28 June - Mostly Shopping, Shopping, SHOPPING!

June 28, 2019

Okay, so I must have been totally exhausted last night, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up at 13:00 (or so)! I couldn’t believe it. For the next little while, I was just trying to wrap my head around the fact that I slept for 13 or so hours, totally oblivious to the time. And I only woke up because Sherry Ann decided that it was about time. Well, we finally made it out of the apartmentment at 15:00 to do some souvenir shopping. It was for the 2 most difficult people to find something for...Geremy and me. Well, Sherry Ann wanted an outfit, too, so we went out to via Aurelia and via di Boccea to the UPIM out there. It’s kind of like a Kmart. You know, clothing for real people, not the over-priced tourist traps. She found a cute skirt and blouse she bought. The bus ride out there was insane. It was crowded with everyone pressed against everyone else. I’m talking about personal space? What’s that? Then we made our way back to the Zona Vaticana via metro (much roomier) to buy a bag she’s had her eye on. We looked and looked for something for Geremy everywhere we went. But nothing jumped out at us and said, “Geremy wants me!” 

By this time it was about 18:00, and we needed something to eat. We’ve been seeing a lot of these places that advertise pizza and kebab. Well, we finally went to one and ordered a kebab plate. So, the kebab is a long pole with pork meat on it that spins around cooking by the heat. As it gets done, the guy takes a little hand-held meat cutter and shaves off little pieces of the meat. Once he has a nice pile, he scoops it up and puts it on the plate. That was served with a salad, bread, and French fries. I also ordered a rice ball, because, why not? The kebab plate was amazing. We have been wanting a bit of meat since we have really only eaten pizza, pasta and gelato since we arrived on Saturday. 

After dinner, we went back to the apartment for a restroom break and a very short (less than 30 minute) cold down. We really needed that after that bus ride. It was even more crowded that the one going out to the UPIM. I didn’t think we could fit that many people into such a closed in space. But people just kept pushing their way on and letting the doors hold them in when they shut. 

After our break, we walked to the Pantheon. I was not about to get on another bus of tram today. It was a nice walk, and closer than you would think. It took us only 30 minutes (at most). Sherry Ann really liked the piazza and the fountain in Piazza Della Rotunda in front of the Pantheon. The church was closed since it was so late, so we decided to go another day. In that area, we did finally find a souvenir for Geremy. I mean, we had to think about what Geremy really loves (besides food). It was a long search, but we finally did find it. On the way to gelato, Sherry Ann spied as shop that we are going to have to get back to before we leave the Eternal City. The LINDT Chocolates store. There were Lindt truffles of all kinds of flavors! It was truly a sight to behold. We did not buy anything there tonight. But...we did go to Las Palmas Gelateria. They boast (appropriately) over 150 flavors of gelato. It was amazing. We each had the Monster cone. We had to. I did it 24.5 years ago, and wanted to share the experience with the one I love. You get to choose 6 flavors of gelato, and they put it either in a big cup, or on a giant cone. Uh...cone, please! Once the gelato is on there, it is as tall as Sherry Ann’s forearm! From elbow to fingertip! AAAAAMAZING! And it only cost 12€ each! That’s how much we paid for a small gelato by the Piazza di Spagna (don’t get a gelato over there, it’s way over priced). When people saw the size of the cone and gelato they would literally stop on the street and stare and comment on how big it was and they were holding their little tiny cup or cone. 

We slowly made our way back to the apartment by way of some small streets. We stopped by Piazza Navona and continued to stroll in the general direction of our apartmentment. We finally found a shop where I was able to find the souvenir that I wanted. I’ll not say what it is here, but it’s something that I will be able to use almost daily. We also made our way to the Campo de Fiori, and finally Trastevere. When we got back to the apartment, it was about 22:45. We had been gone and walking for over 7 hours! I got over 20k steps in that time, and Sherry Ann got 23k throughout the day! Not too bad.