Roman Holiday, Part 4
Christmas Eve. In the morning I made it over to the Testaccio for clams and shrimp. Then later in the afternoon we rode the Metro and buses into the older part of Rome, the area most people concentrate on when visiting Rome. All the times I have been here I had never made it into the Pantheon. What can I say… I thought the Pantheon was at the end of the Piazza Navona. It is nearby, a couple blocks away. So maybe that is why I had never made it in there. Oh well on this rainy night I got to see it.
Lonely Planet tells me that it was built by Hadrian in 120 AD on the site of a temple built by Marcus Agrippa in 27 BC. It is a very commanding building. The most notable part is the dome, a perfect semisphere with a 9 meter oculus at the top. (That means a big HOLE)
Yes indeed. It rains down through the big hole.
See the slick wet marble floor. Inside it is beautiful. It is still an active church. Chairs were being set up for midnight mass.
But we did not hang around for that. We needed dinner and a Chinese restaurant was calling our name. Look for more food postings.
friends and family in italy 
Thanks for the view of the dome and interior of the Pantheon! I love the view of the rain wet marble floor.