Wednesday morning, we wake up one last time in Cortona. This has been one of my favorite travel weeks ever. We go to breakfast and sit in the patio, as we’ve done all week. The servers, who we’ve come to know by name, (Melina, Paolo, Taziana and Nicole) know that it’s our last day. They all come to say goodbye and we take pictures together. We have learned that Taziana is close friends with Susanna, who we met days ago at DelBrenna jewelry, and they are planning to travel together in January. All of them travel, as a matter of fact, so we hope that we will cross paths again sometime in the future.
We are picked up by taxi and drive to the train station, where we cross the country again, on our way to the last leg of our six-week journey, Rome! Once we arrive in Rome, we walk our bags from the train station, across city blocks and up a steep hill to our hotel, Villa Agrippina Gran Melia. It’s somewhat modern, fresh and bright.
We are shown to our room is which is clean and decorated artistically with deep jewel colors in reds, greens and blues. A full wall of windows overlooks an outdoor patio restaurant and gardens. Another wall has a mural of a beautiful lady. The floors are wooden and the toilet area is separate from the sinks and tub, which is always nice. The gentleman showing us around also shows us another room with a suite layout that we can upgrade to, he tells us, for a mere $3000.00 euros. We decline.
Once our bags are unpacked, we head out to discover this magnificent, eternal city. We are back to crowds and heat, but we are amazed at the size of the buildings and the Roman architecture. There are basilicas and museums everywhere.
Shawn and I haven’t had Mexican food for five weeks. He finds a well-rated authentic, Mexican food restaurant about 30 minutes from our hotel, called La Cucaracha. We love to walk so this is a good way for us to see some sights. Our dinner is delicious and as always, the language barrier is present so we accept the misunderstandings and eat what is brought to us.
The next day, we stroll the city. We first stop at Santa Maria in Aracoeli Basilica. We then walk to the Colosseum and we agree that the enormity cannot be seen or understood unless one is physically present. We did not purchase tickets beforehand. The lines for tickets are long and it’s hot so we decide that seeing it from the outside is enough. There is a small part of me also, which is somewhat relieved to not enter a place with the gruesome history that the Colosseum has.
We stop at Basilica di San Francesca Romana before having lunch at Angelino “ai Fori”, a pizzeria with patio seating.
After lunch, we see the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and the Roman Forum. It’s all magnificent and so much has been written about all of them. We are grateful to have the opportunity to experience these wonders.
We have time to cool off in the pool before cleaning up for dinner. We have sushi at a restaurant adjacent to our hotel, Terraza Mirador Rome. The restaurant is completely outside with a wooden deck and decorated with comfortable couches around low sitting tables, plants and flowers. It’s peaceful and there’s a slight breeze now. I have the best salmon I’ve ever tasted, along with zucchini, which I give to Shawn, and black rice. He has Japanese dumplings and sashimi, which he says are also delicious. It’s such a treat to be in big cities where there are chefs who prepare delicious foods from all over the world. When our food and wine have been consumed, we go back to our room and drop into bed for a good night’s sleep.