Rome - Sunday - Small Town Living Outside the Big City

Sunday, we needed a bit of a break from all of the Rome activity. We got up for a bit of breakfast with the gang, then came back to our room to do some reading, and computer work, and get some more sleep. All of the late nights, relatively early mornings, and nonstop walking during the day has been taking a toll. Around 1pm, David drove us to the top of the mountain in town, which is just a few kilometers away. At the very top, we were able to see a 360 degree view of the area. David pointed out a few landmarks so that as we wandered back down the mountain, we'd hopefully end up in the direction that would get us back to their place. On our way down, we got all twisted up, and had a tough time finding the trail. A few dead ends, and we finally agreed to take the road down as far as we needed to just so we could know that we were going in the right direction. We got to see a side of little Italy that was quite interesting. Little old ladies struggling to get up and down the steep steps but then quickly slipping inside their front door, a little old googly eyed man poking his head out from his doorway to watch us go by, a young father playing with his daughter as she drove her toy car atop the bumpy stone road. We finally found our way, actually, by following some other folks that looked much more local than us. We found the museum, and the old temple, and did an audio tour. Once back into town, we tried to get into the restaurant David recommended, but it was not going to open for a few more hours. We were getting really hungry, since we didn't have any lunch, and we'd been hiking most of the afternoon, so we found a corner pizzeria instead where we shared delicious rectangular slabs of plain cheese, naked, onion, mushroom and sweet pepper pizzas, and the biggest can of Coke we've ever seen. With our bellies full, we found a little sweets shop and loaded up on a few munchies for late night, and then with Vee's amazingly detailed memory and keen sense of direction, made it back to Anne's Place, even foregoing David's offer to drive us the last two kilometers, as he just happened to be driving by with some new guests. It was getting dark by the time we got back, and it was not long before we were ready for bed.