Rome - The Last Day.

Our last day in Rome we wake up early, haul our luggage to Termini and leave it at the baggage check. We brave the Metro for the first time since we leave London. It's very easy, there are only two lines instead of Londons many. There are also far less people. We watch our bags like paranoid tourists, don't run into any trouble, and hop off at the station past the Vatican where we are meeting our guide. After a quick breakfast with him and a Danish couple, we join the giant, seething mass of people waiting to get out of Italy for the day and step into Vatican City.

The tour is good, very informative with a good mix of art history, regular history, and religion. Our guide is the same man who led us the previous day and he has a good sense of humour. Points out again the beautiful marble taken from Circus Maximus, the Forum, Palatine Hill and the Colosseum. It really is exquisite marble. The buildings are impressive, the artwork wonderful, it truly is an experience. It would be amazing to be alone there. We are not alone, we are consistently squished, pushed, jostled - it's pretty close to a moshpit and is quite overwhelming. 

We fill our water bottles with holy water, visit the crypts and Bascilica, then bail out around lunch time. Hopping back on the Metro we find ourselves back at Termini, we collect our bags, grab some lunch, then head out to the Airport to our hotel. Not all goes to plan, but we eventually get there after tapping out and hopping in a taxi (first of the entire trip). We arrive out our destination and discover that it is The Happy Cow Vegan BnB. Hilarious. Definitely not what I expected when leaving the avid carnivore to book our room. It's full of Dalai Lama quotes in Italian, has a huge (working) shower, aircon, and is lovely and clean.

Our afternoon is spent booking accomodation in Istanbul, trying to suss out what the heck we are doing (which fails, still have no idea), and walking down the river checking out the fishing boats. We end up at a trendy garden bar for drinks and nibbles. It's the best food we've eaten since Venice, lots of very small (fairy sized) plates filled with everything from meatballs to beans and a bowl of freshly made potato chips. Yuuuum. 

We finish out night early (earlier than normal) and have the best sleep of our entire trip. A lovely end to our stay in Rome and Italy.