Our last full day in Italia!!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Ciao! Our last posting from Italia! SO sad!!

Dinner last night turned out to be great. We drove toward a small town called Laura, and found a ristorante/pizzeria called Café degli Artistes (Café of the Artists). We were the first ones there, but just barely! The place got PACKED, very quickly; obviously “the” place in town for a Saturday night! (They also had Sky channel and we got to watch the Lazio/InterMilan soccer match!!) R ordered a plate of mussels for his starter; I had insalada caprese (mozzarella and tomato). Then, R ordered penne alla arrabiata (spicy tomato sauce) and I had grilled chicken breast and French fries! (which were WONDERFUL!) All in all, a very fun evening, with excellent food!

Back to the hotel around 9; fell asleep watching the soccer game! Up at 6 and down to breakfast at 7:30; checked out of the hotel by 8:15. Clear blue skies; not a cloud! Then the drive up to Rome! R did a terrific job navigating, and we were able to find everything first time; no problems! It took about 3 hours to make the drive north. And on the way, we passed Capua, and Caserta – where we’d come through several weeks ago! Also, on the mountain tops that we could see both from our balcony this morning, as well as driving north – SNOW! Brrrr! Got colder than I thought it did yesterday, and it was quite some rain!

Pulled off at Fiumicino and headed to our hotel – we thought … and yes, they got us yet again!! Turns out there is the Euro House Hotel (which was where I thought we were going) – and the Euro House INN…who knew? (or who could figure it out?!) R went in to check in, only to be told that we didn’t have a reservation there – the “other” place! Which of course is miles away, much closer to Ostia. Figured out where we were supposed to be; checked in, and dropped the luggage. Large place; living room, small kitchenette, bedroom, patio. It’s fine, although to be honest, how these people manage to live with low wattage light bulbs, I have no idea! HOW CAN THEY SEE??

Headed right around the corner (actually a kilometer or two) to Ostia Antica. We’d only ever been there by train from Rome before, so had to find the car park! Absolutely lovely day for a browse around the grounds. Saw the marketplace, with R’s favorite mosaics (which have now been cordoned off so folks can no longer walk on them; new since our last visit! And it’s a good idea.). Had lunch at their cafeteria – panini of mozzarella, tomato and eggplant – DELICIOUS! And walked some more! Probably covered about half of the grounds – there is SO much to see there! But we decided we’d seen enough sights for one trip, so headed back to the hotel. Filled car up with gas; car parked outside the door, ready for our trip to the airport in the morning!

So, on that note, I will close! Not sure how pictures are going to work out, as this internet connection, while free, is anything but high-speed! Will do what I can, but if the pictures get too much for the system, I will post them when we get home on Tuesday!
Thanks SO much to everyone who came with us, and special thanks to those who made comments as we went along!

More later!
Love,
m