Arrivederci Roma!!! Bonjour La France!

Our very last day in Rome we realized we had not been in the Palazzo Farnesina right down the block. We made it just in time to see some great frescos by Raphael and several rooms of trompe l'oeil painting. The ceiling of this room had stories from mythology and also the zodiac...an interesting approach after so many Bible stories and sacred subjects!

This room is entirely in trompe l'oeil so what looks like marble on the walls or recessed areas and windows is not but gives that impression...pretty remarkable and hard to capture in a photograph from an iphone!!!

The gardens as seen from the gallery of Galatée:

and the marble floor of the gallery....I did not realize that marble came in so many colors until I came to Rome!

Here is about how I feel after eating all this good food and pizza in Rome:

Notice those little ripples around the waistline??? Nevertheless, we DID go to meet friends at a popular pizza restaurant in Prati...we had to eat early Friday since departure was at sunrise on Saturday. Our waitress reminded us both in zip and voice of our Portland neighbor Gretta but her name is Isabella:

We caught our bus home #280 just ahead of a huge downpour...the most rain we saw in Rome!

Saturday morning we were up at dawn and a good thing too...our driver did not arrive and after some phone calls we got a taxi which arrived in two minutes and whisked us through the early morning streets of Rome to Fumicino airport.

 Up the stairs to the departure lounge we saw some interesting boutiques and cafes:

And as we headed to our gate this poster:

I do have to agree!

Our last aerial view of Rome and the Tiber as we took off:

We were in the air with Air France

and we were served this for breakfast on board:

it actually tasted pretty good especially since we did not have time to eat before leaving.

The flight to Marseille is about 1+ hours and soon we were passing the Alpes and then looking down at the bay:

Anton met us at the airport. We had an overnight lay over and we found a wonderful place in Cabries near the airport that costs the same as a place at the airport...you will not believe how great this place is IF you have a car to get there:

We were happy to unwind from Rome by just sitting in the sunshine by the pool or swimming in the (unheated) pool with Maya

At the chambres d'hotes there were these sweet Provençal burros

who would call out to the owner every time he passed by. We had time to have a picnic lunch

and for dinner went to a nearby restaurant...the style was "Lyonnais"(can you see Guignol in the picture?)

This was on a beam in the restaurant!!!! We felt right at home!

Maya was even given a visit to the kitchen by the owner.

Sunday morning breakfast was in the "grande salle" of our hotel with the two other guests:

Maya tried on her Muhu (Estonian) skirt for us...standing in the fireplace:

Then we had time for a game of Go Fish outside 

before we said goodbye to the fountain and headed for the airport once again.

to catch our flight for BREST....

with Air France....

Salut! See you in Bretagne!