Day 26. Thursday 14th – Cortona to Rome

Early start to tidy up this morning. Guilia is coming at 9am to sort out the tourist tax and the taxi is coming at 9.30am to get us to Camucia train station.

Jewish women and men from this street who were killed in Auswitz, the memorials are in the paving just outside our door.

And, it’s raining. And it’s cold. We’ve been lucky with the weather, even though it’s been cool/cold we haven’t seen rain since Valencia and Barcelona. We still haven’t needed many clothes, just 2 pairs of jeans and layers of long sleeve tops, polar fleece and puffer jackets with a scarf and beanie for when it’s really chilly.

Francesco arrives on time, nice black merc mini bus, €25 later we’re at Camucia train station having a coffee. Also waiting are 2 groups of Anericans, some just doing a day trip to Rome. The train doesn’t have many passengers, it’s warm and there’s no scrabble for seats. Hallelujah!

Rome Termini train station is busy, we come into an outside platform and have to walk a mile for a taxi. Our Taxi is expensive but gets us to the Jewish Quarter where our apartment is. There’s a reminder of WWII horrors in the paving outside our front door, 6 Jews from this street who were killed in Auswitz in 1943 have plaques in the pavers.

We drop our bags and head to Campo de Fiori for a look and and a snack. It’s stalls are closing down, I’ll come back tomorrow to see if my hat man is here. The Navigator is shoe hunting, so we wander over the Tiber River to The Trastavere area, no luck she has a place in mind but it’s a 20 minute walk so I opt out of walking and wander the streets. Rome is still humming along. She buys 2 pairs of shoes, then dinner is at a pasta speciality restaurant Osteria de Fortunata. The pasta is pretty special, then home for a rest.