Trastevere and Last Day, Roma

Last night, we had dinner with John Battistone's aunt Sylvia and cousin Andrew. We met at the Piazza Navona in the midst of what was the worst weather we've had on the whole trip. It was extremely windy and cold. Andrew had made a reservation at a restaurant he goes to often which he called "classic Roman with a twist." We saw the name of it on the menu but it was too complicated to remember. It is just a short walk from Navona, though and the food was great. We even had Zabaglione for dessert. We were curious about the lack of ethnic restaurants (we haven't been everywhere but have seen very few) and Andrew explained they just don't do well in Rome, probably because the food here is so good. He did say he has been to Indian restaurants but none are close to where we are. We had a lovely visit with them and a great meal.

Today, we walked to Trastavere, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Rome. The original name means "beyond the Tiber." So we got a good view of the Tiber again.

View of St. Peter's Dome

The famous church in the area is Santa Maria de Trastevere. It sits on a small square. There were two armed guards there which seems to be the norm at every tourist attraction except St. Peter's and the Vatican Museums had more. There were a lot of people sitting outside drinking their morning cocktails at one of the cafes facing the square so we sat down and had coffee. The church is another beautiful building:

Santa Maria

The other famous church we visited was St. Cecilia which had a very nice courtyard but no guards:

We're leaving for Florence tomorrow. Our "landlord" is coming to collect the keys. There are 6 keys to get into the apartment--wooden doors on the street, gate, two for the gate going into the apartment, door. When we arrived, he taught us how to use them to be safe, safer, and very safe. We promised to lock all the locks when we were gone. He also showed us other things about the apartment but he spent most time explaining the garbage. Rome is now taking recycling very seriously. There are 5 different types of garbage and two or three of the types are collected on different days of the week. We have been terrified that we are putting the garbage into the wrong bins. We finally deposited two bags into the large garbage cans in the courtyard, just hoping we did the right thing and the garbage police wouldn't catch us.  Sylvia and Andrew said we shouldn't worry about it but the "landlord" is holding our 200 Euro deposit so we won't know until morning whether it will be returned.

And arrivederci, Roma.