We're back to normal. Pat's working, I've unpacked all those bags, we're seeing friends and settling back in during a huge New York heatwave. But before I forget, here's a brief update on our last week in Rome.
Thursday we vegged at home until Pat went to class. I went for a big walk around Trastevere and saw St. Cecelia and St. Agatha churches and did some window shopping.
I met Pat and some classmates to pick up pizza and go over to Martin's place. Cool apartment somehow housed in the top floor of a school. Lots of pizza, wine and hanging out.
Friday Pat and I met Amanda, Martin and his friend from home at the Palazzo Barberini. Gorgeous gallery, stupid no-photo policy. Here's a shot from outside instead.
After lunch at L'insalata Ricca we disbanded and Pat and I went home. After class, Amanda joined us for a bottle of prosecco at al Grammelot - the local wine bar we went to often during the summer.
Saturday was the last class trip. We had to get to the station really early but made it
on time. We took a train and bus to a really quaint little town. After watching a cowboy bring his horse to water in the piazza fountain and being turned away by the local police. we took a steep walk up to the tiny Horace museum and look out over the valley below.
We went to the ruins of Horace's villa, then up to a little waterfall he mentions in his writings. We had a nice relaxing picnic in front of the waterfall.
Pat made a really sweet toast to Reginaldus and we actually got a photo together with him.
After that, we took the train home, saying goodbye to Reggie one last time (typically, he pulled me in for a hug then pushed me away saying "Get going now"). We came home and John and Leah came over to pick up their stuff they'd stored with us while on their roadtrip honeymoon. We brought them with us for a nice dinner with our friends at Scarpone (ironically where they had their wedding. Such a nice night out - here's me with Juliet and Amanda.
Sunday Pat and I had our last day in Rome so we became super-tourists again. Saw St. Clemente, St. Maria sopra Minerva, the Pantheon, St Peter in Chains. And even went to the Trevi fountain again, cheesily throwing coins in to assure our return.
Exhausted, we met our friends up at the Paola Fountain on the Janiculum for a goodbye picnic.
Monday we join Joe, Juliet and their friend from home and Tim for a trip to the sea. We went to Sperlonga - bus, train, bus, beach! Gorgeous town, clear water, soft sand.
We hiked up the stairs of the cliffside town.
Lovely, but prciey, so back down again for lunch where Martin (ditching the less-than-fun friend) met us.
After another trip down to swim, we went home and packed.
Tuesday our power was out again (4 times this summer) and the broker forgot our security deposit check, but we couldn't care less. We took these as signs it was time to go back to NYC. After the landlord and broker left, we took a cab to the station, train to the airport only to see our flight was delayed 3 hours. They gave us meal vouchers - which we tried to cash in lots of crappy places only to find the cafeteria that took them. Um, that's a hella lot of food for free - thanks Eurofly! We added up our meals from the menu - 47 euros all told. Crazy.
Lots of waiting in the airport - luckily it's stocked with Versace stores and duty-free shops where we loaded up on cheap liquor. And we had plenty of books in carry-on.
We eventually boarded (taking 7 Italian employees to do the job of one ticket checker) and had an eventful flight - watched "In the land of Women" and "Quess Who" and became addicted to video backgammon. Steph met us at the airport and since it was too late for dinner, we just stopped off at Pat's folks' house for a little bit to pick up the car and give them their gifts.
Yesterday morning we went grocery shopping. Then I unpacked and went through all our mail (2 months = a ridiculous amount of mail!) while Pat was at work. We met Pat's folks for dinner. Mexican! So great to eat non-Italian food.
Today I went swimming in our pool for the first time. It's so hot here and the water was fabulous. Now I'm off to do a little shopping before meeting Pat and Pete for dinner. Chinese! Woo!
