Rome, Italy June 28

This is our last full day in Rome. We headed out around noon for the Colosseum. We made the decision not to go inside, and that we would be fine with viewing it from the outside. The ticket was 12 euro, but it also got you into Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. At this point, we were pretty numb to a lot of things we should care about. So maybe we will go inside one day when we have the energy to really pay attention.  We took the subway there and decided we would walk back and stop through the Jewish Ghetto.

I didn’t get any pictures in the Jewish Ghetto. It was pretty small, but interesting to see another area. Probably the thing I found most interesting and haunting was the square called Largo 16 Ottobre 1943. It was named after the date that the Nazis came to the ghetto and demanded they collected 110 pounds of gold or else they would collect people to take away to concentration camps. They scavenged what they could and even the non-Jews in the area contributed what they could to help come up with the total amount. Although it was achieved, the Nazis ended up taking close to 2,000 Jews with them anyway and only a handful ended up returning. The history isn’t very apparent when you’re there. You can tell it’s a Jewish area with “Kosher” being advertised, but the only way I knew some of the history was from the Rick Steves book.

We started to head towards home with the intention of stopping to get something to eat and finding a dress/skirt for me. We stopped to eat a café called Osteria dei Fortuna. It was known for it’s fresh pasta made there daily. Sometimes a woman sit in the window and make it in front of customers, but not today I guess. While sitting there the same black cat I had seen on our visit to Compe di fior was roaming the street. I pet him for a bit and he tried to follow me to the restaurant. For the most part, it seemed like people passing him gave him friendly attention. It didn’t seem that he had an owner as he was pretty roughed up with some sores around his eyes. But his belly looked plenty full. It made me sad to leave him though and think about people possibly being mean to him.

Craig and I made the long trek home, but didn’t find a skirt or dress for me. I went into a few shops but they were either way out of my price range, or just not my style. I typically have a difficult time finding clothes because of this. We did however buy a machinetta to take home!

We spent the rest of the night packing, cleaning, and relaxing before our train ride to Milan. We did go out for our last gelato in Rome. I had the pistachio and dark chocolate. Once we were almost to the apartment Craig realized we didn’t have our keys. My stomach dropped thinking that maybe we locked them in the apartment.  I thought it would be too good to be true that we would lock our keys in the car at the beginning of the trip, and then lock them in the apartment at the end. Thankfully, this last part wasn’t true. Craig left them on the counter at the gelateria, and we made it back without any panic attacks.