Today was kind of a lower key day. We did some catching up on things, first of which was to go up the block to Termini Station to buy our train tickets to Ancona, where we catch our ferry to Split, Croatia. Second, we stopped in at McDonald’s for brunch and were quite surprised to see a completely separate counter for ordering lattes, cappuccinos and baked goodies. It was kind of cool to order a cup of tiramisu at mickey d’s. Next, and most importantly, we made our way to the Laundromat up down from our hotel to get some washing done. It was pricey, 3.50 for a wash and 2.00 for a dry, but at least everything was clean and oh man! How I have missed a tumble drier! This one was pretty high powered since it only took 20 minutes to get the whole load dried. But folding socks together without having to hope the damp spots would just work themselves out was fabulous.
While I was waiting on the laundry Brandon ventured out in search of a bank machine. The Rome hotel was the only place we couldn’t pay for on online in advance and they would only take cash. We had kind of forgotten about this and didn’t plan for it when we exchanged money back in Edinburgh when we left. He tried three different bank machines and none of them would allow the transaction. A bit worried, he went back to the hotel to check the balances and do some research on how we could access our money. The website for our UK account stated that we could go into a bank branch and using our passport as proof of identity they would be able to give us cash using our card. Once we dropped the (dry!) laundry back at the hotel, we set off in search of a bank branch. Found one quite easily but had to wait for the staff to come back from lunch so we sat at a nearby café for a glass of wine. When in Rome and all that… Anyway, they came back, we went in, asked if they could help us because the machine wouldn’t work. All the lady said was, “use machine outside”. I asked if she had any ideas what we could do and she said, “no” and turned away. Nice! (As a side note, this is pretty much the level of friendliness we’ve experienced from all but a precious few Italians so far.) We eventually got the problem sorted out by getting the money from a Western Union place who charged us a 6% handling fee, but at least we could pay for the hotel room.
After that was all done and settled, we hopped onto a bus tour. It was only 10 Euros each because by this time it was after 3, but it was nice to see some sights without sore feet. We were technically supposed to stay on until we were back at Temini again but I wanted to go back to Piazza Navona and the Trevi Fountain so we jumped off at the Navona stop. Only problem was, we’d lost our map in the process of the day and had no idea where to go. We stopped in at a little shop and asked if they had one to which he replied, “Four Euros!” Um, no thanks. Only then, as we were walking out, did he offer us one for one Euro. Taking that, somehow we still got all turned around and ended up walking in a big circle back to where the bus let us off and still no nearer the Piazza Navona. Finally on the right track though, we did eventually make our way and took a bunch of photos and bought two little water colour paintings.
Next we went in search of dinner and eventually decided on a little side street place. We shared a huge plate of caprese salad, a proscutto and mushroom pizza, and then each had a bowl of pasta. It was a really nice dinner and we were both totally stuffed when we left to visit the Trevi Fountain. Along the way we stopped back in at the Pantheon which was lovely lit up in the twilight but we didn’t stay long because some super annoying American tourists with their loud southern accents were bugging us.
The fountain tonight was much different that we found it yesterday morning. It was literally crawling with people and little brown guys trying to take Polaroid photos of everyone for a charge. We did eventually find a spot to sit and drink our tiny bottle of Lemoncello, and we did eventually give in and do the silly pictures of each other throwing a coin into the fountain, but the best was going around the right side where there was a place to drink from the fountain and stretch out on the stone. We stayed there for about an hour before making our way back to the hotel. It felt like a great way to spend our last day in Rome.
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