Walking in Rome

One day we made the mistake of leaving Jonathan, our best navigator, at the hotel and and set out trying to find our way around. We were wandering in an area in a fold of the map and must have covered about half a mile in 2 hours, finding ourselves on the Via Nazionale about 5 times no matter which way we walked. We almost gave up, but we eventually found the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.

The Pantheon is at left. It was originally built as a temple to all the gods, and the current building dates back to 120 A.D. It was eventually given to the church. Pope Urban VIII had the bronze ceiling of the portico melted down and use to make the baldachino (decorative canopy) over the main altar at St. Peter's and 80 cannons for the Castel Sant'Angelo. (Urban VIII is best know for his relationship with Galileo, first as a sponsor and then as an enemy. Learn more?
Two kings and the artist Raphael are buried in the Pantheon.

The Trevi Fountain, designed in 1792, is on everybody's must-see list. Water is supplied from one of Rome's earliest aqueducts, still in service.

Of course we had to do the traditional thing and throw in 3 coins to ensure that we'd return! We discovered later that Euros in the fountain help balance the city budget and foreign coins are donated to charity. We used quarters.
The Spanish Steps, which we visited on the way to the American Express Office. They replaced Ron’s card after his wallet was stolen in the subway. Many tourists make this pilgrimage, (often for the same reason), so we thought it was nice of American Express to have their office in such an attractive neighborhood. We were also able to visit a museum housed nearby in the apartment where the writer John Keats died.
View of St. Peter's from the top of the Spanish Steps.
A plug for our hotel, the Napoleon. The Vittore Emanuel Metro was right outside the door. Front desk people were helpful and spoke English. We enjoyed a great continental breakfast, and a recently-refurbished room. We even had a bidet but Jonathan's smaller single room which lacked one. And when we explained the purpose of a bidet, he decided he could do just fine without one.
There was an outdoor market in the arcade just outside the hotel. And there was a park just across the street.