Dec 21- It begins

21 December 2008. After planning my trip to Italy with Brian in July 2008, the time finally arrived. Jeff drove me to the airport on Sunday, December 21st. It was very cold. My flight was to be at 1:30 PM. I paid $75.00 for an earlier flight out of Chicago - 3:55 instead of 6:08 PM, so that I wouldn’t make Brian come get me so late at night in Newark. I was to be met in Chicago with a wheelchair. We landed outside and I decided to walk in rather than wait by the plane in the cold. By doing so I was refused a wheelchair ride. I waited several minutes then set off down the terminals. I had two mis-directions and finally asked a gentleman (who was reading the departure schedule board) if he knew anything and he set me on my way. I arrived with minutes to spare before scheduled takeoff and then sat three more hours for my flight as weather problems had created a big delay. Chicago was very cold with drifts of snow on the runway. Eventually, I arrived in Newark at about the time I should have originally landed. Brian met me and we travelled the 65 miles up the Hudson River to West Point for some sleep.

Dec 22- Day of Flight

22 December 2008. Monday morning the 22nd dawned clear and bright and bitter cold with snow and ice on the ground. Brian wanted to show me his new office and so I got a very cold tour of the Academy that I didn’t really need! Later that morning we went to the PX so Brian could buy a new digital camera. I found a pair of jeans (only $5), some gum and kleenex. On to JFK. We parked in Long-Term parking and took the train to the terminal. Our Alitalia flight delayed three hours and rescheduled til 5:00 PM. Actually, we took off at 10:30! At one point I told Brian that I hadn’t felt the take off. Of course we hadn’t yet. I had been sleeping. I removed my shoes and put on my slipper sox.

Dec 23rd--ROME!

23 December 2008. Upon arrival in Rome I could not get my swollen feet in my shoes. I walked to the train in my sox. On the train, the Leonardo Express, I was able to get my shoes on. We were surprised to see lemon and tangerine trees (later we learned they were clementines) in the yards and along the streets. From the central Rome train station, the Termini, we took the metro (subway) to our part of town over near the Vatican. We then walked several blocks to our apartment with Brian forging ahead and me bitching along behind. Our landlady, Sabrina, was to meet us at 11:00 AM. We were unable to inform her of our delay, so we found a gentleman waiting at 2:30 since 11:00. He let us in and showed us around. The elevator to the 5th floor held one with luggage so Brian hiked himself up with the rest of our luggage and met me at the apartment. I slept from 4:00 PM until 5:00 AM Wednesday! Tuesday night Brian went out exploring the local area around the Piazza Risorgimento.

Christmas Eve in Rome

24 December 2008. On Wednesday the 24th, we had breakfast of Tea and Yogurt and slept again until 8:00 AM. At 9 we set out to get our tickets for Midnight Mass at St Peters. We walked past Castle Saint Angelo where I discovered I could take no more pictures (problems with my camera). Luckily Brian had his new camera! We crossed the Tiber River on Umberto Bridge taking pictures of St Peters in the background from the bridge.

We walked by the Villa Borghese and down the main Rome business street, Via del Corso.

We saw and took pictures of the column of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is very impressive.
We got our tickets from Sister Yvonne at the College of North American bishops. She was very friendly and advised us to get there early and beware of nuns rushing the lines at the last moment!

On our return trip we walked by and took pictures of the Trevi Fountain.

No coins at this time but Brian returned later in the week and tossed his so he will return!

Next we visited the Pantheon and had lunch outside.

I had ravioli which was quite good. I learned at this time that public toilets do not have seats. This was a continuing issue with me and Brian had to listen to my complaints every day.

At one time, several days later, I came back to our restaurant table in tears because my legs wouldn’t support me and I went to the floor which had been peed on. Oh well, so much good happened that we can forget about that; I just had to include it to justify my complaining.
Continuing on the 24th, we walked up Victor Emanuel II and crossed the Tiber on his bridge.

We visited St Peter’s Square and shopped for an hour.

We walked home and took a nap to prepare for the evening and night to come. We went to St Peter’s Square and got in line at 5:45 PM. We were fairly close to the front, considering the line of thousands of people eventually wrapped around the entire square. We were allowed in the Basilica at 10:30 PM. We met very nice people in line. Mark and Rachel were teachers from LA on their honeymoon and are keeping in touch with Brian. Folks from Michigan, whose daughter was spending a semester in Rome. The father and son had gone to Notre Dame and the daughter attends St Mary’s in South Bend. A family was in line in front of us, not knowing they needed tickets to get in. Thankfully they found out early and didn’t waste their night. It was a mad rush to get in and some of the nuns really were cutting in line. Who is going to stop them? For many of them this was probably their once in a lifetime visit to see the Holy Father. We found good seats with only one couple between me and the aisle. I could almost touch the Pope when he passed. Brian got a really good picture. It was wonderful. I am tearing up as I write this. Mass was in Latin and it was a real treat. At 2:00 AM we were on our way home.

Dec 25- Bus Tour & Sightseeing

25 December 2008. We woke at 11:40 AM on Christmas Day. We went back to St. Peter’s to catch the Christian Roma Tour bus. You buy a ticket and it is good for 24 hours as many times as you’d like to travel. They visit all the important sites, especially early Christian. If you don’t get off, there are 18 stops in 1hour and 45 mins. They give you a map and audio headset. We got off at the churches St Paul outside the Walls, St John Lateran, and St Mary Maggiore.

All beautiful. We could have spent more time in each. St Paul’s Basilica was built where he was buried. Constantine first built a church over his tomb. A larger Basilica was built at the end of the 4th century. It was destroyed by fire in 1823. It was rebuilt on the same foundations and same design. Under the papal altar the sarcophagus containing the relic of St Paul rests. It is very awe

inspiring.

We had Pizza at St Peter’s and walked home and went to bed. Most evenings Brian went out and explored the city more; he found several Irish pubs and was able to see some American football, too. He climbed the Spanish Steps and various other sights that would be too much for me. He found groceries for us, which was good since I couldn’t eat very well.

Dec 26- Sightseeing

26 December 2008. On Friday the 26th we had breakfast at a café and learned that it costs more to sit down! I always needed to sit so it didn’t matter. We caught the Christian Roma bus again and got off at the Piazza Venezia.

We climbed Michelangelo’s stairs to his Campidoglio square) on the Capitoline Hill – the most important site in ancient Rome.

We toured the Capitoline Museums - saw many paintings and sculptures including the She-wolf with Romulus and Remus (took my picture with it) and Marcus Aurelius on his horse.

We walked down the hill past the Forum to the Colosseum.

All wonderful to see. We took the Metro home at 5:15 PM and, as usual, I was ready for bed. Have I mentioned how hard my bed was? I put my pillows end to end and slept on them. Brian called me the Princess and the Pea. He also tells people that his Mom is ‘solar powered’ – up with and down with the sun, not a minute later.

Dec 27 Vatican Museum

27 December 2008. On Saturday the 27th we woke at 8:00 AM. Had a breakfast of hot Muesli and Tea. We walked to the Vatican Museum and joined a large crowd in line. It moved quickly. I sent Brian on up the hill and ducked under the rope to join him when he looped back. It took 45 minutes. We had to keep moving through the galleries. We got a decent view of all we were interested in, skipping some of it. We did see some marvelous Raphael paintings, including his incredibly beautiful and famous Transfiguration scene. The Map Room was also pretty amazing. When we arrived at the Sistine Chapel, it was packed. There was a row of seats around the sides. I faked a need for a seat and a gentleman gave me his. Brian was a little ashamed of my acting. But I really did need that seat! The Chapel itself is a marvelous sight though not really what I expected.
We had lunch at a really nice little restaurant outside the Vatican and went supermarket shopping. Brian put a few clementines in a bag and, along with our other groceries, we proceeded to the checkout only to find we were to have weighed and priced them in the produce section. We held up the line for a while. The two clerks snickered and discussed us in Italian. When we paid and received our goods. Brian said “Grazie.” [‘thank you’] She responded a sarcastic “Praaago.” [‘You’re welcome’] Very drawn out; you had to be there! We went home at 3:00 PM

Dec 28- St. Peter's and Basilica

28 December 2008. On Sunday the 28th we woke at 9:00 AM, had breakfast, and napped until 11. We went to St Peter’s, got in line for 45 minutes to enter the Basilica; it had been too crowded and late to really see the whole place at Midnight Mass. We visited the grottoes with the Popes’ burial sites. Saw among many, Paul the VI and John Paul II. Many people, including both of us, were shedding tears. We saw the burial site of St Peter and the original building of the emperor Constantine. We went back outside and into the Basilica. We saw the Pieta of Michelangelo, and burial sites of John XXIII and Pius XII. Then we shopped successfully. Found a sweatshirt, sterling cross and chain, and wooden rosary. We had lunch at Piazza del Risorgimento. We were back at the apartment by 3:30 PM.

Dec 29- Down to the Amalfi coast

29 December 2008. Now it’s Monday the 29th. We were up at 8:00 AM, packed and left the apartment at 9:30. We took a taxi to the Termini station; it was a very nice change from climbing on and off buses or the metro with our luggage. We took a very fast train to Naples (75 minutes). We had a very persistent old gentleman escort us to our slow train to Sorrento. There were beautiful sights on both sides of both trains. We were surprised to see snow on the mountain tops here in southern Italy. We saw Mt Vesuvius which was easy to identify. Upon arrival in Sorrento we called Marida to learn our directions. She would meet us in St Agata. We waited 30 minutes for a bus. Marida and her brother Luigi met us and drove us around the town and to our home. It was a lovely large apartment with a great view of the island of Capri.

Dec 30- Pompeii

30 December 2008. On Tuesday the 30th we woke to sunshine!! We had done laundry last evening and hung it on racks at midnight. This morning we moved them to the balcony. Did I mention there are no driers in Italy??? We walked to town and caught the bus to Sorrento. We missed the first one because we didn’t have tickets. A young man told us to buy them at the tobacco shop. We had to walk back past the smelly fish shop to get there. I complained about that every day also. We took the train to Pompeii and spent a wonderful time walking about the ruins. It is amazing. I embarrassed Brian when I looked around and asked “Where is Pompeii?” instead of what I meant, which was “Vesuvius?” He says a lady rolled her eyes. I knew where I was. You know I did! I knew thousands lost their lives but was truly touched when we reached the one body they had encased in glass. He made me cry. We reversed our travel and in St Agata we bought potatoes, onion, and steak for supper. It was a good old American meal. I am feeling better and not in bed quite so early tonight.