Honeymoon in Rome and Vatican City - Day 3

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The goal of the day was to see the Pantheon. The plan was simple: walk down the Spanish Steps and take a turn south toward the Pantheon. Well, things didn't go that simply.

We traveled south on Via del Corso, stopping by McDonald's to get breakfast. Unlike McDonald's in the U.S., the front of the restaurant had a cafe with pastries. Sophia and I got some cappuccinos and pastries, which were delicious. We stopped by a supermarket, passed under a tunnel, and reached the Mercati Traianei. We checked the map and found out we were too far south of the Pantheon, so we decided to travel northwest. We stopped by the Piazza del Quirinale, Giardini del Quirinale, and Quattro Fontane.

We double checked our map and found out we had traveled northeast, not northwest. So we decided to cut down a side street and walked west on Via del Tritone. We made it to the Piazza Colonna, then followed road signs indicating where the location of the Pantheon. After traveling down a couple side streets, we finally made it.

The wrong turns and long walk were worth it, because the Pantheon was a site to behold. The building is massive and stepping inside the building feels like stepping into another world. Light shining in through the big oculus in the middle of the dome illuminated the inside, which felt like a whole other world and whole other time. It was surprisingly quiet inside, considering the hundreds of people, but there were signs around asking for quietness because the Pantheon was converted into a Christian church. The altar at the front of the building was beautiful.

After seeing the Pantheon, we decided to visit the S. Ignazio di Loyola church, located east of the Pantheon. Once again, we took a wrong turn and headed west instead of east. We made it to the Corso del Rinascimento before realizing we were heading the wrong way, so we turned around, passed by the Pantheon, and walked down Via del Seminario to finally make it to the S. Ignazio di Loyola church. Unbelievably, the church was even more beautiful than the Chiesa di San Lorenzo near our hotel. There was a painting on the ceiling akin to the Sistine Chapel and lot of gorgeous chapels. The pews were set up and decorated with what looked to be a wedding.

After the church, we decided to walk back to the hotel. On our way back, we stopped by the Trevi Fountain so I could throw in a Showbiz pizza token, the same McDonald's we stopped by in the morning for some dinner, and a cafe for some more gelato.

We stopped by the Trinita dei Monti church to check on mass times for Sunday and then came back to our hotel room to turn in and talk about the next days plans.