February 24 was our last full day in Rome. We started the morning out by going shopping. Allie needs some shoes to go with her dress and Sidney thinks she needs gifts. Is it a gift if a person demands it?

We head down to the Parione area which includes the former Jewish ghetto area. It’s full of narrow, crooked streets with a couple of streets with lots of shopping. We pass Chiesa Santa Barbara which was described in the Iain Pears book, The Raphael Affair, which I read while travelling to here. Allie bought a top in a store in this piazza.

Allie took a lot of photos of grafitti which seems plentiful in this area. After a bit of shopping, we headed to look at Piazza del Campidoglio because Allie had not seen it yet. The area was very crowded with tourists and traffic was crazy. The statue of Marcus Aurelius is a copy of one of the few surviving bronze statues. For years it was thought to be of Constantine so was not melted down for weaponry because he was a Christian emperor as opposed to some heathen ancient. The piazza design was by Michelangelo.

We then continued with our shopping ending up by the Spanish Steps where we bought some gelato to sustain us until dinner.

On our perambulations back towards our hotel, we came across some ancient columns in the Piazza di Petra. Found out later that they are the ruins of the Temple of Hadrian and were incorporated into a 17th century building which is now the Roman stock exchange.

Stopped at Enoteca Cul de Sac for a last bottle of Brunello, one I have not seen before.

We’ve partially packed up while digesting and have only tomorrow morning and early afternoon before I head to London and Allie takes the train to Naples.