The day started somewhat later than I had planned. I’d slept through my alarm and missed my tour time. I didn’t even hear it go off. When I finally surfaced and saw reception they’d also said they’d tried to knock on the door too. Whoopsy ! I apologized for being a no show, all it means is that today I would need to be my own tour operator and find my way to the Colesseum. But before that I need some breakfast. So back to the Y-bar for breakfast and coffee.

I walk in to find Jeff (the Canadian) and Ilaria (the Italian – or as she would say a Roman) having breakfast too. Jeff is heading home so we are all having our last chance to catch up with him. We chat for a bit and I tell them that today I’m heading out to the Colosseum and Ilaria’s eyes light up. She tells me that as a Roman she has never been inside the Colosseum only ever seen it from the outside. She tells me it’s free to enter today because it’s the first Sunday of the month. So I invited her to join me. She is so excited.
I did my farewell to my brother Jeff at the Y-Bar. It’s so sad to see him go. But there’s something about this crew that makes me think we will all see each other again.

It takes me a little moment to get my body into gear so I wait while I wait for Ilaria to show friends to the train station. I make a couple of new friends in the meantime as well as farewelled a couple of others too.
Ilaria returns and after some lunch we decide we would head out. She tells me that she will look after me today. So I follow her lead to get to where we need to go. It’s incredible that it’s literally right there!!

The line isn’t long at all. Seems that our lateness fo do this has worked in our favour. We are both as excited as each other.

There are so many vantage points as we make our way through the place. It’s so interesting to see these ruins. I’d not realized it would be so big. Ilaria and I stop for pictures either solo or with each other before we decide to head home.
We jump on the metro and we head back to Terminis where we will have to part ways. I give her a massive squeeze and we are going to stay in touch. I tell her that English is a lot better than she thinks. She gives me a big smile. She thanks me for being good to her too.
As I have left the Terminis and walk back I hear from my best mate who is having a drink to celebrate some good news he got from back home. He’s traveling in South America so we do a cheers at opposite ends of the world.
The reminder of the day is spent packing and getting ready to go in the morning. As I get into the room my room mate is just surfacing after sleeping all day. She is a young girl who lives not far from me and is currently traveling to suss out locations for a big cat sanctuary. So interesting.
My packing doesn’t take long and I jump into bed ready to move on to my last few days of my trip. Seems all my bucket list items are ticked off. Phew, what a wild ride.