One last day with Kelsey Baye

Three nights on the floor, and nearly forty eight hours without a shower, and I was looking a bit rough around the edges (understatement). Despite my need of cleanliness I couldn't bring myself to get any less sleep than I was already getting. The girls and I were out all day, talking late into the night, and then when they would go to bed I would stay up and talk to Stu for an hour or so. I was a crazy busy weekend, the kind that make you feel like you're really living. Kelsey and I woke up at six fifty so we could get up and to the market before I needed to drop her off at the train station. The market technically opens at six, but many of the vendors aren't completely set up until eight, sometimes later. By eight o five the place is a mad house, and it was nice to experience a calmer version of the market. While not all the vendors were completely finished setting up we did get a chance to see all of the merchandise in it's original organized state, for me this was a new and welcome experience. For Kelsey it was a mediocre experience. I had spent the past two and a half days talking up this market, and the hustle bustle atmosphere hadn't kicked in yet, I think she was rather unimpressed. I felt pretty bad, and I imagine she was exhausted after nearly two weeks of travel. We stopped by the apartment after covering the mile long market in record time, in order to grab her bags and head for the station. We didn't have to wait long for the train, said our goodbyes and I returned to the apartment to take Becca to the market. When I got back she was still getting ready for her day, so I poured myself a bowl of the expensive cereal (very delicious) for some energy. Becca made a gasping noise and informed me that Kelsey's coin purse, which she gave to me for the market, was still in my purse. Becca knew this because luckily Kelsey noticed it was missing, and called her parents in the middle of the night in a panic. Kelsey's mother proceed to log onto facebook under Kelsey's account and facebook chat Becca. I told her I'd meet her at the airport (Kelsey had suggested she meet me back at the station, which makes no sense as she would be backtracking and risking missing her flight) I downed the last two bites of my cereal and ran out the door, I just made the next train, and napped most of the way to the airport. When the train was pulling up to the station I noticed Kelsey was on the same train as I was. In her panic she got off the train at one of the small town stops. In my opinion that was a terrible decision, if a train to a different location had come by on the same tracks she could have ended up anywhere. Luckily she ended up at the airport with her coin purse and made it on her flight on time :) I once again napped on the train ride back to trastevere and this time when I returned to the apartment Becca was ready to take on the market. It was much busier at this point, and Becca had specific purchases in mind, giving our shopping experience a purpose. She was looking for cheap shoes, and we found several good stands, one out shone the rest however, and we both fell in love with cute purple heels with little bows at the heels. They did not have these shoes in either of our sizes however. Becca did find a very cute pair of gray moccasins/loafers. Five euros later they were hers to keep. We explored the rest of the market, with stops at sundress shops, and a price check for an ancient mandolin. I was thinking about purchasing it for Johnathon, but it was two hundred euros, and while I have confidence in my haggling skills I don't think this man was about to cut the price by one hundred and eight. Luckily I found an equally awesome gift for him just around the corner :) After the market Becca and I headed back to the apartment for lunch. I made Becca rice, and after tasting the cheese I added to mine she decided that would be ok too. After lunch we headed over to the Colosseum as Becca wanted a look inside the famous old relic. The audio tour was eleven euros, and as I had already toured the inside I waited on a hill for her to return. Thankfully Stu left me a science magazine to read, so I caught up on all the current science news :)When Becca had finished we set out for the Vatican as she wanted to do the dome climb as well before she left the city. We arrived at five o'clock and I was worried it would be close, the line was still going strong however, so I waited in the piazza (I had already paid for this twice) while she prepared to conquer the five hundred plus steps. She returned to our meeting place half an hour later, as it turned out the elevator was open (more expensive) but the stairs were closed for the day. We planned to return the following morning. We stopped by Old Bridge, supposedly one of the best gelato places in Rome (there are three or four of them). We ordered entirely too much gelato and watched the romans freaked out as the roma soccer team drove by after a victory. We headed back to the apartment and got pizza boom for supper to go along with a quiet indoor t.v. night. It was a nice change of pace from the go go go of the past couple of days.