Last day in Rome and other up to date stuff

Ok it's a week later and I'm finally summing up the rest of our trip!  Our last day in Rome started off early with a breakfast, Italian style with biscotti and jam/nutella, then we headed off to Piazza Risorgimento to meet up with Courtney's tour guide for the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel.  I was so excited to go because when we lived in Rome we would walk through St. Peter's everyday to Piazza Risorgimento to pick up one of the two buses we had to take to school.  So it brought back memories.  While waiting for everyone to arrive for the tour we grabbed a cappuccino at a place I had been many times before in 2007 - so, more memories :)

Since it was Wednesday the pope was giving his Papal Blessing to the masses in the piazza and you had to have a free ticket to go through security and get in.  This is where I dropped Courtney off and just wandered around.  I've seen the pope speak before so I opted to just wander around the city for the 4 hours Courtney would be touring.  It was a gorgeous day and I accidentally walked way too much on my already sore feet.  Oh well, it was really nice and I just can't get enough of that city.  I met Courtney around 2 and we were both exhausted and grabbed some lunch and decided that since we had already seen most of the BIG sights in Rome that we would venture to Testaccio to see the Protestant's cemetery with Keats's grave.  Courtney really wanted to go and I wasn't so keen on it, but I'm actually really happy we went.  It was probably the most beautiful and moving cemetery I have ever been to.  The graves were packed into a very small space and most had quotes on them (in English) and both Courtney and I decided that this was definitely a writer's cemetery.  I immediately thought of my mom and how she would love coming here.

Keats's grave: Keats's died of consumption at 25 and asked that only the phrase  "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water" be written on his tombstone.  However, his two friends Severn and Brown thought that he had been treated unfairly by critics so they added the phrase "This Grave contains all that was mortal, of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET, who on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his heart, at the Malicious Power of his enemies, desired these words to be Engraven on his Tomb Stone"
Apparently later both men regretted going against their friend's wishes.

The grave that was the most moving grave I've ever seen was for William Story, an American sculptor who was living in Rome in the 19th century.  He sculpted this Angel of Grief to be the tombstone for both himself and his wife.  The pictures don't do it justice and I would recommend to anyone, even if you don't usually like graveyards, like myself, to go if you come to Rome!  It's very easy to get to on the metro.

After the cemetery we headed back to our hotel, but first made a stop at the oldest and best gelato factory in Rome on the recommendations from Simona's cousin who lives in Rome and our B&B owner.  Luckily it was right next to our hotel so we didn't have to go too far!  The factory was called Fassi and you had to order what you wanted first before going to the ice cream part so you could get a receipt.  I only saw one option for a cup and it was called the Fassi Cup so Court and I ordered that.  It was a bit more expensive than the other options, but we were rushed so we just went with it.  Well, when we went to the front the server saw our receipt and got 2 metal bowls and asked for what 4 flavors we wanted.  4 flavors??  Well I guess if we are at the best and oldest geletaria in Rome we should do it right!  

Menta, cioccolato, crema e tiramisu - buonissimo!

We rested for a bit after the gelato before our fun dinner with Simona's cousin Fabi!!  She took us to her close friend's pizzeria.  He is from Caserta, the town outside of Naples where Fabi is from, so she promised real Neopolitan Pizza - none of this stuff we get in Florence!  The restaurant was super cute and her friend wasn't working, but he rushed in to meet us.  SO nice!  He apparently doesn't speak much english and as much as I like to think I can speak some Italian, I don't speak much so he was shy, but Fabi got him to feel more comfy by helping translate some.  He was so nice and it was an absolutely perfect night.  I finally got my Pizza Diavola done the right way (spicy peppers and salami) with fluffier crust - apparently the further south you go the fluffier the crust gets!  It was just a fabulous night and made my 3rd trip to Rome perfect as usual and I'm counting down the months til I go back!

The next day we picked up Caroline from the train station and took her back to Florence!!  We had a pretty quiet day and just made dinner for her and she settled in, but the next day we introduced her to our friends!  We had a fun weekend of wine festivals, international festivals, and secret bakeries!  I will update more in my next post, now it's time to go out and explore some more! :)

baci xo