Day 12 – Our last full day in Rome

What to do on our last full day in Rome (we're off to Venice early in the morning)?

The weather promises to turn lovely… eventually… and we decide to get to our last “Would like to see before we leave” item on our list.  A set of catacombs, different from the last set.  Last time we saw the Catacombs of St. Callista… this time it’s the Catacombs of Domitilla… which are 15 MILES of underground tombs. 

 

 

 

BIL opts to head out with us as 3 of the other adults are not up to the travel and FIL has a couple of errands to run.

A train to a bus to a .5 km walk and we’re there.  There’s a nice garden outside, and the entrance to the catacombs is, of course, inside the gift shop.  It’s 20 minutes until the next English speaking tour, so we look around.  THIS is where we find that “special postcard” we’d been searching for, and my refrigerator magnet.  When we travel, I like to collect one of 2 souvenirs.  It helps keep me out of the tourist-trap chatchkey shops… and helps us stay in budget.  One is a Christ-mas ornament, the other is a refrigerator magnet.  Ornaments can be harder to find, but refrigerator magnets abound.  This one is a good memento.

The tour is very nice and very informative.  The kids all paid good attention, asked good questions, and really enjoyed hearing about it all.  They were pleased to find out that the little 1^st Century lamp we purchased last October is the same one as they used after sealing up the tombs.  They’d light them on their way out, and the lamp would burn for about 2 hours after they left.  There were marble dedications on the walls, lots of tiny burial areas… several frescoes all depicting one of several motifs.  Noah, Moses, Lazarus (particularly appropriate), Christ & the disciples, and, of course, Peter & Paul.  This set of catacombs was used from the 2^nd to the 5^th century and the original church (with some modern day benches) is still available for viewing.  No photos allowed inside, though.

We venture back outside and Mr. Sunshine has returned!!  The walk back to the bus stop is a bit more upbeat and there’s a brief discussion about whether or not we want to head back to the apartment or head out to Ostia Antica.  Much as I would love to see Ostia… we ARE headed to Pompeii in 2 weeks… Ostia should really wait.  Besides, we have a few other errands for when we get back.

We decide to pick up gelato… and this is the best caffe’ gelato I’ve had to far.  It even had bits of coffee beans inside.  OH how I wish we’d’ve found this one on our first day and not our last.  We buy a potted Calla Lilly for the Pasticherria lady (Franka) and then get prosciutto e’ formaggio pizza, some calzones… and 4 Suppli’.  I have to say that the Principal’s Suppli’ is better than this shop’s… but this isn’t bad. J

The daughter of the Pasticherria lady says she won’t be in until the evening, so we tell her that we’ll be back.

It turned out to be a lovely afternoon.  We opened the windows, enjoyed the sunshine, a couple of people napped, and a few started packing up.  I fought with the laundry machine and decided that I wouldn’t miss that laundry room one bit after we left.  I’d gotten up at 1am and 5am to move laundry forward… tending to the laundry is like a newborn.  The clothes dry faster on the radiator… but only when it’s on, which appears to be sporadically.  Honestly, had the weather been warmer we wouldn’t’ve needed to do so much, but who’d’ve guessed it would’ve been SO chilly so many days in a row.

The “chef ladies” returned, this time with fewer dishes (per our request) and we set the kids to work on a batch of chocolate biscotti (something or other) cookies that didn’t need baking (which is good since the apartment doesn’t have an oven).  The kids made those cookies, filled some (okay, LOTS) of cannolis that Elisabetta made at home, I learned a new recipe for risotto and the ladies had already made Ribboletta.  I have to say that the kids weren’t all that impressed with the Ribboletta… but ate enough to say that it really did taste better than it looked.  They ALL loved the risotto… but I think they were really looking forward to the chocolate chip (stratcitella) cannolis. 

After dinner we all set to real work of putting the 2 apartments back in order, rearranging furniture, locating “missing” items… sorting through everything… and, in general, trying to pack.  The taxis are coming just before 8am and we have to be ready.