10/10/10 Ciao Roma!- Last Day In Italy

We woke up at the hostel and left as soon as we woke up.  We had to get our things together in the dark, because other people were still sleeping.  Emily and I decided to try and navigate the bus system back to Sofia’s dorm and we actually made it.  Not only did we get there, but we got there early, so we stopped in a little café to grab breakfast.  I got a croissant with chocolate filling and a cappuccino.  I couldn’t have left Italy without getting a cappuccino.  We watched out the windows for Sofia to walk by and we grabbed her as she walked by.

           From there we headed back into the old part of the city.  It was a peaceful Sunday morning and there wasn’t much going on.  We went back to the Pantheon and saw it in the daylight.  We were also able to go inside and look at the hole in the top.  Rumor has it that it doesn’t rain in the hole, but I’m not sure if that is physically possible.  Sofia is going to come back a different day and discover the truth.  We continued to walk through the old part of the city, picking up postcards and other souvenirs.  It was almost a redo of our Thursday night, except during the day time.  We returned to the Trevi Fountain.

 At 10 a.m. we went to the Vittorio Emmanuel II to meet Stefano.  Stefano is Gabrielle’s dad and a friend of Emily’s uncle.  We were waiting on the front steps for a while until Sofia got a call from him, telling us to cross the street and hop in the car.  In front of the monument is a giant traffic circle, so we had to cross quickly to get to him.  Ironically, just as the three of us were going to cross, a parade of old spider cars came through.  A police officer on a moped stopped all the traffic in the circle and wouldn’t let us cross.  We had to wait for the parade to end, but we finally made it.  My favorite picture was of the first three cars—red, white and green for the Italian flag. 

                       We finally hoped in the car, but it took forever to find a parking spot.  Stefano drove around for a solid half hour before we found a place to park.  From there we walked back to the monument and went inside.  There was an amazing view from the sides of it, but you can go even further up to the top and see the whole city.  Stefano generously bought us tickets to take the elevator to the top.  I took so many picture at the top, because you could see everything.  On one side of the building were the Roman ruins- the Colosseum, the Forum etc.  On the other side of the building, you could see St. Peter’s Bascillica, Villa Bourgesa and much more.  We were all surprised when Stefano said that he and his wife hadn’t discovered this look out point until last year.  He told us that he takes everyone who comes to visit up here.  It was getting to be early afternoon, so Emily and I started worrying about making it to Termini station to catch the train to the airport.  Stefano and Sofia who were totally accustomed to the laid back Italian culture weren’t really worried about the time, so they brought us to some other areas.  First we went inside a Cathedral next to Vittorio Emmanuel.  Apparently, there is some famous painting there.  I feel so ignorant saying “some famous painting”, but honestly there are too many famous works of culture and history here to even begin to remember.  Then, we walked down some steps to the building where Peter and Paul were imprisoned.  Once again, I was lacking on my Biblical history, but Emily and Sofia seemed to think it was a big deal. 

We finally made it back to the car after taking many detours.  Emily and I wanted to grab a quick lunch, but Stefano didn’t want us to eat at a touristy restaurant, so we drove around for a while, looking for something.  It was hard for him to find something, because on Sundays most places aren’t open.  We actually ended up going back to the same restaurant that we had been to with his son on Friday night.  It didn’t matter that this was a repeat visit, because this time we got pasta instead of pizza.  I got these amazing handstuffed ravioli filled with some sort of pesto spinach and had a red sauce on top.  For dessert, we finally got to try tiramisu.  I had been looking forward to eating that for the whole trip, and it was better than any tiramisu I’d ever had before.

  

            Despite our leisurely lunch, Stefano got us to the train on time, we made the flight and found our way back home.  It was nice to be back in Barcelona.  I guess flying back made me realize how comfortable I have become in the city and how nice it is to actually be able to speak the language.  Not being able to communicate in Italian was tough.  Pepita heated my dinner up when I got home, even though it was kind of late.  I slept so well that night.  I can’t imagine traveling every single weekend, because it would be so tiring.  Even having Monday and Tuesday off from classes, I needed that time just to rest and recover from my amazing Roman adventure. Ciao!