It’s a great feeling.
On our Rome walk, we hit all the biggies, in one fall swoop!
The picture to the left, Bert and I refer to it as 'the changing of the guard'. Like at many of the major cathedrals and churches we visited on our trip, there were a variety of buskers and beggers out front of this basilica (PS there were literally hundreds stationed outside the vatican|). We took this picture because what we had just witnessed had struck as quite funny. The woman seated had just arrived. We noticed her a few minutes earlier, getting off the bus. She was dressed quite modern and was probably in her 30's. I also remember the cool looking shoes she had on. Now here she was at the side of the church, pulling out some handmade kerchiefs and robe from a small bag, draping it over herself and walking straight up and briskly over to where the other woman was positioned, seated on the ground, bent over hand outturned and quietly asking for money. Soon as she arrived, the seated lady bolted up, dusted herself off and made quick exit into the crowd. They just kind of switched places, without missing a beat. It was like a shift change on the ole production line. Pretty organized system. 
After the tour, Bert and I chose to stay on our own in the area as the late afternoon sun was beginning to sink. We wandered the pedestrian filled streets and snapped pictures of the incredible architecture that was everywhere. A full moon appeared and gave more atmosphere and shadow to each building we passed. 
With the temperature cooling and the night getting darker we decided to take the commuter subway back towards our hotel. We headed for the central underground platform at just about 5:30pm and what followed was our first scary taste of rushhour and commuter hell! The platform was jam packed with anxious commuters and when the subway train pulled up…it too was jam packed and no one got off. We were pushed forward by the huge crowd around us. Rob slipped in and I could see him in the middle of the car. Some older woman was pushing me from behind, quite hard, and shoving me in while pointing and shouting in Italian. She wanted in and I was just the tool she needed to shovel an opening. I was starting to panick, there was no room left in the subway car. I had half my body in the door way and she just kept on pushing me into the crowd. The bell signaled, the door closed and somehow she and I squeezed in and stood arms stretched out plastered against the window and door. I made eye contact with Bert. That’s all we could do. Good thing we were carrying our wallets in our inner jacket front pockets, because you couldn’t move your arms and there were people, limbs and bodies pressed in all around you.
We rode like this to the next stop, a minute or so down the line, it was a major connecting stop and when the doors opened, the surge to exit was full force. I was flung out onto the platform as people pushed and scrambled to get off. Whew, for a moment I could breathe again, but alas, I had to get back on before the door closed or Bert would be traveling on without me. It was like a salmon swimming against the current to get back on that train. I flung myself back in and Bert reached out and grabbed my hand. From here on in the ride crowds lessened and we managed to get back near our hotel and got off to walk a block or two back to our hotel. .
The walk up from the subway to our hotel was not much better. The subway exit to the street was dark and grungy and so was the poorly lit street above. Bert and I walked briskly without saying a word past dark figures lurking near abandoned storefronts til we arrived back to our well lit corner street and our quaint little hotel. Have to say this was the first time on our trip I was scared. Scared of the subway crowd, scared to get crushed, scared to get lost, scared to get robbed. All was good though, and a shower and rest on the hotel bed before heading out for the evening, were a great way to let the worries subside. The evening group dinner ahead would be our last one together. Giueseppe our guide would be catching an early train home the next morning, and the rest of our group were heading off too. Bert and I would be spending the next day on our own touring the Vatican before heading home ourselves after one more night in Rome.
Knowing the end of our trip was near, left me with a very strange feeling.
Soon it would be time to say goodbye to our new friends; friends, whom we had shared such an amazing adventure with. And chances are we would not get to see them again after tonight.
These thoughts left me reflective and a wee bit melancholy as I lay relaxing in our little hotel room...
But, thank goodness, my hungry belly chimed in at just the right time and helped to make sense out of it all,. The scary commute? ….well….it is like our trek from train station to hotel in every place we visited it was nothing more than a means to get us where we needed to go. I’m over it…so lets eat!
(boy I have a smart belly!)
Oh and how did our farewell dinner go?
Another wonderful highlight.
We walked through the moonlit streets and settled into a warm trattoria, bustling with local patrons and a buzz with city charm and appeal not to far from our hotel. We reveled in plates of pasta, pizza, free flowing wine, tiramisu and espresso and really got to appreciate and feel the real pulse of Rome. With good friends, music, laughter and copious amounts of vino we recanted tales of the day, and tales of the trip. It truly was a fitting way to say goodbye and for me to close this chapter of Bert and Lou’s Excellent Adventure.
I began way back,
in my first journal entry,
with the saying
All roads lead to Rome.
And indeed,
they did.
