May 30 – April 2: In contrast to our previous trips to Rome, I don’t have that much to report about the four days that ended our Italy trip…probably because I was sick for two of them.
We arrived around 2:30 pm Saturday afternoon and checked into the hotel. (Aside: If you can save the money to go there, the Hotel De La Ville Intercontinental in Rome is a decent place to stay—atop and to the side of the Spanish Steps, five star service…<sigh>.) We grabbed a late lunch at a trattoria around the corner from the hotel. I was tired out from driving and flopped while Lisa took her parents in the direction of Trastevere. She woke me up later to go down to the Piazza Navona with her and grab a glass of wine at our favorite enoteca/café.
Sunday we went to Santa Maria di Trastevere, a thirteenth century church that’s pretty distant from the crowd at the Vatican. After we went to lunch at Romolo, built in a fifteenth century palazzo (with a walled garden) that was the home of Raphael’s mistress. Afterwards I started feeling unwell. Thinking it was heatstroke, I walked home ahead of the family. And then it started. At one point my distress was so bad I was shaking (though not with fever). By Monday I was some better but still had to spend the day in bed. Tuesday morning we flew back. So all I really saw of Rome was a little bit of Trastevere, the Piazza Navona, and the inside of our five-star bathroom.