Our last day in Rome. I woke early and spent some time re-reading my notes, adding bits, and thinking. Overall I feel we've done a very good job maximizing our limited time here.
We've decided that our last day will be spent outside Rome proper at the excavated port town of Ostia. There's still many more things we could see or do here in Rome but they will have to wait for our next visit. We brave the subway system to get to Ostia. Subways here are old and covered with graffiti - bringing to mind the subways in New York City back in the 70s, before they got cleaned up.
After the compact feel of Rome for the last several days, it was nice to get out and see some more or less open countryside. The weather continues cool and cloudy for a second day, making me feel annoyed we'd wasted money buying sun block that morning. The crowds we encountered lined up to enter Ostia was also a surprise, but not so much when we notice the dozen large tour buses parked in the lot.
Once we got into the grounds and away from the tour groups, things improved. Ostia is several orders of magnitude larger than any of the ruins in Rome and there was a lot of ground to cover. Somehow, I'd gotten the impression that Ostia would be dry and barren (hence the sun block purchase) but instead it was lush and green, with plenty of trees and grass. Some sections of the ruins are walled off from tourists for restoration, but you can climb all over the majority of the site.
We badly missed our Rick Steves guidebook, instead trying to make do with a Michelin guide borrowed from my mother. Matching up what we saw with what was in the hard-to-read map was no easy task. I happily photographed many of the black and white mosaics adorning both private and municipal buildings while Scott wrestled with the guidebook. We particularly wanted to find a Mithraic chapel listed in the book to compare it to the one we'd seen in Rome under San Clemente, but it took some doing to find.
After about 2 and a half hours we knocked off for a lunch break. If we'd thought it through, we could have brought picnic fixings with us from Rome but instead ate mediocre, overpriced cafeteria food. Even so, what we had was better than what'd you'd get in a typical US cafeteria. Lots of veggies, even my favorite artichokes.
We browsed through the small onsite museum after lunch to get a look at some of the sculptures there, but the weather had turned cool and cloudy again. I was cold and tired. I slept a bit on the ride back but once we'd changed trains for the second part of the trip back I got tense instead. Even to an experienced urban navigator like me, the Roman subways feel intimidating. I felt a distinct sense of relief when we came back out into the Piazza di Spagna.
Scott decided to rest, but I went out shopping on the Corso for a little while. I wanted to have at least one good souvenir of our trip. I cruised in and out of a bunch of stores and ended up buying a gorgeous patterned wool shawl. I won't get too much use out of it back home with Spring already in full swing, but it's too pretty (and too good a deal) to let it pass. I saw a jacket that I also wanted, but decided that I could probably find something similar back in the US and let it go.
I wear the shawl that night as we head off to the Piazza Navona and the Bar Della Pace. We meet up with my parents, my aunt & uncle, and the cousins for a final drink. Although the cousins, Scott and I, and my parents are all leaving the next morning, my aunt & uncle have a few days more to spend in Rome and we ply them with too many suggestions on what to do with their remaining time. My parents then head off to meet my sister for a final dinner.
In the 4 years since I left New York, I've learned that sometimes it's harder than others to say goodbye to my parents. This is one of the hard times. I tear up a little as they walk off. The rest of us then go in search of a place to eat our last dinner in Rome. The area around the Piazza Navona is full of good options, so we quickly settle on a nice looking place called Osteria Del Gallo. The food was good but the service was slow even by European standards. Mildly annoying, but spending time with the family is the important thing, so we try to overlook it. Many invitations to visit Vienna and San Francisco are exchanged as we all head out.
Scott and I grab a last gelato and try to find a taxi stand. We end up back at the Piazza Argentina. Sadly, we head back to the hotel and start packing. We have an extremely early flight home. This has been a fantastic holiday and aside from being eager to see our cats waiting for us at home, it's hard to find reasons to leave.