We arrived in Rome early afternoon from our EgyptAir
flight. EgyptAir served meals on the 4
flights we were on and the seating was spacious – a first class operation. Upon arriving in Rome, we rented a car to
take to our hotel which was the same square (Rondo) as the Pantheon and our
room overlooked the Pantheon. Driving a
car in an Italian city (as we have found out from other trips) is a real
challenge. Even though we had MapQuest
driving directions, the street names don’t match what the instructions say. This is especially true when there are many
winding, one-way only streets with many being pedestrian only. It took us awhile to get to our hotel as
holiday shoppers were also out and about clogging streets and sidewalks.
The Pantheon is truly a ruin (in more than one way) and is a
fitting ending to our trip of many ruins
While pictures may show it to be white marble, as the pictures below
indicate it is rusty brown/black now.
However, the inside statues and wall decorations have been preserved. The highlight of the pantheon is the ceiling
dome which allows light in. The inside
reminds me of the Capitol. King Umberto I
as well as Viktor Emmanuel and Raphael are buried in the Pantheon. It is currently being used as a
basilica.
We had a delightful dinner at an outside restaurant –
Hosteria Pantheon next to our hotel. The
weather was mild and they had outdoor heaters which almost made it too
warm. This hotel was picked by Jim due
to its location to ancient Rome and we originally were going to spend 5 nights
here as we roamed Rome. However, we
opted to use the time in Rome to fly to Egypt and thus only had one day to see
some things in Rome. The hotel is one
that we would return to for future Rome visits.
We walked the streets after dinner taking in the Novana Square which has 3 Bernini fountains which are classics as well as throwing our pennies in Trevi Fountain. While it would have been nice to spend another day in Rome, we had a flight to catch to come home today (Monday).
We travelled many different ways on this trip – rental car
first and last day, train to Herculaneum, ship to Greece, Turkey, Israel and
Crete, airplane to and from Rome, Cairo and Luxor, and bus as part of the ship
land tours. Outside of driving in Rome
and one rough sea day on the Mediterranean, all went smoothly with no
hassles. (note: when we arrived in Philadelphia after a 10 hr. non-stop flight from Rome, our Philadelphia to Cleveland flight had been cancelled and the later flight was delayed 2 hrs. so we spent 7 hours at the Philadelphia airport before we got home to Cleveland at 1 am today (Tuesday)
While we weren’t sure what to expect for some problem areas
(Israel and Egypt), we saw little military or police presence in Israel and
Egypt. However, when we checked in for
our flight home this morning, US Airways check in was adjacent to ElAl and
there was a high presence of police and military (with automatic rifles pointed at
the crowds from a mezzanine level) as all ElAl bags were opened and
searched. Israel is noted for having the
safest airline in the world.
The trip was fantastic and I am so glad we were not put off
by security issues. In Egypt which
depends heavily on tourism, many tours have been cancelled and the tour
operators in Luxor at the Valley of the Kings are very frustrated that what
people see on national media regarding Tahrir Square dissuade them from coming
to the Valley of the Kings where only pharoah tombs and donkeys abound.
Likewise in Israel, they expect a sharp decrease in holiday travelers to
Bethlehem this Christmas.
If any reading this blog have any questions about anything,
feel free to contact me at pamswim@aol.com. This trip was one I dreamed of for a long
time and it exceeded all my expectations in so many ways. J
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