When In Rome . . .

Today was our last full day in Rome and the last day of the European vacation. What to do, what to do. We decided that we didn’t want to rush around everywhere so we would just take our time and see what we could see. We started by heading up to the train station to see if our Eurail Pass would work for the train ride to the airport, or if we would need to buy a ticket. We were happy to learn that no extra ticket and no reservation fee was required. Glad to have gotten that squared away, we decided to take advantage of our Roma Pass and go to the nearby National Museum of Rome. I played tour guide again by using our guide book to see the highlights. We soon realized that the book wasn’t really following what we were seeing and asked an employee if we were in the right museum. The National Museum of Rome actually consists of four separate museums and the one we wanted to see was actually just a little further down the road. So we went there and saw the highlights that were suggested in the guide book. Of course after an hour or two of museums it was time for lunch and to try another Italian pizza. The pizza was good, but not as good as that mushroom based pizza we had at the gnome restaurant in Paris. That pizza still remains the best I’ve ever had and, quite possibly the best meal of the vacation. After lunch we walked back down to the Colosseum area and decided to visit Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Palatine Hill are Roman Ruins where once a giant palace stood. The IPad and I were our tour guide so we could try to imagine the rooms that once stood. Connected to Palatine Hill is the Roman Forum. Now this was more like the city of Jerash in Jordan that I was commenting on the other day when we went to the Colosseum. Here we walked down an old road and saw the ruins of many temples, a basilica, and monuments. I’m glad we did come and see this part of Rome, but I still think if you really want to picture an old Roman town, go to Jerash in Jordan. Nearby is the Victor Emmanuel Monument that we had visited on our first day, but today we were hoping to ride an elevator to the very top to catch a view of the city. Unfortunately, we did not make it before they closed. Time to move on and find a place to eat our final meal in Italy. We decided to take the suggestion of our handy guide book author, Mr. Rick Steves and try a place he recommended. It took a few tries but we finally located the restaurant and enjoyed a good meal. There was one last thing we wanted to do before we left Rome and that was to get a chocolate dessert called Tartufo at Tre Scalini that was recommended by Rick Steves and a friend who had been there (thanks Tammy!). It was chocolaty yummy goodness. It was a great last taste of Italy. We ended up having great weather in Rome and a nice day. Tomorrow is the long travel day home.