Arreviderci Jocey and Italy, Guten Tag Austria

Rome, Italy    July 27, 2015

Monday morning we had an uneventful drive from Montepulciano to Rome through the beautiful Italian countryside. Our rental car has GPS which is a godsend because it directed us very efficiently and quickly to our rental car drop off point.  GPS would have saved Tim much stress over the years but he would not have some of the wonderful stories to tell of his driving adventures  in Europe.  We took a taxi to our apartment which is located in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome.  The neighborhood is a warren of small little winding streets.  For a long time it was a working class neighborhood but in recent years has become the location of many restaurants, bars and lower end of the market shops.  Our apartment is tiny, our least favorite of the four we have rented.  After a brief meeting with our landlord we went out exploring.  Tim was still not feeling well so he sat and sipped a Sprite while Lynda and Jocey shared a pizza.

We really did not do justice to Rome.  There are two reasons. 1. The intense heat has finally got the best of all three of us. 2. Tim has had a bug since Sunday.  Tuesday we walked to the Vatican and joined the line to enter St. Peter's.  It was a humungous line but moved suprisingly quickly.  By now, Jocey was suffering from a migrane so we were a pretty miserable lot.  Even so, we were in awe of the beauty that is St. Peters'.  We marveled at Michealangelo's "Pieta".  Pope John Paul II's tomb is located in the main bascillica. We also went down into the crypt where all of the rest of the popes tombs are located. Most impressive was a view of the location of the the remains of St. Peter.  Upon leaving St. Peter's the plan was to visit the Sistine Chapel. We were all whipped so we went back to the apartment where we all took naps.  Later in the day, we walked across the river to the Pantheon, what we think is a very underappreciated landmark in Rome.  The Pantheon is an impressive domed structure that is actually a church. It is also the resting place of the remains of Victor Emmanuel, considered the father of Rome.  Jocey, feeling better after her nap, was very impressed with the Pantheon. It was a short walk from the Pantheon to the Piazza Navona, probably our favorite spot in Rome. On our first trip to Rome, in 1984, we stayed in a hostel run by Dutch Nuns for non-catholic visitors that was located just off of the Piazza Navona.  The Piazza is a huge open plaza surrounded on all sides by wonderful  restaurants and numerous souvenier shops.  At night it comes to life with the central part of the plaza covered with artists either trying to sell there art or offering to do sketches of the tourists.  In 1984 we had sketches of both Jil and Jeff done that still hang next to their senior pictures at home. Five years ago we surprised Jil and Rob with a sketch of Madison and on this evening we had a sketch done of Jocey.  Besides the artists, there are also entertainers on the Piazza.  It really is a wonderful place to visit on a night in Rome.  We completed the evening by having dinner at a trattoria across the alley from the entrance to the hostel that we stayed in all those years ago.

Wednesday morning we started the day at Trevi Fountain.  It is said that if you stand with your back to the fountain and throw three coins over your right shoulder into the fountain you will return to Rome.  Who are we to argue. It worked for us.  Unfortunately, to do this, the fountain has to be open. It is currently closed for repair and refurbishing.  There is plexiglass surrounding the fountain so you can still see what it looks like.  Jocey said it would be impressive when operational.  We were amazed at the number of tourist there to see a closed fountain, but, of course, we were there. After lunch, Jocey and Lynda visited the Cappuccin Cyrpt. This crypt is the repository of the bones of all the Cappuccin Monks since the 1500's. In one room all of the thigh bones are arranged in an artful design, the next room will have all the femurs, etc.  The Cappuccin's must be some fun group of Monks. From there we took a taxi to the Colosseum with the plan to see how long the line was to get in.  Once we pulled up to the Colosseum Jocey announced that she had seen enough so it was back to the apartment where the adults again took long naps.  Wednesday evening was spent strolling about Trastevere and enjoying one final dinner together in Italy.

As we write this blog on Thursday morning we are at the Rome airport, having entrusted Jocey to Delta Airlines to safely return her to her parents.  We will catch a plane to Zurich, Switzerland, collect a rental car, and drive to Salzburg tonight.

Jocelyn has been a wonderful travel companion. She was always willing to explore with us and was even comfortable enough to go out on her own for very short excursions.  We saw very few sites that were new to us, but loved watching Jocey experience them for the first time. We are also looking forward to hearing what she told her parents about her travel experiences with her grandparents.

Our next report will come to you from Salzburg.  In the meantime, we recommend that you watch the movie, "The Sound of Music" so that you are in the proper frame of mind for our next blog.

Ciao/Guten Tag