Happy Trails For Us: My Reluctant Blog

Sore feet, clean shirt

That pretty much sums up our last day in bella Italia. We pack up at the Locanda Rosati, and realize that we will be at FCO quite on time to return our car at noon – thoughts of taking a more leisurely route down from Orvieto are abandoned, we are pretty tired.

The drive is short and smooth; David drops me at the airport Hilton, and goes to return the car. Our room is actually ready; we take a walk over to the airport to try and check in for our BA flight Sunday morning, but two counters tell us we need to do this online (which does not work, but oh well, we can always check in in the morning). We grab a snack while we’re there, walk back to the Hilton and snag a luggage cart on the way; this will mark the first time I have ever slept with a luggage cart in a hotel room, but we are taking no chances on finding one at 6 am in the morning.

The Hilton has a shuttle service into Rome and we take the 4 pm into the city. It drops us at the Teatro Marcellus, and we decided to walk through the Jewish ghetto, up the Pantheon (where we are checking out a restaurant for dinner), and then over to the Trevi Fountain, because we have not yet had a gelato at San Crispino. It is definitely more crowded in Rome on this summer weekend than it was when we first arrived. The gelato at San Crispino is exactly as I remember it; I am happy to be going home with a taste of the melon in my mouth. Afterwards we just sit at a café with a carafe of wine and people watch until it is time for dinner.

We are eating at the rather unfashionable hour of 7pm since we do have that early flight tomorrow. David’s desire is for a plate of cacao e pepe, and La Segrestia (on the Stella list, thanks Gina) is supposed to have a good one. We are not the only early arrivals, and get a nice table in a cool room (where I have a view of the street). David starts with assorted bruschetta and I have grilled vegetables (thwarted in my quest for a carciofo ebraio because they did not get any artichokes that day), which were almost as good; the zucchini has been done in the artichoke way) After the primi of cacao e pepe, we shared a plate of vitello marsala and a tomato salad. I don’t think I ate much meat on the trip; the Marsala reduction sauce on the veal was really good. I almost never eat veal.

We decided to not take our chances on the iffy Hilton shuttle service back, so David figured out that we could catch a bus at Largo Argentina to Termini and take the train back to the Airport. And we did; while on the bus (my firs bus ride in Rome, long story), I realized that we had now probably hit all means of transportation on this trip (save donkey ride): we had been on planes, trains, buses, shuttles, ferries and cars. No wonder my feet are sore.

Back at the Hilton, we repack, decide to check one of our carry-on bags, and get some sleep for the long travel day ahead. It has been one excellent trip. And thanks to the laundry service we took advantage of, we are definitely going home with something clean to wear on the plane. Because I know in my heart that we will return, it is not hard to leave – it’s time.