And so it ends…the final tales from our days in Italy. And honestly, I’m feeling kind of like I did at the end of our trip. Rome was my least favorite place that we visited, so it wasn’t too hard to leave. I love this series, but now I’m ready to move on.
But first, a conversation on the train from Siena to Rome.
Drew: “Wouldn’t it be great if you had a Siennese grandmother that would meet you at the train station?”
Me: “Yes. And she had a villa, and I was her favorite grandchild?”
Drew: “And she cooked ravioli for you?”
Me: “And she gave you all her recipes?”
Me again: “I miss her.”
Okay, back to Rome. We stayed at Surprising in Rome, a great bed & breakfast with a very knowledgeable friendly, and gracious host. Plus he had blood orange juice and Nutella in the kitchen. So there’s that.
There was plenty of good people watching in Rome.
There was great food and lovely cafés. We had a nice lunch and a fun conversation with a retired flight attendant from Atlanta who sat next to us at Nonna Betta. Anthony Bourdain liked their artichokes too. We had the most awesome arancine ever at Mondo Arancina nearish the Vatican.
I loved the Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori, both full of street performers and open air markets with art and fresh produce.
We saw a Cy Twombly exhibit at the National Gallery of Modern Art, and a family of ducks in a beautiful park nearby. I loved seeing Quattro Stagioni, Twombly’s interpretation of the four seasons, and having a conversation with Drew about life being full of surprises.
“Maybe some things that you want don’t happen, or things are not exactly the way that you thought they would be, but it’s still beautiful and magical.” – Drew Biehle
I love this man.
I loved seeing bits of street art and looking at the architecture.
It was fun to pretend to be Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday when I stuck my hand in La Bocca della Verità (the Mouth of Truth).
But you guys, I was TIRED. And hot. And Rome was CROWDED. And dirty, like actual trash in the Tiber. And I started to get sick of all the old stuff.
Amusing Musings of Annoyance from My Travel Journal
“Today we went to the Pantheon. There were a couple of weird looking Madonna and Childs. Is that how you pluralize it? One of them was downright creepy looking, and the other looked like it was carved out of foil in the shape of the mask that Eric Stoltz wore in Mask.”
“I sat down on a pew and began to give thanks. I was grateful for this trip, my wonderful husband, and the life we’ve been given. Then a message came over the loudspeaker in Italian. Then English. Then German. I held my prayer as I looked around the room, observing the signs that asked visitors to be quiet, as this is a holy space.”
“And it was hot – direct sunlight, walking through boring ruins flanked by throngs of pushy tourists and peddlers does not spell honeymoon, ‘lua die mielle’, or even enjoyable vacation to me.”
When Drew started spanking the she-wolves, we knew we were ready to go home.
Reliving this amazing trip has been fun. Thanks for coming with me. You can read the entire series here.
What I Was Reading: I Smile Back by Amy Koppelman – Very dark but amazing, hard to put down novel. Not great honeymoon material.