europe

Up fairly early this morning not as early as other mornings to have suitcases out by 7am! Went to breakfast at a leisurely hour of 8am and chatted with our tour mates for the last time prior to them all getting on the bus to return to the Rome Airport to return to Toronto and places beyond. Liz and I are going to depart at checkout and make our way back to the convent to rest up and then do some exploring of our own! It will be a bit strange not having 30 other people with you!

It was a great breakfast that was available to us and an awesome sign for “Celiac People” on our table. As usual, people were taking some goodies to have on their trip home and unrenowned to us, you are not supposed to be taking food out of the breakfast all as you are not allowed to eat in your room. So the waiter got upset at us. I tried to explain they were going home and had checked out but to no avail. He had seen me put some crackers in my pocket (but not the sandwich) and I said that I needed them for the bus ride and he was then only with that. Then we saw the sign on the OTHER end of the buffet table about food in rooms. Oh well, we were leaving!

One of the views from this hotel was of St. Peters Basilica – some people had an excellent view from a balcony in their room! I had tried going up to the roof deck to see but alas, you needed to climb a tall staircase to get to the top and that was not in the cards for me. So I went down to Midge and Glady’s room as they had told me they had a balcony and low and behold – what a view!

So we saw everyone onto the bus and it departed about 9am and then Liz and I each went back to our rooms to pack and check out at noon. We then took a taxi (way to far to walk and I will not get on a Rome bus) to our convent and hoped they would store our luggage as their check-in time was 3pm. I was not feeling well due to some medication that I take once a week and when we arrived I must have not looked well either as the lady allowed me to go right to my room! It is either that or because our rooms were pre-assigned as I needed the twin accessible room they were expecting me, it was available early. So I had a nap while Liz went out for a walk and explored the area more.

Then we decided to get some dinner – there had to be a restaurant who served GF pasta around our hotel somewhere! After a bit of a walk and ending up close to the coliseum, we found a great restaurant and shared a pizza and I had my favourite salad while Liz had some vegetable soup. It was the start of our veggie intake! We sat next to a young couple from St. Pete’s in Florida and had a wonderful conversation with them during dinner. It is interesting as the restaurants are so small in Italy, how many people you meet and can chat with as your neighbours are so close to you! Then we worked off our dinner by walking back to the convent for an early evening!

Tomorrow we are going to attack Rome – Coliseum and Palatine Hill are our goals!

Well, again onto the bus we get for our last day on the tour! Today we are returning to Rome, however stopping at Siena on the way, which will make a nice break for the drive.

I really like Siena – Andrew and I were there a year ago and spent a nice day in the city with the culmination being I found a gelato store that served gelato on GF cones! I am wanting to return to that store again and have been waiting the whole tour to have a gelato on a cone experience!

Unlike when Andrew and I visited, where the hotel had asked the city to give us access to the “inner” area which you get a fine for entering unless your license plate is registered so that we could park in the VERY plentiful accessible parking areas, this time we had to walk from the bus parking location into the main Piazza del Campa. It was a fascinating walk – past a lot of different stores and one that happened to have wool in it! Location noted – will be returning! Eventually we arrived at the Piazza del Campa which for those who have been there has a bit of a steep ramp to get into it at one side – of course the side where we entered from!

We had heard about the history of the Piazza on the bus and the horse racing that takes place there called the Palio di Siena; also known as Il Palio; and it is a horse race held twice each year, on July 2nd and August 16th. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, representing ten of the seventeen city wards race three laps of the Piazza del Campo, on which a thick layer of earth has been laid. The race usually lasts no more than 90 seconds and it is common for jockeys to be thrown off their horses during the treacherous turns in the piazza, and riderless horses finishing the race. A horse is not required to have a rider to win the race.

So Liz and I made a bee line to the gelato store where I had been previously and low and behold it was CLOSED! Oh dear! So we went into the shop next door and I asked about “sin glutine gelaton” and the man told me of another store at the other end of the piazza. So off we went! Success! I found GF cones and gelato to my liking! Now, lets walk that little delicacy off! After taking some pictures, Liz and I walked to the duomo in Siena – which was a bit of a backwards walk we took as not only is there the steep ramp out of the piazza, however there also is a VERY steep ramp to get up to the church where Andrew had to help me get down last year – which is fairly abnormal for me when using my walker. So instead we walked around Siena to get to the church (which was from my memory a year ago) and success! The striped duomo showed up exactly where it was supposed to be! I love my sense of direction at some times in my life…’

After taking some pictures we decided it was time to get going back to our group meetup point, with a side trip to the wool store! So that is what we did! I am fairly fast when shopping for wool as I generally know the type of wool that I want to purchase in Italy (merino) so it did not take long and we were off to meet up with the group. At that time we took a group picture also – a couple of people are missing as they had gone shopping on their own way back to the bus, however most of the group is below!

Now, it is time to get back onto the bus and head into Rome. We are going to stop for dinner, our Farewell Dinner prior to getting to the hotel. Dinner was just okay – I guess we are used to antipasti, pasta and then a meat dish and dessert. Tonight it was a very light meal of antipasti (which was cold cuts), pasta (pesto) and then dessert. Not much protein provided and again no vegetables! We found it weird with the “Mediterranean” diet being so healthy and popular in some places, that this lack of a food group was so prevalent on our trip. We then boarded the bus for out trip to our last hotel stay on the tour, which was very near to Vatican City.

Tomorrow Liz and I say goodbye to everyone on the tour and again, we return to the convent and strike out on our own to “do” Rome!