So I’ve written about the beginning of our trip, which started in London. In between London and Rome, we visited Florence, Cinque Terre, and Siena. Today I feel like writing about Rome, where we ended our trip.
We began our final day in Rome with a large dose of cuteness. A quartet of perfectly fuzzy ducklings salvaged Rome’s otherwise not-so-memorable botanical garden. (We recommend Kew in London, and Siena’s small, but nice (and free) Orto Botanico.)
After our garden time, we headed across town for lunch at Il Margutta. This vegetarian restaurant has a buffet-style brunch. Huge variety, and all top quality – the soup was the only flop, but by then we were so stuffed it didn’t matter. For affordability, both here and at the Naturist Club (another vegetarian place where we enjoyed a meal the previous day), lunch was definitely the way to go.
Only catch? Instead of the typical U.S.-style “all-you-can-eat” buffet, Il Margutta limits diners to one plate. So, as you can see, we made the most of our one trip through the line. We thought we were embarrassing ourselves, and being “those Americans,” but there were some real authentic Italian diners with plates that rivaled, and perhaps exceeded, ours. We both cleaned our plates and were actually NOT uncomfortably full when we left — so no food wasted!
Fully sated, we made our way to the beautiful Borghese Gardens (wish we had more time to spend in the park) for our reserved slot at the Borghese Gallery, home of Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne sculpture, as well as a number of other beautiful Bernini pieces. We paid for the audio guide, which was nice accompaniment.
For our final meal at Rome, we ate delicious pizza at ZaZa, followed by gelato at a shop Matthew frequented ten years earlier. We also bought pizza to sustain us on Thursday’s plane ride.
We ended the day with a moonlight stroll through Rome, including a pass by the Trevi Fountain. I tossed in a coin for good luck 🙂
In keeping with the spirit of sustainability and simplicity, The Dude wore a baptismal gown made by his great-grandmother, previously worn by his father and uncle.
I’m not sure if you’re supposed to have a favorite baptismal promise, but this one is particularly meaningful to me, as a value that can and should be embraced by all humankind, regardless of faith or belief system:
Her Green Life 