Sigh_The Last Day in Rome

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day in Rome. We took our time getting going, after such a hard day on the feet yesterday. We walked carefully (map in hand, to not make any mis-steps) to San Agostino and St Luigi dei Francesi to see more paintings by Caravaggio

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/c/caravagg/07/42loreto.html

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contarelli_Chapel

Afterwards, we walked almost to the Piazza Navona and got a bite (tagliatelle and salad). I finally got a compliment about my Italian (whew! and I thought I'd been spinning my wheels for the last four years!). It's been very difficult to speak much Italian because so many people speak English, at least in the tourist areas of Rome--I haven't always been that great at it either because I've been tired and stumble on my words.

After a stroll through the Piazza, we caught a bus to get closer to the Colosseum, where we had a date to meet one of my Facebook pen friends, Serena. The walk from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum was incredible. They close off the road on Sunday and we were walking on the road, in between Trajan's Forum and the Foro Romano, looking up to the Palatine Hill, where we had been a couple of days ago---Spectacular!

We had a very pleasant conversation with Serena, who had taken a bus and Metro an hour to meet us. She is fluent in English, German and Japanese and is now learning Chinese! Afterward, we headed back to the hotel, where I did a follow-up email for my research project. Tomorrow, we take the train to Ferrara and get settled in our apartment there--The rest of the week, I will be working very hard, trying to complete as much of this project as I can.

Ciao a tutti!