AI: Day 18

My final post! Such a sense of accomplishment! Woot!
Let's power through this people!
Went to Capuccini Crypt! This is a cathedral by the Caputian Monks (St. Francis of Assisi) and several rooms are decorated in the bones of their dead. No photos were allowed, so google it. It was really awesome! I forgot that I couldn't have bare shoulders so Ry and I had to hide on a side street while he gave me his shirt and he slipped into a tank top. Yeah, ridiculous! I can't have bare shoulders, but he can! Get with the times people! Equal rights! Whatever... Awesome experience regardless.
Then we walked down to the Pantheon because we couldn't remember if we had seen it or not. Turns out we had our first night but it was closed so we weren't a 100% for sure what we were looking at. At least now we could go inside, for free, in bare shoulders.
Lastly, we had a picnic in Villa Borghesse. Not as nice as we had hoped as it wasn't nice grass like we expect a park to be here. But it was cool. We somehow ended up in the dog park section and they were very attracted to our meat. Ry kept calling this wiry looking one over to us. I think he was a little drunk at this time... Anyway! He named it Chester and kept trying to feed it against my many requests to knock it off!
Home for nap, dinner out, restless night and flight in the morning.
End of story!
It feels so long ago...

Why didn't I flip this? Because I don't have to- Meh! Ry at the airport.

AI: Day 17

Today we caught the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill. We got this really fun tour guide. He didn't really give a ton of info but he certainly made us laugh. This isn't really a lot to say. We preferred the forum more than the Colosseum, maybe because having a guide brought it to life.
We then napped and went to have dinner and drinks that night.

AI: Day 16

We took a 4 hour train to Rome and eventually found our way to our crappy apartment. It was 46 euros so whatever, but it was disgusting.
We had, in my opinion, some of the best sushi ever!!!!!!! Ry said it was ok, but I think at this point I was so hungry for diversity that it was amazing.
We found Villa Borghesse park not too far from us and Ry took a nap. I left fun little artistic designs on him, which was unappreciated... True artists often are though.

AI: Day 15

Lazy morning with tanning on the terrace and then off to "Spiaggia Pane e Pomodoro" or the Bread and Tomato Beach.
Ryan finally got to enjoy the Adriatic in his super sexy 1950's dreamboat bathing suit- Yum Yum!
We only saw one pair of  breasts, but they were nice so we decided it was still a win.
We spent about 3 hours total at the beach.
 We tried to find somewhere for lunch but hit siesta so we settled for gelato.
We decided to go to the train station and catch a taxi back to our place. They tried to charge me a ridiculous amount of money and I told them no I had got a taxi for half that price and would go elsewhere. They argued with me but I got them talked down to only a few dollars over what I had paid before. Second win of the day.
We made another dinner at home and Ry tried Mr. Ed for dinner.
He also gets adventurous and uses a chair to climb onto the roof and inspect- "MAMA MIA!"

AI: Day 14

Happy Birthday to me!!! Flirty 30! At least that's what I say...
Ryan was absolutely amazing, so attentive, complementing, and sweet. He made me feel so good, it was wonderful.
As all transportation goes it was confusing. We catch a cab to the train station and a train to the Castellana cave. This Italian train guy kept telling us what stop to get off but we never understood. Finally he just came and got us. It was pretty creepy as we get off in the middle of nowhere. There doesn't appear to be a town and we get off in essentially what looks like a field with a rock wall around it. We found out way though and made it not too far behind the English guided tour.
The caves were really interesting, google it for details. We were only allowed to take photos into the first cave so unfortunately you don't get to see it in all it's glory. We found a couple who had come from Lecce as well and we talked about the Catholic processional.
After the tour we went to a restaurant and had a late lunch.
We then wait over an hour for the train to pick us up. We were quite nervous that it wouldn't even know to pick us up as our stop looked like an abandoned stop. We even found graffiti that said, "Hi, we're bored as we wait for the train back to Bari". I felt their pain.
When we got back we laid out on the roof and tanned and then took a nap. We got dressed up in our birthday attire and took a 30 minute walk to the beach. I had researched in advance a nice restaurant with a beautiful view of the ocean. Mom and Jim gave us a nice handful of birthday money to go out to a nice dinner and so I was quite excited. Unfortunately I forgot to write down the name of the restaurant.
We wandered all over the promenade and never found it. I suspect it closed down. We decided to walk our way over to old Bari and see what we could find.
Old Bari was quite cute and had a lot going on but we spotted a fun Mexican bar and after 2 1/2 weeks of Italian food this seemed like a god send.
I downed Margaritas and Sex on the Beach cocktails while Ryan made friends with our waiter (who looked like Matt Parker from Heroes) and sampled a ton of beer. We talked, ate, and drank- it was truly a perfect night! Our waiter also gave us free shots!
We then went back and had Nutella with grahams in bed while we watched MTV.

AI: Day 13

As we were packing I heard music from the streets. I opened up our door and a marching band was playing right past our apartment! I was clapping and enjoying myself and they stopped and played for us!
After our 1.5 hour train ride we arrived in Bari where we caught a taxi to our place. This guy was absolutely crazy! The hippest and most dangerous cabby I have ever rode with. He was somewhere in his 30's and had impeccable style. He also drove like a bat out of hell. He turned two lane roads into a 3 lane. He just drove down the middle and forced people out of the way. He also wanted to cut around a bunch of people and catch a green light but couldn't make it in time so we sat in the wrong lane to oncoming traffic- I was pretty scared.
Our apartment was nicest of all the places. Top floor, very modern, with a huge terrace. We decided to go find a grocery store so we could save a little cash. Once again we wandered out in the middle of siesta- AHHH! Luckily we found a café so we could eat something but it was pretty difficult.
As we had to wait we decided to nap, of course!!! By the time we made it back out siesta was over and we could buy our groceries. The hardest decision was picking our wine.  We made an amazing dinner.

AI: Day 12

As par for the course our last day in the city was a lazy one. We slept in and made a yummy breakfast. We then walked down to the station to check times for Bari so we were prepared for tomorrow. We tried to see a castle but it was a no-go. Instead we enjoyed a nice water feature and took it slow. Then we made it back for a nap.
That evening we enjoyed a salami platter and drinks before making our way to a restaurant right near our place. Luca, the landlord recommended. It was sooo good, truly the best meal yet. We had a cheese platter with pears and honey and jam as our dessert. We then went back and watched '70's & '80's music video.