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.

Italian Oddities

A few things you don't see everyday in Italy, or anywhere for that matter!


Steam train at Fornaci di Barga station. According to placard on side it came from La Spezia via Viareggio and Lucca. We saw it at about 5 pm when it was loading up for the return journey.


Scottish pipe leading a rock band! They were playing at the festa at Fornaci on Sunday afternoon. They were actually very good.

Trenitalia - Rome to Pisa

Views from the train

Our trip from Rome to Pisa by train was a lovely interlude. As noted in the last post, we purchased 1st Class tickets for the first time. Except for the fact that our seats faced backwards (75% did in the First Class carriage) it was nice to have really comfortable seats with tray tables, a little garbage bin, and foot rests. Trying to stow all our baggage was a challenge. I felt a little conspicuous amongst all the chic Italians with their tiny suitcases. Mind you, they were only going away for a long weekend while we were carting all sorts of only slightly necessary stuff.

Before leaving Rome we went to a famous “deli” across from our hotel called Volpetti and purchased panini (sandwiches). Dom’s roll had mortadella and prosciutto with pecorino del fosso (pecorino aged “in a ditch”). Mine was the same minus the mortadella. With an apple from Washington State, a little chocolate and two bottles of water we had a nice feast as we sped northward on the rails. I thought it was quite amusing that pretty much right at 1 pm, all the Italians pulled out their picnic lunches. There was a lot of rustling of paper and hissing of twist tops. Although we could not see it I am sure some of the bottles contained vino.

The weather was beautiful and the views along the coast were spectacular. For quite some time we hugged the coast. It was fun to peer into the gardens of the seaside villas and check out the apartment balconies facing the tracks. In Civitavecchia, the cruise ship port for Rome, we could see four ships at the dock. Later in the trip we cruised quite close to Camp Darby, a U.S. Army supply depot near Pisa. Dom and I both read throughout the journey and felt quite relaxed when we hauled our luggage off the train.

Our car supplier, Rosario, pulled up at the curb right outside Pisa Centrale shortly after we arrived. As usual, the paperwork was completed on the hood of the car and we were on our way in about five minutes. It is soooo much easier picking up a car in Pisa rather than our old system of getting a Renault lease in Nice, France. We love the Renault system but Rosario is nearly as good. The only downside is that for the third time we have the same car. It started out nearly new a year ago and now it has about 65,000 km on the odometer.

As May 1 is a national holiday here we made a fairly quick stop at the supermercato to acquire a few supplies. The place was a mob scene but we managed to get enough to hold us for a while in short order.

At Partigliano we found all in order at the house. It took an hour or so to “open” the house—turn on the electricity, water and gas, get the hot water heater working properly, the luggage in from the car and the groceries put away. The interior of the house was, and still is, freezing in spite of the warm weather outside. I promptly put up the bug screens and opened the windows. Unfortunately by the time that was done, the sun was beginning to set and it was cooling off outside.

With no afternoon nap, Dom and I were overcome by jet lag by about 7 pm. I made us bowls of pasta, we ate and went to bed by 8 pm.