THE LAST POST - Sunday 16th July

So, what have the VF Five been doing since they arrived in Rome? WALKING - WALKING - WALKING!! From the Vatican to the Spanish Steps. From the station (close to our apartment) to the Trevi Fountains. From St Peter's to the Coloseum. We have walked the length of the Circus Maximus and around the Forum, Pantheon and Plazza Venezia. Syl and Marion did a two hour tour of the fabulous Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. Too much visual input to even try to describe it all. We have been literally tripping over antiquities and have Roman overload! Some went on a serious shopping expedition through kms of alleys, side streets, main roads and malls. Cash is depleted and Credit cards stretched. And, the Duty Free shops loom! By the time we board flight LX 1733 to Zurich this evening, we will all have exceeded the 700km target we set before we left Durban. WELL DONE THE VF FIVE!!
On this journey we have learned that the Italian people are basically kind, friendly and helpful. They were always encouraging and expressed admiration for what we were doing. Our accommodation was always good which was a very pleasant surprise. From the B&B's to the Youth Hostals, the little hotels, apartments, convents, hospice, monastery - all have been clean and comfortable and reasonably priced.
We have learned that Italy in summer is as hot - if not hotter than South Africa. This was a big surprise but because we come from Durban which has a hot humid climate, we all coped with the excessive heat and humidity.
We have learned that coffee is cheaper if you drink it inside the coffee shop than it is if you sit down and drink it outside - .90c inside and E2.50 outside - huge difference! Italians serve their vegetables cold unless you ask for them to be heated. Ditto Cupucino coffee which is always served luke warm unless you ask for caldo (hot).
We learned that five very different women could work as a team (we said at the start "There is no 'I' in the word team") support each other, help each other, compromise at times, go with the majority, and get each other through difficult days. What a team we are! We are all SO proud of each other and of how well we did on this journey.
So, we would like to thank you all for sharing this journey with us through reading our BLOG and we would like to thank the Designer Boyz for posting our photographs and for keeping our posts in date order.
From a hot and humid Rome, this is the VF FIVE - over and out!