Boy, it can really rain here in Europe. We’ve had sunny days for 6 days in Rome, and now we have found all this wet… Today was only matched by the rain fall we got while driving through Milan. It just seemed to stay with us from the moment we left Assisi to the moment we checked into our campground in Florence. Yes, I know, Florence??? We were supposed to be in Siena today, but when we got there we found that the only campground was closed. The books tell us it was to close the first week of November, but in parenthesis, they show (or earlier)… Well, it seems that we hit the “or earlier” time. So with no other choice available to us, we decided to drive on another 35 miles to Florence. Tomorrow we will probably take a train back to Siena for the day and hope this one day will give us all the time we need. Well instead of setting up our camper-tent, the campground has some semi-permanent tents that they rent out. Checking these out, Ann decided that this would work just as well, and besides, we wouldn’t have to put ours up. The rain has finally stopped, so let’s hope this will last a day of two. Looking at the weather report, it doesn’t look good. Ann and Louise have taken a walk to St Michaels Park, which is just above this campground. They wanted to see the night view of Florence, which this park is in a great spot for. For me, I’ve seen it… If I was to have gone with them, I know I would have had to stop by the Gelato stand there. Speaking of ice cream (dessert), Louise made us a great dinner of Ravioli stuffed with mushrooms, sautéed chicken, and a green leaf salad. We couldn’t have had a better tasting dinner anywhere in Italy… Oh yes, Mikleane, we will try to see the “real David” this time while we are here…
21 October ’05, Friday.
Boy, it can really rain here in Europe. We’ve had sunny days for 6 days in Rome, and now we have found all this wet… Today was only matched by the rain fall we got while driving through Milan. It just seemed to stay with us from the moment we left Assisi to the moment we checked into our campground in Florence. Yes, I know, Florence??? We were supposed to be in Siena today, but when we got there we found that the only campground was closed. The books tell us it was to close the first week of November, but in parenthesis, they show (or earlier)… Well, it seems that we hit the “or earlier” time. So with no other choice available to us, we decided to drive on another 35 miles to Florence. Tomorrow we will probably take a train back to Siena for the day and hope this one day will give us all the time we need. Well instead of setting up our camper-tent, the campground has some semi-permanent tents that they rent out. Checking these out, Ann decided that this would work just as well, and besides, we wouldn’t have to put ours up. The rain has finally stopped, so let’s hope this will last a day of two. Looking at the weather report, it doesn’t look good. Ann and Louise have taken a walk to St Michaels Park, which is just above this campground. They wanted to see the night view of Florence, which this park is in a great spot for. For me, I’ve seen it… If I was to have gone with them, I know I would have had to stop by the Gelato stand there. Speaking of ice cream (dessert), Louise made us a great dinner of Ravioli stuffed with mushrooms, sautéed chicken, and a green leaf salad. We couldn’t have had a better tasting dinner anywhere in Italy… Oh yes, Mikleane, we will try to see the “real David” this time while we are here…
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20 October ’05, Thursday. OK, Let's see how good you are...What is this picture of ??? We started off today with a bite to eat then off we went on our hike into Assisi. We still have the rain with us. The first stop when arriving into town was a stop at a shop to buy an umbrella and a hat. The rain was soaking through my coat and hood. We continued our walk to the Basilica of St Francis. As soon as we arrived, Louise and I head off to use the WC. This was the first time, since I arrived, that we had to pay to use the bathroom. It was .50 Euros and it wasn’t all that clean considering that you have to pay. Oh well, what are you going to do? The Basilica is a beautiful church built after the death of St. Francis in the 13th century. The art frescoes are deteriorating, but it is still an absolutely amazing church. We walked through the church and went through the attached museum which contains many church artifacts from the early church. It also contained some beautiful artwork that came from a private collection that was donated to the church. After our walk into town and our brief tour of the church and museum, we were hungry! Across the street we found a restaurant and ate pizza for lunch. The rain has continued off and on, but we have not let it stop us from checking out this beautiful town. After lunch we continued on with our exploration of the Basilica of St Francis. In the basement of the church was the tomb of St Francis as well as some of his friends that were also fellow monks. We continued on our exploration on the town and several other churches including St. Clare’s, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, and St. Rufino’s. Mind you during this time we are walking (sometimes still in the rain) up hills, down hills and up stairs. Lots of stairs! The town of Assisi is on a hill! Our last stop was the castle at the top. It was the castle of Rocca Maggiore. After we got up to the top of the hill, we then climbed to top of the castle. Then we walked down a narrow passage to the other side of the castle. It is a good thing I am not claustrophobic! The passage was not very high or wide, but there were occasional holes in the outside wall so you could see out. Once at the top, we had a beautiful view of the countryside and the town. Okay, we are done for the day, but we still have to walk back to the camp site. Granted the first part was down hill. But then it was uphill for the last half. We made it back and relaxed at the camp site with a little wine. Then it was off to another great dinner at the restaurant at the camp site. Tomorrow we are heading for Siena. 19 October ’05, Wednesday. Our last day in Rome and here comes the rain. We have had beautiful weather during our stay in Rome. During our time in Rome, I stayed in the tent right outside of the camper. It was very roomy and brought back a few memories of camping with the Boy Scouts. We are heading for Assisi today. It took a greater part of the day to get here, but once we arrived, we settled into the camp site. I had a room in the hotel for our time in Assisi. It was small with two twin beds and a private bath room. You will never guess, but my room had two toilets! Well actually I think one was a bidet. We went to dinner in the restaurant in the hotel. There was a great fireplace with a log fire and they were cooking at the fire. They would scoop the coals from the fire and place them under the grill. It seemed like everyone took their turn cooking at the grill. Mind you this was out in the actually seating part of the restaurant. We each had something different for dinner and it was all great! And then of course we had to have dessert! Off to bed to get a good nights sleep to prepare for a day of exploration tomorrow in Assisi, the home of St. Francis. 18 October ’05, Tuesday. We just had to try and get our appointment to visit the Borghese Gallery, so I got on the phone right away this morning. Remember, they told us to call them back on Tuesday, so I got the word from the “boss” that this morning was in fact Tuesday. It was amazing, a short phone call and we were in…5 pm, and check-in by 4:30 or lose your time…(independent aren’t they?). OK, they win, we will be there. We didn’t leave for town as early this morning as we had been the last 3 days, but we were still in town by noon. For the 3rd day in a row, we headed for St Peters to see if we could get our chance to go up into the dome. BINGO, we only had to wait another hour, and they would finally open it. “OK, ladies, what do you want to do for the next hour?” Shopping was the obvious, and it was also right…”OK, I’ll see you in an hour”… I wanted to find a coffee shoppe, so off they went and off I went. Right on time, they met my at the bottom of the stairs to the dome. Unfortunately, so did one hundred million others…it was a crowd !!! That’s alright, we have the time, and we want to see it up close and personal. We bought our tickets, rode the elevator up to the bottom of the dome, and then climbed the narrow passageways of 323 steps that wound around the dome all the way to the top exterior balcony. In winding up the steps, it was interesting that it would make you lean as you went up, because of the shape of the dome…it kept you at an angle more than half way. Once there, it was a major traffic jam with people, but once you found your way to the railings you saw some wonderful views of the Vatican and the city of Rome. Speaking of seeing the views, I just want to let you know that a few days prior to Ann arriving, and still continuing, the sun has been out bright, and it has been a perfect temperature (70-75) to enjoy the days adventures. Getting down to earth again, we had thought we would make it to the catacombs, but time has gotten to late, so we instead headed off for a grocery store, bought some fruit, and other items for lunch, and then headed off the Borghese Gallery. We got there about 4 and settled down for a late lunch. Come 5, and we were in…thank you Lord !!! The Borghese Gallery is a private museum, that is filled with “The” best sculptures I have seen, and a treasure of paintings and frescoes. Not only the sculptures and paintings, but the building itself, is a masterpiece. It all was a private collection in the 17th century of Cardinal Borghese. There are more than a couple of pieces that I wont forget, but one in particular, is Bernini’s Apollo Chasing Daphne. In the mythological story, Apollo races after Daphne, and just as he is about to reach her, she turns into a tree… You have to see this in person to really know just how good it is…my words just can’t do it. Ok, it’s getting dark again, and tomorrows a moving day….to Assisi 17 October ’05, Monday. What is this, the St Peter’s Dome is still closed ??? Ok, we’ll give it one more day, so let’s head over to the Vatican Museum. Since it was closed yesterday (Sunday), and the dome is still closed, the line was wrapped around 2 corners of the Vatican wall and half way up the street. Checking out the speed of the line, we decided that we would wait it out and find a place in line. With so many in close quarters and for an extended length of time, we found the opportunity to find and talk to some very interesting people from all corners of the world. Finally getting to the front doors and getting our tickets to enter, we enjoyed ourselves for the next 4 hours. The book says that there is over 4 miles of displays, and my feet tell me that they totally agree with that figure. In visiting this museum it is virtually impossible to get off track or lost. The crowd will take you with it, or when it thins, you are taken from one room to another whether you want to go that way or not. The art work is some of the best that is found in Europe and then as you think you have seen the best, you are brought out into the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo’s talent was at his best when he was brought in to do the ceilings and other areas of the Sistine Chapel. It is absolutely some of the best we have had the opportunity to see. Fortunately we had an audio presentation of all the museum and Sistine Chapel’s art. It would have been a waste not to have had it. We had heard a rumor that the dome at St Peters had opened, so we headed there one more time. Well, rumors are just that…rumors. It looks like we will have to come back tomorrow after all. One thing we did find, we found that the Pope was having a special service for the participants of the “General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops”. They were at the Vatican to discuss “The Eucharist, Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church”. Well, we felt this might be a once in a life time experience to attend a mass given by the Pope in St Peters Basilica, so we stuck around. It was interesting to watch the Swiss Guards, the priests and the nuns arriving. We were thrilled to be among the 3-400 general populous to take in this service…quite a thrill. With the service ending at 7, we decided that this was the time to make our “night tour”. It’s not that we weren’t tired, it just seemed that seeing as how we were already there, why go all the way home (back to the van). We caught an underground tram back to the Spanish Steps, and started out our “night walk”. First the Steps, and then onto Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and finally Campo de Fiori. During the walk I think we saw at least 6 wonderful fountains that had some of the most incredible marble sculptures. Or course Trevi Fountain was the most impressive…and we even tossed our coins into the fountain… Just as we were approaching our final stop, Campo de Fiori, I felt kind of a light slap or touch on my back. Well, it turned out to be 3 young boys that had come up behind me. One of them reached up and unzipped one of the zippers on my backpack, while the other two ran up on each side trying to distract my attention to what I thought I had felt. Well, it didn’t work, I knew immediately what had and was happening. When I turned to face the oldest kid, they all stopped and took off empty handed. Finishing up our walk, we turned around and headed back to the station and on to our welcoming bed. We caught the last train and the last campground bus…it was 11:30 and we have a big day again tomorrow. 16 October ’05, Sunday. “Come on, we’ve got to be there by 10:30”…(we understood that the Pope was going to make his Sunday appearance). The train was full of people heading for St Peters Basilica, and when we got off, it seemed like the whole world had arrived. As we made our way to the Piazza St Pietro (in front of the Basilica), we noticed that most of the people were in fact heading into St Peters. Well, we found a spot that we thought would be a good spot to see the Pope, so we settled in. It wasn’t long that we found that we were a little early, like 2 hours, so we decided to head out for a while, and then come back. In coming back and finding our spot still available, we settled in to see the Sunday blessing and message of the Pope. Following that, we joined the throng and went in to see St. Peters ourselves. This is known as “the richest and greatest church on earth”, and when you visit it, you come out with the same feeling. Our heads were almost fused in the position of looking up after spending hours inside. Just inside the main entrance we found Michelangelo’s “Pieta”. There is no doubt that I could re-write all the books that we have read and put them here, but right now I just want to say that visiting St. Peters Basilica was and will be one of the highlights of our journey to Europe. We were in hopes of getting to the dome of St Peters, but it was closed. Thankful that we will be in Rome a few more days, we all said “we’ll be back”… Looking at our books and a map, we decided to walk over to see Castle Angelo, or also known as Hadrians Tomb. This was originally built as a tomb for the emperor, Hadrian. In the middle ages it was used as a castle, prison and place for the popes to take refuge in. It was interesting to know that during the Roman times, there could be no “tomb”, not even fort the emperor’s, that could be built within the walls of Rome. So to counter that, he had it built across the River Tiber and built it high enough that all of Rome could see it no matter where they stood. Dinner time…it is amazing just how fast time gets away from us, so off we go, back to “Bumble Bee” and our dinner. Tomorrow is just a few hours away, and we will be back to continue Rome. 15 October ’05, Saturday. What a day…arriving in Rome first thing in the morning (10:30), we headed for the Spanish Steps, took some of our first pictures, and then headed for the Borghese Gallery. Now every guide book tells us that “YOU NEED TO SET UP AN APPOINTMENT” to visit the Borghese…who, us ??? Finding the Borghese wasn’t too hard, but it was quite a walk from the Spanish Steps. The up side, it was like walking through “Central Park” in any town USA. Hoping that we would be lucky enough to get right in, but knowing that it might be a slim chance in hell, we headed on. When I walked into the ticket counter I found out right away, that what we had read, was right on…NO WAY JOSE !!! “Call us at this phone number and we will see what we can do for you on Tuesday”…Tuesday?, that is a long way off…OK, Tuesday… Hiking off dejected, we headed to see some of the Roman ruins, but first we had to find our way out of there. We went looking for the underground metro which wasn’t too much of a problem. The big surprise, was that in finding the underground, we also found a large grocery store and a short-cut back to the Spanish Stairs. Finding the grocery store is always one of the important things we will store in the back of our mind. Now we are on our way to see the ruins…first, the Pantheon. At one time way back in antiquities, the Pantheon was a place dedicated to all pagan gods of Rome. It was also one of the only ruins that wasn’t used as a quarry. Then, in 608 it became a Christian church. Michaelangelo also went to the Pantheon to study the huge dome. This was then used as a model for St. Peters Basilica. The difference is, St Peters is much higher but 3 feet less diameter. Then it was off to find the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Well it was nothing that wasn’t expected, the Forum and the Colosseum are as advertised…”Amazing” !!! I could go into a lot of detail about the different highlights of the Forum and what we saw, but I just want to say that it is HUGE!!! You could just see the chariots running through the streets. Then comes the Colosseum. It could hold over 55,000 people that came out to see the “Gladiators” fight to the death, whether fighting another Gladiator or a wild animal. They even tried to fill the Colosseum with water a couple of times and put 2 fifty foot fighting ships to fight to the end. The problem with that, was the ships were too large and wouldn’t sink in the depth of water available and also couldn’t maneuver inside the area. Oh yes, we also learned that there were no wives brought into see the excitement of the Gladiators, but sitting in the highest levels of the Colosseum were the “ladies of the night. And then sitting next to the Emperors box, was the “Vestal Virgins”…we’ll tell you more about them later… We did join a tour guide for the Colosseum, and found it to be worth while. With the sun setting, I gathered my “Vestal Virgins”, headed across the street, had a beer and snaks while watching the lights accent the Colosseum and the city. Then back to the van. When finally getting back, we found just how tired we were…absolutely wiped out !!! Well, tomorrow is another day in Rome, and we had better get used to that wore out feeling. 14 October ’05, Friday. Because we knew that Ann was going to have to work her way through “jet lag”, we planned a light day. We did make it into Rome about 11:30 in the morning, and that was early for the way the morning started (tough time getting Ann out of bed..). The weather has remained sunny in the low to mid 70’s, and if this continues it will be a great time for us to explore Rome. Once in town, one of the first things Ann wanted to do was get herself some Euros. Then, we were off to see “the city that wasn’t built in a day” and spend some of those new Euros. I’ll do some name dropping now to let you know what we saw…first it was the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli (one of the baths of the Diocletian and the very cool transcript), and then the church of Santa Maria Maggiorie, which is one of Rome’s oldest. Now because “Auntie Ann” has arrived, it doesn’t mean I am going to change my habit of eating…sooo, we stopped for lunch. We found the TI and they gave us a suggestion of a restaurant that “all the locals” go too. Thinking this would just meet our requirements, we headed over. Ann had quiche and glass of Italian wine, while Louise had salad (boring…) and a glass of vino as well. Now that we have the ladies hooked, all I’ve got to do is keep them there… Then with one more church to see, we headed over to Santa Maria del Popolo. This is Raphael’s “Chigi Chapel” and has 2 wonderful Caravaggio paintings from the 13th century. Ok, that is enough, now we have to take it a little easier so we don’t wear our new guest out. To do this we found the stop for the “Hop on Hop off” bus. Buying the tickets, we took a long ride with them and have now seen the whole city the easy way. Fact is, we took the bus all the way around to our train stop…it was time to head home for a barbeque of good ole fashioned hamburgers by me… Tomorrow…more Rome 13 October '05, Thursday First just a quick up-date on the last couple days. Tuesday we just hung around the campground and did "nothing", but a little catch up on a little laundry. Wednesday we stayed in camp until 3 and then caught the campground bus down to the train station into Rome. We didn't want to see or do anything "sightseeing" before Ann arrived, so we just went looking for a cash machine and a grocery store. We were never able to find a grocery store, but we finally found a cash machine...we were down to $0.70 in my pocket. Taking care of that, we caught the next train back. The train station is about a 20 minute walk from the campground, and they have a bus that makes the trip every half hour. While waiting for the bus, we did find a "mini-market", so we picked up a couple of items there. We did see something interesting on the street in front of the grocery store. On one side of the street was the grocery store and a "tobac" shoppe, and then on the other, is a concrete wall that stands about 3 1/2 feet tall. Lined along this wall, were about 30 men, all in a joyful converstation and each enjoying a beer. Fact is, they had been enjoying quite a few beers...the top of the wall was filled with tall bottles. They could go into the mini-market, buy a large beer for less than a Euro, take it across the street, lean on the wall with all their buddies, and enjoy a "beer hall" of their own without the cost of one. Well, today is the day..."Auntie Ann" arrives from Spokane. We left early for the airport so that we could look for a super market along the way. The only market we did find, was in a small town about 5 miles beyond the airport, but the important thing is, we did find one and it was a good one... We found everything we were looking for and for Italian standards, a good value as well. Leaving the grocery store, we headed off for the airport with about 30 minutes to spare before Ann was to land. Fortunately the time of landing and the time of her actually coming out of the airport to meet us in front of "C" terminal, was much different. Fact is, it was about 45 minutes additional...AND WE NEEDED IT... I just don't understand it, just when you feel you have everything under control, you are hit by a sign that is either missing or non-existent. We got lost again...fact is, we were lost for about 45 minutes. Luckily enough, we did beat Ann to the pick-up area, although Louise went in one door looking for her and Ann came out another...now where is Louise??? While I was "triple" parked for over 20 minutes, the police lady came up and wanted me to move. We were now without my wife... OK, Louise found, Ann has arrived and made her trip out to the campground, checked in, had dinner, and is now having a "family" conversation with her sister (Louise). I just to let everyone at home know that all the conversation is "totally about them", the juicy stuff... Tomorrow...Rome 10 October '05, Monday. We found Tiber Camping in a couple of our camping books, but they had conflecting information. Finding a place in Rome that will be close enough to get us into the sites with out having to travel all day was one of the first things of interest to us. Second was how well the campground was run and how clean the toilet and shower areas are. This is were the conflecting information came in..."very rustic" to "new toilet facilities"...we held our breath and hoped for the best. It is very nice, and "Auntie:" Ann will have to wait to see some of the others, and I'm sure she will... This may sound like a broken record, but we had some more washing to take care of and then it was off to find a grocery store. The grocery store in Italy is one of the hardest to secure. They are not very plentiful, and when found, they are small...no "Hyper-markets" here... Oh ya, we also found the IKEA store, so we had to make a visit there as well. "We will be back" before we leave Rome... In looking for "that perfect pitch", here in the campground, we met another American couple that have purchased a class B motorhome and are making an extended camping trip through Europe. And then parking in the next 2 spots to them, were 2 Brits who are also doing the same thing. About 2 years seems to be the length common to all. I hope we can keep in touch. As it was, everyone has some very interesting tales to tell. |
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