Rome - Departure

Our last day in Rome started off with a nice surprise. We slept in and the lady that was renting us her place forgot that we booked 4 nights instead of 3 and let herself on in at about 8:30am. She got a nice surprise since I was sleeping in the nude. Just kidding...or am I? *looks around innocently*

Being that Rome was so exhausting, we decided to take it easy on this final day. So we layed off the heavy walking and took some cabs around to a few of the smaller sights we hadn't seen yet. Amy wanted to do the quick Dolce Vita stroll in the morning, which takes you through the shopping areas. She really wanted to see the Rome "mall" and go to Zara, which seemed to be just another store to me, but she loved it. She didn't buy anything though (let's hope this pattern holds true for the future!).

Went to St. Peter in Chains, which holds a Michaelangelo statue and the chains that supposedly held St. Peter before he was crucified. Then got to see Villa Borghese, which Amy talked about below. Basically a two level mansion with a freakin TON of art. Amazing that it was all privately owned for such a long period. One level held paintings (blah...), while the other held sculptures, which were very cool (quite a few of Bernini's famous ones). Couldn't get any pics though, no cameras aloud. Amy does love this place. Awesome to see her so excited as we walked around.

So reading through this blog, I'm sure you've been asking yourself one question...what about the food??? Up until this point, we've been eating at typical local restaurants, trying to find hole-in-the-wall places here and there, eating pretty inexpensively (normally a pasta and glass of wine). All very decent food, but I'd say nothing spectacular. We finally broke that trend and decided to go to Rick Steves' top recommended restaurant in Rome, Ristorante il Gabriello! We didn't have a reservation, but figured we'd try to just show up and get a table, and we did! The food was incredible. Definitely a great final meal in Rome.

Pics above of Amy in the Roman shopping mall and outside of Villa Borghese.