Last day of sightseeing is upon us. We get up early wanting to beat the crowds at St. Peter’s. Arriving shortly before 9 AM, the lines are much shorter and we are inside quickly. We spend an excellent hour or so looking at all the interesting sculptures and tombs. By the time we leave the line is at least four times as long as when we arrived.
After successfully finding an ATM so that we can use taxis today, we walk to Castel Sant’Angelo. Built between 132 and 139 AD, The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant’Angelo, is a towering, hulking, cylindrical building. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. It is also another site in the video game, Assassin’s Creed, and Sarah is eager to explore. There are way too many slippery steps here and I spend most of my time waiting for everyone to finish looking around. It’s fun, though, to watch the Roman crowd who are taking advantage of the good weather this Saturday.
Needless to say, we are all pretty tired out by the time we’ve finished with St. Peter’s and Castel Sant’Angelo. Lucky thing, it’s lunch time! We find a groty place not too far away. Things are not looking too clean here but we are too polite to get up and walk away. The answer to “How’s your lunch?” is “It’s food and I am sitting down.”
Our last stop for the day is the Pantheon. The Pantheon commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome, and was rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD. This building is astounding. It has the largest brick free standing dome in the world. Since it was converted into a church, the Pantheon was not gutted or torn down the way most ancient temples in Rome were. It is a marvel to stand in this almost 2000 year old enormous building and look up at the beautiful coffered ceiling towards the oculus.
We catch a taxi (finally) back to the hotel, pick up our luggage and make our way to Rome airport for one more night before we leave. After a totally awful dinner, we pack up and we will be on our way home tomorrow.