beautiful today.



Not far away, through ancient, windy laneways we wandered into the Piazza Navona





Around every corner there is a wonderful fountain but this lovely square has three of them !
The cafés surrounding the square proved to be too enticing and we had our first taste of dining in Rome - a late breakfast and a pleasant chat with a friendly waiter to try out our Italian. 


Delightful.

Then it was on to find the famous Trevi Fountain.
I've decided that when you travel from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere you lose all sense of direction. We seemed to be going in circles and finally turned the map upside down ! 
That seemed to solve the problem and we finally arrived at the fountain.


There was a huge crowd there too but that didn't diminish it's beauty.


It was a bit of a battle to get to the edge of the fountain so we could toss our coins in, but we did it.


Right hand . Over left shoulder 
That's the way !


Hope it works!

More adventures soon.

Cheers.

10 comments:

  1. Helen ~ so excited to read your first post from Rome. Photos are fabulous! Navigation tip ~ funny. Super excited for you. Enjoy!!

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  2. What a wonderful place it looks.

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  3. How much fun are we having so far. It appears to be tons and tons. Hope you have gotten over any jet lag. I found the italian harder than the French. And the driving was another whole story. We were north in sienna, Tuscany and Florence. Still have to make the trip someday to Rome. If you think about wanting to buy something do as you will regret you didn't when you get back home.

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  4. Wow...some really cool pictures, Helsie! What fun!

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  5. Ahhhhhh.....I can feel the ambience. I can see the three friends from "Three Coins in a Fountain" tossing their coins into the fountain. I can see Anita Ekberg rise out of the fountain...La Dolce Vita...and I can see Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn on the Vespa riding through the streets of Rome....thank you! :)

    Have a wonderful holiday.

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  6. Nice to see you are roaming in Rome. I wonder what Tony wished for? World peace? An end to famine and disease? Literacy for all? More likely a couple of tinnies and a Vegemite sandwich! I look forward to more of your blog tales from Italy.

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  7. Rome looks unbelievably beautiful. I cant wrap my head around anything that old but the Pantheon is another place on my wish list.

    Keep the pictures coming!

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  8. Wow! It looks absolutely amazing! Wishing you a lovely time, can't wait to read your next post. Take care!

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  9. Just catching up with blog reading. I love Rome, it's an amazing city. I hope you are having a fabulous time on your holiday. I think why we keep losing sense of direction in the northern hemisphere, is because the sun is in the south not the north. Once you get your head around that I find it makes it a little easier to navigate walking through an unfamiliar place.

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  10. Isn't the Trevi Fountain just gorgeous, I could have sat and looked at it for hours. What did you think of the acoustics in the Pantheon. I tested them out with a very loud sneeze! :) Loving your travel blog.
    Anne xx

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