A City of Marble

Augustus said, "I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble." We got to see a lot of gorgeous marble city yesterday!

Tuesday we visited the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. It was fun to walk through the tiny streets of Rome! Also, it was a lot cooler than the previous day since the buildings provided a lot of shade, haha.

The Trevi Fountain is just beautiful! And so big! I love the horses on either side of Neptune/Ocean, representing the sea calm and the sea restless. Levi J and I played "I Spy" at the fountain, trying to find interesting carvings for the other to spy.

The legend is if you throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, you will return to Rome one day. I found a picture of Levi throwing in a coin back in 2007, so it must be true! I read that about €3,000  get throw in to the Trevi every day, and the money is used to subsidize a grocery store in an impoverished area of Rome.

Throwing in his coin

Quintana couldn't do it over her shoulder like you're supposed to. But she got her coin in nonetheless!

I bought these glasses for €5 from a street vendor. Score!

Levi throwing his coin in 2007. We went at night so our pictures are terrible! There were no crowds at night, though, which was not the case this time we went. We went first thing in the morning, though, so it wasn't too bad.

After the Trevi Founatin, we walked to the Pantheon. There was some fun shopping along the way, and with six people (and five kids), we made a lot of stops! One fun shop was full of wooden toys and clocks. They had the funniest photo ops out front!

The Pantheon is really cool. There is a circular hole in the ceiling, to honor the heavens. The first time we went, it was raining, right into the ancient temple! This time it was sunny. 

It's amazing how big the dome is, for being built in 125 AD. The columns are made of Egyptian marble and were literally dragged 100 km to the Nile and then floated by barges to Italy. They are enormous!

The artist Raphael was entombed here when he died in 1520. In the 1800s they exhumed him and verified his body was there.

After two days of seeing some pretty major sites, we wanted to eat somewhere with air conditioning, lots of space, where children wouldn't be frowned upon, and we could eat something other than pizza (well, I'm not tired of pizza yet but others are, haha).

Yeeeaaah buddy! Every now and then you crave some good old American comfort. The air conditioning, elbow room, and kids' menu did not disappoint.

Quintana must have known that our friends are leaving soon, because she was hugging on everyone! Such a little cuddle bunny!

Making Andrew carry her all the way to the metro

Amelie

Olivia

The Kortmans were leaving the next day, so the kids had one more evening to play. They had so much fun together! It was hard to see them go! I even tracked down a picture of Levi and Amelie from 4 1/2 years ago, and they did a little reenactment for us. :)

Soo adorable!

The Rosebroughs are here until Saturday, and then it's back to just the four of us! It's been so fun traveling with friends.