Monday, December 14, 2009

Day 2 Part 2~ Italy

We did so much on our second day that Lauren broke it up into two separate posts. After eating all the gelato, we decided it was time to go and see the sights. Our first goal was to go and see the Trevi fountain. We took the subway to the nearest stop. When we got out there was a fountain right outside, and we assumed it was probably Trevi fountain. There were a bunch of tourists taking pictures next to it, so it seemed right. But after thinking about it for a few minutes it just didn't seem right......it wasn't impressive enough. A quick consultation with our map told us that we still had a 5-10 minute walk to get to Trevi fountain. When we finally got there it was far better.
Instead of the dozen or so tourists that were at the other fountain, there were easily over 100 tourists at the real Trevi fountain. We looked around, sat down and had a rest, and then proceeded on to the Pantheon, or so we thought.
We followed a sign pointing toward the Pantheon....unfortunately it was pointing in the wrong direction.....we confirmed this when we passed it for the second (and then the third) time. So we marched on, and on, and on, and after 30 minutes of so we took a break and sat down on some steps where a lot of people were hanging out. And that was how we saw the Spanish steps. I think we took pictures, but none of them came out good. We proceeded on and on, ignored the sign, asked for directions, and finally got to the Pantheon just before it closed. We ended our day at Piazza Navona. It's the place there Tom Hanks pulls the priest out of the fountain in Angels and Demons. It's really beautiful at sunset, and there are lots of restaurants that line the square. There are lots of waiters there trying to usher you into their establishments......this really turned us off because if the food was good why would they need to be so pushy. But because it was so nice there, despite our better culinary judgement we picked a restaurant that seemed good and sat down for a meal. We got free glasses of champaign, which was good, but the pasta we got was just average. It was nothing you couldn't make yourself, and definitely not worth the $50 we paid. Still the wine was good, and we had a great time enjoying the scenery. It was a Jekyl/Hyde experience. Ambiance - 10, Food - 3.
What did we do after diner? You guessed it...Gelato! Here are more pics. THey're acctually from the gelateria we went to earlier in the day, but they fit here too.

No comments: