Day 76: Roma: Sun, 27°

A Hell Of A Ride!

I don’t think I can say it much clearer. It’s been 76 very special days! A time to focus on several of my passions and to mostly just be in the moment, day after day. It occurred to me yesterday that my time in Rome has helped to begin the transition homeward. If there was any doubt, the massive crowds at the Trevi Fountain last evening and today at the Forum helped me to crystallize it. Unbelievable🤣 

Hold the presses! Rob just looked at the upcoming weather at home and it’s rain and cool weather for the next several weeks after not a drop for several months. His response, “a little depressing”.😩 I second that! 

In spite of us all crowding around it to do whatever we do, it’s still an exceptional experience! 

A very small portion of the crowd at the Forum. 

Things do progress, and I guess I’m just fortunate to have seen places like this before they became so popular. I realized that many visitors these days will find it busy, but it might even seem the norm to them if they are seeing it for the first time or are younger and haven’t seen these sorts of places any other way. 

Today we visited the Colosseum and the Forum. We went early with prepaid tickets to try and get a jump on the crowds. It helped at the Colosseum, but not so much at the Forum. 

We dropped by the other night and it’s as special as ever. 

In the daylight just as special. No history lessons today, just some photos.













For Ken. 







Trying to appear nonchalant😅







Then it was time to move on to the Forum. There have been many excavations and restructurings here since my last visit 17 years ago. Good to see. One last look back. 

Then onwards though the massive arch. 

Be very impressed that there are few people in my photos. The longer we were there the busier it became. 



We climbed up onto Palintine Hill to take in this extensive site. 



The financial centre of the Roman Empire. 



Some probably fairly pricey properties in central Rome. 



I bet if they’d known that future tourists were prepared to pay so much to see these remnants that the Romans might have looked after them a bit better!











So that’s about it. We’ve spent the latter part of the afternoon pulling our gear together and getting rid of the things we don’t need. I’ve washed enough clothes to get home…I hardly have many clothes any way. Yes David, the boots are coming home too😂 

We’ve checked in with the airline and we have our boarding passes on our phones. All that remains to do is find a decent place for dinner, eat a good meal (there will be wine), pack up our gear and try to get a bit of sleep. We plan to be at the airport for about 10:30 and our flight hopefully departs at 13:20 to Montreal. From there on to Vancouver where we will overnight before making the short jump to Victoria. See you there Annemarie😘

I’d like to thank those of you who followed along each day providing ongoing encouragement and often humorous notes. Thanks to those I met on a very long road who shared their stories and a meal with me. Those I will not forget. Thanks so much for joining me Costanza. I know you so much better now, and Annemarie and I are waiting for your visit! Rob, thanks buddy for helping to get me across the line! I’m actually not sure how that happened considering all the beer and wine we consumed, but it did! As always it was ‘endless fun’! 

Special thanks to my family who listen to me, sometimes, when I get started talking about the next walk. Particularly Annemarie. Your support means so much!❤️

And that’s it for now. Hopefully once I’ve recharged there will be other walks in the not distant future. I need to chat with my partner about that after things settle down and I get my domestic duties all caught up. Looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends very soon! Cheers!