Monday 15th of November, 2010
remarkably camp Ecclesiastical outfitters
Up and check out. There doesn't seem to be much point in bothering with the bitter foam, so we go to a couple of cafes near Termini for coffee. It looks very unlikely that we'll be served at one, so we just walk out (it's a very useful thing to know, this - you can just walk out of a place if they can't be bothered to serve you), then walk down to the fora, which we decide not to go into when we discover that Haru (as a non-EU citizen) will be charged twice as much as me. Spend some time evading Italian gentlemen dressed as Roman soldiers, harrassing passers-by.
It's colder than yesterday, but still not cold enough to necessitate the coat that I'm wearing/carrying.
Walk to the Pantheon, which I still find very impressive. Spend some time taking photographs of people taking photographs and spot the drainage holes in the floor (where the rain finds egress after it's poured through the large hole in the roof.)
More walking, to traditional Roman confectioner's for more coffee, past remarkably camp Ecclesiastical outfitters, then by foot and bus back to the Pizzeria we ate at on Saturday night (on the grounds that it was a lot nicer than anything we'd find in the tourist centre).
It's still nice, though very busy (as it's lunchtime).
Then back to Termini to pick up Haru's bag, I buy tickets to the airport (one of the ticket machines is being booted by remote as I watch - it seems to run on Windows NT) and off we go.
The bit between the gate and the metal detector isn't quite as mad as it was when I flew back after Sasso, but still a total mess. Eventually make it through and to the plane, which takes an inordinate amount of time to take off (word for the day: wait).
Standing on the railway platform I'm glad of the coat that seemed so useless in Roma. Get off at London Bridge - Haru goes home, I go via Waterloo East to the fish and chip shop. Late fish and chips, and bed.
