Day 11: Roma
We had a not-so-fun bus experience our last night in Dublin. Our BnB was a little outside of the city (“in the boonies” is what Maria kept saying). Our host had stated there is bus that stops just down the way that will take you to the city centre. That was a big relief, since we had turned in the car believing that was better than fighting traffic and having to find parking all day long. During the day, except for going to the wrong St Teresa church, the buses had worked fine. I used google maps to figure out how to go home, and we hopped on one knowing that we had to change. We missed where we were supposed to switch, but google gave us another switch place. There we waited, and waited, and waited. An hour later after two different buses had never gone by, I downloaded Uber in order to get home.
That was fine and dandy, in spite of the delay. We made it home, late but home. In the morning our flight was at 6:20, so we had to leave at 4:30. If worse came to worse, there would be fewer taxis at that hour and even fewer in such a rural location. We waited at the time google said the bus was going by. We waited five more minutes and nothing. I tried uber and no results. I ended up calling the taxi company and requesting. The dispatcher said, it will be at least 20 minutes before I can find one. That’s when we really started to worry. Luckily, a few minutes later, down the road we saw the lights of what turned out to be the bus we needed to get to the airport. I had to call to cancel the taxi, but we were finally on our way.
After finally getting off at the wrong terminal and walking all over the Dublin airport, we finally boarded. I was hesitant about our trip to Italy. When we first planned, Italy seemed way out of the way from England and Ireland. I thought we had plenty to see in those two countries without flying across Europe. I was accommodating after Maria and Nico made a list of where they wanted to visit. I was also hesistant as much of what they wanted to see in Italy was in Rome. As I stated about Dublin, I’m not a big city kind of guy. And Rome is as big as it gets. It is probably the most hectic place I’ve visited. It’s beautiful, historical, well worth the visit, but hectic. Plus the Italians are, how should I say it, louder than the Irish and the English.
It turns out that I was wrong at least for yesterday. The streets were mostly empty. The lines to St Peter’s were shorter with only two security screeners open. I’m not sure if it was mostly because it was Saturday afternoon or because it is August (in August most people leave because it is hot and good vacation/holiday time), but our whole day, after getting on the plane, was very relaxing. We had a nice French lunch while waiting for our room to be ready for check in. Our bags were already in the room. We walked causually to the Vatican to visit St Peter’s and purchase some gifts. We stopped for gelato, which turned out to be made from olive oil meaning Maria could eat it without having to worry about being lactose intolerant. We had a great dinner and then walked to our hotel for evening prayer and a restful night. What a relaxing day, exactly what we needed.
Below our my photos from St Peter’s and a couple of other sites we liked along the way, including the view from both our hotel room and the restaurant we visited for dinner.
That was fine and dandy, in spite of the delay. We made it home, late but home. In the morning our flight was at 6:20, so we had to leave at 4:30. If worse came to worse, there would be fewer taxis at that hour and even fewer in such a rural location. We waited at the time google said the bus was going by. We waited five more minutes and nothing. I tried uber and no results. I ended up calling the taxi company and requesting. The dispatcher said, it will be at least 20 minutes before I can find one. That’s when we really started to worry. Luckily, a few minutes later, down the road we saw the lights of what turned out to be the bus we needed to get to the airport. I had to call to cancel the taxi, but we were finally on our way.
After finally getting off at the wrong terminal and walking all over the Dublin airport, we finally boarded. I was hesitant about our trip to Italy. When we first planned, Italy seemed way out of the way from England and Ireland. I thought we had plenty to see in those two countries without flying across Europe. I was accommodating after Maria and Nico made a list of where they wanted to visit. I was also hesistant as much of what they wanted to see in Italy was in Rome. As I stated about Dublin, I’m not a big city kind of guy. And Rome is as big as it gets. It is probably the most hectic place I’ve visited. It’s beautiful, historical, well worth the visit, but hectic. Plus the Italians are, how should I say it, louder than the Irish and the English.
It turns out that I was wrong at least for yesterday. The streets were mostly empty. The lines to St Peter’s were shorter with only two security screeners open. I’m not sure if it was mostly because it was Saturday afternoon or because it is August (in August most people leave because it is hot and good vacation/holiday time), but our whole day, after getting on the plane, was very relaxing. We had a nice French lunch while waiting for our room to be ready for check in. Our bags were already in the room. We walked causually to the Vatican to visit St Peter’s and purchase some gifts. We stopped for gelato, which turned out to be made from olive oil meaning Maria could eat it without having to worry about being lactose intolerant. We had a great dinner and then walked to our hotel for evening prayer and a restful night. What a relaxing day, exactly what we needed.
Below our my photos from St Peter’s and a couple of other sites we liked along the way, including the view from both our hotel room and the restaurant we visited for dinner.