Our last day in Rome. Sigh. The trip is almost over and our plan is to soak in as much as we can before heading home tomorrow. Curious about breakfast at this hotel, we weren't expecting anything more than pastries for some reason, but we were looking forward to any kind of change up from the same items we had for the past 6 days in a row in Cortona. To our surprise, it was quite excellent! Scrambled eggs, non crispy bacon, pancakes (in a made to order machine where you pushed a button and watched it make them on a little conveyer belt), fresh fruit, liquidy yogurt from a machine, toasts, breads, pastries and some kind of ham and cheese tort. The jelly and syrups were in fancy high-tech dispensers. Like breakfast of the future. The servers made any kind of fresh coffee drink you wanted and had the milk steamers and everything. We noticed last night from a card in our room that they'd bring breakfast to your room. We know why, and that is because the little breakfast area only seats about 30 or less.
After that surprising treat we headed out to catch the hop on hop off. This very sweet Indian boy was giving us the spiel, even tho we already knew we'd take it. Once we said ok, he asked us to follow him to the ticket office. He was on a Segway and asked Guy if he wanted to drive it. Guy said no, but the young man insisted, so Guy hopped on and took it for a spin. Funny. So at the ticket shop we paid with a credit card (sometimes that's been a problem in the past and they only take cash) and hopped on the bus. The narrated tour took us all around the city with a drop off near the Vatican, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Coliseum, several piazzas, and more. After seeing it for a little bit we realized we had actually done the tour before. Still, it was a beautiful day and we sat on the top of the bus and took the sights in. Europe is also rich in smells as well, and this week I tried to take in as many as I could, paying attention to everything. The flowers in the evening, the distinct smells of the old buildings, pastries, diesel fuel, cigarettes, coffee. We just took it all in. From the bus I got several nice shots of the Coliseum and Circus Maximus. We also saw a couple in their wedding clothes having a photo shoot outside the Coliseum. And in front of a church today, their were tiny white paper hearts all over the ground. It is very romantic here.
For lunch we headed across the river to the part of Rome called Trastevere, where we grabbed some lunch at a familiar restaurant called the Grazie and Grazzinella. We've been there before and it's more of a hipster place, with a young friendly staff. When you walked in they gave you a tiny little plastic cup of proscecco wine. We had bruschetta and I ordered the lasagna (the guy next to me had it, so that pretty much sold me on it) and Guy had the carbonara. His was ok, but not as great as the other day and my lasagna was the best so far (it's my first, LOL, therefore the best!). It was really good. As we left they gave us limoncello and we clinked our little shot glasses together "salute". From Trastevere we headed on foot towards the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. The Pantheon was so crowded they had a line going in and a line going out. We just walked up like we were going in as we had before, but we were quickly informed of the queue. Hmm. Police presence is really heavy in Rome, lots of police, and I've seen at least a dozen machine guns. Combination of heavy tourist season and reality of today's times is suppose. It certainly isn't scary. You can be at the wrong place at the wrong time pretty much anywhere. Well, except for maybe Elkville. :)
Slowly working our way back to the hotel for a rest, we hit about every shop along the way searching for goodies. Guy spied a Tshirt earlier today and we couldn't find it in his size. Most of the shops have the same things, so we searched until we found it, and we sure did! Success! Along with a few other items we had a full and successful day just hitting the highlights. After a short rest I went up to the rooftop and blogged while Guy showered and read. It seemed a bit hot today, but really the high was only 82 with a nice breeze. Sunny and perfect.
Dinner tonight was at the iL Falchetto. Another recommendation from our hotel guys. They made a reservation for us at 8pm and we walked there with no troubles. Guy had eggplant bruschetta to start and he ordered cod with potatoes in a tomato sauce. It was good. About as described on the menu. Being my last night in Italy, I had to have one more gnocchi and I'm so glad I did. It was the best I've had on this trip. It was in a red sauce that was a bit sweet, kind of like I make. It was baked with cheese on top. It melted in your mouth and I was so happy. We opted not to have dessert, but they brought out small biscottis with the check. They were a vanilla flavor, very good.
As we walked back we hit one more shop that we had been in earlier to pick up a goodie and then we went to the chocolate shop called Venchi. They had a wall of streaming chocolate and it was recommended to us by Dino to try their gelato. I think it would not be prudent to skip gelato on my last day in Italy, so we stood in the long line and we watched the guys behind the counter craft the most fabulous cones. This was one time I actually had a cone, it was just more fun. I had chocolate and stracciatella. They also dipped the top of my cone in chocolate and caramel bits. Yeah. It was good.
Now for the last paragraph of my alongituscany2017 blog. We are back in the room packing our bags. The hotel booked us a car to be out front tomorrow morning at 9am to take us to the airport. Our flight leaves at noon and we'll be back in STL Sunday night at 9:30pm. It's been better that fabulous. The weather, the glass class, the company, the cooking class, the eating, the leisure mornings, the stories, the MEMORIES! Thank you, Italy, for another great adventure and letting us be a part of your world for a short time. Prayers will be sent up tonight for safe travels home for us tomorrow and our Herrin students/church family that are coming home in a few days. Ciao until next time!