Where in the heck are we……………….where did all these people come from……………and how do we get back to Tuscany?  It was a culture shock arriving in Rome from the confines of our small village in Pergine Valdarno.  There were people every where.  The crowds were so onerous when we ventured out from our little apartment 250 yards from the Pantheon yesterday afternoon that we soon returned to the confines of our apartment to wait out the crowds.  We did see a few sites near our place.

And Jessica, this one’s for you!!!!!

Venturing out after dark last night, we soon discovered that the people and the crowds stuck around.  Visiting the Pantheon, the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome, we discovered we could not enter as they were holding a church service inside.

We next went in search of the Spanish Steps….a so called masterpiece of fine art with the steps spreading out like a fan.  It was kind of hard to see the masterpiece with all of these people around.

Our journey for the evening ended after zigzagging, mostly lost across old Rome.  It pointed out the need for a REALLY GOOD map which we did not have until a young couple, a Russian girl and a Lebanese boy who lives in Australia, shared their map with us and in the end gave it to us.  Very nice and sweet kids!  We finally arrived back at our apartment close to midnight after eating pizza and a glass of wine while seated outside along a narrow street, with taxis crawling by only 18 inches away.  The end of a long and chaotic day came and off to bed we went.