A Last Evening in Rome

On Monday, June 22 we began our journey back to Whidbey Island. The Italian house was cleaned, closed up and our voluminous luggage loaded in the car. In Pisa we returned the Fiat Punto to Rosario, our car contact, and caught an 11 am train to Rome. We had an interesting journey as we ended up in a compartment with a Latvia PhD from Syracuse, NY and a couple from Melbourne, Australia. What I had contemplated as a quiet sojourn became a non-stop gab fest.

Once in Rome we caught the Leonardo Express to the airport. After checking into the Hilton right at the airport we rested for a while and then caught the train back to Rome.

We went looking for the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, famous for Bernini's The Ecstacy of St. Theresa. I read about it in an article describing an Angels and Demons tour and it was one of the tour stops. When we arrived a priest was keeping anyone from entering as mass was being said. Fortunately, it was only about ten minutes before he allowed us and a few others inside.



The statue is incredibly beautiful--very life-like and full of emotion.


The rest of the church is also beautiful. It is a true Baroque jewel box. The decoration behind the alter is strongly reminicent of a like depiction of the Holy Spirit in St. Peter's.



After we left the church we walked to the Trevi Fountain. My friend Deb had asked me to toss a coin in the fountain for her. We got there to find the usual summer mob of tourists but I still got close enough to sacrifice a 2 centesimi coin on Deb's behalf. Interestingly, the Trevi Fountain was the first place we visited when we arrived in Rome at the beginning of our trip. The perfect "bookends" for this spring's trip to Italy.