Last Day in Rome

Today is our last day in Rome. Tomorrow, we board our first of a number of train journeys, this time, to Sorrento. I guess we are going to hear endless interpretations of Come Back to Sorrento (Torna a Surriento) to replace the nightly alcoholised Volare that we here endlessly in Trastevere. The poor waiters. When I played piano at Danilos for eight years, I vowed I would never play The Girl from Ipanema ever again. However, I do like Come Back to Sorrento and given we’re only staying four days, things should be okay. Here’s a link to Luciano Pavarotti singing it if you want to hear it again, and the opening lines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbUfpQ9Nmbw&amp…

Guarda il mare com'e bello!
Spira tanto sentimento
Come il tuo soave accento
Che me desto fa sognar

We planned today to be a slow day. And it was. A late start, or late by our standards, we’re early birds. A coffee and cornetto back over Giselda where every day since we got here the barrista, maybe as old as me, has warmly shaken my hand and said a welcoming Buongiorno, sometimes Buongiorno Australians. Today, we wrote him a nice thank you note and left a tip for him.

We headed over the river and into the retail district, il centro commerciale, in order for Chris to by the cologne he wanted. We purposely avoided the extremely rude man in the Trastevere profumeria and went to a store called Le Labo, staffed by a sexy young gay man called Rosario, who helped Chris purchase what he wanted. It was fascinating to see him actually make the perfume in front of us. A new experience for me.

On the way to the profumeria, we chanced upon yet another basilica, this time the Basilica of Saints Ambrose and Carlo. We both went in and sat awhile, just enjoying the quiet and admiring the architecture of the building, its nave and side chapels. It had plenty of golden bling to be sure, but it was a lovely space. No pilgrims in there (they were all at the Vatican ) so the church had only a handful of folk. We both took some photos too and left quietly after ten or fifteen minutes.

A quick coffee at a local, then a bus back to Trastevere where we stopped off for a cooling spritz only have brought out and set before us a piatto (dish/plate) of cold meats and breads. Super yum. We stopped off at the lavanderia just down the road to pick up a second load of washing we had dropped off yesterday and on this occasion, there were no problems as we had ensured we would not lose the docket this time.

Home for a rest, then this evening, out for aperitivo around 4pm at Caramelle again, including a Prosciutto alla Melone (shaved ham served with rock melon), then that Italian stroll, the passeggiata afterwards, and ultimately heading back to Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere to eat our last Roman gelato and sit on the fountain and watch all the people and handsome Italian men.

As I always find in these situations, I am a little sad to leave a place I have bonded to, but I also know from past experience that this special bonding is not a one off. You remember it in your thoughts and memories and can form new bondings just as powerful with other wonderful places. Which is what I hope will happen in our next two cities.

I have gained my confidence in this place in speaking to Italian people and feel greater freedom to dare to communicate myself. That is a good feeling. To date, I have been studying the language for just over ten months on a daily basis, so it is definitely paying off and giving me a positive feeling to boot.

But for now, the packing up of all our wares into suitcases again and the train tomorrow.Read more