Finale

Finale: from the Italian

end, ending, finish, close, conclusion, termination, resolution;

denouement, last act, final scene, final curtain

informalwind-up

Last day in Rome. Had big plans to see about a half dozen sites, but Rome doesn’t work that way. We got to the Colosseum in the morning and made it through the throngs of people - 50,000-100,000 people come here every day - only to be told we could get in at 2:30. Plan B - go have lunch in a nice cafe and be there at 2:30. The Colosseum was impressive. Rounding it off, it’s 2000 years old. Get that? That’s MM for the Roman numeral literate. Yes, I took a photo or two.

Note from Vicki: We elected to take a hop-on, hop-off bus to get around due to the relative ease of figuring that out and the mental rest needed after being in a taxi in Rome traffic previously. There is not enough Xanax, weed, or other drug to make me relax in a car in Rome. I figure that the bus can hold its own - and it did. 

While waiting, we met some Aussies who call themselves “Italio-Aussies,” since they live half the year in Italy and half in Australia. We all commiserated about the state of US politics, and while Italy has apparently just elected a loon a la trump, they said that it won’t last, predicting a called election in three months.  Lucky Italy. 

The plan after the Colosseum was to see the Trevi Fountain - again, look at the crowds.

We skipped throwing the coin over our shoulders, and we skipped trying to see anything else. Instead, we walked and shopped. For our last dinner, Vicki had made reservations, like before, using TripAdvisor as a guide. She scored big on this one. At the Porto di Ripetta, we told them it was our last meal in Italy, and Anna, the manager, immediately said that it really needed to be good then. And it was excellent from aperitif to delicious desserts. (Note from Vicki: TripAdvisor has a new reservation system called The Fork. If you make reservations through them, there is often a discount!)