Campo Di Fiori & Italia's Win!

We took a walking tour of Rome that wasn't really too impressive if you've actually studied any of the major landmarks of Rome we saw. But it's starting to feel like I won't be here forever. One day I won't be able to just walk over to Piazza Navona, Piazza Venezia, Piazza del Colosseo, or any of the other impressive monuments that are here.

Piazza Navona.

 Piazza Navona was built on top of the Stadium of Domitian. The large church you see on the left (part with towers) is dedicated to St. Agnes. Who was allegedly martyred there after refusing to marry the Prefect's son during Diocletian's reign. (There's more to the story but you can Wikipedia it if you feel the need to know the rest.)

Piazza Navona again. 

Piazza Navona is filled with people and artists and tons and tons of people illegally selling silly toys that I'm sure break extremely easy. And the toys don't seem like that much fun anyway. You just throw them on the ground and they squish... I don't see the fun, but some little kids really like them.

A different view of some ruins.
Part of the stadium of Domitian.

I'd seen these particular ruins several times walking past the other side of the building, but never from this side as they're usually closed off. It's from the end of the Flavian era, very late first century AD.

And again.

 If you didn't know, the street level of Ancient Rome is about 20ft lower than that of Modern-Day Rome. This is due to floods, fire, and lack of care when rebuilding things (instead of clearing rubble they just flattened it).

Pantheon

 It's super cool, and a marvel of engineering, but it's a little boring the 7th time. Although this time there was a "nice" incense smell that gave me Catholic School Flashbacks. Also it says it was built by Agrippa during his third term as Consul, but really this one was built by Hadrian (second century AD) some years later. There was an original built by Agrippa (during Augustus' time - late 1st century BC to early 1st century AD) but it was heavily damaged and had to be re-done. It also would have been facing the opposite direction.

Spanish Steps

 The tour ended at the Spanish Steps. Which I've spent too much time around in my opinion. They're impressive to be sure, and they're one of the most famous landmarks in Rome. But they're not one of my favorites. Also just a random fact I haven't shared before, The Popes decided to put obelisks in front of many of the most important churches in Rome.

They're tiring, but we didn't walk up them.

There was some discussion about where we should eat and watch the soccer match (Italy vs Germany - Semifinals). We ended up going from the Spanish Steps to Campo di Fiori with only a minor uncertainty in direction once or twice. We made it there within 30 minutes and proceeded to try and find a place to eat. Everywhere inside the square was either too crowded or too expensive, so we walked off to the side where a guy told us we could sit in the air conditioning, and watch the game. The prices weren't bad so we said sure! I had a pizza margherita (not feeling too adventurous at a new restaurant). And we watched the game.

The most commonly screamed phrase was Vai Vai VAI VAIIII! (Go Go GO GOOO!) It was really fun listening to and watching the Italians rejoice and complain about different things happening in the game. Italy was up 2-0 in the first half! And they played very well for the rest of the game. The end score was 2-1, Italy advancing to the finals vs Spain on Monday night. Tuesday we all might be a little late for class...

After Italia scored.

After the game, the crowds went a little crazy. Some of the girls got a drink at a close-by american bar. And we headed home shortly afterword thankfully not having to find and take the night bus. We caught what must have been the last 62 bus of the night, and it took us on a detour to Termini which was a little nerve-wracking for me because I knew we were headed the wrong direction, but couldn't figure out if the bus would still be going by our street. It did, thankfully, and we all got home safely.

There were slightly fewer kids outside our apartment (I assume they were all at Piazza del Popolo where things were supposed to be crazy). But there were still people honking and yelling and using air-horns all night. It's fun when you're celebrating, but annoying when you want to sleep.
Today is the combined feast day of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. They are two of the most important Saints in Rome. So as a result most things are closed. Which is slightly annoying since I was gonna go do some stuff. But oh well, it can wait. I think the Italian attitude of everything working out when it works out is starting to take root with me. It's pretty fun, and not very good when combined with a heavy dose of procrastination. Although I don't really have anything important to do right now so it's kinda ok.