We've been home for a week now, I am finally getting around to finishing the last blog entry of our trip: the last day in Rome. I didn't do it at the time because my cold was so bad, all I wanted to do was sleep when we got to the hotel. I was tired, fed up, coughing like crazy and could barely talk above a whisper.
Steps: 22 439.
We got to Rome a little before 10:30, and the plan was to leave the bags at the train station, have a day in the city and then after supper head out the hotel which was near the airport for our last night.
It was a great hotel, cheap, breakfast included, clean and best of all: QUIET! in hindsight, even though it would have meant taking the commuter train into the city every day, I would have preferred this place as a home base instead of where we stayed the first 6 nights. It's a 30 minute ride and costs less than 3€.
The baggage drop off system at the train station was very poorly organized. There is a long line that bends, and only once you've wasted a ton of time waiting in the line and pass the bend do you see that there is a fast track lane where for a negligible extra fee you can leave your bag right away with no waiting! ARGH! We 'wasted' about a half hour, not THAT bad, but I was annoyed.
The first stop was our predictable "Drinks with a View". This time: the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
There was nothing specific on our agenda for today, aside from just soaking in the city. After our drinks, we meandered towards Piazza del Popolo with a stop along the way at the Spanish Steps.
This is the most accurate picture of the Spanish Steps ever, don't you think?
Lunch was a nice meal in the Piazza Popolo in a pretty café with a grumpy waiter.
Next, we visited the Basilica San Giacomo which (like many churches in Italy) is nothing attractive from the outside, I bet most people walk right by it without a second thought.
The inside however.... YOWZA!
Afterwards, we meandered around, crossed the Tiber until we finally stopped for a break and some ice coffee.
After, we spent some time in Piazza Cavour:
And eventually ended up in St Peter's Square where thanks to fact that the chairs and barriers were all cleared, I FINALY got to stand on the spot to see Bernini's Illusion. The exact spot where the rows of columns line up so perfectly that the back row seems to disappear.
And still a super long line-up!
Our meandering lead us to the courtyards of the Palazzo del Commendatore, part of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. We actually got a little lost in there! I would have liked to see more, but I was not entirely sure we were allowed to be there.
Back across the Tiber, more meandering, some relaxing, more wandering... Here are some random shots taken along the way.
A little swing through Campo de Fiori, but I find that place is generally a dirty mess so I didn't bother with any wide shots.
We next stopped into the Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, another blah on the outside, eye-candy on the inside sensory FEAST! Wow, I can't narrow the pictures down to post only the best ones... you're about to be spammed here
Our last sight seeing stop for the day was Piazza Navona for a limoncello. Sad to have the vacation coming to an end, but that's life!
Throughout this entire trip, with the possible exception of the first one but I can't remember because it was so long ago, I have had the worst luck with pizzas. The crusts were all too dry and crackery, not the rip it with your teeth chewy kind, but dry and crunchy! YUCK! I thought perhaps if we found a place that had wood oven pizza I would have some better luck, so when we came across this restaurant on the way back to the trainstation, we pounced.
Looks good, but it was still on the dry side. Overall it's not a huge loss because there are many delicious perfect-crust pizza places in Montreal for me to enjoy, but it was dissapointing.
We made it back to Termini train station to pick up our bags by about 7. From there, it was the metro to Ostiense train station to catch the commuter train. We missed the first one by minutes, the second one was cancelled and the third was a good 10 minutes late! By the time we got to the room a little after 9PM I was DONE FOR.
It was a terrific vacation, we had such a wonderful time.... now, back to real life.
Ciao!
