April 21st, Rome

We arrived back in Rome in the late afternoon, taking the Eurostar to the Metro station. After 17 stops (a bit of an exaggeration), our "express" train arrived on time. Since our hotel wasn't very far away, we (meaning Joe) dragged our two huge suitcases down and across several long blocks until we came to the street our hotel was located on. After looking at the numbers, we figured out pretty quickly that Hotel Aberdeen was at the farthest end of the street.

After checking in and freshening up, we headed out in search of dinner. On the way to the hotel I had noticed a pizzeria called Est Est Est, so we set out in that direction. For our last night in Rome, I definitely wanted pizza. Coming upon the place, we saw a large crowd milling around outside waiting for tables, but it wasn't long before we were seated. It was a typical Roman pizzeria, with lots of tables crowded together in a small space, with waiters hurrying back and forth among tables, and the atmosphere loud and vibrant. We ordered suppli and two kinds of pizza. One was a blanco, on foccaccia bread with just oil and seasoning. The other had a tomato base. In Joe's words, "It isn't pizza without red sauce on it."
After dinner, I definitely did not want to return to the hotel on our last night in Rome. We set off for the Colosseum, as we had not seen it at night. Of course, we walked. And walked. And walked. The Colosseum was so very beautiful in the evening, with the orange lights, looking so differently than in the daylight. This area was very crowded and there were lots of police here too.

We then set off for the Forum, hoping that it too was illuminated at night. It wasn't, so we continued to walk upward until we came to, what else, the Victor Emmanuel monument, a familiar sight to us throughout our trip. We walked up to the Capitoline plaza and savored the atmosphere of nighttime Rome, lingering for awhile before heading down the cordonata for a final look at the Emmanuel monument. Joe wisely made the decision to get a cab for our return to the hotel. Our feet really appreciated it.

And that concludes our trip to Rome and Venice, April 2007.