Bon journo di Roma!
Everyone has gone in different directions this morning. Joanne went to the Vatican museum, the rest to Catacombs far far away, and I will attempt to glog, and wander around our area. Time is going so fast, tomorrow is a holiday and everything will be closed, so really this is our last day to get into any sites. This afternoon Mike and I will wander through the Botanical gardens, it is shaping up to be another glorious day. sorry to hear about snow there...kinda sucks hey.
Rome has turned out to be a charming sometimes intense and loud, sometimes quiet and quaint. By the end of the day we're finding that our throats are sore I think from the exhaust. ik. so wandering through the gardens will be refreshing!
We've found our restaurant! I think that if the locals and the police go there, it must be good. Both times we were there, these young hunka policemen come in for some food and beer, then off they go back to work, (so civilized).
The people here are gorgeous, olive skin, thick black hair, roman noses. no wonder the Romans loved beauty.
well my bellos i bellas, off to explore. We found the greatest market yesterday, vegetables, fish ( whole honkin' sword fish and such), the best walnuts, artichokes. mama mia!
Starting to look forward to Tuscanny. I said to Mike that if it was time to go home it feels like weìve had our holiday, and now Tuscanny feels like a whole new holiday. We are lucky.
Everyone is fine, Judy has many many bandages on her feet...but undaunted she goes on.
caio di roma
Francesa Luisa Maria (Laurie)

And then.....

So,after lunch Ray and I went on a bus(It's easy to get around here!) and walked through the Jewish ghetto, which was beautiful and tiny,winding alleys. Alas the synagog was closed for an independence day or something, but we saw more ruins, and then went to a couple of churches. One was the one I mentioned where you put your hand in the lion's mouth, and we're still two-handed so that was good. We saw a relic in that church of St. Valentin so I lit a candle and prayed for you Hickey kids and all your love lives. Then there was a beautiful icon mosaic of Mary and child and I lit a candle for you,Erin, and your baby in your tummy. Anybody else need anything? I lit candles for Erin and Heather at another Madonna and child icon,too, but can't remember which church it was. Laurie and Mike and I went to their favorite restaurant here and had a wonderful meal. I had eaten already with Ray, so just had an italian coffee and a tirimisiu. Wow! It was sooo good! I forgot to say we went to the big castle too. Creepy place, with areas,tunnels that date back to Hadrian. Matt you would have loved it, it was so creepy. There was even a dungeon in the basement. Well, off to bed.More tomorrow. Maybe I'll light a candle for good weather,Heather,in Calgary.

Wednesday in Rome

Borghese

The huge gardens and the Gallery are too wonderful! We went through room after room of the most beautiful statuary and paintings and decorated walls,ceilings and floors! I was trying to imagine living there, but couldn't do it. Even MY imagination has limits. Ray and I wandered through the grounds after and saw ripe oranges growing on trees, and lemons as well. Irises in bloom, and always the obligatory fountains and columns.These Romans sure love their fountains! There's a zoo there, but we didn't go in. I'm not a zoo person and neither is Ray, so when we saw it was 10 Euro to get in, that decided it for us. We did stop for a lovely capaccino(or is it cappacino?) outside under some glorious trees and listened to the peacocks. We came home for lunch and to change. After a rainy day yesterday, the sun came out and it's in the 20s I think.Sorry Heather, who is in snowy Calgary, for even mentioning again how NICE IT IS HERE!!! So, we'll change, and Ray and I are going to tour a castle, the Jewish Ghetto, and who knows what. There's that church with the lion face outside it that you stick your hand in and if you're a liar it bites it off. So maybe tomorrow we'll be waving with only one hand. It's all part of the tourist experience. Also part of my tourist experience this morning at our local coffee place I was sternly ordered out of mt chair by an older Italian man who was NOT IMPRESSED that I was sitting there! In HIS CHAIR,if you can imagine! Laurie saw him glaring at us, and then I saw him sitting in another chair. Too funny. We musy be disrupting his little routine, poor old thing. Well off we go to more gloriousness than we can bear yet again.Ciao!

Tuesday in Rome from JoAnne and Brian

We had quite a day today. It started early this morning with a trip to a market that I was looking forward to seeing. It isn't a tourist market, it's for the locals, and it made Granville Island look like a slum. It was huge! And the fruit, vegetables, meat, chicken, fish were unreal.

It's really close to our house, so Brian and I brought all of our purchases home, and sent Laurie and Mike, and Ray and Judy off to the Vatican Museum. I was a bit low energy so we waited until I felt better and about 10:30, we headed off there. By then, the lineup was too long, so we switched gears and did a 'pilgrimage' today. We hit all the major churches, besides St. Peter's: St. John Lateran (the pope's church in Rome), St. Mary Major, St. Clement (Brian's favorite), St. Peter in Chains (with Michangelo's Moses in it - my favorite), a wonderful walk in a park that Nero had built a huge house in (now gone), St. Martin's, and the Church of the Most Holy Apostles. It's kind of a blur now - I'll have to read up on them again later to sort them out in my mind. We then went to the Gregorian University (where Brian went to school), the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Spanish Steps (all for the second time). We walked for 8 full hours.

I am impressed with my stamina - haven't crashed yet! We had thought about walking home, but it might have been another hour at our pace by that time, so we took the subway. I don't like being that far underground, but I am getting used to it. It is fast and convenient. The traffic here is unreal, so the metro it the way to go.

We just grabbed a pizza for supper, on the street, so I'll need a healthy bedtime snack. Maybe some more cheese and sausage (getting sick of that already).

Tomorrow, we have tickets to the Borghese Gallery, and I think some folks might go to the catacombs. Too far underground for me, so Laurie and I may do some shopping or something like that.

So all is well, and I am more and more in love with this beautiful city.

More tomorrow. Ciao.

Jo and Brian

OOPS!

Sorry! I adjusted the comment section so that you'll be able to post even if you don't have an account,I THINK. Hope it works. Today we went to a covered market and wandered through looking at the freshest fruit vegetables, fish(some still alive) and wonderful meats. I think we'll have a great supper tonight! Then at 9 a.m. we stood in a shortish line to see the Vatican Museum. My neck is stiff from looking up. That Michealangelo sure knew what he was doing! Room after room of fabulousness! Then a convoluted walk and Metro trip for Ray and I(this is Judy talking) and we went back to the Pantheon and toured it. So amazing that it's still here! Then we had coffee at Tazzo Doro(sp?) which was incredible. Now we're home for supper.

Monday in Rome

Hello again from this amazing, amazing city. We are having such a wonderful time. Yesterday is kind of a blur. We all went to the Collosseum. Ray, Judy and Mike got up and went to church. Brian and I slept in until 9:30. I have slept 9 hours every night here. After they got back, Laurie and Mike, and Brian and I took the metro there, and Ray and Judy went on the 'special bus'. (they had bought tickets on a get on and off tour). It was just out of this world - the enormity of the building is mindboggling. Brian and I walked home, about 10km, through little streets. We saw the Jewish Ghetto and the Synagogue, a small but incredible art gallery, a few churches, more back streets, just enjoyed the walk so much. The weather has been perfect: somewhat overcast and warm. The other four did the Forum while we walked home. We cooked supper at our apartment; traditional antipasto (meat, cheese, marinated fish, olives), and pasta with a vegetarian tomato sauce and a salad and bread. The food here is spectacular.

After supper, Judy and Mike went out to see Rome at night, and the rest of us crashed.

This morning, we met our friend Father Richard Wolak, at St. Peter's, and he gave us a tour of the Basilica. I am sure he wouldn't consider himself an expert, but we were there for 3 hours with him, and we learned so much. It's nice to have a personal guide. We took him out for lunch after, and had fun. Ray and Judy, Brian and I came home for a snooze, and Laurie and Mike went off to explore. We had talked about going out tonight. We'd like to see the Trevi Fountain at night.

There is so much to do, and already, I feel like we need to make a list of must sees, because our time here will run out before we know it. On Wednesday morning, we have tickets to the Borghese Gallery, and on Friday morning, we are going to the Oblate House for a tour and visit and lunch with the Oblates.

This is wonderful: right now, the highlights for me are once again, St. Peter's, and the coffee! Our apartment is in the heart of a great, Italian (not tourist) area, so it's nice to be immerse in how the people live. The first day, I had a chocolate ice cream that made me want to weep it was so good. (not great for diabetic control, but hey, this IS Rome and and I am walking a lot). I want a lemon gelato before we leave.

So, we're happy, having fun, and it just doesn't get much better than this!

Jo

Nice save,Hickey kids!

We were just saying this morning that if no one commented on our blog today, we were going to go on strike and not blog anymore until we got some comments! So,Annie and Tom," Good Job!", and everyone else's kids "Please, your Moms need to hear from you!" Yesterday we went to the old city, which was gloriousness everywhere,as we were saying, and then in the evening everyone was tired, so thye went to bed early except Mike and I(Judy) who were antsy to check out the Trevi Fountain at night. I also wanted one last capaccino. We are one block from the Metro, and it's easy to use, and we have week-long passes for public transit, so off we went. We saw the Spanish Steps loaded with huge pots of azaleas, and had a capaccino at a beautiful coffee bar, then to the Trevi Fountain. We realized that if we asked people where the Trevi Fountain was, they couldn't understand us, but if we put on the Italian accent and asked for the fontana de Trevi they got it. Really, it doesn't sound that different. I sort of don't get it. Today we met our friend, Father Richard Wallach(sp?) at St.Peters and he took us on a tour. Very interesting, and we managed to catch a small mass while there. Then we went out for a plate of pasta with him. Sat in a lovely cafe, outside and had wine and wondeful pastas and risotto to die for! Then they all had to wait for me to have a capaccino because I just knew it would be good. Came home after stopping at a gelato place. I had a coffee gelato and Ray had a nutella one. We put a load of laundry in at home and had a nap. Later perhaps we'll redo the Parthenon because it was closed last time we were there. There's certainly lots more to see....

WOW WOW WOW

The Colosseum today and the Palladin and it was so wonderful. Now Ray and JoAnne are making supper and it smells so good. Ray and I went on our own today and took a lot of silly pictures of ourselves being statues,etc. and laughing like fools. Learned how to use the Metro today and so there's no stopping us now! Weather was perfect, overcast and warm but not hot. A nice break for my poor sunburned face.

Sunday Morning

Its another beautiful day in Rome.This is Judy. Ray was the first one up, and he headed out to the market to get some espresso for the little stovetop espresso machine. Hes working on getting a good cup of coffee, but so far no luck. I wonder why anyone would bother trying when 1 block from where we're staying there are more than a couple of really good coffee bars. For those who haven't been here, the culture in the neighbourhoods is to get up and ready, walk to the coffee bar, order your coffee and have a fabulous pastry, drink it standing up while cavorting with the regulars, and then be on your way. Ray and I went off on our own after our St. Peters tour and had a wonderful day. You can buy a day pass on a double decker tour bus which takes you to all the major sites-the Colloseum, the Vatican, Trevi Fountain,etc.,and you just hop on and off the bus as you wish. We had great fun and did some silly tourist things too. Threw coins backwards into the Trevi Fountain to ensure we would come back some day,had our pictures taken with a fake Roman guard(pretending to cut Ray's throat) and eating wonderful slices of pizza and gelato. I had tiramisu flavored gelato.Mmmmmm... Lovely dinner out last night. Joanne and Ray are cooking supper for us tonight,so they're out at the market shopping. We went ot a local parish for mass, as there was a big mass with cannonizations going on at St.Peters. We figured it would be at least 2 hours long and be really crowded.More news later...

From Jo and Brian- the first full day in Rome

Our first full day in Rome! Well, I guess I should start with last night. After a safe trip here, and little more than an hour sleep for any of us (on the plane) no one was much interested in sleeping when we got here. Our apartment is great - not very fancy, but very Italian and it is clean. We also have a lovely courtyard - again not fancy but nice to have the outside space. After we got here, we walked over to St. Peter's Square. It was fairly busy, and we didn't go into the church, but sort of oriented ourselves to where we were. Laurie and Mike decided to go on a bus tour of some sites, and we went back to the apartment. After getting some groceries etc at the local store, just a minute's walk away, we sat outside and eat delicious bread, cheese, marinated seafood, olives, roast pork, etc., in our courtyard. It's kind of a blur right now - we were all so very tired. We all hit our beds at 9pm, and I will be none of us saw 9:30 on the clock.

Today, Brian and I went out early and scouted out a great place for our morning cappucino. I tell you it is the best in the world. Then we all went over to the magnificent St. Peter's. It is absolutely over-whelming. Brian and I left L&M and R&J to climb to the top, and we went our separate ways. Brian and Jo figured we walked about 10 or more km., to Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Venezia, Gregorian University, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps. We would have gone further but 1) some of the churches we wanted to see were closed for siesta, and 2) It's Independance Day (or something like that) here, and every single Roman and tourist were out and about. It was crazy. Our feet were getting tired, so we took the metro back. It's about 3pm, and we're ready for a nap. We're going out for supper tonight and tomorrow, who knows.

How do you say "I only want half of that piece of cheese" in Italian

What a wonderful experience to be here! The weather is perfecto and the leaves are greenisho.The apartment we're staying in looks like something out of a movie. The real thing,though, with a gorgeous courtyard that isn't perfect and tidy, but feels more like living in Itlay than a hotel would. Close to the Vatican, we walked over there today, but will do a proper tour tomorrow. Home for happy hour now.It IS Friday after all... Love,Bellas! Judy

"WOOHOO" as Alexandra would say...

We're converging on the Saskatoon airport this morning. I have that 'excited and nervous' pre-travel feeling. "As long as I have my Visa card, passport, and some really comfortable shoes, I'll be fine" I keep telling myself. Why, then, is my suitcase so heavy? We're going for three weeks, that's why. I've never been gone away from my home and family for that long. Good bye grandbabies and family and friends!

well my bags are packed and I'm ready (almost) to go...

ciao bellas! (I have to learn how to say something else in Italiano!) I don't have alot to say, mostly I want to see if I got this glogging figured out! Laurie