Monday 22nd March
The Monday was to be our last day of sightseeing, as we were catching an early afternoon flight back on Tuesday. Before that however, we had to help Lisa take some heavy packages to the post-office to be mailed back home. It was at the post-office that we got a taste of Italian beaurocracy and customer service :) - the lady behind the counter wasn't at all happy to help Lisa, by the look of things, and apparently this is the norm. Lisa had lots of trouble getting her Italian checking account closed, as she'd opened it in a town outside of Rome, and the post-office in Rome didn't seem to be able to handle this concept, expecting her to basically go back to the office where she opened the account! After a lot of hassling, they were persuaded to do the necessary paperwork, but not without trying to short-change her in the process... compared to that, the UK banks, while not that brilliant, are light years ahead.
Once that was out of the way, we went back to the hotel to freshen up, then set off on a walking trip to view some of the sights nearby. On the way, we passed an old wall which looked to be in serious need of renovation, due in part to its state of construction, being cobbled together from about two millenia's worth of stone purloined from other buildings!
Our first stop was at the church of San Saba. Nearby was a small park with lots of orange trees and a view across the city, as well as lots of pigeons and a few Roman cats. The church itself is notable for the big wooden door at the entrance, with scenes from the Nativity carved into it (but no depiction of the crucifixion, unusually). A little further on there was a special garden - you couldn't go in, but you could look through a spyhole in the door, whereupon you get a view of the dome of St Peters framed by an avenue lines with tall shrubs with an arch at the end.
At this point Lisa had to leave us, as she had one last lesson appointment to do. We continued walking, and eventually looped back to a spot near to the post-office we'd been to earlier. As it was nearly midday, we sought out the food shop that we'd been told about, Volpetti's. (I've got some pictures of the window display, which I'll be posting up shortly). It was practically bulging with all manner of meats, cheeses, bread, cakes and various confections. The shop staff, unlike the lady at the post-office, were happy to answer our questions, and offered us tastes of some of their cheeses, including one that was about 10 years old! We bought a ciabatta, cut up, slices and filled with meats, cheeses and spiced pickled aubergine, and got a bag of honey-and-pistaccio pastries into the bargain. We also got given leaflets extolling the quality of their produce, and the fact that you can order stuff over the Internet! :)
They were quite generous with the ciabatta they gave us, as we could only eat some of it, whilst sitting out in the local park. We decided to keep the rest for Tuesday, so that we would have something decent to eat whilst at the airport.
Unfortunately, the Cestius Pyramid and the nearby Protestant Cemetary, containing the graves of the likes of Byron, Keats and Shelley, was closed, so we had to make do with peering though the gates at the cats patrolling the grounds. However, we did manage to locate a local market which was selling fresh fruit, so we bought several bags of fruit back to the hotel with up - we ate some, and kept the rest for Tuesday and to stock up when we got home.
That evening, there was a party in honour of Lisa, which was organised by the employees of a firm who had employed her to teach Business English - it was also to celebrate her birthday. We were invited as well, and got to meet some of the people she had been teaching. They were a bit sad that she was not going to be teaching any more, and they got her a designer shoulder-bag as an birthday/leaving present. It was past midnight when the meal was over, and one of Lisa's students offered us a lift back to the hotel, as the buses and trams stop running around that time - and we got treated to our one-and-only shower on the way back.
Tuesday 23rd March
In the morning, we went for a quick walk to one of the nearby parks and back with Lisa and Vanessa, the English girl who had agreed to move in to the room that Lisa was vacating. Then Mum and myself went back to the hotel and collected all the hand luggage, and checked out. Mohammed, the hotel manager, had booked us a people-carrier to take us and all the luggage to the airport - just as well, as we had five heavy suitcases plus five hand luggage, plus Lisa's mini-surfboard (which she'd acquired out in Australia). Dad had gone to Lisa's apartment to help her start moving the suitcases, and we went over there in the people-carrier and I helped him bring everything downstairs and out to the car.
(My sister was a bit sad to be leaving, but she'd had enough of the hassles associated with living and working in Rome, plus she was ready for a fresh start back in the UK. She's keeping in touch with several of the other English teachers she knows out there, however).
At the airport, we found the check-in desk and worked out how much extra we would pay for all the luggage we had - even with all the stuff Lisa had got rid of, we were still just over the weight limit, although it wasn't a problem as far as getting onto the plane went. We had some time to kill, so we had a light-ish lunch, finishing off the food we'd bought the day before at Volpetti's and some of the fruit. There were a lot of armed police in and around the airport - I suspect they are on a heightened state of readiness after the events in Madrid. They were doing random searches as we went to board the plane, but we weren't stopped, so we probably didn't look suspicious enough. :)
Fortunately for us, the flight was not delayed too much. The only notable event on the flight back, apart from peering down as we passed over the Alps and then Paris, were the people sat in the seats ahead of us - an American lady and her two young kids, who had been out to visit their grandma and where flying to Heathrow to catch a connecting flight back to the States. The kids were talking the whole flight!
Thankfully, all the luggage survived, just about. (The one bag that did have a broken strap was pretty ancient anyway, so no loss there). The taxi guy (with another people-carrier) was ready and waiting for us when we got past Customs, and we duly set off down the M25 back to Watford. Most of the bags stayed downstairs in the back room that night, as we were too tired to start unpacking - anyway, we'd put the laundry and toiletries into our hand luggage. After sifting through the big pile of mail that was waiting for us, and popping down to the convenience-store for some supplied, we had a light meal, followed by an early night.
The End
