Ciao!

After a very full day in Rome, we dragged back into our hotel hot and sweaty around 11:00 p.m. The final packing, showering, and preparing for the next day's departure commenced and I didn't get to bed until 12:30 a.m.

Tower Bridge in London

The alarm came went off at 4:30, and we were on the bus to the airport by 5:30 a.m. Our plane did not fly out until 10:00, but the time was spent standing in assorted lines and going to different terminals. We grabbed some breakfast snacks and ate them and then it was time to board the plane.

This was a 7 hour flight and we were served two meals. The first one was chicken and rice, and the second one was a turkey sandwich. I watched several movies and hoped to get some sleep. I may have slept on and off for about 2 hours.

Lunch in Montmartre, Paris

We arrived in Newark, New Jersey and had to go through customs, pick up our baggage, and recheck it in at a different terminal. We had been complaining about a four hour layover, but in the end we were glad that we had the time since we had so many lines to stand in and terminals to walk to. There were a lot of delayed flights and gates kept changing including ours. Our connecting flight was on time for the most part, and we were back on a plane for the nearly 6 hour flight into San Diego.

Our plane landed around 9:00 p.m. which was 6:00 a.m. in Rome. By the time we greeted our families, picked up our luggage, and headed home it was after 10:00 p.m. When I got home, I showed all of my souvenirs and shared a few stories with my family (except Zach who is now in Scotland for a month). Eventually, I went to bed around 11:30 p.m. It had been 29 hours, and I thought I'd sleep for a long time, but at 5:30 a.m. I was wide awake.

Colosseum in Rome

Over the past few days, I've gotten more sleep and am settling back into a schedule, but the memories and joy of my trip remain especially when I use my leather purse, wear my Murano glass earrings, or look at the other items I purchased. Tonight, I think I'll share some Limoncello with my family and start planning my return trip!

For those who wish to see my photos which now have captions, you can view them at these links:

London Photos

Paris Photos

Italy Photos

Back in Time - Rome in a Day part 2

The Colosseum

It's hard to believe that anything 2,000 years old could still be standing, but there it was - the Colosseum. 60% of the original building (built from 70 AD to 80 AD) is still standing. Some of it had been rebuilt after the Renaissance and other scavengers had taken away the valuable marble and metal fittings. Some had been destroyed in earthquakes, and some just had worn down. But there it was standing majestically as a monument to ages past, a place of both glorious and horrific acts. It was amazing.

Inside the Colosseum

Our local tour guide wasn't nearly as interesting as Simone had been at the Vatican, but he was knowledgeable and shared interesting facts, but the greatest moments were just touching the ancient stone, standing on a terrace looking out towards the staging area, and staring down into the underground passages where animals and humans were kept until show time. We even saw some Roman graffiti - drawings of animals scratched into a slab of marble that had been done by some spectator ages ago.

Roman graffiti

It is only a short walk to the Forum where there are ruins of temples and the Roman seat of power. We even got to see where Julius Caesar had been cremated. It was very interesting to see the configurations and levels of history. Many of the Roman temples had been converted into churches during the Renaissance. So you saw centuries of history converging together. It must be fascinating to be an archeologist and historian working on and around these ruins. At one point, we even walked past the prison where Peter and Paul were kept. It is believed that both were locked up in the underground dungeon before each was executed by the Roman empire.

It was a lot of walking this full day in Rome, and it wasn't over yet. Cars and buses are not allowed in the center part of Rome since it is so congested. So we walked to a restaurant for our last supper of the trip. We feasted on salad and what appeared to be all you can eat pizza. First it was cheese pizza, then a mushroom pizza, and finally a pizza with what looked like salami on it or it could have been an Italian version of pepperoni. I didn't try it. I was too full. Dessert was a refreshing small cup of lemon sorbet. The icy cold tartness hit the spot for our sweaty and exhausted bodies. We still had some more walking to do as the sun set to see the Parthenon and to do some more shopping. As we traversed, we'd come across public water fountains, were people would stop and fill up a water bottle or plug up the faucet and cause the water to flow out of a small hole in the top of the pipe where the water sprayed out in an arc so you could take a drink. The water supplied by natural springs regularly flows out of these pipes and is cool and rejuvenating.

Parthenon

Around 10:00 p.m. we climbed on to the bus and collapsed. It had been a crazy and full day and we were exhausted. We arrived back at the hotel around 11:00 p.m to take a much longed for shower, and pack up. We were leaving for the airport at 5:30 a.m. the next morning.

Rome in a Day Part I

The famous saying states that Rome wasn't built in a day, but that didn't stop us from attempting to see much of Rome in a day. And what a day it was! We were showered, breakfasted, and riding the bus to Rome by 8:00 a.m. It was our last day and the mood on the bus was quiet as many took the hour drive to reflect, gaze out the window, or nap.

As we entered Rome, the change was apparent. We had left a quiet countryside and had just entered the most congested city in Europe. Our bus driver maneuvered around the city streets with frequent honks of the horn and Italian expletives. The contrast between our London bus driver and our Italian bus driver was stereotypical. In London, our bus driver was quiet, reserved and rarely said a word to us or to our tour director. In Italy, our bus driver was expressive and vocalized a lot to our tour director about the pedestrians and other drivers. It was all in Italian of course, but if you sat near the front, you got a pretty good idea of what was being said.

St. Peter's Basilica

We had a 10:30 appointment at the Vatican, so we were dropped off outside Vatican City's walls and joined the throngs coming to visit. We met up with our local tour guide, Simone who was the epitome of an Italian man. He was young, very handsome, and charming. He was by far our most engaging tour guide, and very nice to look at too. At one point, I asked him if you had to be a practicing Catholic to receive a license to be a tour guide at the Vatican. He told me no, but that he was one of the rare few who was a devout Catholic who attend church every week and is happily married with three children. In reality only 5%-15% of the Italian population attend church every week, which is consistent with the numbers across Europe. The United States has a higher percentage at 30-50%, but all of the countries tend to have higher self-reporting numbers compared to actual church attendance records. It seems that regardless of the country we live in, when asked we tend to report that we attend church more often than we actually do.

Belvedere Torso

Simone took us through the Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museum) giving us the back stories, history, and interpretations of the many pieces of art we saw. The Vatican Museum is huge with many masterpieces. We saw collections of paintings, sculptures, and tapestries, and architecture. We saw ancient statues from the Roman empire, and learned why so many are missing arms and heads. When the Roman Empire fell and was invaded by the Barbarians many of the statues were overturned and the appendages were often broken at the weakest and thinnest points. We also saw statues where repairs had been attempted and the proportions or coloring weren't quite correct.

Eventually, we got to go into the Sistine Chapel and see the gorgeous frescos on the ceilings and the blue wall painted by Michelangelo. It was amazing. I wish I could have spent the day in there with binoculars. The lighting was dim and we weren't allowed to take any photos. This was to protect the paintings, but also because in 1980, Sony financed the cleaning of the frescos and there was a copyright agreement that doesn't allow any photos to be taken in the Sistine chapel until 2025. We actually got to see the before and after. The difference was stunning. Before the cleaning, the walls had a dingy grey cast to them. Once the soot and dirt was removed, the true colors are vibrant and beautiful. The Sistine Chapel is a showcase of Michelangelo's genius. Although he had never really painted before, he was pressured and threatened by the pope at the time to paint the ceiling. He had to learn how to paint frescos (where you paint on the wet plaster), and the result is breathtaking.

Baldacchino above the altar 

After the Sistine Chapel, we went into St. Peter's Basilica which was quite large. This church was built on what is believed the burial site of Peter. It has three levels built on top of each other. The lower levels are where the tombs are, but we stayed in the upper level where there was plenty to view. There is an altar that is reserved only for the pope. It was built by Bernini (another famous artist) who took travertine marble blocks from the Colosseum to build it and melted down bronze from the roof of the Pantheon to create this amazing canopy that stands over the altar. It appears that Italy was one of the first to recycle so many years ago.

Micro Mosaic reproductions

In St. Peter's we were allowed to take photos of the paintings. The reason is because they were not actual paintings. They were reproductions of paintings completed in tiny pieces of tile called micro mosaics. It was very impressive. Overall, the basilica is a beautiful building of the renaissance and baroque periods designed by and displaying the amazing talents of Michelangelo, Bernini, Donato, and Maderno.

The final stop at the Vatican was an official store where you could buy an item and even have it blessed. It would then be delivered to either your hotel or restaurant later in the day. There were many different rosaries and crosses that could be purchased along with jewelry, and figurines, and the store stayed very busy. I bought a pretty pair of earrings made from Murano glass that were 50% off the original price.

Lunch was a short walk a way from the area surrounding the Vatican to find some restaurants that were more reasonable in price. It was warm and humid in Rome, so we were ready to find a place where we could sit and have something cool to drink. The four of us ended up in a cute little restaurant and did our typical buffet style of ordering and eating. One thing we had to order was spaghetti alla carbonara which is Matt's favorite pasta dish from Italy. Janice's cousin had also told her to order it since it is different from what you can get in the U.S. That along with a sausage pizza, melon & prosciutto, and some gnocchi made for another delicious meal. I am hoping the miles of walking we had been doing would balance out the high calorie meals I was regularly consuming.

When in Rome...

The view from our balcony window.

When we arrived at our hotel in Rome, it was around 7:00 p.m. It is an older hotel that felt like it was a pretty luxurious hotel in the seventies. The bathroom had both a shower and a tub, as well as a bidet and regular toilet. The room had an old boxy T.V. with about a 12 inch screen. We had a balcony with a gorgeous view since the hotel is tucked into the side of a mountain. We tried very hard to open our balcony sliding door, but it wouldn't budge. A couple on the tour with us, said they couldn't get the door to shut. There was a two-inch gap when they attempted to close the door. The most interesting thing about this particular hotel was spacious lobby downstairs and the very large open space on our floor. There were no real hallways. Instead when you got off the elevator, you stepped into a very large room with a raised area in the center of the room surrounded by columns. Around the edges of the room were the doors to the guest rooms. It was almost like you could have some type of gathering in the center area like a party or a meeting. The open space was void of chairs or lecterns and the lighting was poor, so I'm not sure what the purpose of the design was and I was too tired to remember to ask at the front desk.

Dinner was at 8:00 p.m. They served us rigatoni al dente with marinara sauce (similar to what we had for dinner the night before) as the first course. Second course was slices of sour dough bread, meatballs, roasted potatoes, and salad. And dessert was a sponge cake with chocolate filling and frosting. On the table for the adults was a complimentary bottle of wine, and two large bottles of one of which was carbonated. Carbonated water is a common drink in Italy we discovered. The day before our bus driver had bottles of water for sale. When someone asked to purchase a bottle he asked "with gas or naturale?" When she replied natural, he looked at our tour director, David and said "Ay! Americanos!" David then explained that in Europe the people are surprised that Americans don't like carbonated water, since we drink so much soda. The Europeans really like carbonated water and think we are crazy.

After dinner, we sat around and chatted with the other adults from our group. There were two couples from Alabama who were chaperoning 4 teen girls, and another couple and a student teacher who were chaperoning 34 students from Wisconsin. We got to hear stories from one of the Alabama couples on how the husband had been a groomsmen in the first wedding of the wife. At the time, they really didn't know each other. And then years later, after her divorce, they went on a blind date and she didn't like him at all. It was a cute story and we all laughed a lot. The Wisconsin couple shared about their different experiences adopting two girls from China, and both Janice and I talked about our own stories of being adopted and being the grandma of adopted babies. It was very nice and relaxing getting to know everyone, but eventually the hotel staff kicked us out of the dining area.

Internet at this hotel was only available in the lobby. So the lobby was filled with teens from our group and two other groups trying to access the Wi Fi on their phones making it very sluggish and basically non-existent. After a while I gave up, and headed to bed we had an early wake up call and were going to spend the next day in Rome.

I see Assisi

Last night I slept the most that I've slept this entire trip. It was wonderful, but 6:00 a.m. still felt very early, and I was wishing for another hour or two to sleep some more. Our room in Florence was small, but nice. The bathroom had not only a toilet, but a bidet. Neither Janice nor I were brave enough to try it out. The shower had a handheld nozzle, but was mounted to the side wall opposite the shower curtain. As a result, I successfully flooded the bathroom floor. Good thing I had already used my towel and didn't need it again. I had about a 1/4 inch of water in some places to soak up. You only get one towel a person and sometimes not even a hand towel, so we have to be very careful about how they are used.

Breakfast was the best breakfast we've had so far. It seems that all of the restaurants provide meats and cheeses, yogurt and some bread. This hotel had all of this plus, eggs, bacon, cooked tomatoes and some type of white beans. The best though was the wonderful machine where you could get many different types of coffee and delicious hot chocolate. The line to the machine never stopped. I think everyone was getting the hot chocolate it was so good. After breakfast, we climbed into the bus for a 2.5 hour bus ride through Toscano (Tuscany). The countryside is gorgeous filled with vineyards and olive trees. We even passed a lovely field of sunflowers and a large lake. The province of Tuscany is hilly with small towns built on the top of the hills. These are the older buildings and the newer buildings are down in the valleys. The green landscape and the stone buildings are serene and calm. With the gentle movement of the bus, we got a chance to relax, reflect, and rest - a nice change from the frenetic pace we have been keeping.

A few kilometers outside of Assisi, we stopped at a little store that sold a variety of food items. They had samples available for us to try and it was fun to taste the different wines, olive oils, chocolate, and biscotti. They also had soaps and cosmetics made from olive oil. It was a great place to spend money, and I did. I bought some strawberry wine which they called baby wine since it only has about 5% alcohol.

Assisi is a lovely little town on the side of a hill. This is where St. Francis lived, served, and died. There is a large basilica named after him that contains the crypt of his remains and very famous paintings by Giotto. Giotto was an important painter during the beginning of the Renaissance. He had influence on many others since he was one of the first to begin to paint with perspective and shadow. Prior to Giotto most paintings have a flat look. The basilica has survived several earthquakes, the most recent one in 1997. Parts were damaged, but have since been repaired. You can see where the repairs have been made. Spots have different colored bricks, and sections of the paintings have been plastered over. It's kind of sad to see, but amazing that so much of this 700 year old building has survived. There are several churches in Assisi. One of them is for St. Claire who called herself St. Francis' first disciple. Because the city and these churches sit near the top of a hill, the views are gorgeous.

We walked through this quaint city with steep narrow streets stopping in cute little shops that sold handmade and painted pottery, leather shoes, food, and of course the standard souvenirs. As we walked along the streets we'd see a friar or monk. They wore brown robes just like the Padres mascot, but they didn't have the same haircut. One store we went in was filled to the brim with pottery. There were stacked bowls and platters, pitchers and bottles, and more. They were all hand painted in colorful patterns. Both Janice and I decided to buy something and we had a lovely conversation with the man at the counter. Turns out he went to school in L.A., as a business major (although he said he "studied economics") and came home to help run the family business. They have one production site in the valley with a shop in Assisi and several around the world. He is in the process of opening a shop in L.A.  that is connected with the Pacific Design Institute.

Lunch was the most authentic we've had so far. David took us to a little restaurant that made wood fired pizzas. Aubri ate lunch with one of the girls she has gotten to know on the trip, so it was Janice, Jennifer and I at the table. We decided to share several dishes and it was perfect. We had an antipasto salad, melon and prosciutto, and a four corner pizza. The salad was huge with different types of lettuce, red ripe tomatoes, corn, and chunks of cheese. We had oil and vinegar on the table so we made our own salad dressing. I had never had melon and prosciutto before, and it was so good. The salt of the thin ham and the sweet of the cantalope are a wonderful combination. Our pizza was a thin crust with a very fresh tomato sauce and mozzarella. It was divided into four sections with a different topping on each. One section had ham, the next had artichokes, then mushrooms, and finally black olives (that weren't pitted). Not only was the food delectable, but the atmosphere was warm and inviting with brick walls that formed a unique ceiling and windows that looked out over the hillside.

We spent about three hours exploring Assisi and walking through the basilicas. I would love to go back and stay in a bed and breakfast there. It was such a lovely place. It was a three hour ride to Rome. Along the way we saw more sunflower fields and green hills. Our hotel is about an hour outside of Rome in a tucked away mountain area, so we didn't go into the city, but had a late dinner at the hotel and settled in early. Tomorrow is our last day and it will be action packed as we tour Rome.

Buon Giorno Italia!

The night train was a fun experience, and I did get a little sleep, although not the 7 hours I was hoping for. My alarm went off at 5:00 a.m., and then it was a wait to use the restroom and to get freshened up. We arrived in Milan and caught another train to Florence. We ate our breakfast on the second train which consisted of yummy French tarts that Jennifer had purchased for us and leftovers from our dinner.

We arrived in Milan around 9:00 and dropped our suitcases off at the hotel. The buses are not allowed into the city, so we said goodbye to our bus driver until the morning and started walking toward the center of Florence. The Italians call Florence Firenze. Apparently Florence is an obsolete name although the rest of the world still calls it that. Firenze is the capital of Tuscany and it is a darling little city.

Our first stop on our walk was a leather making company called Leonardo's where we learned how leather boxes were made and how to tell real leather from fake leather. I even bought myself a cute little orange purse at a price I would never spend in the U.S., but what can I say? I'm in Italy!

After the leather shop was a walking tour of the city with Martina, a local guide. We walked to the different sites in the city and she shared a lot of history with us. It makes me realize how little I know about European history. Their history is much longer than ours and I get confused with the all of the characters in the story.

There were lots of statues all over the city in different piazzas. I saw a replica of the statue of David in the Piazza della Signoria along with many other original statues. The original David was in the piazza until it was moved to one of the museums. We also saw a very old bridge. The oldest in Florence about 700 years, and the Duomo which is also about the same age and is comprised of a cathedral, a bapstistry and a bell tower. With it's high domed roof and it's unique to the region marble, it was a site to see.

Lunch was at a local cafeteria that had many traditional Italian food. I had tortellini, caprese salad, and bruschetta. I also tasted some of Jennifer's lasagna which was very rich with a creamy sauce instead of a tomato sauce. After lunch we were on our own, so we walked through the narow streets doing a little site-seeing, shopping, and of course eating some gellato.

We were supposed to go on an afternoon trip to Pisa, but because not enough signed up for it, the trip was cancelled. In some ways this worked out, because we were able to walk back to the hotel, take showers, and rest for a few hours before dinner. Dinner was a little later than normal back near the statue of David. After dinner, we walked through the streets a bit more, but most of the shops were closed up. We stopped at a market and bought some limonecello that Jennifer had told us about. It is a lemon liquor that tastes like a lemon drop.

It's almost 10:30, and once again we will be up early and on the road tomorrow. It will be about a three hour trip to Assisi for lunch and some site-seeing and then another three hours to our last stop, Rome. Yikes! I still have to get my Paris postcards in the mail!

Take the Night Train to Milan...

Our last day in Paris was quite an adventure, but I'll get to that in a bit. We arrived back at the hotel around 11:00 p.m., but we had a departure time of 10:00 a.m. which was heavenly news since we had been leaving so early. Janice and I had a glass of wine in the bar and the bartender brought us some bread and cheese to have with our drinks. It was lovely. I have been having so much trouble uploading photos and translating my blog from French back to English, that I was happy to have some extra time to write and get caught up with uploading my photos. But alas, my tablet was slower than dial up at uploading photos to my blog or Facebook. At some point after Janice fell asleep, I decided to give up, but then couldn't sleep as I was annoyed with my unfinished upload. So I got up again and waited for my photos to upload. I finally fell asleep around 3:30 a.m.  with the comfort that I was only a day behind instead of two.

We both overslept, so it was a rush to get ready and packed back up, but we were on the bus at 10:00 and headed one last time to central Paris. Our first stop was Notre Dame Cathedral. David told us that after the French Revolution the people were not only against the monarchy, they blamed the church for its collusion with the king. As a result, the country was very anti-religion for a long time and the church buildings were abused and not maintained. Victor Hugo was concerned about Notre Dame and wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame to motivate the people to care about the cathedral again and it worked.

Notre Dame is an amazing piece of architecture. It was started in 1177 and different sections were added until it was finished in 1870. That's a really long time, but when you see the intricate work both inside and outside, and the amazing height, it is quite awe-inspiring to imagine men with just hand tools steadily working on this magnificent building. The building has curved arches that provide strength for the height and the placement of windows. There are gorgeous reliefs and statues and it made me wish I had a guide or book to explain all of the symbolism of each detail. I did learn that the gargoyles at the top were there to scare away demons. The inside of the cathedral was filled with large columns, marble mosaics, painted ceilings, and many more statues. Every few steps, there would be an alcove with candles for people to light a candle and pray (for a donation of 2 Euro).

It was time for lunch, so we walked toward the Louvre to eat nearby since that was our next activity after lunch. We ate at a little crepe bistro, and tried gallettes that are savory crepes. We each ordered a different one so that we could try several. Mine was filled with mozzarella cheese, tomato, basil, and proscuitto. Jennifer had one that was filled with potato chunks, a very mild sour cream, bacon, and onion. Aubri's had goat cheese, apples, and honey, and Janice's had salmon and other stuff. I didn't pay attention to hers since I don't like fish and wouldn't be trying hers. They were all quite tasty even the salmon (according to Janice and Aubri). We also each had apple cider with our meal which turned out to be pretty strong. No apple juice here.

The time had come to meet up to go to the Louvre. We were told we would need to buy some food for dinner and breakfast on the train and a little market was pointed out. We were also shown where we would be meeting up at 5:15 to ride the bus to train station. We had an 8:00 train to catch. We were sent off into the massive Louvre. It is the world's largest museum and was actually a palace and the home of the kings until Louis XIII built Versailles. We had about two hours until we were going to meet Jennifer at the market, so we got busy finding Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo the two most famous pieces in the museum. Aubri wanted to see the Medieval and Egyptian exhibits, so we worked our way to these exhibits. The Louvre is four large buildings with three stories each that form the sides of a square. It was tricky finding your way around even with a map! At some point, I got separated from Aubri & Janice, but didn't worry too much since I tended to read placards (when they were written in English) making me a bit slower than the average person, and I figured we planned to meet at the market at 4:30, so I'd hook up with them then.

Around 4:00, I started to look for an exit. This was a challenge. I kept following the signs, but then would hit a dead end. I was having a hard time understanding where arrows were pointing. After asking an employee I finally made it to the main entrance area, but couldn't figure out which exit I was supposed to take out of the museum. I finally picked one, and ended up in a place different from where I expected. It took a while for me to get oriented and find the right landmarks, but eventually I made it to the market, but Janice and Aubri weren't there. Jennifer showed up, and still no Sprague duo. I started to get worried. I walked back to the meeting place to get on the bus, and told Jennifer I was concerned they may have had the same problems I did. We kept checking the different places, we had been, but they were no where to be seen. David told us how to get to the train station by Metro and he and the rest of the group left us to wait for and/or look for our missing mother and daughter.

After about 1.5 hours of one of us looking while the other stayed at the meeting site, we found them. What a relief! Poor Janice and Aubri had gotten turned around and had spent an hour looking for the market and the meet up place, but never found it. They spoke to a police officer and called Jennifer's phone from a pay phone since Janice didn't have international calling on her phone and then waited in the courtyard of the Louvre. About the time that Jennifer was getting the message, I had taken another walk through the courtyard and we found each other. Hooray! We met back up with Jennifer and decided a taxi was the way to get to the train station, not the Metro. We got to the train station around 7:00 p.m. and met up with the rest of the group. Whew!

We are now on the night train and are settling in. There are six bunks in our compartment and we are sharing ours with an Italian man and woman who seem quite nice. I plan to sleep tonight especially since the train does not have any internet, so I can't attempt any more uploads for a while. We arrive in Milan at 6:00 in the morning. It is 10:30, and I'm going to get almost seven hours of sleep tonight. Wahoo!