Woohoo!

Today was pretty great..I had the day to myself again, so I continued on my adventure! This time, it took me to Circo Massimo! But first, I took a little detour to see the Baths of Caracalla. This was breathtaking! It was sort of off the beaten path, so there weren't many tourists there, which made it really quiet and serene. The baths were HUGE and amazing and behind them there was this sort of park with benches under those huge Lion King trees (it was all very Lion King) and more ruins surrounding the park. It was really beautiful and SOOO nice out (70s, breezy) that I decided to sit down on one of those benches and read a little bit!

After, I continued on to Circo Massimo..WOW, it's just so HUGE! It's like one big gigantic field where people are playing soccer, having picnics, dogs are catching frisbees in the air and the ruins are just chillin' in the background. Amazing! Then, my adventure took me up the pedestrian street where the rose gardens are that Amalia had taken me to see on my first day, and around to a beautiful, quaint street with a row of three churches. But before you got to the first, there was another little park with an overlook that had the most spectacular view of the city!!

The first church was like a miniature St. Peter's..very ornate and beautiful. The second had a courtyard filled with pidgeons! HAHA. The third had a gorgeous courtyard, all brick, with a fountain in the middle, surrounded by red flowers. After that church, my City Walks: Rome told me to peek through the keyhole of the fence on the right. I thought this was a secret treasure that no one else knew about except those who had purchased City Walks: Rome. BUT, there was a line at the keyhole. Haha. So I'm waiting and I'm trying to imagine what could possibly be behind this door whose keyhole yields such a fantastic view. A view of the city perhaps? Some secret garden? When I got to the door, I peered in to see a long path with arching trees over it. Even better than I'd imagined.

I continued my walk down an amazing residential street of Spanish-looking villas surrounded by iron gates and ivy. WOW!! Then, I decided to forgo a little detour I was going to take, because I'd used up ALL the pictures on my camera (in 3 hours!!!). So I finished my walk and got onto the metro going the wrong way. Hahah. I reoriented myself and went home.

I was starving after my walk, so I stopped at that little place that I'd stopped at the day it was raining and the woman gave up her seat for me. I got two cotoletta (mmm!) and some delicious-looking rice. When the woman rang it up, it was 17 euros! And I only had 8.50! So I was like, "Ummmm, take off the rice, I'm sorry, I only have 8.5 euros." So she took my coins, counted them, and handed me my original order. "It's ok?" I asked, and she nodded with a smile. She was so nice! And when I looked in my little bag, I noticed she'd thrown in a piece of bread, too! Awwww!