I forgot to mention on Day 8 we got our Covid test that we needed to fly back into the States and it was super easy. Our hotel was by the train station so when I went to the local pharmacies nearby they were packed with a long list for appointments, but thankfully when we were randomly walking by the Trevi fountain I remembered seeing one of the white testing tents. We went to that pharmacy and there was no wait and it was super easy. A quick swab and literally 10 min later we had our results. The pharmacist filled out the paperwork and it was a relief to get that done and only cost 20 Euros. I am not sure how accurate those are because we don’t have anything like that near me and we always have to wait at least a day for results so if they are reliable I wish we had those tests everywhere.
Anyways, Day 9 started off kind of rough. Dan said he had a terrible earache and couldn’t hear so we had to go to another pharmacy and get drops for it. They helped a little but he was pretty miserable. We later realized it was the shower head that gave him that earache and I am just so grateful this happened at the end of the trip.
After Dan got his drops we continued on with our plans for the day. We love learning about WWII and we always try to plan a tour or find a museum to go to when we go to Europe. This time Dan found the Liberation Museum in Rome and it was fascinating! This was an apartment building that was occupied by the Germans during the war and they integrated people from the Italian Resistance and tortured them.
The ground floor was a library and where you get your headphones and audio tour. The first floor had a handful of cells and some were even used for executions! Second floor had more cells and you could see the scratched messages from prisoners. The third floor had cell number 12 and it was an isolation cell and it had some graffiti on the walls. This museum blew us away with all the information that I had no idea existed. We really enjoyed it and spent about 3 hours in there reading everything and listening to the audio guide. My only complaint was I wish they had benches or chairs in all the rooms. The audio guides were so long but so informative that a lot of times I just sat on the floor to listen and look at what they were speaking about because it was so hot and I got tired. We were the only people in the museum the whole time which was a shame because even though they only had simple displays the information we learned was so detailed and so new to us that I am very happy Dan asked to put this on our agenda.
We picked up a quick lunch and then Dan mentioned he wanted to see the European Championship Trophy so we went to the Italian Futbol Federation Headquarters. They sadly didn’t have the trophy but they did have the World Cup so that was pretty neat.
Afterwards we walked around some more, went by the Trevi Fountain and saw the Big 3 one last time and picked up dinner in that area. By then my phone died so we ended up renting scooters using Dan’s phone and riding to the Colosseum and taking in all of our favorite sights. It was a really nice peaceful night and it a great way to end our trip. Once we got back to the hotel we packed up everything and went to bed.
By morning (Day 10,) we just ate breakfast and got ready to leave. Once we got to the airport, they quickly checked our COVID papers to check for the negative result and we were on our way. All really fast and easy which surprised me because I was getting worried thinking about long lines and not knowing what to expect.
Once on the plane, the flight felt fast and we had one meal and a snack.
Once we landed at JFK, we went through customs and then walked over to our gate to get to Minneapolis/St Paul Airport. It all went really smoothly with all the workers directing everyone where to go so no one could get lost.
Final thoughts, I absolutely loved this trip and I know I will sound super cheesy saying this but I felt like I fell more in love with Dan on this trip. We got lucky and almost everything went as we planned and we had no big travel woes. My typical crazy self stayed in check and I was just able to relax. I know I laughed a lot and we had so many talks about everything. Sometimes, I am amazed at myself that I still learn new things about Dan and him about me. It almost felt like our honeymoon with lots of cheesy pictures and lots of sweet kisses everywhere. We were both so excited to be traveling again and in one of our favorites cities that we made the best of everything. We are already planning next summer’s trip and I cannot wait!!
Adventures of Janet 