Giorno tre in Roma

Buon Giorno! Today has been much more relaxed. It has been great! We started the morning out going to the Pantheon again (which by the way is AMAZING). I don't know if I mentioned it before but it truly is absolutely amazing. Almost all the marble inside was brought from Egypt. The columns, the largest in all of Rome, were imported from Egypt. The dome is an architectural wonder of the world! It is comprised of varying forms of concrete (which the Romans invented FYI and MASTERED). The further up the dome the lighter the concrete. And the floor is designed with a slight slope so that when the water comes in through the opening in the top it drains to the middle of the room! They built in a drainage system! And this is in a building that is over 2000 years old! It just blows me away. It's enormous and awesome. From there we stopped by the Santa Maria supra Minerva which was very interesting. It is a church that was built on top of the Temple of Minerva and it's a mix between Renaissance and Gothic. Sarah called it International Style. It was unique. Inside there is a rather unknown statue that was carved by Michelangelo. It was very pretty. From here we booked it to the Isola where we met our tour guide for the day! She is a friend of our professor who is an expert on Ancient Rome. AWESOME! She started us on the banks of the Tiber river where Rome began and told us the fast history of Rome. We walked to the location of the Circo Massimo, with her telling us all about Remus and Romulus the whole time and the Palatino and Aventino and the stories of old Roma. I found it very interesting as I love that sort of thing. We went into the Palatino and spent quite a bit of time there. There is so much history there! This is where ancient Roma is. This is the location that you always see all the ancient Roman structures. The Palantino, just to tell you briefly, is where Romulus settled his hut and the Aventino is where Remus settled because they both wanted to be ruler. Of course eventually Romulus killed Remus and long story short the Palantino became the "place to live" in Roma. It is where all the following kings and emperors wanted their palace as it was sacred ground. Most of the ruins now are from the remains of Domitian's palace which was HUGE. Unbelievably huge. We also then went to the Senate House (wow) and the actual Roman Forum. So many things there. It is just unbelievable. Julius Ceasar's temple is there where he was cremated and the remains of the column they erected immediately after his cremation. It is very significant because it was against the law to burn a body inside the city limits. That man had power. Lots of power. I never realized it before, but after seeing the things he did to Roma I am amazed. He actually moved a building. And after seeing the building he moved....... wow. To be able to do things like that at his own whim is absolutely amazing. From the Foro Romani we walked down the street to the Colosseo!!!! WOW. I never realized how big it is. Wow. 60,000 people 2000 years ago.... they put modern architecture to shame. It truly was a sight to behold. I could go on and on and on but I'll have to do that with some pictures! I'll most definitely have to show all this off and tell everything with pictures. From the Colosseum we broke off into different groups. The tour guide didn't actually go in with us but she was amazing. She knew TONS. Anyway, from here we took the Metro to the Spanish Steps. They were ok. Not really anything interesting. Just more amazing architecture. Then we came back to the Hotel. I showered up and I've just been relaxing for now. It's nice to just relax.... of course so is finding free net! I managed to find some free net in the corner of the lobby.... it's great. So now I'm just waiting. I might go walk around a bit but we are planning on dinner at 8:00. Quando a Roma..... Do as Romans do! They eat pretty late here. It's good though. I like it. The food is good. I'll probably end up spending the night enjoying good food and drink and then just relaxing somewhere and talking and enjoying the gorgeous Italian night. It's so nice here at night. Just the right temperature. Well, buona notte for now!

Oh: I need your opinion on pictures... should I upload them or wait and make you all see them in person? Let me know!