Arrivederci Roma
Since our ride to the bus was not coming until noon we got out early (for us) for a last walk in the Eternal City. First stop was this column of Marcus Aurelius we discovered on our first day:
Cafe Sant Eustachio Emporio was our next stop, for coffee and to buy some sandwiches for the bus ride.
From there we HAD to pass by the Pantheon and then the wonderful elephant column in front of the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. The doors of the church were open but there was fencing so you could only look in at the opulent interior. Like most everyone, I love the Bernini elephant with its Egyptian obelisk. It is said that Bernini chose the elephant for the base not only for its size but because it symbolizes wisdom.
Finally, our impromptu tour was over and we had to high tail it back to the apartment. The landlord, charming Gino, did a thorough check to make sure we hadn’t left anything and the kind driver Aldo took us to the Tiburtina bus station. The Prontobus was packed and we had to sit way in the back to get two seats together. We took off to the East, for the two hour trip towards the mountains, passing a lot of snowy scapes along the way.
We arrived in Sulmona to be picked up by a very interesting British couple who own and rent the apartment at 29 Gramsci. After the orientation, to the nicest apartment we’ve ever rented, we went to get groceries at the only open market on Sunday, Conad.
Go right out the door and make the first left and see this:
Go about 2 blocks over the bridge and see this:
go one more block and there is the Conad.
Crossing over the bridge you can hear the sound of rushing water below (I don’t yet know the name of the small river) and cheering from the soccer stadium. Aural paradise to me. Definitely not in Rome anymore!
We made a nice dinner of sausages with pasta and some zucchini. We drank an unexpectedly good wine–Lepore, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo–from right down the road in Pescara. Around here, Montepulciano is the prevalent wine grape, not the town in Tuscany. Anyway, it was really nice for about €7.
Here’s the view from the kitchen:
There is no place like Italy where every street you feel at home where there is art and culture and history on every block and where Bernini makes marble flow like fabric.