Final Adventures...For Now

Day 9: Today is our last day in Italy. Classically I do not plan the day for our group. It is a free day for them to spend, as they like.

We started the day by heading back to the Vatican. We wanted to spend more time in St. Peters. Three thousands of our fellow travelers had the same idea. There was a switch back line that covered the major part if the outside, in the hot sun on St. Peter’s Square. If we had planned in advance we could have reserved entry tickets but we did not. We satisfied the attempt with a few pictures and of the square and consoled ourselves with an Italian lunch of pasta and pizza.

Our group got smaller and Laura, Ted, Nancy and I headed to the Borghese Gallery. The Galleria Borghese has an outstanding collection of art collected by Cardina Scipione Borghese from 1605-1621. The collection includes the works of Raphael, Peter Paul Rubens, Bernini, Caravaggio, and Federico Barocci, to name a few.

The day was beautiful and the Borghese gardens are vast so we rented a 4 wheeled bicycle with a surrey on top and biked through the gardens. We then headed back to the apartment to regroup and pack. We caught up with Bethe at the apartment and got a recount of her morning. She had joined a bike tour. The guide gave her a great synopsis of the history of Rome as they biked by. Her tour paused periodically to do some food tasting.

Nancy was determined to get back to St. Peter’s. Our apartment was situated close so she headed back on her own. She was successful with only a 30 minute wait.

We finished off the still wonderful leftovers from the previous night. One last gelato ended our last night.

Our adventure comes to a close.