Europe Trip: Day 27, June 16th

To finish off the last night, Lubna cooked something called Carbonara -- to simplify the process a bit it is eggs and bacon in pasta. Also cooked with some parmesan, garlic, olive oil, pepper, etc. (at different times during the process). It was quite good.

The next morning I waited until Lubna was heading in to do some work, mostly printing, for her big project that was due in two days. She said I could leave, but I stuck around until she finished in the afternoon. Then she had to go back home to study for a different exam that was the next morning.

I then headed over to the Pantheon -- okay, I got lost for about half an hour until I found it. The Pantheon is quite huge, and it is simply amazing that the ancient Romans were able to construct something so huge with such little machinery. A seagull was flying around in the dome, unable to escape, and everyone was watching it. At the top of the dome there is a hole, but I am told that when it rains the rain does not come through. Lubna wasn't sure about why, but she thought maybe something with the air pressure. Anyway, the seagull attempted a couple escapes (or that was what it looked like) but had no success at clearing the dome. You could hear the people in the Pantheon give a cheer when they thought it had made it, and then a sigh or "awww" when they saw it had failed.

I worked my way over to a main bridge and crossed it, not far from there was Francesca's work. I met her a little before 7pm. She had told me that after work she would show me all around a section of Rome.

We visited all sorts of places, various Piazzas, the Jewish Quarter/Ghetto where we had some fried cod that Francesca told me came from Norway. Then we went to the island near the Palatine hill that helped early Rome control the region, the Circus Maximus, and lastly the area around Piazza Venezia -- saw the big Vittorio Emanuelle monument, the Campidoglia (with the statue of Marcus Aurelius), and some of the Roman Forum.

Then we took a couple buses and ended up near her work, where we picked up her car, and headed home. We got back around midnight and had some pasta with Lubna. She had been studying for a test all day since I left her at the metro station.