Day 7 of our trip to Rome - finally (sorry for the delay)

A Sunday in Rome is a mix of the old and the new. Some restaurants and stores are closed while others remain business as usual. You have tourists wandering around the city while families make their way to church.

We started the day with breakfast at our hotel - can't get enough of the coffee at The River Palace Hotel. We made our way down to the Campo De Fiori however there are only a few vendors here today. We purchased some pasta and nick nacks and headed to the bakery. We stopped at Il Fornai for some delicious although expensive cookies. My purchase ended up being 23 euros for a bag of almond macaroon cookies (boccacini della nonna). My opinion - totally worth it! As a side note: I came home and scoured the internet and finally came up with my own recipe for these cookies (almost as delicious).

Our last gelato in Rome was at Blue Ice again. Greg's lemoncello was bright and tart while my melon gelato was full flavored and reminded me of summer. Yes we went shopping again. I have a hard time finding presents for my parents whether it's at home or away so I visited the various shopping districts once again.

Weather.com told us that it would be cold and rainy all week in Rome however the first rain drops of our vacation didn't occur until this afternoon. We were near the Spanish Steps and the rain was mild and only lasted about 20 minutes.

Walking towards our hotel we stopped for lunch at Canova in the Piazza del Popolo. We started with a beer and prosecco and some grilled vegetables (mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, and sweet peppers). For entrees we enjoyed Straciatella Soup and Black Truffle Risotto. All were delicious and the service was rushed but friendly.

The end of the trip means time to proceed with the daunting task of packing. We always throw out any old clothes or shoes and definitely don't take home any toiletries. This usually leaves us with plenty of room for any purchases. We also now travel with a luggage scale so we don't get surprised with any excessive charges from the airlines.

Let's go out for one last dinner in Rome.....think again! Downpours, lightning, and thunder! Okay we'll stay in, grab some pizza from mondo arrancina and watch tv. Hmmm the satelite tv is now out and never comes back on.

The next morning we have the bell staff help with our luggage, check out of the hotel, and our driver from Rome Cabs is already in the lobby for us. We arrive at the airport and head to US Airways counter. I will never understand why you have to check in at a Kiosk, then check in with a person, then drop off your luggage! Next up the 40 minute wait for security. We make our way through the airport purchasing little things to use up our Euros and finally board our plane home!