Today was our last day in Rome. We need to leave early tomorrow for Belgrade so I will make this short. I started off the day by taking the group on a nice half-hour metro sightseeing tour to the far South of the city. Certain fearless leaders were not amused by the detour and I now have to immediately give up my map upon request. I still "get to" carry it around until it is needed though.
St. Peter's Basilica, while not quite as grand as St. Paul's Metro station, was nonetheless as I remembered it. We were herded like cattle to the top of the building and then through a nearly endless museum full of priceless ancient artifacts and renaissance works of art without any sort of descriptions whatsoever. At the very end of this we saw the "Raphael rooms" which we all recognized from various art classes, and enjoyed perusing for a while. Finally we got to the Sistine Chapel and enjoyed trying to match the various paintings to stories from the bible/torah/our youth/whatever. After leaving, Fearless Leader found a tram that took us within a block or two of our apartment, no transfers, and in about 1/5 the time of my original route. It was then 4:00PM, siesta time, so everything was closed. We finally found a small cafe to grab a sandwich (best deal in Rome yet!) and took care of some errands while we said goodbye to Priscilla and Plinio, and already made an agreement to meet in Brazil next July.
After returning to the apartment, Massimo's daughter, Giulia, took us out to have dinner with her friends, Silvia and Giulio (possibly with variations on the spelling). We went to a wonderful restaurant, I had Brischetta (pronounced Bris-ket-a) and authentic Italian pizza. Andy and I did a local food swap and his pasta was excellent. From there we went to the University of Rome (one of three) and saw where the students hang out. There were tons of people on a Wednesday night and there were movies playing on projected screens everywhere, several bands and DJ's, and lots of students just hanging out and chatting. Silvia, fiercely anti-Bush but willing to associate with eager Americans, taught us some Italian (better late than never). Giuseppe, future doctor, told us about the Italian higher education system, and once again, we found that the local touch really makes a place step out of history and bring it's differing culture into focus for us. Mom and Anne, you are probably the only ones still reading at this point, but buona notte and ciao to all of you! Internet access is dubious in Belgrade, so be patient as we may not be able to post for a while.
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