My alarm woke me from a sound sleep at 7:00 and I set to work packing. I must have bought about 20 pounds of books – museum guides, a book on Bernini’s technique, “Pinocchio” in Italian, Racine’s plays in French (at the French bookstore near Piazza Navona).
Louise woke up shortly thereafter and tackled the kitchen. The only mishap was that the plumbing in my bathroom rebelled after a week of working perfectly (although with some pretty weird old-building noises. I got out of the shower and noticed that the water wasn’t draining, and as I watched the water level in the shower base got higher and higher – all on its own – until it started overflowing onto the floor. Sluicing water is beautiful at the Trevi Fountain but when it’s your own bathroom it’s a little alarming. But it stopped on its own and then with a glug and a bubble it was all gone.
Quick cab ride to the airport where we arrived 2 hours before our flight for pre-check, security check, check-in, luggage check, passport control and one last ticket check. (Uncle Harold says ”I’ve been early and I’ve been late, and early is better!”) We all had a nibble (Harold tried a ‘bagel” with the Italian version of cream cheese, proscuitto and lettuce, not so bad). Louise did some final shopping at a lovely little paper goods store and then we pooled our last Euro coins which Annie used to buy a colored pencil set.
The flight has been long and uneventful. I think we’re all worn out enough that we’re happy to spend a day sitting quietly. I drifted in and out of sleep while doing some reading – finished Francine Proses’s Caravaggio bio on the Kindle to find that she had written most of it while in residence at the American Academy, Annie watched a video on Michelangelo’s David, Daniel read the “New Yorker” and Louise read “Bel Canto,”
OK, it’s time for tray tables up. The captain just announced 86 degrees in NYC (can this be true?); soon we’ll be back in the USA.
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