Leaving Rome....

Today was the third day of my Roma Pass, so I needed to take advantage of that. This is really a “good deal”. For €25, you get into two places free, and then there is a reduced rate for any other place on their list. For me it was also an insurance policy that I would do something now that Mallory and Dayle had left!
But first I was to meet Monica, another couch surfer, in Trastevere at 10:30. She had offered me a drink which I thought would be coffee, but, she describes herself as a "hippy", so it sounded like a sort of “health drink”, but the place was closed. There is an irony here, since she not only smokes but she smokes heavily…for example, as we walked through Trastevere, she lit up a cigarette(s). We ended up having a gelato, but with no preservatives, I guess? We walked by a very old pharmacy, which I went into; Monica stood outside smoking. It reminded me of my earliest Gillette days when we called on the independent drugstores.
I found on this on-line:
"Piazza della Scala
Any house with walls that go up diagonally can be considered medieval. There are a few along Via della Scala, especially on your right. Look at no. 54, an ancient farmhouse. This area was a fief of the Stefaneschi family in the Middle Ages - and some of the women were so powerful the men had to take the women's name in marriage and not vice-versa.

Old Pharmacy of Piazza della Scala
This pharmacy was opened by the Carmelite monks in 1523 to help the sick and needy.
The monks had invented a special "Acqua della Scala", a deep red liquid with properties that cured many forms of plague, one of which just happened to be raging that very year. The 16 C alone had no fewer than four plagues: 1523, 1527, 1538, 1558.
The populace of Medieval and Renaissance Rome was constantly being decimated by a variety of diseases: bubonic plague (brought on by the bite of a flea who had first bitten an infected rat); dysentery (widespread through dirty food); typhus (from contaminated drinking water, often due to the Tiber flooding which brought water mixed with sewage into the streets - the Ancient Romans were the first to eliminate their "used water" via pipes into the rivers); and malaria, which occurred regularly every summer when the mosquitoes could breed happily in the stagnant ponds or moats around the city.
In 1726 Fra’ Basilio concocted such famous herbal remedies that he was consulted by kings and cardinals and held a study program for fledgling chemists.
The old pharmacy on the upper floor still looks much like it did, with marble urns where the decoctions were stored."(Picture is RX store ceiling.)

Monica is in her late 50’s and very interesting. She has been a weaver for ten years; here is her site http://www.textilesoleil.com/ (Ten years prior to that,she was a housewife.) I was interested in seeing her work, so we took the tram back to her place, and she showed me some of her shawls, stoles, and scarves. Her stoles sell for €80. She lives in a two bedroom basement apartment with GREAT outdoor patio space, which she said is bigger than her apartment. Right now she has two cats, although one (Leopoldo or Poldo for short) of them, who is 20, was not to be found, and they really can’t get out of this space….Sometimes she has had as many as six cats!
While we were there I asked if she would call the airport shuttle service, as my connection on 9/1 is very tight, since I have to go between airports, which are on the opposite side of Rome. For €45, a car will pick me up at Fiumicino and take me to Ciampino. (Thanks, Rick Steves!) HOPEFULLY it will get there in time!
She dropped off me off at the apartment, as she has a friend who lives in this complex. I had a quick lunch and was off to see a few more museums, although I was coming to my limit! I visited Palazzo di Venezia (60 steps each way!), which was the only place so far with any ceramic display to speak of, so that was fun to see. Chiesa del Gesu, the main Jesuit church, was nearby, so I visited it next. Churches have become a refuge from the heat and provide a momentary chance to sit! Spaniard Ignatius of Loyola(1491-1556) founded the Society of Jesus in 1540. Weston College formerly taught Jesuit priests; BC and Seattle University(among many more, of course) are Jesuit colleges. Ignatius’ rooms(hallway pictured.) are open every afternoon from 4-7, so to complete this little exoerience, I visited them also.
Meanwhile I had gotten an email from Gianni saying that his Irish couch surfer was going to be playing his guitar on Corso and then in Trastevere, if I wanted to meet them. Alas, the details were non-existent, so I came home, picked up some lasagna to go at the favored pizza shop at the bus stop and came home to crash relatively early.
Today I opted not to go to Tivoli with Giulia (and, of course, Giovanni!). It would have been very interesting to see Tivoli, but I think that not going made better sense. I got up this am to clean, since I’m leaving tomorrow. Then about 11, I was off to the pool across the street from the Colosseum. I’d checked it out earlier in my visit…walked up to see what it looked like and how crowded it was/might be. So for €14 I had a chair and water access. Now I grant you the water was maybe 39” deep, but it was refreshing and relatively cool. A group sat near me shortly after I arrived, and they were from Alaska (couple w/4 yo) and Boulder (grandparents). (THE CHAIRS WERE MORE THAN CLOSE!!! Everyone was trying to be under an umbrella!) So I had some English dialogue; woman from Juneau loves living there, but for the politics! It was a really cool place. There was a snack bar, so you could buy lunch and drinks. (€5 beers). I chatted with grandmother Lisa at lunch to get her story. I read and got into the still refreshing yet shallow water for my petite height until nearly 7.
I came home,, got showered to go out for dinner down the street for my “going away “ dinner at Lumie di Sicilia, where we had had dinner with Ben. (Never mind that the owner or whatever he is replied to my “Only one”, when I arrived, said, “Bettter than none!” I’m sure he was being funny…) Forgot my camera to record my inslata mista and fettucine with cherry tomatoes, eggplant and small (very) pieces of swordfish(less mercury, I guess). Oops-with some red wine (Nero d’Avola) from Sicily. EVERTYHINJG was delicious!/delizioso. Gelato at the Miami gellatoriam across the street, and I’m done eating here!
Tomorrow at 11 I’m getting my haircut at the top of the Spanish Steps, because I have no idea what I’ll find in Sardinia! I was told they do speak English!:)) Then I’m back here to get all my stuff and head over to the Hilton Gardens at the Airport (points),as my flight to Nice is at 9am. I’m staying with Gloria, an internet friend who bought a studio on Miami Beach in a short sale, for three nights and then one night with a couch surfer….No clue when I will be back on-line. So ciao and keep in touch!!xooxxo