Tuesday 18th October

We were up early, completed packing and tidying up our home for the blast two weeks. We started loading the car and Stefania produced espressos for us before we left. It was a sad and tearful farewell. We had so much enjoyed our stay in Cugnoli and I think they had enjoyed our company too. We drove off on our way to Rome. The drive was reasonably uneventful on a sunny day and through the wonderful Abruzzo and Lazio countryside.

We took them eastern peripheral road around Rome and were soon at QC Terme spa which we would stay at overnight. We unloaded the bags and drove back towards Rome. The staff at the hotel had advised us where to park and how to get the the Vatican area where we would meet Kenan, Anna, their two children Mabel and Ada from Washington State USA as well as Zehra who had traveled from Hamburg, Germany.

We parked at an area called Laurentina which is a suburb in the south of the city. It also has a subway or Metro station which allows onward travel into the city. After circling a bit we found a parking spot and walked to the Metro station across the street. We took the Metro first to the Termini station on the blue line and then took the red line to Ottaviano San Pietro which is a stop close to the Vatican. Here we met Kenan and the gang and walked a short distance to a sandwich shop where we had a nice salad lunch. From here we walked over to St Peters and Anna tried to get passes to see the Pope the next day when he gives a blessing every Wednesday. She was not successful. Close by was the convent where Kenan and Anna were staying which had windows which actually looked out on St Peter’s square.

Mabel and Ada search for the perfect gelato

Kenan looking out of the window of the nunnery or convent where they stayed in Rome right by St Peter's square.

St Peter's Square

The Tiber

A slightly inappropriate t-shirt 'The Last Hangover'

A Roman building-scape

MAC chatting to some camera-shy Carabinieri and telling them that her father was one once

The Pantheon

Column of Marcus Aurelius

From here we took a stroll through the city, crossing the Tiber and walking through various piazzas thronging with tourists even though it was not high season by any means, The Piazza Navona and the area around the Pantheon were very crowded and the line to get into the Pantheon was long but quite fast moving. Kenan, Anna and Mabel all made it through but when we looked to go, the line seemed to have got much longer and we decided not to wait. We sat at a café in the square and had drinks and some light snacks for which, sad to say, we were rather overcharged but that is the way when eating or drinking at popular places in Italy.

From here we walked along the narrow streets past impressive Government buildings and churches, encountering at one point a lady singing very nicely among the great acoustics of a church courtyard. Walking on we found a low price jewelry store which the two young girls wanted to visit to buy gifts for their friends back home.

MAC and I walked on and sat in a small square where a man from Bangladesh accosted us and ‘gave’ MAC three roses. It turned out the gift was not a gift at all!! Rejoined by the others we took the subway from Barberini which is on the red line back to the Vatican area where we found a restaurant for dinner of pasta, fish mushrooms and fried squid washed down with a Primitivo wine from Puglia. Then it was time to bid farewell to Kenan, his family and Zehra  and to take a taxi back to Laurentina to pick up the car and return to the QC Term hotel for the night. The taxi drove at high speed and dropped us by the Metro station at Laurentina. It took us a few minutes to get our bearings and find the car but we were soon back at QC Terme and in our room for the night. Here I tried to check in for our flights home from Rome to Zurich and on to Newark. I succeeded in checking in for the transAtlantic flight but not for the Rome/Zurich leg. This concerned me a bit but I thought it would work itself out the next day.

It had been a nice day and it was great to see Kenan and his ‘girls’ again so far from their home.

It had been a tiring day and we were soon asleep.