For those who know me, don't worry, I did dedicate an entire afternoon of being a tourist instead of a shopper! I was very impressed with myself, albeit motivated by the fact that my parents had not previously visited Rome. I feel some guilt for not getting them down the Appian Way or catacombs and, well, many classic touring destinations. However, they did get the Ancient Rome walk, several days of Pantheon stalking (excellent shopping district), and the last Vatican Museum trip ever in my life. Seriously, Vatican Museum tourists represent the worst. It is a rabid dash through all the apartments, Sistine Chapel, and amazing artifacts of all cultures, checking off in their heads that they've officially seen it, illegally snapping photographs that are far worse quality than simply buying the Vatican book. I suppose the crappy snapshots prove they were there? I have no idea. My poor mother was standing in Raphael's apartments studying the ceiling paintings only to nearly knocked over and elbowed on many occasions. Bleh. Hopefully their experience in the Treasury today won't be as stressful to simply appreciate art and history.
Ellie was very successful in finding 95% of the toy shoppes in Rome, along with the carousel. I love how Rome and Paris places their carousels in the optimal historical areas, in this case next to Castel S'Angelo, for some lovely photographic backdrops!
We are winding down our meanderings...this is the last day of shopping with the emergence of slow packing. I have just a couple more things on my list that I can get on Cola d' Rienzo later this afternoon, and then sink into the realisation that while I'm excited to get back to my new house and start the moving process, the reality of life returns in full force. I have started my preparation process by getting my hair tamed with a local salon, which was an interesting experience given the language impasse, but the results were very nice and it's a good start to feeling fresh for the crazy January ahead of me.
