Buongiorno, Roma!

Of course, there’s nothing ‘uneventful’ about this trip! It is Mitchell’s first trip off the North American continent and he’s determined to experience everything he can, including Fish ‘n Chips and Guiness at almost  0:Darkhundred in the morning during our stopover in London.

Both flights were calm and smooth and all of our luggage managed to arrive at the same time we did. Our transfer representative met us at the Rome airport and soon after we were on our way. We are staying at the Hotel Nord Nuova, a small boutique-type hotel near the train station. Although our room is rather small, it is quite comfy for our needs, and the rest of the hotel is quite nice. There’s a rooftop patio with a bar and some nice views. It’s a bonus that there is practically no building in downtown Rome over 7 storeys high…

Tuesday afternoon was spent near the hotel since we all took a little time to acclimatize to the time change. Norm and Barb took a short walk around and found some restaurants only a couple of blocks away - not that there is ANY shortage of restaurants - every second storefront is a Trattoria, Osteria, or Gelateria, or so it seems. We found a nice looking place with a large patio area, and settled in for our first real Italian meal, and Mitch’s first Roman pizza!

On Wednesday our first stop was the Vatican Tour. The only disappointment here was that Pope Benedict wasn’t in residence, so there was no Wednesday blessing - something Norm had been looking forward to seeing. Oh, well; apparently the Pope’s time on the balcony is so short that you might miss it if you blinked anyway. Here are some of our photos.

A tabletop model of Vatican City.  Total area:  110 acres, plus the Pope's summer residence at Castelgondolfo outside of Rome.

This last image is from a corner of one of the 'Rafael Rooms'.  Rafael was painting frescoes on the walls in some of the rooms at the same time Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel.  It is more than amazing that you can look carefully at these paintings and literally see the original brushstrokes!

I hope Mitch will be gracious enough to share some of the surreptitious photos he took on his phone camera in the Sistine Chapel. The guards are rather strict about not taking pictures (apparently Nikon has the exclusive rights to any images), but since most of the interesting stuff is on the ceiling anyway, as long as the camera is out of sight, you can take a chance or two that you’ll get something good.

'The Boys' inside St. Peter's Basilica.  Surprisingly, no lightning strikes were reported - Thanks, Mom!!

In the afternoon, we walked the ‘north side’ of downtown. From our hotel, we went to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, where we stayed for dinner. Taking all of the advice we had received about not eating in the piazzas to heart, and going by last night’s great experience, we wandered a block or two off Navona and found a nice little place with tables on the sidewalk. It was yet another excellent meal.

This is the little sidestreet where we had dinner, just off Piazza Navona, just as the moon was rising.

All in all, a great, full day. And tomorrow promises to be just as interesting - Ancient Rome and Trastevere.