Pantheon Visit

The end of July 2015 throwback into the hottest day I could recall in my memory being travelling Italy. Perhaps it was a combination of temperature and intense schedule for the day, or maybe it was my own barometer of a lifetime experience telling me its data.
The Pantheon visit was my first eye-opening in Rome. It was literally 1,520 square meters of pure astonishment within timeless experience!
The beauty of it was just breathtaking to the point where one does not notice anything but the presents of history and oneself in its equation.
It was the momentum of deep meditation a complete withdrawal from the reality yet so real and so existent to the extend.
Every wall every column every statue and every painting made you look listen and feel with the sensation of being hypnotised.

It was so eccentric to find out that the Oculus which is beautifully sitting in the centre of the ceiling was the only light source of the dome. It was cleverly designed to play a particular purpose of the light moving towards different parts of the temple. The lighting trick would fall on a particular part of the temple each hour of the day was telling me a story of its certainty. If I could only stand there all day taking notes of where the light has pointed at what hour, I would probably be able to draw a full spectacle of the daily events that were taken at this place in ancient times.

If the camera could only capture the allure and memorisation to take away with you as a proof of foreseen it would have been it.
But no… only my brain could capture that experience to complete pettiness of the photographs taken.
Nor photos or videos could ever befall profundity of such an experience. No matter how many pictures you have seen in the books or movies with it unless you have sighted it for yourself, you have not seen it at all!
Little recital from the Descriptive Poems: III. Places
The Pantheon by Lord Byron (1788–1824) will round it up pretty well:

“SIMPLE, erect, severe, austere, sublime,—
Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods,
From Jove to Jesus,—spared and blest by time;
Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods
Arch, empire, each thing round thee, and man plods His way through thorns to ashes,—glorious dome!
Shalt thou not last? Time’s scythe and tyrants’ rods
Shiver upon thee,—sanctuary and home
Of art and piety,—Pantheon!—pride of Rome!”

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Lunch at Er Faciolaro

Er Faciolaro is a little restaurant based in Rome Colonna just 2 minutes away from Pantheon. I have actually picked that place to stop for a quick lunch only because I was stunned by its striking front exterior with the Fresco sitting between the windows.

It was such a hot day that all I could think of is a salad and the coffee, and so it was beautiful “Insalata Caprese” and “Long black”! It was served almost instantly, don’t you just love how quickly they serve food in Italy? I still don’t know how they do it!

My Caprese salad was to die for, beautiful textures and fresh flavours of mozzarella and sun-loved ripen tomatoes harmonised with the sweetness of basil aged balsamic and pungency of extra virgin chilly infused olive oil – simply food of the Gods!

My brain was screaming from an abundance of flavours, leaving a score of an utter satisfaction of the experience. I literally felt how my neurons were firing, making electricity while charging my body with the energy to carry the day. That’s what I call Food for Fuel with an efficient exchange of nutrition for pure energy!

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Arrival to Rome

Rome is one of those magnificent places that have incredible energy about it, as soon as you put your feet down on its soil you have this charge this science of remarkable authenticity!

As soon as we arrived, we had the feeling of an old soul filling the space all over the place with the romance, beautiful places, delicious food, bubbly people and brim history.

We have stopped at the hotel Delle Nzioni located right in the heart of Rome, with only a few minutes walk to IΙ Tempio di Adriano, Trevi Fountain, Marcus Aurelius Column, Pantheon, Domus Aurea and many amazing restaurants and Gelato shops.

We did not eat Hotel food at all as there were so many lovely eating options available nearby, so we took our chances! Plus because the whole family is always on intermittent fasting which we break at about 1 to 2 pm, it was easy for us to keep our routines going as we mainly were focusing on eating out at dinner time.

We would exercise outside as a family first thing in the morning while we were in Rome, we would plan all our trips to the sights from 10 am to 4 pm to nail all the places we wanted to visit. We would feast for lunch on the sugar-free protein bar or small salad during our sightseeing we would equip with sugar-free electrolyte sachets to fuel our water drinking two or three bottles on the go. Mind you running around for five or six hours nonstop at 30-35 ºC was not easy, so electrolyte was saving our lives!

There wasn’t much of a view from our Hotel window to sight on but surely enough sighting for me, as I have an absolute fascination about Italian Balconies with setting around it hence why it is on this post, merely humble but very authentic.

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Victoria Memorial Monument “Sneak Peek” at Buckingham Palace

That was one of those busy Sunny mid-July days transiting through London back in 2015 having only one day for everything essential to be seen and experienced.

Sounds like an impossible task to tick off your list, especially when you are tired, jet-lag and family of Four with two Teenagers at 40 degrees Celsius.

We literally had to gallop through London visiting all the historical places fast and hard like a crazy bunch!
Here we are at Victoria Memorial Monument right behind legendary Buckingham Palace which we couldn’t visit but only could sight from a distance walking around its gorgeous fence.

Then and there it felt like not a big deal not to be able to visit Buckingham Palace. Especially when we live in a world of full access to the media of any place you want to see pretty much, just by the click of your fingertips you can google anything you want.

The only thing is it is not quite the same to be there at present with all the six senses involved, particularly with your loved once around recording this very moment of the precious and unforgettable experience.
Oh well,C’est la Vie! Next time certainly we will swing by and make sure we have ticked the box “Buckingham Palace” √ Done!

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