Our plan was to try to recover from the travel and so we had very little planned for the day. We spent the day leisurely walking around the city trying to get a feel for the geography – how far things are apart, where the grocery stores are and where the attractions are etc.
It turns out that our Air B & B was well situated. There were lots of nearby restaurants and we were very close to some of key sites. We could easily catch a bus or flag down a cab; we could walk (and did) to some of the attractions.
Just walking about this morning we came upon the Trevi fountain and the Pantheon. Later in the day we walked along the Tiber River and looked across in the direction of the Vatican and the Castel Sant’Angelo (originally built as a mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian). This was a nice walk and we wound up in the Jewish Ghetto where we had a nice dinner. I had an artichoke salad which was tasty but different (the artichoke was deep-fried or baked so that the leaves were crispy – something I want to try home some time). There was lots of security around – I think maybe because of the war in Gaza.
Overall, except as noted later, I liked the City. It was vibrant and clearly one of the world’s great cities. However, it was very crowded and noisy (both people, scooters (who apparently have no regard for their lives or the lives of others), and lots of speeding, honking cars and taxis). Our street was busy at all times of the day and night. [In part, because there were, judging by the never-ending line ups, a famous tiramisu shop, a famous gelato shop and a couple of crazy-busy pizzerias near our Air B & B. As soon as we would step outside our door, there was a background murmur of people (loved by my hearing aids. At the Trevi fountain people were lined up 3 deep just to see the fountain. There were large crowds at the Pantheon as well – our destination for tomorrow . With all the people, it looked like they have trouble keeping it clean.
At Trevi Fountain