Italy - September 8-21, 2005

On Thursday September 8 my friend Diane Hooper and I left for a long planned for trip to Italy. Diane has wanted to go to Italy for years and I told her I wanted to go with her. It was a repeat trip for me as I had gone in 1992 but there was a lot I didn’t see then and many things I wanted to see again. So we waited until Diane was also retired and made our plans. We chose to go with Perillo Tours because of their reputation and because we liked the idea of having our hotels and main meals prearranged. We left San Jose Airport at 6:30 AM Thursday morning - Bob Hooper graciously drove us to the airport at that early morning hour getting us there at 5 AM. We flew to Salt Lake City, changed planes, flew to Atlanta and changed planes and then flew to Milan - arriving on Friday September 9 at 9:00 AM. This was 19 hours after we first left home so we were pretty tired. We had a reasonable flight and had more food than we needed from Atlanta to Milan and we managed to sleep a bit. We were met by someone from Perillo who help gather our bags and brought us to someone else who had arranged a bus ride for several of us to our hotel in Milan. It was about an hour ride to our hotel, Jolly Hotel Touring. All of our hotels were comfortable and they sort of blend together in my mind. We were introduced to our guide Marco who would be with us throughout our tour. After checking in and getting settled we had the rest of the day free. It was beginning to rain but we decided to walk to the La Scalla opera house museum. We took a rather “scenic” way but got there eventually. This happened to us several times. Marco or the locals would tell us it was very easy to get where we were going but we seldom made it directly unless we had a good map of the city. Milan is a very modern city compared to the others we visited on this trip. Much was destroyed in the war and they have very modern and tall buildings. They are known for their fashion industry. We certainly did notice lots of men in very classy suits and women very stylish dresses. Also practically every one of them was talking on their cell phone - some while walking others while standing in a door way smoking their cigarette. We went into the La Scalla museum which was next to the opera house. The museum was interesting with old instruments, costumes and other paraphernalia from the past operas. The best part was being able to go into the opera house. What a beautiful place. It was first opened in 1778 and was recently refurbished and it is extremely ornate. There are about 8 levels of private booths around the outside walls - we were standing in one to look at the stage and orchestra seats. It was really interesting. Then we went back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. At 7:00 we met our fellow travelers and had a welcome drink then went into the dining room for a buffet dinner. There are 48 people in our group which is a little large but we did get to know some of the people who we enjoyed traveling with. We all stood up and introduced ourselves. We are from many different states although there is a group of 6 or 8 from Staten Island and several others from along the east coast.

Saturday 9/10/05 After a good buffet breakfast we left in our bus and drove to Como where we enjoyed a boat ride around the Lake. There are many beautiful and old villas along the lake. I can’t remember all of the rich and famous people who own these villas but Sophia Loren is one of them. Como is the birthplace (in 1745) of Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the battery and there is an appropriate monument built to honor him. Then we spent an hour or so wandering around the town. Como’s specialty is silk and we admired the beautiful silk items. I just could not resist buying something so I found these beautiful silk scares and bought one each for Sophia and her neighbor friend and one each for my neighbor girls. Diane got her husband a silk tie. Then we continued on to Lugano which is in Switzerland on Lake Lugano. As usual our toilet stop was in a commercial store where they had tempting items to buy. This stop was at Bucherer - a jewelry store that sells watches as well as other items. They also make watches under their own name and had an intriguing display of them. I was appropriately tempted so I ended up buying myself a souvenir - a Swiss made watch in Switzerland. I wore it the rest of the trip and I was very happy with it. Diane also bought one for herself. We continued to stroll around the town and along the lake. We had a gelato for lunch sitting on a park bench enjoying the sites. There was a sidewalk chess game being played by two men with 2 foot high chess pieces. One way we knew we were not in Italy - when we stepped into the cross walk in order to cross a street all the cars stopped! In Italy they speed up and if you should happen to be able to make them stop they honk at you! Later on we walked to the Church of Saint Maria degli Angioli and went inside. Inside it had a huge fresco from the 16th century which was painted by Bernardino Luini, a disciple of Leonardo da Vinci. It was painted in 1529 and depicts the Last Supper. We didn’t get to see da Vinci’s Last Supper but we got to see this one. This church was built about 1400. We then went back to our hotel and after resting a bit we went for a walk through the city park - Giardini Pubblici - and walked to the main shopping area. It was very crowded and reminded me very much of Market street in San Francisco. But all the stores were on the first level and living apartments were on top - a very efficient use of space and convenient for walking and use of public transit. I also noted that there were few if any cell phones being used - probably because it was Saturday. We then went out to dinner at “La Bellingereta” and it was excellent - one of the best we had. Back late as usual and off to bed.

Sunday 9/11/05 We had a local guide show us around a few places in Milan. First she took us to the Duomo - the third (or fourth) largest church in the world. Building was started in 1386, consecrated in 1577, and completed in 1897. The building has 135 marble spires and 2245 (or 3200) marble statues. The statistics differ from guide to book to book. But the 135 is constant. One thing that was especially interesting was the stained glass window. On the older side the glass was colored with natural colors from nature. The newer side was painted. The natural colors were so much brighter and more vivid, it was easy to see the difference. We also visited the Galleria - a shopping mall but very elegant. The original was bombed in the war but rebuilt. The Duomo has scars from the bombs but was not destroyed in the war. From here we continued on to the Castello Sforzesco - the Castle built by Francesco Sforza in the 15th century. Da Vinci helped with the design and also lived here. It was built as a fortress as well as a home. The rooms are museums with some wonderful works by da Vinci and Michelangelo. We then left in our bus and drove to Venice stopping in Verona. We were on our own here so we visited Juliet’s house, the della Scala family’s ornate tombs, and the Roman Arena - built in the first century AD. We had a gelato lunch and walked around. An aside: we all wondered about the difference between gelato and ice cream so I looked it up when I got home. The answer surprised me considering how good gelato is:

The Difference Between Gelato and Ice Cream

Gelato is different from regular ice cream for two reasons:

1. First, there's more “overrun” in North American style ice creams than in gelato. “Overrun” is the amount of air beaten into the ice cream during the freezing process. As a result, gelato tends to have a more intense, concentrated flavor.

2. The fat content of North American style ice creams is higher, ranging between 16-30%, whereas gelato only contains 3-10% fat. This is because North American style ice cream actually uses cream, whereas gelato is made with milk, water or soy milk (depending on the flavor).

When we left Verona we next stopped at Padua to have a look at the Basilica di Sant’ Antonio - the most memorable aspect of this stop was how very crowded it was - I could have skipped this visit. But it did have some wonderful work of Donatello including an impressive bronze statue in front of the church of a general on horse back. This town is known for its university - established in 1222. Galileo Galilei taught here from 1592 to 1610. Finally we arrived at Venice. We took a larger boat taxi over and then water taxies through the narrow canals to our hotel. It takes a lot of skill to “drive” these taxies without jamming into the walls and other taxis. There were even times of traffic jams. We arrived at our hotel and had some time to explore a bit. Our room had a window that overlooked the canal. We ate dinner in the hotel tonight, the Starhotel Splendid Suisse.

Monday 9/12/05 Started today with a guided tour of Venice. We visited the Doge’s Palace which was the seat of Venetian power - an example of Gothic Art. We also went into the Basilica di San Marco. It is decorated with very elaborate mosaics - much of it made of gold. The moisture precluded any frescoes. We had a very short walk around the inside and it was extremely crowded but it too is a very elegant church. From here we took a boat taxi to Murano for a glass blowing demonstration. It was amazing to watch how quickly the blower was able to make a vase and then a horse. Then we went to the show room and saw the collection of all the beautiful glass. I would have enjoyed buying a lot of the beautiful glassware but to have it shipped to the US was expensive and would have involved customs on arrival. So I bought a beautiful blue vase for Judy so that she could have something special from Italy. Then we went back to Venice where we were on our own. We had been told that it was very easy to get lost in Venice because of the way the streets twist and turn but that was a way to see the “real” Venice. So I said let’s get lost. We turned into a narrow side street and started walking. We thought we’d head towards the Ponte di Rialto (a bridge with shops over the Grand Canal). Well we walked for an hour - saw many interesting sights, small neighborhoods with a cafe or small store, laundry hanging on lines, homes of the local people, churches and so forth. But we never did get to the Rialto and when we got out of the maze we were exactly where we had started - pretty good for an hours walking - getting nowhere! Well at least we saw the “non tourist” part of Venice. We then met the group and went on a gondola ride which was a lot of fun. We had music and singing and the group stayed together sang along, drank wine, and enjoyed the views of Venice from the water. Then Diane and I took a walk to the Rialto and really found it this time. We walked across it among the mob of people and then went back to the hotel and rested for a bit. Then we went to the Museum de Correr which had a display of articles from Venice's past - the building was as interesting as the articles. We then went back to clean up and went out to dinner at Ristorante Al Giglio which was some distance from the hotel. We had Marco walk several of us back as we didn’t want to get lost at night. I wonder if we would ever learn our way around Venice! It has been fun.

Tuesday 9/13/05 We left in the morning via water taxi and joined our bus for a very scenic ride to Pisa. We stopped at service stations along the way. They are full service stations served food cafeteria style as well as deli style, grocery/gift areas and the rest rooms. Incidentally most of these public rest rooms have an attendant that you must pay in order to pee. Some places have a set amount but mostly you give a coin - somewhere from 10 to 50 cents. Fine if you have change but if you don’t you are out of luck. We stopped at Pisa and enjoyed seeing the Leaning Tower which has supposedly been stabilized. We went in the Cathedral and the Baptistry. They were both just beautiful. The Cathedral was started in 1064. It is hard to imagine a building that old still in use. An aside: We always had the question What is the difference between a church, cathedral, and a basilica so I asked one of our guides. They are all churches. A cathedral is the seat of a Bishop. A bishop is the head of a certain area of the church and the cathedral is where he is situated. A basilica has a relic of a saint. A relic is something like a finger, the heart, the whole body, a chain that tied up the saint and so forth. Basilicas were originally courts for the administration of justice. After Constantine made Christianity legal the Basilicas became churches. After Pisa we continued on to Florence and checked into our recently “remodeled” hotel, Hotel Londra. It was fine but they kept saying how it was remodeled but our rooms certainly were not. I wonder what it was like before. We were near the train station and not to far from the center of activity in Florence. We went out to dinner driving up to Piazzale Michelangelo for a panoramic view of the city and dinner across the road at La Loggia. A note about the food - most all of our dinners were good, some had parts that were very good. They pretty much consisted of pasta, small plain salad, a choice of veal, chicken, fish, vegetable, dessert and included wine. Most of the places were set up to serve large groups and they did it very efficiently. The one problem I and a few others found is the places were all very noisy. It was hard to talk and sometimes very tiring. Dinner always started late - around 8 or so and then we didn’t get to bed until 11 or so. Traveling is hard work.

Wednesday 9/14/05 This morning we had a city tour which started at the Galleria del Accademia where we saw Michelangelo’s David. What a magnificent work of art - I marvel at how he could make a piece of marble look so alive. Every muscle and view looked so alive - you could almost see his next move to throw the rock. I also enjoyed the Prisoners - pieces of marble with unfinished statues looking like they were coming out. Then we walked around a bit and saw the outside of the Duomo and Baptistry - what wonderful works of art. We talked a bit about the Baptistry doors but they are copies of the original ones (as are the ones on Grace Cathedral in San Francisco). The restored original ones are inside the Duomo museum having been damaged in the 1966 flood. We didn’t go inside either because the line was so long it would have taken us an hour to get into the Duomo. From here we walked to the Piazza della Signoria and then to the Piazza Santa Croce. Here we went to a leather store - Florence’s specialty is leather. We had a talk about leather and then looked around for something to buy (at a discount of course). I bought Vincent a small coin purse with his initials stamped on it - I thought that was something special. Especially since I went back the next day and bought Kenneth a leather covered journal with his initials stamped in gold on it. So now I have my souvenir shopping done with some rather nice things. I have traveled so much lately that I can’t keep giving them book marks, key chains and the like - I had to find something different and special to Italy. After this Diane and I got some pizza and a drink and sat in the Piazza and ate while we watched the crowds. Then we chose to go into the Church of Santa Croce and we had a wonderful experience. It was not crowded and we had plenty of time to walk around and look at everything. Some illustrious figures are buried here, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Rossini, Galileo, Ghiberti. There is also a tomb for Dante but he is buried elsewhere. From here we walked over the Arno River bridge (Ponte Vecchio) which is the oldest bridge in Florence, the only one spared in the war. It has overhanging shops and dates back to 1345. We were headed to the Palazzo Pitti. It was the residence since 1549 of the Medici family and the royal palace of united Italy from 1865 to 1871. It has the Boboli gardens plus several different museums. We didn’t have enough time for all so we just bought tickets for the Galleria Palatina. It was amazing - the walls were filled with paintings just as the Medicis had displayed them. The room designs were also wonderful - ceilings are amazing - some of the 2 dimensional painted ceilings looked so three dimensional that I couldn’t believe they weren’t. Many of the walls had frescos. There were too many paintings to focus on them all but we had a list of “not to be missed” paintings and we saw all but one of them. By now we were on overload but we had one more place - the Duomo. By getting in line at 4:30 we only had to stand in line for 10 minutes and it was well worth it and then we went to the Baptistry - no line there either. Beautiful. Then we walked back to our hotel which wasn’t a bad walk until we tried to cross the street - there were no good places to cross. The driving is really wild here and many people drive motor scooters because parking is so difficult. But they all drive like they are crazy and pedestrians are just targets. But eventually we got back in time to clean up for dinner. We had a bus ride out of town to our restaurant. On the way we drove past a World War Two monument built to honor the Allies who liberated Italy. We continued to our restaurant, I Falciani. It was filled with several other tour groups and was extremely noisy and rowdy but the food was good.

Thursday 9/15/05 What a wonderful day Diane and I had. We really showed our mettle as tourists. I had blisters on my feet from yesterday so I just taped them up and walked until they were numb and didn’t hurt anymore. We left the hotel at 9:00 and walked to the Bargello (National Museum). The Bargello has been describe as being to sculpture what the Uffizi is to painting . The building was begun about 1250 and was the seat of magistrates and later housed the Captain of Justice (bargello). There were Michelangelo statues here and Donatello’s St. George and his bronze David. Also we saw Ghiberti’s and Brunelleschi’s original bronze models for the Baptistry doors competition. It was all well worth our visit. Then we went to the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo where we saw the original Baptistry doors. We had fun looking at each panel carefully to figure out the Biblical story being told. This museum also had Michelangelo’s last pieta which was unfinished at his death. We spent a lot of time looking at this. At this point we bought some lunch and set on the steps of the church to eat lunch and discussed our afternoon schedule. First we went back to the leather place from yesterday, Peruzzi and we each bought something to get closer to finishing up our souvenir shopping. Then we had to decide about the Uffizi. It just seemed wrong to come to Florence and not visit the place that had some of the worlds most famous paintings but in the mornings we were told the line was 3 or more hours. We checked it and were told the line was 2 hours so we went and bought a gelato at the place that is always mentioned in guide books as the best gelato in Florence, Festival del Gelato. We talked about the Uffizi some more. Diane said she was willing to stand in line so we went back at 4:00 and the line was shorter and got in line. There were some benches along the side so I was able to sit down for most of the time and rest my swollen feet and legs while Diane graciously stood in line. We only had to stand in line for 35 minutes so we were in the museum by 4:30 and had two wonderful hours seeing such magnificent paintings. It was well worth it and a relief to not have to leave out the Uffizi. This is Florence after all. We left so many things unseen we could come back and spend a month seeing it all - maybe some day.... Well we walked back and this time we knew where to cross the streets so we didn’t have the extra walk that we did yesterday. I think we ate in the hotel but at this point I can’t remember.

Friday 9/16/05 Today we drove from Florence to Sorrento - a very scenic drive. We stopped at the usual rest stops for toilet and food. We certainly have been given plenty of toilet stops during this tour - both when we are walking and driving. Often during our walking trips we are invited to go to a particular retail store in order to use the rest rooms. Smart move on the store’s part - they always made a few sales. We stopped at a cameo place and learned how they made cameos. I found it very interesting to watch someone make one as I had never seen that before. This area is known for cameos which are made from shells - like conch shells although they are harder to get. They scrape away parts of the shell leaving the design behind. Some people bought some jewelry but I didn’t because I have my grandmother’s cameo and thought that was enough. Of course now that I am home I wish I had bought something - like a ring or so. We continued on our journey enjoying the scenery - very much like a green central valley with grapes, olives, sunflowers growing. We saw Mt. Vesuvius plus some medieval villages built on hilltops over 1000 years ago. We also saw from a distance Naples and the area around it which has the highest density in Italy. We continued on to our hotel through very narrow streets in Sorrento. It was a challenge for our bus to get to our hotel. All the streets are narrow - many being built long before the automobile which is why most Italians drive such small cars or scooters. It is a challenge on many streets for two cars to pass let alone our bus. Our bus driver, Gianni did an excellent job of negotiating the streets. Our Hotel Corallo was on a beautiful spot - a cliff along the edge of the Bay of Naples. The view is beautiful and expansive. The street level lobby is four floors above the lowest level of rooms. Our room was two levels down with a clear view of the Bay and our own private balcony which we enjoyed. The hotel had different wings and was built in a very irregular way. There were lots of balconies at all different levels. We took advantage of the scene and bought a drink at the bar and sat and enjoyed the view feeling like the rich and famous - who else would stay at a place like this? We had a nice dinner at the hotel.

Saturday 9/17/05 We left early this morning to the port of Sorrento where we took a hydrofoil ferry to Capri. There we were met by our guide Rosanna and climbed into a bus that drove us up to the top at Anacapri. What a crazy drive it was - very narrow road - whichever car got there first had the go ahead, plus we were right on the edge of a high cliff dropping down to the bay. But once again we made it. We just have to believe that the driver does not want to die any more than we do. Capri is very clean and very pretty and well painted. There are lots of attractive tile designs on steps, walls, benches and so forth. The views are beautiful and the homes charming but once again it is very crowded. There were lots of large groups like ours. We spent some time walking around and looking at the shopping. We sampled limoncelo - a lemon flavored liqueur that was invented in this area where they grow lots of lemons. It was very good (and very strong). With all my unused lemons at home I was intrigued about making it myself as it is very simple so as I am writing this I am soaking the lemon skins in pure alcohol. Then in 8 to 40 days (depending on which recipe I decide to use) I add sugar water and it will be done. If it is good it will last a long time as a little goes a long way. Here we had a climb up a long hill to use the toilet where we again had to pay. We all noticed how rich the man seemed to be with gold jewelry and all. He probably makes a fortune from this, especially because he is so stingy about the amount of paper he hands out! It did have a nice view though. After a while we met the group and drove down a bit to have lunch and then we took the funicular down to the port. (it is like a train on tracks.) We had hoped to go to the Blue Grotto but the seas were too rough - have to come back. We were back in time to enjoy our hotel and the rain from inside our room then we cleaned up and went into downtown Sorrento for dinner. Again it was a very large place filled with other tour groups but we had a good dinner. Then instead of taking the bus back Diane and I went into town to walk around town and see if we could find anything else to buy. There were lots of choices but we didn’t buy much. We took a cab back to our hotel - 15 Euros which is about 20 US dollars.

Sunday 9/18/05 This morning we had to leave at 7:15 AM because our driver heard that the road from Sorrento would be closed for repairs at 8:00 which would mean we’d be in Sorrento for an extra 5 hours. That wouldn’t be bad but then we would have missed our wonderful tour of Pompeii. The air was clean and clear after a tremendous rain and thunder and lightning storm last night. We could see it over the Bay of Naples - it was some storm. The drive was very scenic and very green. Pompeii had been founded in the 7th century BC but destroyed by an earthquake in 63 AD but then rebuilt. In 79 AD Vesuvio erupted and buried the town killing about 2000 of its 20,000 inhabitants. The city was much larger than I realized and our guide took us through quite a bit of it. It was fascinating to be able to see so clearly how the people had lived. There were many casts of people left in the hardened tufa after their bodies covered in ash had decayed. I found it very moving to see them in the act of fleeing and with such distinctive looks on their faces - of horror and shock. It was as though it had just happened instead of so long ago. It was a fascinating place. We left here and drove to a auto stop where we had lunch and then drove around Naples to look at some of their interesting sites. Naples is a mix of old and new. We then continued on to Rome and checked into the Grand Hotel Beverly Hills. Here we were on the seventh floor and had a roof top view of our part of Rome plus a view of the street below - very interesting. We had a welcome drink at the hotel and dinner in the hotel.

Monday 9/19/05 We left at 7:45 in the rain for the Vatican Museum where we stood in line for an hour and a half. Fortunately we only had rain for about an hour and then we had sun for the rest of the day. We had to work to keep our place in line. We have found Italians and other tourists to be incredibly rude especially about standing in line. I’ve had them just come to the front of line and cut in front of me to pay for items - nothing you say shames them in the least. It is discouraging to meet so many rude people. But this time we worked at it to stay together and keep our place - even from the local guides who tried to get in front of us. Once when we turned a corner to the next block it was clear several people and groups were going to use that opportunity to get in front of us. Well three men from our group decided they weren’t - they stood as a group telling the cutters to move back - the ones who argued with the men didn’t get anywhere. These guys were from the East coast (either New Jersey or Connecticut) and had been in law enforcement - it was really funny. So eventually we arrived at the museum. - what an ordeal to then get in. The place looked like a train station - while we went downstairs to use the toilet our guide bought our tickets. Finally we were in and what wonderful sights awaited us. Mario was a wonderful guide and told us a lot about the various rooms, statues, and tapestry we saw. He explained the Sistine chapel to us and then we went inside the chapel. It was beautiful and the freshly cleaned “The Last Judgment” was so bright and so blue. The room was absolutely packed with people - almost no room to move. It was supposed to be quiet and no photos but it was amazing how many people ignored the rules and how long it took the guards to enforce the rules. But we got to see the room and marvel at Michelangelo’s genius. Then we continued to St. Peter’s Basilica - the largest church in the world. What beauty it contains. We saw Michelangelo’s Pieta and Bernini’s canopy and marveled at the dome and everything else we saw. Again it was very crowded - we really thought we were picking a slower time of the year to travel in Italy - I can’t imagine what it is like in the summer! We left the basilica and crossed the square to a small gift shop where we used the rest room and bought more items. We walked around and bought lunch from a street vender and sat on some steps and watched the people. After our break we met our guide and walked to the bus - an elaborate underground parking area built for buses like ours to wait and pick up their group. We drove through the city having various places pointed out to us. Our goal was the Colosseum. Walking to it was stopped to look at the Arch of Constantine, the Arch of Titus and the Roman Forum. We went into the Colosseum to get a closer look at a place we have heard so much about. It is hard to believe and to comprehend how old the place is but how grand to be there in person. It was built in 80 AD and had a lot of marble but it has been stripped through the years to build other churches and buildings. After a while we went back to the hotel where we rested a bit and then walked around the shopping areas near the hotels - some very elegant places as well as shops for locals. If we thought traffic and driving was bad before it was even more so in Rome. Parking is almost impossible - I don’t know what people who own cars do with them when they come home at night. We have seen a lot of “smart cars”. They are very small - only two person cars - they remind me of golf carts with a little more power. They take much less parking space but you wouldn’t have much of a chance in an accident. We were surprised we didn’t see any accidents. They are called Smart because they were invented by Swatch, the engines were built by Mercedes and they are art. At least that is what we were told by one of our guides. Tonight was our gala dress up night at a palace so like two girls going to a school prom Diane and I had to primp and dress up. I originally didn’t have any thing elegant to wear and had mentioned it to a friend who had a dress that she thought would work. She had bought it at a rummage sale for a dollar but it didn’t work for her so I brought it along. Surprise - it worked very well for me and looked pretty good. I have never worn a dress like it before, it was a long black clingy dress. But it fit in very well and Diane and I looked very elegant. At first we weren’t too keen at going to this gala affair but it was better than we thought. We had a nice group of table companions and that helped a lot and it was over by 11:00. This palace was really something. We each had a little menu and on the back they told about the palace:

Palazzo Brancaccio was the last Roman Patrician palace. It was built by Princess Elisabeth and Prince Salvatore Brancaccio on the Colle Oppio, one of the seven hills, near the “Domus Aurea” of Emperor Nero and the “Sette Sale”. Built in 1880 , it remained intact in all of its glamour with its fascinating living-rooms decorated by Francesco Gay. Located in a Beautiful natural park with century old plants and fountains, it is considered on of the most fascinating spots in Rome, where meeting is to find again the pleasure for living.

In addition the menu described in detail our food - we had so much food including two main courses. It was all pretty good but I just ate a little of each course (except for the veal - they sure served a lot of veal which I just can’t eat). There were at least 3 other tour groups here plus a band and dancing so once again it was too noisy for meaningful conversations. They did have a nice outside garden so eventually we went out side to cool off.

Tuesday 9/20/05 This morning we walked (with another couple Gladys and Elliot) to the Spanish Steps. We had a map and some instructions and by using those and our “nose” we made it. We met some of our other group there and before we divided up we took lots of photos of us sitting on the Spanish Steps, it seems like such an Italian thing to do. Then we continued on down through the shopping area mostly window shopping although Diane did find something for one of her daughters. We were looking for some inlaid wooden boxes and one shop keeper thought they might be near the Trevi Fountain so we walked over to there and eventually bought a sandwich and sat and watched the throngs of people around the Fountain. Finally we headed back because we had a 3:00 tour scheduled. We were going to take a taxi so we went to a place were there were some taxis and asked one - he said no and pointed to a man standing there as though he was in charge. He told us to wait so we did, we asked him once and he just said “just a moment”. Meanwhile lots of empty cabs drove past us and didn’t stop and finally when another man came by and got into one of the cabs and left I’d had enough so we walked back to the hotel. I said it was good for us! Kept the calories burning from all the food we ate. We still had time to rest a bit before our 3:00 tour. This guide was fun to follow and he was the first and only guide we had who really didn’t mind being asked questions - he even invited us to ask so I got some of my questions answered. He took us to the church San Pietro in Vincoli which has the chains of St. Peter but most powerful it has Michelangelo’s statue of Moses. Fortunately at this time of day the church was not crowded so we could really have good looks at this majestic statue. We continued on to Trevi Fountain where Diane threw two coins over her shoulder, one to come back, one for a wish, she didn’t do the third one which was to marry an Italian - she is already nicely married thank you very much. From here we walked to the Pantheon which is just marvelous. Built in 120 AD it is very well preserved with a magnificent dome that was studied to help build the duomo. It does have a circular hole at the top of the dome. Then we walked to the Piazza Navona which has Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. Then it was back to the hotel in order to get ready for dinner - we walked around the block and had a nice dinner - our last together. Many fond farewells were said at the dinner as we were leaving in the morning at several different times. In retrospect it was a good trip. We were on the go constantly but as a result we saw a lot. The group was very large, 48 people which meant we didn’t really get to “know” and visit with everyone but we did have pleasant talks and dinners with several people and we might keep in touch with some of them - at least by email.

Wednesday 9/21/05 We were among the group that didn’t have to leave until 9:30 in the morning so we had a leisurely breakfast and then the bus took us to the airport. I was frantically reading the book I had brought with me in order to finish it so I would not have to take it home. I finally did finish and was able to pass it along to someone else. I later found out that the book was based on a true story. I had picked up the book on a bargain table because the title sounded Italian. The title was “The Passion of Artemisia” by Susan Vreeland. Artemisia Gentileschi was a painter in Florence in the seventeenth century and was the first woman elected to the Accademia dell’ Arte. It was fun to read especially because all the places were places we visited along the way. I looked her up on the internet when I got home and the book was fairly accurate. So we made our plane - flying directly to Atlanta on a half filled plane so we were able to stretch out. Then from Atlanta to San Jose arrived around 10:00, 22 hours after we left Rome. I think we are both well satisfied with the trip - we were good travel companions and certainly saw as much as possible. But I am aware of all there still is to see and if time and money were no object I would certainly go back to Italy and continue exploring all there is to see.

Penelope Bowen

written from my notes on 9/26/05