Yeah, real cheap. LOL the price depended on how far you were from the entrance to the site and how hard it was raining. Yesterday when it was dumping and we were standing outside St. Peter's umbrellas went for 16 euros for the little folding ones you can get for $5 or less. When it was lightly sprinking and we were just around the corner from the gate they were 5 euros. Both days the men selling them were about every 5 steps every time it would rain. The kids who were dubious about those LL Bean Tek jackets they got for Christmas were pretty darned happy they had them the last couple of days. Happily the forecast for tomorrow is only 20% chance of rain.
The good news is that we got ALOT accomplished today in between showers. We started out with the Pantheon. Of all the things we've seen on this trip it has been my favorite. Just to think that the Romans were able to construct something so massive between 27 and 25 BC that is A) beautiful beyond belief and B) still standing in 2008 is just unimaginable. It has been "catholicized" of course and has several frescos, paintings and inportant religious statues. That's what saved it from being torn down by the barbarians or melted down and recycled over the years. However, you can still see all the fabulous marble work that has many colors. Much of it came up from Egypt (I think at the time of Mark Anthony if I interpreted correctly.)
The dome is huge and was not replicated in size until St Peter's Basilica some 1500 years later. It has a hole in the center to let in light and, of course, on days like today rain. Watching the rain fall in from the sky was an indescribable experience. I wish you could catch it on film but of course, you just can't. They chain off a large section of the middle of the floor where it's wet but around the edges it's still very dry. You'd think that the floor would be a mess in the middle but it seems to be fine. Jacob and I got a good laugh though. The chain is attached to the backs of the pews (they still conduct mass every Saturday night and Sunday morning) and a few of the back pews were very wet. We decided that the pennance for being late to mass on rainy days was having to sit on the "rain" pews.
When we came out of the Pantheon we hit a McDonalds that was on the square there. The kids and John were having DT's for something besides pasta or pizza. Then we took the bus back to the Metro stop and had to make a choice. The Colloseo, Pallatine and Forum were RIGHT THERE or we could take the metro on to a museum and be inside. We had been told that a large portion of the Colloseo was inside so we went for it. Those people were with a tour and apparently never got outside. Poor them. Fortunately it didn't rain because very little of what there is to see is under cover. there are places to duck in but we only needed to do so once. By the time we headed over to the pallatine and forum it was sunny and we took our jackets off for a while.
After those we walked up the street and had dinner in a little restaurant overlooking the Colloseo. It was very good. The portions were huge though and most of us ended up bringing food home. We'll finish them up tomorrow evening or later tonight. I was a little confused though because my risotto with pumpkin actually was zucchini. LOL Ahh translation issues.
Well I'm off to go figure out our last day's agenda. So much to do and yet so little time. The weather has kept us from getting to so much. Hard to just get off the metro and just walk around when it's dumping rain and cold.
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