By Land or By Sea: Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and The Monument of Victor Emmanuel II

The route from the Pantheon to the Spanish steps took us through a retail section of Rome. We passed lots of high end stores, but also found a Body Shop where I was able to pick up a bath sponge for the rest of the trip. In London Shannon had discovered a great store called Accessorize – we had looked around one in Knightsbridge, and then discovered they were all over Europe. Shannon took a picture of one as we walked by.

Hopefully they will come to the US some day!

At this point we were 4 days into our trip and in our 2nd country and 3rd city each with its unique culture. We had not given ourselves a lot of time to assimilate to the any of the cultures and were feeling it a bit. I know being tired did not help the situation and neither did Rome’s crazy traffic. We started a list of things we missed about the USA and/or things we would never see back home. The list included things like public trash cans and benches and of course public rest rooms. It also had the ability to form or stand in a line, personal space, and basic civility. As we were walking to the Spanish Steps I was once again reminder we were no longer in America.

There was a school group of elementary aged kids, maybe 7 or 8, walking down the sidewalk. It appeared they were on a field trip. What shocked me was all of the kids had neon orange hats on their heads with their names in neon yellow. I actually had to do a double take, I could not believe that a school would allow, much less facilitate these little kids walking around with their names on their hats. Talk about a pedophile dream…. Hi little Gina, you mom asked to come get you, or Hey little Marco, your teacher told me I could buy you a gelato. Seriously, this is exactly the type of situation we, back in The States, do whatever we can to keep our children out of. Can you honestly imagine a group of kids walking around New York City or Los Angeles with their names on their hats, no way, it is not safe. Innocent kids get taken riding their bikes or walking home from school, how much easier would it be if the kidnapper could call them by name? It was just crazy. I was appalled! After the kids passed, I asked Shannon if she had noticed it. She had not, but it got us talking, we wondered if there was not a problem with kids getting kidnapped in Italy or what they told their kids about avoiding strangers, or maybe they just did not care – it was quite baffling to both of us.

After the shocking scene on the sidewalk we walked a bit further and arrived at the Spanish Steps.

The Spanish Steps (Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti) are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the church of Trinità dei Monti. The Scalinata is the longest and widest staircase in Europe with 138 steps.

Here are the steps

As you can see there are lots of people around – it is a popular tourist spot.

Here I am on the Spanish Steps

And Shan – just next to Shannon was a big group of tourists trying to get a group picture, I tried not to get them in Shan’s picture, but just could not, so you can see them on the left.

After we took our pictures Shannon asked me if I wanted to climb the steps, I said, nope, I am good. We had done so much walking already, I did not need to climb 138 steps just for the novelty of it. Shan agreed and we were off to the Trevi Fountain.

The Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi) is a fountain in the Trevi rione in Rome, Italy. Standing 25.9 meters (85 feet) high and 19.8 meters (65 feet) wide,[citation needed] it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city.

The Fountain is located in a small square, or more like the intersection of three streets. It pretty much takes up the entire area, which was packed with people. I was surprised about its location, I thought it would have been in a bigger area, it looks like it is literally on the back of a building.

As you are approaching the fountain you can hear it, both the rushing water and the masses of people.

Here are some close ups of the fountain – it is very ornate!!

The top

A close up of one of the statues

The water

Here is Shan with the fountain

Here I am at the Trevi Fountain

A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. We climbed down to the edge of the fountain and together threw in our coins. I chose to throw in a coin I received as change in London – no one was quite sure where the coin was from or what it was worth. One store clerk in London try to convince me it was an U.S. coin - it was not – I am pretty sure I know what those coins look like. So now it was in the Fountain for someone else to figure out where it was from. An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. However, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain.

Near Trevi, there was a street market with several carts of merchandise. We briefly walked through it and both thought we would like to stop back over here on our last day in Rome if we had time.

Before we left Shannon did some research on the best gelato in Rome. She discovered it was a place called San Crispino and it was only a few blocks from the Trevi Fountain. So we set off to find it. I was not planning to get any gelato, since I had already had some that afternoon. As I stood in line with Shannon I looked over the flavors, it is really interesting to see the flavors of gelato in Italy – pistachio is the most popular flavor over all- I never dare try that. The flavor that caught my attention was cocoa rum. Shannon got a caramel flavor and at the last minute I decided to get small cocoa rum. It was so good!!!!! Shannon and I exchanged a bit of each of ours, and the caramel, cocoa rum mixture was wonderful! I must agree it is mighty good gelato.

Our next, and final stop for the day was The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II).

The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II is a monument to honour Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy, located in Rome, Italy. It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill. The monument was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1885; sculpture for it was parceled out to established sculptors all over Italy, such as Angelo Zanelli. It was inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1935.

This monument is not with out controversy…

The monument was controversial since its construction destroyed a large area of the Capitoline Hill with a Medieval neighbourhood for its sake. The monument itself is often regarded as pompous and too large. It is clearly visible to most of the city of Rome despite being boxy in general shape and lacking a dome or a tower. The monument is also glaringly white, making it highly conspicuous amidst the generally brownish buildings surrounding it, and its stacked, crowded nature has lent it several derogatory nicknames. Romans sometimes refer to the structure by a variety of irreverent slang expressions, such as "Zuppa Inglese", "the wedding cake", and "the false teeth."

Even with all the controversy, it remains a popular tourist site.

Here is a close up of the statue in front.

Here is Shannon with the monument.

While I was trying to take pictures, there were two police officers or traffic guards who kept getting in my way, every time I had a clear picture one would move and get in the way – they became my nemesis. So it is only fitting that just as Shannon was taking my picture they both moved and now appear on either side of me.