Our last full day of this holiday with Sue. Our final day in Rome. Another early morning to beat the heat & crowds .... today we are off to visit some of the iconic monuments in the historic city center.  Of course we are early for breakfast but the guy setting things up in the lobby insists that we take a pastry with us. I choose an apple one. Yum. 

We again hop on a bus to take us across town towards the Trevi Fountain. Off the bus, it’s a short walk. We stop in a bar for some cappuccino before reaching the piazza. Turning the corner, we are greeted by the glorious fountain that is gleaming this morning with it’s white stone and blue, blue waters. We are here pretty early and already there are plenty of people around the fountain. During our visit, we watch three models in very fancy gowns doing a photo shoot. Already the temperature is rising to a point where these gowns are probably small torture chambers for these girls. It’s quite interesting and cool to see them in action. We finish our caffeine-fix here at the Trevi. We  are able to get down the few steps and toss our coins into the fountain to assure that we will make a return visit some day. After awhile, there suddenly is some action going on as the police begin to clear people out of the bottom areas nearest to the fountain. They barricade off the bottom section essentially closing it from visiting. We wonder if this is now a crowd-control measure especially in these days of extreme heat. There have been reports of tourists getting fined for getting into the fountains which is a very big no-no here in Rome. The Trevi is the most famous. I suppose that they may be taking precautions so that no one jumps in.... but maybe something else is happening. 

From the Trevi, it’s a short walk through the city centre to reach our next destination, the Pantheon. This 2000 year-old structure is the most amazing building ever. It’s supposed to open at 9:00 am. When we arrive a bit before there is already a small queue lining up. We get in line and Sue waits there while I run down the street to buy a scarf. When I return a short time later, the queue is gone and Sue is waiting at the entrance. It opened earlier than we expected. Cool. In we go. We visit the Pantheon inside enjoying the peaceful atmosphere in this incredible building. I love coming to this ancient place. 

Up the street from the Pantheon is a gelateria with a delicious eggnog gelato and espresso dish. Unfortunately we are over an hour early to get this treat this morning so off we go to find the Piazza Navona. One block over, we make a pit stop to do some shopping as we are in search of some t-shirts today. We visit a luggage/t-shirt shop and find some things to buy for family. Then we head into the Piazza Navona. Here we admire the architecture and fountains that adorn this ancient place. Here in ancient Rome, this was a stadium where track & field-like sports were played giving Piazza Navona it’s long oval shape. 

It’s late morning and we are ready for a long rest back at our room so we hop on a bus that takes us back to our neighborhood.  Once we arrive at our bus stop, we decide to pop over the street to visit an interesting church, St Clemens. This old church was built on the foundations of an even older church which was built on the foundations of an ancient temple and city. We are able to visit down below to see the different layers of Rome. Our time travel was interesting. It’s very damp and creepy down here where so many centuries ago people were making their lives.

We have some napping and packing going on when we return to our room down the street. Because I bought some wine at the winery (2 bottles that take up a good amount of space and weight in my purple bag), I have bought a baby bag to house all my excess things that I have accumulated. I have to do some moving around and figuring to get my carry on bags within the weight limit for my RyanAir flight tomorrow morning. I end up leaving a few things behind and sending home some unessential items with Sue as she has enough space in her bag for her flight back to Michigan in the morning. I will be heading to France via RyanAir which has tighter weight restrictions. My checked bag is 19.5 kg to the 20 kg allowed. 

After our long rest period in our a/c room, we head back out for our final evening in Rome. We have timed-tickets for the Vatican Museum that we bought online. Being a Friday night, there are special evening opening hours so we are hoping that the museum will be less busy tonight. But before we reach the museum we are heading for dinner. I made online reservations at a restaurant for 5:30. Osteria delle Commune, which is about a 2 minute walk form the museum. Taking the metro line A to the Ottaviano stop, we have a short walk to the restaurant. Arriving a little bit early, the place is not yet open. We spot a cocktail bar across the street so we pop over for an aperitivo... Aperol Sprtz anyone? At our restaurant, we enjoyed a nice meal with a shared pasta cacio e pepe (classic Roman pasta with cheese & black pepper), chicken and potatoes for Sue and a delicious sea bass with spinach for me. 

When we arrive to the Vatican Museum entrance, there is a long queue as the evening hours begin at 7:00 am which is when our timed-ticket is for ... many of these people have timed-tickets for later so they really are not in the line yet even though they are standing there. When the doors to the entrance finally open, it’s not that much of a wait to get through the security and into the museum. We have to exchange our voucher for tickets before heading up the circling ramp to the museum entrance. There really are not that many people here! That is super news! We wander our way through the museum seeing many beautiful things along the way. We are headed for the Sistine Chapel. When we arrive, there are so few people that we could have a ton of space and even a place to sit on the bench along the wall for awhile to admire Michaelangelo’s masterpiece. Both the ceiling and the Last Judgement painting on the wall are so beautiful. This room is just amazing. It’s great to be back here without shoulder to shoulder crowds. What a treat! 

There is more to see in the museum as we make our way back to the main entrance where we will exit tonight. (During the daytime, there is a second exit from over by the Sistine Chapel that dumps you out by St Peter’s Basilica.). On our way back to the metro to reach our room, we stop for a final gelato. I get a mystery flavor with pineapple. It was good. Back at our room, we have to get ready for some sleep before our early morning departure. I have a driver coming to pick me up at 4:30 while Sue’s driver to the airport picks her up at 7:00 am . 

Good night Rome!