Thursday 3 November 2011

My last full day in Roma! It was cooler today, but still got up to 70 and still sunny.  I got up early and went across the river to the centro storico for some last minute shopping. I was early enough to see the market stalls open in Campo dei’ Fiori.  I walked up to Piazza Navona, where a few artists were taking advantage of the early morning light to draw, paint and sketch.  I had coffee at a caffé near Navona and strolled around the city as the workday started. 

On the way back to Trastevere I bought a few more postcards and some stamps. I sent out postcards my second or third day here, but nobody has mentioned that they received them yet. I decided to send out a few more just in case. The Italian postal service is notoriously unreliable, and it is not unusual for postcards (and more important items) not to make it to their destinations.  The Vatican has its own postal service that is more reliable, but I didn’t go all the way to St. Peter’s and wait in line to buy Vatican City stamps to mail cards. I’ve mailed letters from Rome that arrived in the US in less than a week. I’ve also sent some that took three weeks, or never arrived at all. This is why Italians still fax rather than mail important documents.

In the afternoon I took a last walk around Trastevere before going back to my apartment to pack.  I made some calls and went out for dinner the last time. I would have gone back to Tony’s, but they are closed Thursdays.  I went to another place I like on Piazza San Calisto and had salad, a grilled sausage and a potato stuffed with sausage and cheese.  At dinner everyone was talking about the euro crisis with Greece.  Would Greece default? Would they have a referendum on the euro zone bailout? Would the prime minister of Greece resign? Would the prime minister of Italy resign (they’re trying to force him out)?  As bad as the economy is in the US, it’s worse in much of Europe.  Italy is struggling not to end up like Greece and Ireland. 

After dinner and a final gelato (stracciatella and fiore di latte) in Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere I headed back to my apartment to get ready for tomorrow morning’s flight.