March 27 - Hiking Down a Cliff to Hike Back Up It

Feeling of the Day: Healthy distractions. When you are nervous, or generally not yourself, it's handy to have something that takes your mind off things. It could be a mantra, saying, divergent thoughts, or something that takes your interest away. The mental position of not being yourself, or nervous, still exists but if you have a little something to move further ahead then use it. Address the problem when you can better focus on the issue.

Full Day’s Events: Today it was time to head back to our place in Rome, but first…a cappuccino and croissant at Ariston! After caloric intake for breakfast, we put on our travel backpacks and got some more calories…pizzas, fresh from the oven as soon as the place opened. Now it was time to hike at Villa Gregoriana.

    At Villa Gregoriana, there was an old Roman acropolis but it fell into the gorge. During flooding around Tivoli in 1826, Pope Gregory the sixteenth commissioned a park to fix the river bed in 1835. The park was becoming unsafe and with major renovations was opened in 2005. It has been submitted for UNESCO consideration while Hadrian’s Villa and Villa D’Este, that I posted about yesterday, are UNESCO world heritage sites.

    I have a little fear of heights. As long as I feel safe, cannot see straight down, and have interesting things to look at I am fine. I got all three of those items checked off today, especially the interesting things to look at. The gorge and views were fantastic and very enjoyable. We were especially lucky as the park was just reopened for the season the day before today. Although there were a lot of school groups walking around, we stayed out of their way. Very glad we experienced this.

    Then we took the train from Tivoli to Rome Termini station. I was impressed at the 2.50 euro ticket price as the town is 30.4 km away from the station. The ride was relaxing after the hike and at the station we took a bus to our place. I left her to have the space to pack while I went and procured some essential groceries. With some time spent at our place we decided to try the last recommended place to eat, but…

    …the place was tiny and just a wine bar. This is fine, as wine bars serve all kinds of food depending on if they have a partial or full kitchen. This place looked like it just served snacks so we went around the corner to E’Passata La Moretta. For an antipasto we had steamed fava beans in the pod with a Pecorino cheese, Rigatoni with tomato sauce and cheese, My wife had osso buco with potatoes and I had chicory with fried pressed chicken (pollo alla Cacciatora). After a meh gelato at a nearby place, we headed home. 10km and 51 flights walked.