Friday 27 June: My last day in Roma

Today was my last full day in Rome. I did some last-minute souvenir shopping, taking to opportunity to visit a few favorite spots one last time as well. I walked across Ponte Sisto, my usual route into the Centro Storico, and into the riot of color and commotion that is Campo dei’ Fiore. I visited Piazza Navona too, and looped around south toward the river. Approaching Largo Argentina, I saw the streetcar pulling up, and decided to have one last tram ride back to Trastevere.

Earlier I had spoken to Gary, who is on his way to the ALA Annual Convention in Anaheim, California. I’m missing the conference luckily, since I’m still in Italy. Anyway, Gary was supposed to have an early-morning flight out of State College and into Cincinnati, and eventually get to California pretty early. Well, he told me that his plane had some mechanical problem and they had to wait. Wait they did, and eventually, the airline sent him by taxi to Harrisburg, nearly a hundred miles away. Through some convoluted series of flights he eventually got to California, about twelve hours late. I used to love flying, but it sucks these days because half your flights get cancelled or changed.

This evening I have a nice farewell dinner at Tony’s, a place I frequent because it’s close, good, relatively inexpensive, and the staff are great. I know all the people working there, and they gave me a great buon viaggio dinner: mixed antipasti, a big salad, and a Roman specialty: lamb grilled on oak. The folks working there all came and hugged me and gave me the two-cheek kiss, saying “Arrivederci Rossone!” They made me promise to come back and eat there again the next time I’m in Rome, a promise that will be easy to keep.

I took a last stroll around the neighborhood with a cone of gelato (limone, con panna), stopping to talk to proprietors of some of the shops I’ve gotten to know. The bakers across the street from me all waved goodbye from behind the counter, and the baristas at Good came out to hug me as well. Night was falling, and I returned to my apartment to pack and grab a little sleep before leaving for Ostia the next day.