Rome, Italy - Day 3 -- Heading home!

Not a very interesting day here.  We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel.  Stefano picked us up and brought us to the airport hotel.  U.S. Airway is having some sort of difficulty with either their website or our particular flight.  We can't check-in on-line and because the U.S. Airways Terminal is closed after 1:00 pm we can't check-in until morning.  So we'll be up early and get the shuttle to Terminal 5. 

We walked over to the airport and had a late lunch and now back in our room to wait until tomorrow.  It sort of seems like a wasted day but we thought we could do some more sightseeing but it just didn't work out.  So I'm blogging and we're resting because I know that once we get home real life begins and we'll be busy once again.

We've had a fabulous trip!  We loved the cruise and all the wonderful places we've been to and seen.

Venice, Italy
Koper, Slovenia
Ravenna, Italy
Split, Croatia
Kotor, Montenegro
Valletta, Malta
Catania, Sicily, Italy
Naples, Italy
Pisa, Italy
and Rome, Italy

All these wonderful places we've visited and the fabulous people we've met along the way.  Everyone has been kind and warm and welcoming.  Together we've taken almost 6,000 pictures and I don't even know how to sort through them all.  It was difficult choosing pictures for the blog and I hope you enjoyed what I put out there.  I mostly posted pictures of Jim and I but there are just as many of Denise, Bob, Tracy and Larry. 

I can't even begin to tell you how many pictures we had taken on the ship.  We purchased the package of pictures and we want to get our monies worth and stopped at every place where they were taking pictures.  We had such fun taking group pictures.  We just had fun with everything we did. 

My sisters and I and our fabulous husbands had a wonderful time.  I want to thank my sisters, Denise Kann and Tracy Griffith, for wanting to do this trip with us and for any effort it took to convince their husbands that this was the trip to take.  I want to thank my brothers-in-law, Bob Kann and Larry Griffith for loving my sisters and for not only making this trip possible but also for agreeing to go as well.  I especially want to thank my wonderful husband of 35 years for the joy you bring to my life.  This has been a fabulous trip and I thank you.  I love you more than I can ever express.

Ciao!

Rome, Italy -- Day 2

Monday, October 21, 2013

Rome, Italy

The Vatican

We got up for the major breakfast buffet and then our driver, Stefano, picked us up to take us to the Vatican.  Stefano was our driver who picked us up from the cruise terminal and drove us to Pisa and back to Rome.

We had reservations and a private guide for the Vatican.  Another time that it is so worth the money to not have to wait in the huge line to get in.  Our guide was Andrea and he was extremely interesting and gave us a very in-depth view of the Vatican and the works of art inside. 

There really are no words for the Vatican… it is truly a beautiful place.  The Sistene Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica were fabulous.

St. Peter's Basilica Dome

There we are!

A small dome.

See how the tile looks 3D?

That's a big bowl!

One of the many wall paintings.

The ceiling.

A tapestry

Another small dome.

A Michelangelo statue of Mary and Jesus.

St. Peter's Basilica

A dome in the basilica

This is a beautiful stained glass behind the pulpit area of St. Peter's Basilica.

The width of this is over five feet.

 

Some cherubs at the holy water fountain.

A Swiss Guard

Both of the Swiss Guards

The Pope's window

The front of the Vatican.

 

 

This is the end of our tour of Rome.  We did a whirlwind trip through Rome and it's a fabulous city... crazy streets and really crazy drivers.

Bob and Denise are off to the Rome Airport Hilton and Jim, Tracy and I are off into town to pick up a few last minute gifts.  We were dropped off by our driver, Stefano and were going to catch the hotel bus back.  We missed the bus and decided to take a cab.  Oh my.... what a ride it was.  Tracy and I didn't know whether to keep our eyes open or close them and just pray!  There are no lanes in Rome and there aren't many stop lights and I think anything goes.  Who ever is bigger or more daring gets the right of way.  We sped past other cars, almost ran over a person trying to cross the street, got yelled at by a policeman and the driver yelled back.  We laughed and laughed and Jim says he really has had the full Rome experience now.

 

Tracy, Larry, Jim and I went down to the patio again and had some pizza and focaccia and visited with Melinda, a very sweet young woman who waited on us the previous night. 

 

Tomorrow the four of us go to the Rome Airport Hilton for the night so we can get to Terminal 5 bright and early for our flight.  We understand that you must be to the Rome airport three hours before your flight because of the huge delays that are normal here. 

 

 



Rome, Italy

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Rome, Italy

Tour of the City.

Our hotel is a beautiful 5-Star hotel up on a hill.  Bob and Denise were able to share their hard earned points to bring the rate down to a reasonable level.  Our stay included breakfast and it brought a whole new meaning to the word breakfast buffet.  First of all the entire hotel is beautiful.  Lovely furnishings, a very extensive art collection in the hotel.  Doorbells on the rooms and the light switches you need a tutorial for. 

 

The breakfast buffet was two huge rooms filled with fruit, cut up and whole, a bread table with many different types of bread, a sweets table with assorted pastries, cakes and cookies. There is a room with silver steam trays with fried eggs, scrambled eggs, omelets and you can boil an egg for whatever amount of time you’d like.  There are meats, vegetables, many different types of granola and yogurt, a table with Asian food and on and on.  It’s so hard to decide what to get.  A very beautiful display of food.

We started the day with our driver, Marco, and our first stop was Trevi Fountain.  It is a beautiful fountain and we did what everyone does….. threw in a coin.  The Trevi Fountain water is still provided by a 2000 year old viaduct.  There is a spigot where you can taste the water, which we did.

Jim throwing a coin in the fountain.

 

Me throwing my coin.

Drinking the water from the fountain.

Our next stop was the Roman Forum.  The forum is a confusing patchwork of ruined temples, arches and basilicas. 

 

 

We drove by The Victor Emmanuel Monument which was built in honor of unified Italy, an impressive building.  It also now is the place for Italy’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

Our next stop was fascinating… we went to the Aventine Hill and drove to the Piazza Dei Cavalieri di Malta which is a square where the Knights of Malta have existed since 1798.  There is a residence there with a huge green door and a keyhole.  There was a line of people and we didn’t know what to expect that we would see when we peered into the keyhole.  I will let you Google it and find out what we saw in the keyhole.  It was really neat though.  Just Google the Magic Keyhole.

A view through the keyhole.... but you really can't tell what you see.

 

Waiting to look in the keyhole. 

 

 

 

 

We stopped to see where the Circus Maximus which was an ancient Roman Chariot racing stadium.  It is now a park but at one time held 150,000 spectators and was the site of the chariot races in the movie Ben Hur. 

Hard to imagine that it could seat that many people.

It looks very different now.

 

Then on to the Colosseum.  I was really ready to see the Colosseum, it’s something you see pictures of and read about and something I’ve wanted to see.  Construction began in 72 AD and opened in 80 AD.  The massive amphitheater could seat between 55,000 and 75,000 people.   It was wonderful having a private tour guide and so worth the extra money because the guides can skip the long, long lines and get you right in with little or no wait.  (This is the way to go when you go to Rome, skipping these very long lines is more than worth the expense.)   We walked all around the top walkway and then some on the lower walkway.  The ruins are beautiful and sad all at the same time.   We took lots of pictures and talked about what took place so many years ago.

Me outside the Colosseum.

Looking down into the center.

All of us at the Coliseum

 

 

We drove on to the Pantheon.  The Pantheon is one of the most impressive buildings in Rome and the best preserved ancient building.  Built originally built as a temple to all the gods it was converted into a church in 609 which saved it from being torn down.  The inside has beautiful marble work, columns and statues. 

The Pantheon

 

Our next stop was the Catacombs di San Callisto.  These catacombs were founded in the 2^nd century.  Archaeologists found the tombs of 500,000 and seven popes who were martyred there in the 3^rd century.  It was an interesting experience and we had a wonderful guide who you could feel the presence of God in.  It was nice to get back above ground though.

 

Our final stop was the Spanish Steps.  It was filled with lots of people, just as I had read, but I didn't really get the magic of it.  I guess you have to be a Roman to feel it.

This was from the top looking down at the steps.

 

Back at our hotel we went down to the back patio and had focaccia, (prosciutto, mozzarella and tomatoes on a wonderfully thin crust) and sat and talked and laughed for several hours.  Off to bed for tomorrow is the Vatican!