Lazing in the morning, a bit of museum hopping, laundry and illness

After the tourism overload that was yesterday, Alex and I laid low for much of the day today. Our lodging, The Writer's Retreat, is really an excellent place to rest and recover. We listened to our Audible book, browsed the books in the library and let the wind flow in from the terrace as we napped. I did make a brief excursion in the morning to find provisions to tide us over until we were ready to be seen in public again. A bakery supplied us with goodies of all kinds. It was just the medicine we needed.

Around 2 PM I decided to take a stroll in the neighborhood and wound up going to four museums in three hours. Who does that? Apparently I do. It sounds excessive, but really, two were 4 rooms total, one was a crypt that took all of 15 minutes to explore, and one was the lovely Museo di Roma, where I spent most of my time. At my first stop, Museo Scala, I had the museum to myself. Quite luxurious. Italy never fails to impress with stunning paintings and sculpture and Scala was no exception. I moved on the the Balba Crypts from there and spent a few minutes underneath the streets of Rome, exploring its creepy underbelly. Then it was off to a tiny museum (name sounds like Bruschetta but it's not) that specialized in Egyptian art. And finally, the lovely Museo di Roma rounded out my tour. It has paintings and artifacts and film dedicated to the history of the city. It was fascinating to see how earlier Romans viewed their city and how world events changed the landscape. It was well worth the many, many flights of stairs I took to see it all, and at the top, I was treated to a beautiful view of Piazza Navona. 

I met up with Alex for a really excellent pizza dinner at the place right by our apartment. A soccer (sorry football) match was on the TV: Bologna vs. Florence. We aren't sports people, really, but it was fun to watch the game as we ate. Two goals were scored within minutes of each other, score tied, crowd on their feet. And we left to go back home for more Pynchon with a dash of laundry. I mean, we don't like sports enough to stay and watch the whole game. Sorry football lovers out there. You can look up who won online, I'm sure. 

I ended the evening acknowledging that the cold I've pretended I didn't have for the past three days is actually real. I went to bed on a damp bed (it rained and I forgot about that lovely skylight above the bed), coughing and nursing a sore throat. Dang it. Will wake up tomorrow and continue the charade that I'm perfectly well, as all seasoned travelers do.