Step it up

Today was all about stairs!

I guess we still had to sleep off some jet lag because we didn’t get this day started until almost noon. After our lie-in, we ventured out to check out the Spanish Steps. Today I learned that they aren’t named the Spanish Steps for any connection to the Spanish – the stairs were actually commissioned by the French and named for the square it’s located at – the Spanish embassy used to be there. Anyway, we climbed up all 135 steps and checked out the church at the top. (Trinita dei Monti). We sat and people watched for a bit then decided to go onto our next stop.

Our next stop of the day – the Pantheon! We knew this would be a quick visit, and it sure was. We only spent maybe 20 minutes in there, but it was very cool to see nonetheless. Largest unsupported concrete dome in all of the world. It was really neat to see the light coming down through the opening at the top. What I didn’t realize was that I’d actually see the tomb of Raphael there. I feel like I knew he was buried there at some point, but I guess I had forgotten.

After finishing up at the Pantheon, we decided to walk over to Piazza Navona to check it out. It seems like a lot of landmarks are under construction in Rome! We saw construction at the Colosseo, the Pantheon, and a bunch of different plazas so far. We saw a neat fountain (but it was non-operational at the moment, sadly, due to construction around it)

We found lunch near the Piazza Navona – we had delicious prosciutto and mozzarella sandwiches. We thought we were ordering only two… but this is what we ended up with, haha. We saved half for dinner!

After our hunger had been satisfied, we decided to meander over to the Castel Sant’Angelo, and I’m glad we did! It was a pretty interesting place, and there were a bunch of inclines and steps for us to climb! 🥵 As a reward for climbing, we got grand sweeping views of Rome!

This castle gets its name from a legend that holds that the Archangel Michael appeared on top of the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague that had befallen Rome in 590. The original intent of this castle was to serve as a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family, but over the years it has also served as a prison, a fortress, and now a museum. We really enjoyed our visit here!

The castle also gave some pretty great views of the city.

That about wraps it up for this day. We ended up going back to the airbnb to chill and have the rest of our sandwiches for dinner. We’re gonna be up early tomorrow for the Vatican! Gonna try and get in before the crowds get too crazy. We’ll see if luck is on our side…

A couple more pictures… Kiley being silly in what we thought was maybe a guard sentry point at the castle…

And we’re pretty sure we found Voldemort!