Pantheon and Catacombs - September 2, 2010

Thursday September 2, 2010

Senne's Summary: Went to the Pantheon and the Catacombs.

This morning we continued with the "Mom and Gary get cappuccino, and Steve and Lisa laze around" theme. I could get very used to all this lazing around… oh wait… I AM used to all this lazing around ☺

This morning we headed out to the Pantheon, and discovered that we were very close to it many, many times… we just never happened to stumble upon it!

To me the Pantheon is an amazing building. For it to be so old (nearly 2000 years) and to be basically complete is simply amazing.

I cannot even imagine how they managed to construct this building that long ago. It’s hard to describe. Take my advice and add it to your list of places to visit (it’s even free!). Photos do not even remotely capture the enormity and magnificence of this building!

Since the catacombs were closed between 12 and 2, we decided to eat lunch before we headed out. Once again, lunch was tasty! (We have been sooo lucky… or maybe we are just good at picking restaurants 😉)

We caught a cab out to the San Callisto Catacombs from the Pantheon (only 15 Euros for the four of us… way easier than taking the bus) and arrived there in about 15 minutes.

We had about 20 minutes before the next English visit started, so used the bathroom (cleanest public bathroom I’ve seen in ages… and free!) and checked out the gift shop. Steve and I picked up the coolest book. It shows Rome now and during ancient times with overlapping transparency pages. You can see exactly what it looked like 2000 years ago compared to what you are seeing today! I just wanted to sit down on a bench and read my book, but the catacombs were calling!

We started our tour by listening to a nice man explain about the catacombs. (Steve and I giggled when we got home and discovered that we both had trouble paying attention to what the nice man was saying because he had a big spit wad on the side of his mouth.) Then we got to go inside! It was very interesting to go underground (and refreshingly cool!) and see the place where hundreds of thousands of people were buried. We only saw two actual sets of remains. One was mostly ashes… I guess that’s what happens over 1600 years. 'Ashes to ashes’ makes sense now. Steve and I both really enjoyed the tour but agreed it would have been even better if we were allowed to explore on our own (you had to stay with the guide)… in the dark… with a flashlight! I also thought it would be more interesting if you could see more remains… but then again I’m just a little bit odd…

We had our Siesta time (there’s a rule in Italy that quiet time is in the afternoon… it said so right in our apartment… so we had to have a Siesta ☺), played some cards, had some snacks and drinks and then Mom and Gary went out for the evening and Steve and I stayed in and watched a movie. I told mom I can’t possibly go out every night for 14 months, but since she’s on three weeks vacation she can go out every night if she wants (and she does want to!).