Last Night in Italy

We took the fast train from Salerno back to Rome then navigated to our hotel for our last night in Italy.  Chris and I like to stay in a hotel on our last night in a country as part of the process of acclimating back to the real world.

The hotel was about halfway between the airport and Rome so it took some doing to get there.  Step one was to catch the Metro.  This was our first and last time on the Metro and was super easy.

Step two was a bit more challenging: catch the bus to the hotel.  Per our previous experience in Rome, we were not surprised that the bus was late.  Like 30+ minutes late.  The bummer this time was that it was hot and there was no shade at the stop.  The bus also became incredibly full because, it was late and school was out.  Tons of school kids on a bus at 1 in the afternoon.  Who knew?!

Chilling by the Pool

The good news is, we eventually made it.  We got checked into our rooms and immediately went up to explore them and dump our stuff.  Our room came with a balcony, a view of the pool, and, off in the distance, a view of Rome. Linda only got a window but she had a similar view.

We pretty much immediately went to the pool and spent the afternoon chilling.  Chris was so excited he just couldn’t hide it.

We didn’t just chill!  We also got curious about the palm trees.  They had all these pods hanging from them and they clearly weren’t coconuts.  I found one on the ground and split it in half.  Visual and smell tests failed me so I asked the bartender.  He didn’t know what they were either but he did say that the birds love them and they ripen in the fall.  A while later he comes out to our cabana and informs us they were dates!  The awesome guy had done research on our behalf!  ❤

Dinner / Dessert by the Pool

We didn’t intend to hang out at the pool all day.  We were supposed to catch an Uber to have dinner at a local restaurant but traffic was horrendous and the fare had gone up astronomically.  We were also pooped and kinda sick of pasta (Shhhh!).  I for one wanted a burger.

Because of the traffic problems and because we’d had lunch in the main restaurant just hours before, we elected to have dinner at the more casual pool side venue.  There were burgers and pizza as well as ice cream and Tiramisu for dessert.  The Tiramisu was so good Chris felt the need to protect it.

The next morning, we caught an 8 o’clock shuttle to the airport and eventually boarded the plane for our 10 hour journey back to the States.