I had to go to Rome for work this week. I had dinner on the first night and then an all day meeting the next day. But, I was able to get three hours to walk around the city before dinner.
Since I did not have plans, I got off the hotel shuttle in the middle of town. And I just started walking towards the river. Not knowing where I was going or what I was going to see was quite fun.
I admit that I did cheat a little and followed some street signs. I wandered over the river into the Trastevere area. It was charming with little winding roads, cafes everywhere, and little squares and churches. A little further north, I wandered into St Peter's square in Vatican City. I took a quick tour of the basilica and headed out towards the next big sight in the sky, which was the St. Angelo Castle.
After walking by and crossing the river again, I stopped to watch a couple seriously making out on the river bank. After not stopping for very long, I wandered into the Piazza Navona. This was about 630pm, the weather was perfect, and the atmosphere was magical. The street performers were pretty good. That was until I saw the Michael Jackson impersonator. That was horrible. He was trying hard but he was also failing very hard.
And finally, I wandered over to the Pantheon, the temple to all gods. When I was last here about 15 years ago, I took a picture of the building over to the right. It had a big advertisement that I felt was very out of place for this historic sight. I was glad to see that it was gone.
I couldn't find that picture, but I did find this picture of me in 2000 at the Trevi Fountain with my old traveling buddies. And for those that did not believe it, I did have hair at one time.
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