Thunder and an Oculus

This happened a couple weeks ago, and I've mentioned it in several mediums, but one of the highlights of the trip was our gigantic thunderstorm and going to see the rain fall through the Pantheon's oculus. There have been several days when a hot muggy afternoon spontaneous morphed into a massive thunderstorm, including once when we were coming out Castel St. Angelo on our way to a wine tasting. I always find this to be exciting, since true thunder and lightning is pretty rare in Washington. On our way back from an afternoon art history walk, the dark clouds rolled in, and my roommates and I found ourselves scurrying back to the Campo to get inside before the rain hit. The storm was directly overhead, and we were spooked by some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard. Then the sky opened. We'd only been inside a minute or two when someone yelled "The Pantheon!" Then there was a mad scramble to find jackets and umbrellas and shoes, and we were off, sprinting through the streets towards the Pantheon. The rain was coming down so hard it was hard to see, and an umbrella was pretty much superfluous. All the Italians were huddled under cover, so the streets were deserted, and they just gave us crazy looks and we ran past, laughing maniacally. We made it there without being struck by lightning, and enjoyed watching the rain fall inside the dome. And, of course, we ran into two other groups of our classmates from UW. Everyone had the same idea and came from their apartments at the same time! We were all literally soaking wet and looking very Seattle-esque in our North Face jackets, but it was absolutely a moment to remember forever.