DAY 6

9/21/2018

LAST FULL DAY IN ROME BEFORE THE START OF THE CRUISE
&
THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING

We thought we would begin with some thoughts on Roman history. It is amazing what was put into place in that era. This included the construction of roads and the extensive aqueduct system providing sufficient water to Rome. Another example is the construction and the strength of the wall built around Rome which has stood the test of time. While the wall of today looks different than the original wall the strong foundation remains in place. This is like what we have seen on visits to the ruins of Pompeii where they had plumbing and reflectors so that you could see the road in the darkness. In the area of arts they had specialists who created the sculptures that also withstood time. They lost much of this talent after the fall of the Roman Empire as was a good deal of the art. The same was true in the city where many items on the facades of buildings were removed. With each passing year more items are discovered in Rome as is the case in other areas of Italy. Additional items were discovered during construction of the new subway line. This recognizes that the city of Rome we see today is built over other layers.

We enjoyed our third evening at the Hotel.

An amenity of the room we booked included a four-course-dinner for two with a bottle of wine chosen by the Sommelier at the hotel restaurant; Le Jardin de Russie.

Keith actually had forgotten about this amenity until a few weeks before our arrival when he was rereading the original booking information. Once he realized this he had the concierge make the reservation for us prior to our arrival to the Hotel.

We sat outside and it was amazing.

We won't go through every detail. We started with some items that were provided by the restaurant, we each had salads, shared a gnocchi (the waiter recommended we share this given the quantity of food and he was right) and we shared sea bass and veal as the main course and shared two different desserts and a bottle of wine. We (Keith) forgot to take photos of the entree. LOL. He did forget.

For us dinner was later than usual. When we to the room we read and wrote and easily fell asleep. We are pretty much adjusted to the time zone which is one of the many advantages of arriving a few days early prior to the start of the cruise. As part of the hotel package we do have the option of having breakfast outside at the restaurant we dined at last evening but once again we chose to have it in our room. We kept to the same simple breakfast of cereal and fruit which given the dinner we had last evening was more than enough for us. We got ready for our final full day in Rome. We enjoyed breakfast in the room and then we got ready for our final day in Rome.

We walked and walked and walked and did this across three separate walks.

We walked to the Altare della Patria (aka The Wedding Cake) over to the Ancient City and then we made our way to the Colosseum.

We visited several churches including the Pantheon Roman Temple which was built between 113 and 125 AD. We walked to the area with the high end stores. We walked over to the Piazza Navona which s a late square in Rome. We walked up and down several side streets and eventually had lunch and continued our walk. Lots of locals and tourists ere out and about. Tomorrow is a one half marathon and the running routes were being set up.

The weather was a delight. It was sunny with a high of mid 80's; Fahrenheit. We are including lots of photos. Please note they are in reverse order from the order they were taken in.

Before dinner we took another long walk. They were running a race and we believe it was a one mile route. Lots of people were out and about. We walked some busy streets and also some with far less people walking.