Rome Adventures Day 2 (amended)

After a great night's sleep, we are ready to head out to our first organized tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square. We are so proud of ourselves as we successfully negotiate the Metro to the Vatican and return.  After reading and watching Angels and Demons, we wanted to check out some key areas in the square.  We know, of course that the Vatican did not sanction any filming of Angels and Demons. 

                           

While the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museum and the Basilica  are highly touted "must sees" in Rome, they were just about too much for us in one day. The heat was part of the challenge as were the huge crowds. Our tour guide from "When in Rome Tours" was quite knowledgeable and passionate about the history and the unique aspects of the many exhibits. However, many of the areas are not air conditioned, so with the intense heat, our listening ran out long before his talking.  

 

  One of many tapestries. This one depicts the death of Julius Caesar.

 

      

  Pieta, one of Michelangelo's many sculptures--this one at the age of 24

Roman Adventure Day 2

After a great night's sleep, we are ready to head out to our first organized tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square. We are so proud of ourselves as we successfully negotiate the Metro to the Vatican and return.  After reading and watching Angels and Demons, we wanted to check out some key areas in the square.  We know, of course that the Vatican did not sanction any filming of Angels and Demons.  
                            
While the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museum and the Basilica  are highly touted "must sees" in Rome, they were just about too much for us in one day. The heat was part of the challenge as were the huge crowds. Our tour guide from "When in Rome Tours" was quite knowledgeable and passionate about the history and the unique aspects of the many exhibits. However, many of the areas are not air conditioned, so with the intense heat, our listening ran out long before his talking.   


  One of many tapestries

      

Roman Adventure Day 1

 Well, yesterday was our first day in Rome after our overnight plane trips from the states.  Lydia said their trip from Chicago was the plane ride from hell as it was rough the entire trip.  Contrary, our ride from Atlanta was almost as smooth as glass.
We arrived at the airport in Rome within an hour of each other and had a driver contracted to meet us and he was there right on time. The ride into downtown was a little scary, even on a Sunday as drivers are nuts in Rome.  He delivered us right to the apartment we had rented. Martina, a local young lady who looks after the apartment for the owner who lives in Chicago, met us at the door to let us in.  After an extensive tour of the home, we felt confident that we could operate everything--even the toaster and the coffee press. We are still struggling with wireless and even with the passcode, we can't seem to get online with the wireless.  However, Jerry remembered to bring an ethernet cable and we are using that.

The weather is every bit as hot as predicted (90s) and just plain miserable with high humidity. We knew that our first day, we wouldn't be good for much more than a hop-on-hop-off bus tour around the entire city which we took.  It was hot, but gave us an idea of the relative distances between the key places we intended to visit.
On the way back from the termini, we stopped at the supermarket for some food. We added wine, cokes, chips, cereal and crackers to what was already provided in the apartment. (bread, milk, eggs, juice)
We were all so tired and sleepy that cereal at home was all we could manage before crashing at an early hour. One of the many ruins we have yet to identify.  Totally amazing that these things  could last way over 2,000 years.

Less than 24 hours to lift-off!

Just had an e-mail from friends from Jacksonville and Salt Lake City who left yesterday for Istanbul and a cruise through the Greek Isles. They arrived safely.   They will be in Santorini on September 20 the same day we will.  We have grand plans that we will be able to meet up with each other after our planned tours with the cruise lines. This is a special 50th Wedding Anniversary Cruise for them.

The weather looks like it will be beautiful here for us to fly out tomorrow from Asheville and Atlanta. We are a little skittish about flying on September 11, but it is what it is, and we will be on the plane bound for Rome, landing on September 11.

Have had numerous discussions with Verizon today getting my phone ready for Global Access while we are gone.  The good news, we are all set up to use the phone in Europe.  The bad news is that the Verizon plan we have used for Global Data Access in the past for $30 additional onto our domestic data plan is no longer available.  Reason for this is that the countries were charging way more for customers to roam with their mobile access and Verizon could no longer offer the deal to their customers.  It was great while it lasted for sure as I would take photos, and post directly to the blog or send to Bob’s Mother for her Presto printer.  No more!  Global Data packages are not reasonable, especially using high resolution photos, so we will be using wi-fi to do most of our posting.  That is also iffy in Rome.  Wi-fi is free, but you have to register with an Italian phone number which we won’t have.  The short story is that try as we might to plan ahead, blogging this trip will still be a challenge.  So enjoy what we are able to send.

Three Days and Counting

Hard to believe that we are nearly ready to leave for our month in the Mediterranean.  As we have often said, a lot of the fun is in the planning and it has been that.  In fact, all the planning is far less hectic than the actual trip. 

We were talking with the Beehlers last evening making final plans to arrive via separate airlines (separate terminals) at the airport in Rome—hopefully within an hour of each other.  Currently, the weather in Rome is quite warm with even warmer temperatures predicted while we are there, so a lot of last minute shuffling of clothes to take is in order.  ( Bob has been packed for a week!) We checked at least 3 weather services last evening and there was quite a variation, so we are hoping for the lowest of the three. 

Arrivederci,

The next post will be from Rome!

Beehlers and Miles at Twin Lakes

Just a few weeks ago, we were in Twin Lakes, Michigan with the Beehlers making final plans for our trip next month. We are now less than 2 weeks away and I am getting panicky! How much we still have to do. Oh, well, the plane will leave whether we are ready or not, so must get busy. This photo was on Lydia’s Birthday.

Itinerary for Mediterranean Vacation

September 10 Leave Asheville airport for Atlanta
September 11 Arrive in Rome, Italy for 4 days
September 15 Board Holland America    Noordam
September 16 At Sea
September 17 Dubrovnick, Croatia
September 18 Corfu, Greece
September 19 Katakalon, Greece
September 20 Santorini, Greece
September 21 Ephesus, Turkey
September 22 Athens, Greece
September 23 At Sea
September 24 Messina, Italy
September 25 Rome, Italy (this is the end of the 10 day cruise; beginning of a second 10 day cruise)
September 26 Florence, Italy
September 27 Monte Carlo, Monaco
September 28, 29 Barcelona, Spain
September 30 Palma de Mallorca
October 1 At Sea
October 2 Tunis, Tunisia
October 3 Palermo, Sicily
October 4 Naples, Italy
October 5 Rome
October 6 Fly back to Asheville