Day 17: Orange Chocolate

Our first full day in Rome was full of action. We started in the historic city, hitting the Colosseum (photos below) and the Palatino. The Colosseum was a monumental part of historic Rome and the place where the famous gladiators fought. Sarah and I both really enjoyed the Colosseum and were blown away by the idea that remains of something so old in such good condition. Amy enjoyed as well but found the need of tourists overwhelming. The Palatino was interesting as well, but on sucks hot day, it was a bit difficult to motivate ourselves to stand in the sun for so long. For those of you that don't know, the Palatino was an ancient Roman palace that is still being excavated and housed the rulers of ancient Rome. Nonetheless, we had fun touring the old archeological sites and beautifully renovated gardens.

After a productive morning, we bought groceries and took them back to our hostel for lunch. After a nice rest free of the heat, we set back out to see the Pantheon. The Pantheon is a gigantic dome that extends the height of a football field. It was created in honor of the saints that died for Christianity before it was legalized. Unlike other structures we have seen in Italy, there were few paintings in the Pantheon. The entire building was made of stone, with symmetric marble at the bottom and light volcanic rock at the top of the done.

We finished the night with dinner and gelato. For dinner, we went to a restaurant in Piazza Navona, and had a decent meal. We finished the meal with tiramisu and creme brûlée. The tiramisu was the best I've had in Italy do far. The creme brûlée deviated a bit from the traditional: it was slightly heavy and very caramelized.

We ended the night with gelato from a place that adds complimentary chocolate sauce on top of the gelato. Amy tried ginger and a vanilla topped with chocolate coated cereal. Amy voted for her ginger, but Sarah and I found it very strong. Sarah had the store special and the mascarpone and pear. I tried the orange chocolate and cream of Fiorentina. Sarah and I both voted for orange chocolate which won Flavor of the Day.

We spent the rest of the evening walking around Piazza Navona looking at local art. Overall we had a wonderful first day in Rome.