My Last Day in Italy

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I woke up this morning a little bit in disbelief. I only had one day left out of my four weeks in Italy. I still had a few things that I absolutely wanted to see so after a good breakfast I headed out.

The first stop would be the Terme de Caracalla. I had passed by this sight last time I was here but had not gone in. We didn't really know what it was and so we just pretty much ignored it. Truth be told I had not done a lot of reading about Rome the first time I was here. In preparing for this trip, the idea of the Terme definitely piqued my interest. In essence, it was the sight of a leisure centre and it was a HUGE leisure centre. It took 9,000 workers every day for five years to build. The decorations were ornate and sumptuous. I have said it before that what fascinates me the most are the things that relate to everyday life and this definitely fits into that. This leisure center included a pool, a gymnasium, a sauna and a library. There is also a caliderium, frigiderium and tepidarium. For anyone who has been to the Nordik or Scandinave spa, it is essentially the whole concept of the Scandanavian baths of hot, cold and relaxation. There were also terraces and balconies for relaxation.

When I walked out of there, I heard the distinct roar of a jet. I looked up and saw this plane just zoom and all of sudden it started spewing white smoke. Tomorrow is the National Holiday. There are bleachers on the main street by the Colloseum and I am sure that that was a practice for a fly-by. They kept circling back and zooming back emiting that big trail of smoke. I sat for a bit just waiting for them to come back. I got a couple of shots ... very hard to do ... they go by very quickly. I won't be home for Canada Day so I won't get my Snowbird fly-by (they fly right over my house every year) so this will have to do.

I continued my walk and made it to the Mercato Traino. This is part of the Imperial Forum. Part of it is a museum which houses remnants from different forums. The other part is that you are able to visit what would have been a market area. You can still see what would have been the different stalls or stores. Again ... something from everyday life ... it was quite something to see. It is in a relatively great shape as well so you could really get a good sense of how the space was used.

Just that took me to late afternoon. I couldn't quite call it a day. I would have wanted to spend some time at the Villa Borghese but decided to pop into the Capitoline Museum instead. First, the courtyard is just entertaining because they have fragments of statues but you are literally looking at a hand, a foot, an elbow, a knee and Constantine's head. The fragments are quite large so the full statue must have been quite something. The museum is filled with statues and busts taken from different areas. Starting in 1870, there was a large excavation done and literally thousands of pieces were unearthed and some of them are housed in this museum. The exhibition is not the only showpiece though. Some of the rooms are showpieces just on their own. Of course, in the more interesting ones you are not allowed to take photos!! The exhibition route essentially ends in the tabularium where you get an amazing view of the Roman Forum. It was nice to see it one last time.

So after that, I had one last order of business ... italian gelato. How could I leave without one last cup of gelato. So I walked back to the hotel contently eating my ice cream. I also got one last good laugh from the waiter in the small restaurant on Via Cavour that feels the need to profess his love for me every time that I have walked by there. He was just too funny!

So now I am packed and I've figured out how to get to my hotel in Barcelona. So now Buon Giorno is becoming Hola and Grazie becomes Gracias. I know some Spanish and I am definitely looking forward to learning much more. I failed miserably at the Italian thing. I am also looking forward to some vino verde, tortilla espanola and ridiculous amounts of paella.

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