A short Roman Holiday!

"What a wonderful privilege to have the weakness of a man and the serenity of a God."

After lunch, we continued the tour, but it was already almost 4 and decided we'd had about enough bus riding and touring, as my foot was starting to throb after my attempt at jogging last week (really, who did I think I was kidding :) ), and Cecil was  still not feeling 100%. 
We checked out a few of the shops closer to our hotel, went to the rooftop bar for a drink, then headed out to explore the route we'd need in the morning so that we would know where we were going the next morning to catch the tour bus.

Fountain in the square

For supper we wandered just a little further down the street from where we ate the previous night. We found another little restaurant with tables on the street, and opted to dine there.  I'd say it was likely one of the best meals we'd, Cecil having a Sicilian Salmon dinner, and I the lasagna. 
As the place filled up and got more crowded, a couple were seated beside us, almost elbow to elbow. As we began to talk to them, we realized that they were from Kenora, Ontario! 
They knew so many of the people we know there...it was a little freaky!  We met more neighbors in one day in Rome than on any trip to Winnipeg! We enjoyed an hour or so of great conversation with them then headed on our way. 

View from our rooftop bar at the hotel.

By 8:30 our day had caught up with us. We headed back to our room for an early night to be ready to be at Hotel Diana by 7:15 the next morning. Part of us felt guilty that we were not out exploring more of the sites and sounds, but the reality is that there are just more people, honking horns and rushing cars than we can handle more of for one day.  That one of the challenges of being a hill billy in the twenty first century.
We'd never seen so many tour buses coming and going from any city we'd been in before, and the sheer number of tourists was mind boggling, considering it was the last Friday afternoon of September. Not at all what I would consider the busy season....so I wondered what the busy season was like here! 
I still regret that we only had one day here to explore, because I am sure if we didn't have to cram it all into one day, we'd have seen so much  more, but I felt blessed that we actually had the chance that we had. To see for ourselves, as much as we did, while we both have the good health to enjoy it. What a Great day.