Rome, Italy

We visited Rome while on a Mediterranean cruise, so by the time we were bused from the port, and had a bit of a bus tour of the city, we had about 3 hours to explore before having to be back on the bus.  I had just started making KaleidEscapes at that time, and I wanted to make sure I got a photo of the Pantheon.  

We kept wandering around trying to find it, and at one point, stopped to consult the map on the phone.  It said we were standing right on top of it, but all we saw was a very narrow street with a somewhat curved building on our right.  We decided to take a right at the next cross street and walk down the incline, and I am so glad that we did.  As we walked down the street, it opened into a large piazza and as we looked back, we saw the Pantheon.  We had been standing directly behind it when we looked at the map!  We had spent so much time looking for it, that we didn't even have time to go inside.  I snapped a few pictures of the front, and off we ran to try to find the bus back to the ship (that was another adventure!).

Fun Facts:

• The best preserved Ancient Roman monument
• The current structure was built in 120 AD, after the original structures were ravaged by fire twice
• The marble floors are the original marble
• The dome of the Pantheon is the largest unsupported dome in the world, with a diameter of 142 feet.
• The distance from the floor to the top of the dome is exactly the same as the diameter of the dome
• The 16 Corinthian columns supporting the portico came from Egypt
• It became a church in 609 AD, and remains a church to this day