The sixth day was extremely hectic, and lots of walking. We started off with seeing the Victor Emmanuel Monument; we learned that once the building of the monument was finished, they decided to celebrate the accomplishment with having a meal party in the belly of the horse on top of the monument (a pretty awesome way to celebrate if you ask me).

We then were taken of a journey through the backstreets of Rome. At first, it felt like we were being taken to the middle of nowhere. But then, all of a sudden, we turn the corner to find the Trevi Fountain! It was absolutely beautiful! We all threw our coins in and left for the first gelato, the Pantheon.

The Pantheon and the Coliseum are the two monuments that I think of most when I think of Rome; so I was psyched. We learned about the pagan origin of the Pantheon and about the aftermath of Christianity becoming the primary religion in Rome. At one point, they stripped all the marble from the outside (like many of the other buildings in Rome) to reuse on new building. We were told that after a while, the key to the Pantheon was finally given to the Pope. However, instead of stripping the inside of all its valuables (just a few), they turned it into a place to honor all martyrs for the Christian faith. It remains a church-owned monument, but it’s still almost the same to the way it was when it was originally built. The floors are the most original thing in the entire building, with only a few places where precious stones had been taken away for reuse. When we were leaving, a bunch or choirs came to the Pantheon and started singing hymns. It seemed to fit, and not fit at the same time. The Pantheon is definitely a religious place now, but its pagan roots are far from forgotten.

Also during the day, we visited the Piazza Navona and learned about the family that owned that area, and the fountain of Four-Rivers. It was really fascinating to learn the back-story behind Bernini sculpting this amazing fountain and that he was almost not the one to do it. We then looked around at the artists around the square and bought some of the local art pieces. We also went on to visit the Spanish Steps, which I did not climb because of being way too tired, and also the American Catholic Church near the US embassy.

Later on that night, we went back to Piazza Navona at night; it looked like a completely different world there. The square was filled with street performers and more artists than I had ever seen in my entire life. I ended up buying another painting and we then headed back to the hotel after our long and exhausting day.