That’s it! Vacation over.
I’m not happy it’s over, but at the same time I don’t mind either; two weeks is plenty! We had a great time, loved every day, had some great meals, visited great cities… all excellent.
The plan for today was to leave our bags in lockers at the train station in Rome and then head out to our hotel near the airport for the last night after spending the afternoon in the city. We took the train back from Sorrento to Naples this morning (an hour on the milk run train) then the Fast Train from Naples to Rome (70 minutes). Turns out they don’t have lockers at Termini Station, but a check luggage service instead which is an efficient system overall, but slow so just doing that ate up 30 minutes of our time!
The only thing I really wanted to do in Rome was visit San Pietro in Vincoli, so we made a b-line for it to make sure we didn’t run out of time later in the day. I particularly wanted to see Michelangelo’s unfinished tomb of Julius II after having read all about it in ‘The Agony and The Ecstasy’ not long ago.
Another reason to visit this church is to see St Peter’s Chains which are on display under the alter. I told my husband that I wanted to visit the 2 ‘draws’ and read the information about them in my guidebook to him, but somehow that did not translate in his mind into: Get a picture of the chains on display! LOLOLOLOL Classic male / female dilemma!! Here’s what we got – not that bad, but I would have liked a close up.
After that it was time for lunch, we found a lovely spot with a view and tucked in for another large meal and have a final celebration. Over the past few days we’ve taken to having one gargantuan 3 course mid-day meal and just a snack for supper… it somehow feels less piggish, but I doubt it’s healthy! LOL Who cares – it’s what being on vacation is all about!
The rest of the afternoon was just aimless wandering through Campo De Fiori, Piazza Navona, The Pantheon etc… a good bye walking tour of the city.
Once we decided to call it a day and started heading back to the station, we came across a news story… a scrum of TV Reporters waiting for Lord only knows who to exit from a building – no clue what it was all about!!! For all I know, I may have had a great Italian Celebrity sighting!
Do you know who this blond woman is??
Or this brunette in the back of the cab?
I tried Googling Rome news… but my Italian is REALLY not good enough for that kind of research!!!
So that’s it for today, we are at a hotel near the airport now to make our departure tomorrow morning easier – finding this place was a little stressful since the hotel changed it’s name a few months ago!!!! LOL It’s a Best Western now.
ARRIVEDERCI ROMA!