Final Day

We have finished our last day.  We cleaned our apartment, packed, had dinner at Gino's (another favorite neighborhood haunt), shopped and even squeezed in a final educational visit at the Palazzo Massimo, where there is a statuary exhibit from the Julian-Augustan period.  We ended the evening at the Square, which is sort of like our living room, where we went to say goodbye to the "stick men", the Hungarians who have given us a month's worth of entertainment, teaching all of us to twirl "flower sticks" and who themselves will leave for Croatia on Monday.  We wanted to say goodbye to Sr. Marcello, the sweet proprieter at the Bar di San Calisto, who is Cecily's very special friend and who has a smile that lights up the room--only for Cecily when she comes in.  (She returns it with similar wattage.)  Unfortunately, a movie is being filmed at the end of the block, and we found the bar closed and the square cordoned off, causing Cecily and Meredith to burst into tears.  It was a sad moment and a hard way to go, but perhaps there is a lesson here:  All good things come to an end, even 31 glorious days in Rome, finding Peace and rest in the Eternal City and discovering the joy of time spent with each other, living the dulce vita.  Farewell, Roma.