Printing My Journal

As you can see by the date above, I have been home for several weeks. Have just today taken the time to print out my journal pages. I hope to add pictures and other things as time permits to have a Journal to read and share. Memories....... Enjoyed a wonderful visit with my siblings upon arriving back in the USA. Brother Joseph, who had been staying at our home in Palmetto, has been such a big help to Philip and Betty while I was away. He home went up to his winter home in Zephyrhills after picking Martha and I up at the Tampa Airport. Philip and Joseph had made welcome home signs for us and even had a wonderful carrot cake and ice cream waiting for us to enjoy. Wednesday morning Martha and I got our laundry done and then went to visit with our older sister, Betty. We were both having issues with Jet Lag and lack of sleep. Sister Shirley,visiting from Indiana, picked the two of us up Thursday morning and we drove north to Joe's home as Shirley and Martha had never seen it. Joe treated us all to a great Brunch before we headed back to Palmetto. On Friday we five were all together, for the first time in five years. Had a great early dinner at Anna Marie's Osyter Bar, thank you very much Shirley. And took lots of pictures before it was time to part again. Saturday morning we took Martha back to the Tampa Airport and she was off for California.

Sunday - Our last day in Rome

Our last day in Rome started with Martha and I headed down to Santa Marie Maggorie for an early Sunday morning mass. Back to the hostel for our favorite omelet breakfast. We four girls have been splitting up most day to. Go out in pairs as we all like to explore at different speeds. But this being our last full day together we thought it would be great to spend them together. First thing was for a group headshot of all of us laying on the floor in our dorm...neat shot and nice thing is we all look so much younger lying on our backs. :> )

Our destination today is the old part of Rome called Trastevere. Off we went on a very full bus till we got close to the Tiber river. We explored 3 churches. First,  San Crisogono then we walked thru a wonderful neighborhood of old building with all kinds of homes and shops...cameras were out taking lots of pictures. Our second church , Chiesa di Santa Marie in Trastevere. Beautiful church right in the middle of mass. These old church's usually always have a pulpit (a high place to speak from) located in the middle of the church. These were used before they had loudspeaker systems. But for the first time ever that we have seen, the priest took the gospel book down the church and read to all from this special place. Outside we found a lady doing intricate inlaid tile work. She had many beautiful items for sale....but because of space limitations in my bag, I settled for a small cross with an inlaid dove.

  Our third church was Santa Cecilla. Again, beautiful with a sad story of Cecilla. I wonder if we would have the fortitude to stand up for our beliefs today as they did back then, knowing that they faced almost certain death. By this time we were back to the Tiber RIver crossed over the bridge near the island in the middle, where stands an old and famous hospital, still in use. Lots of merchants with items to sell on the bridge. Bonnie and Jane each got good prices on new purses.

Now we were in the Jewish section of Rome . During the war they called this area The ghetto...many people were transported from this area. We plan to go into the Synagogue but took pictures from the outside inside as you could only view the inside by tour groups. Also an old theatre is being restored from the old roman ruins. We found a large Sunday afternoon market in full swing on the campo de Fiori. Stopped at an outdoor cafe and had our main meal of the day. I had cannelloni stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach. After some more wondering around we caught another very crowed bus back to the Termini and back to the hostel for a short rest before heading out again. This time on another very crowded metro train that took us to the Piazza del Popolo, which is near the top of the Spanish Steps. I think that Martha is the only one of us that's ever been to see this beautiful piazza... An old sign on the wall said " this site is an artistic treasure, belonging to Roma, and the whole world. ". Please help us to keep it clean and attractive.

From here we decided to bypass the stairs and make our way slowly up the well worn path leading us up into the Borghese Gardens. The closer we got to the center of the Campo Marzio the more we realized that this is how Italian families spend their Sunday afternoons.... In the park. We saw so much activity, bikes to rent, many made for a family of 4 to 6 people with sun roofs and all, roller skaters, some doing fancy tricks, musicians, artist, lovers entwined out on the grassy lawns. At one point near where we would exit the park we found a huge overlook of the city of Roma at sunset...wow. Talk about picture time. Also near the end we could hear wonderful music being played by a man with a series of horns and backup on his computer. We listen for a long time than each found ourselves purchasing his CD as when we play this music at home it will remind us of Roma and our final magicial day. But we were not quite done because as we walked downhill out of the park, we found ourselves at the top of the famous Spanish steps.

Bonnie and I walked on down the gently sloping narrow sidewalk, Martha and Jane the more adventures of our foursome! made their way up to the top and then down the famous steps. Meeting at the boat fountain at the bottom we all decided on a gelato before the crowded metro that would take up home for the night.... A tired but happy group. Actually our dorm of eight was quite active tonight and it was. Lose to midnight before every one settled down for the night. Oh yes. We had been talking about not seeing any traffic accidents on our trip...about 10 we heard this loud crash outside our open dorm windows...yep, right down the street 2 cars ran Into each other and also involved a park car.

I am typing this on Monday ... All ready for our trip to the airport, Martha wanted to go out walking again...so sent her off with Bonnie and Jane,who have one more night before leaving, with a promise that she will be back by 2:30. I am happy to get this type then will sit comfortable with my computer and books till she comes back to pick me up. It's been fun traveling with all of you these past six weeks. hope you have enjoyed reading my blogs

Saturday - A. Day trip to Ostia Antica

10/19. Saturday..trip to Ostia Antica and St Paul's  This morning after another wonderful omelet breakfast here at our hostel, Martha and I first started out to go see the old part of the city called Trastevere. But, since the city is in the middle of demonstrations, especially around the tourist areas, we changed our minds and got on the metro and then the train to travel outside of the city and visit the old port city of Ostia Antica that like Pompeii was buried, only in sand instead of lava, and has now been excavated.

We spent several hours wandering the grounds of this, at one time, very large city. Could have stayed much longer than we did, but felt that we had seen enough and were ready to get back to the train and on to our next stop.

The papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. In Rome there are 4 churches which are considered Vatican property. Of course, St. Peter's, Santa Marie Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano and Saint Paul Outside the Walls. St. Paul's is the second largest roman church after the Vatican. This is the church where they have oval tile pictures around the top of their walls of all the Popes. Their are only Six empty ovals left on the walls....??? It's a beautiful church and I enjoyed seeing it again. I found out several new things about this church..one being that it was actually built over the grave of St. Peter's.

Soon we were back on the metro headed for Rome....we noticed that the metro went right pass the stop for the. Colosseum, which meant there was a possibility of a problem in that area and they were not taking any chances....back to the hostel we ate our picnic dinner on the patio as we listened to the helicopters circling the area. We started out for 6 PM Mass, but much to Martha dismay, I insisted that we turn around as their was two much commotion for me. Any way it's been an exciting night with much conversation here at the hostel about the noise outside.

Friday - a rest day and a night out Maybe ?

10/18. ..strike and protest day Today the girls are off at 10 for a reserved viewing of all the art at the Borghese Museum. When this reservation was made many weeks ago I, at the time, said that I would rather. Take a day off as I had done this museum back in 2009. It was lovely but not one that I would like to see twice. So I have had a very quiet time napping and catching up on my computer.

Martha said that she might be back around two and she has a church that she wants me to see. Depending on several things we might also get out to see Rome with it's lights on after dark. Right now I assume that we are having protests outside and think the metro and buses may be on strike as the girls took a taxi to get over to the Borghese this morning......anyway we have lots of helicopters flying around Rome today......Will add more to this later. 7:30 PM...... Martha did get back at 2:45 then she and I went over to see Bernini's statue of St Theresa in Ecstasy. The church was closed until 3:30 so went over to Santa Maria Deli Angelle Del Martiri church that is located the former ancient Baths of Diocletian which were huge. The last work of Michelangelo was to turn these ancient ruins into a wonderful church. When we were here in 2009, we attended an early mass on Easter morning. But today we went into the Back area and found a wonderful room of descriptive boards in many languages showing and explaining what this building once was and how it was turned into a church. By now we were able to get the first church and view Bernini's statue of St Theresa. Saw lots of police and military personal all around the area....so back to our hostel we went a quick stop for a few groceries and we had our dinner at the hostel. Bonnie and Jane came back after spending several hours touring in the Colossume and have now gone back out to dine. We have bee working on our computers and visiting with a new roommate from Denver.

10/17. Thursday - Scavi tour and more of Rome

10/17. Thursday - Scavi Tour plus This morning we were up early and on our way to a very busy Metro towards St.Peters for our Reserved Scavi tour. This is a guided tour of the excavated areas below St Peters. Very interesting and feel that we learned at lot about the time that St. Peter was alive in Rome. The tour ended at St. Peter's tomb just below the main altar in the Basilica. We then saw that the line to climb to the top of the cupola, which is usually long, was very short so off we went into the lift which took us up 7 floors to the rooftop of St. Peter's. Here we left Bonnie and the 3 of us climbed the 320 very steep and narrow steps all the way up and then back down after viewing Rome from the very top of St Peters. This was a thrilling accomplishment for me as I had been to the rooftop before but never to the top of the cupola. What a view!!!!!

Back down at the rooftop we met with Bonnie.... She and Jane decided to stay on at St Peters as they wanted to do a complete view....it actually took them 3 hours. But Martha and I have been here several times, 2 days ago actually, and just needed to visit John Paul's grave site before we left. We took the metro over to see San Giovanni in laterano, this is Pope Francis home parish in Rome. Beautiful church..almost as large as St Peters. Here we first heard news of a protest going on and possible strike on Friday. Walked over to see the church of the sacred stairs but found it closed until three.

Martha and I continued to walk in the area looking for the street that would take us to the Colosseum when we happened on a building which is currently involved in some protest movements in the city right now ...Museo Storico Della Libranzione. Got some picture and went on our way... It had been a Long time since breakfast so we stopped at the Si Clemente cafe to share a pizza and coffees before continuing on our way as by this time we could see the top of the colosseum in the distance. As usual, I only wanted to see and get pictures of the outside of this ancient building. Besides, you can see a lot of the insides while walking around the outside.

. Soon we found the Other metro line and were on our way back home. Some groceries at the store in the termi and we had our dinner meal out In the patio of our building... Shared our last bottle of wine from Serronto with Darrel who lives in our room. Actually we needed his help to get it opened. Martha said she slept so good last night after finishing off that bottle of red. By 10 PM I was in bed when Bonnie and Jane walked in after a late dinner and seeing the Rome sights at night with the lights on. This is something that we were going to do, but my legs gave out......MAYBE FRIDAY NIGHT ???

Wednesday - A date with the Pope

10/16. Wednesday A Date with the Pope Today was the audience with the Pope Francis and 6,000 other people. since we did Not feel the need to sit up close, you get to the square by sunrise to do that. We left the beehive mid morning on the metro and arrived just after 10 AM... Of course, that what everybody who did not have tickets, and yes we had a ticket for a seat, but with the crush of people we could not get anywhere near the seats. So ended up watching the big screens to see the pope circle around in his Popemobile  And then walk up to the stage to welcome everyone, which was then repeated in many languages. Pope Francis gave us a rousing speech. Which was in Italian but much of it was easy to understand, especially with the reactions from the crowds of people. When they started to repeat this speech for the many different countries present, I knew that it was time for me to leave. Bonnie and Jane did not want to leave, so bless her heart! 'Martha got me out and on a bus headed back to the beehive....where I plan to spend the rest of the day....every so often I need down time and this afternoon is it. Tomorrow Martha has plans for me to climb the bell tower at St Peters.

10/15. Tuesday - Vatican and Rome's Hot Spots

10/15 Tuesday. Vatican and Popular spots in Rome  Up early as we had 9:30 tickets for a guided tour of the Vatican Gardens. wonderful... No crowds to speak of and our guide did a beautiful job of explaining everything to us. At the highest point in the gardens a cleared area was pointed out to us as the helicopter pad, nearby was a circular tower building that Pope John XXIII had refurbished as an important guest residence during the early 1960's. She also pointed out the building that is the current residence of the former Pope Benedict. While there a door opened and out come a beautiful black and white kitty, with an aide keeping a watchful eye out as he strolled in the sunshine. Yes, our guide said.. This is one of several cats that Pope Benedict keeps.

At the end of our garden tour we went straight into the Vatican Museum...now this is where we found the crowds of tourist. Many we were told from the cruise boats anchored in the bay outside of Rome. Martha and I have both seen this lovely museum so the four of us split agreeing to meet later in the day back at our hostel. The twins did a fast tour as we plunged thru the massive crowds of people and were done in about an hour or so. Bonnie and Jane spent at least 5 hours enjoying this museum. We on the other hand went from the Sistine chapel direct into St Peters basilica . We decided to keep the bell tower and Pope John Paul's crypt till after the Scavi tour on Thursday as we would again end up back inside of St. Peter's and be much more rested to climb lots of steps. So we just visited the Pieta and my favorite Cherub holy water fountain, and a few other areas before heading out to catch a bus back towards the hostel.

Next we ended up on another bus to find the American college where we would pick up our tickets for tomorrow's Papal Audience. While searching for this we happened on a completely unexpected Changing of the Guards Ceremony at the Italian headquarters in Rome. lot of fun taking pictures of this ceremony. We finally found the right place and picked up our tickets. In addition this afternoon we visited St Ignazio Di Loyola Church where I did a prayer stop while lighting a candle for family members, thru a coin into the famous and well packed with people! Trevi Fountain, watched people sitting on the Spanish Steps... Treated ourselves to some lemon gelato....and caught the. Metro back home . A stop at the market inside the train station and we had dinner to enjoy on our hostel patio. I

10/14 Monday Travel Day to Rome

10/14 Monday travel day to rome Up early good breakfast we cleaned up the apartment, settled with land lady and were on our way up the hill by10 on our way to the train station to meet Bonnie and Jane . We had a mixup as to where we were to meet and ended up that they just made the train to Naples with very few minutes to spare. After the second stop the train was full with lots of people standing in the aisle. Reached Naples after a 2 hour ride, found a place for lunch and by 3:15 we were on our way to Rome on another very crowded train. But on this one we did have assigned seating, which was good and I found a very nice, tall, young man to help with my suitcase. It was a hoot to watch Bonnie and Jane get their big suitcase up...Bonnie was standing on the train seat and Jane was pushing it in....missed a really good camera shot. But at the end of the ride I asked ,the nice tall young man, to get all the cases down for us and he was very kind to do it. Walked down and got checked into our Hostel, The Beehive. This is a first for Bonnie and Jane....last night went just fine. Then we all went out to find a place to eat. After talking with Phil I was in bed by 10 PM.

Sunday - Our Lady of Fatima arrives in Rome Today.

10/13. Sunday - Our lady of Fatima arrives in Rome Today But we are still in Sorrento so will have to see her this next week while we are in Rome. After a great breakfast in our kitchen we were off for the lift to attend 10 AM Mass at one of the many churches in Sorrento. On the way up Jane called to say that she was headed to the bus for a trip to Amalfi. Took me awhile but I finally convinced Martha that I would be just fine on my own today..so off she went to join Jane for the day. Bonnie also is having a day off to pack and do laundry as they have been here for two weeks.

BTW it's now 12:30 and Martha just called to check up on me and to let me know that they are still not to Amalfi fact is they are not even half way yet. They had to wait an hour for another bus. Once they get to Amalfi plan is to take another bus to Ravello. So am not expecting them home till late tonight. Me... I really enjoyed the 10 AM Mass and found that I can follow along pretty good on the Italian Mass printouts. It is so much easier to follow than the French ones.

After mass I made my way towards the lift, which will bring me down to the harbor, stopping on the way to shop... Found a tile with the black dog on it so bought it for Philip. Walked over to our, on the beach, internet spot and checked my emails on my IPOD... Hoping to fine a new email from Phil, but didn't find anything but junk mail. On the way back to the stairs for our apartment I decided to enjoy a break of cappuccino and a treat of ice cream. Upstairs now I am going to have a protein drink and some fruit and bread for lunch. Then I will go back downstairs and try to post this blog. 10/13 More on Sunday

. About 2PM I realized why my legs were itching so...I have been standing for an hour on beach sand posting....must have been sand fleas biting my ankles cause once I left the beach they stopped itching..back up the 61 steps to our apartment...that's two round trips or 244 steps today..oh my aching knees. Know that I have at least one more, and most likely 2 more trips today ...that would be 488 !!!! Martha just called again and looks like they are catching the 4:30 boat home. Then we plan to eat out tonight with all of us celebrating our last night in Serronto.

My time on the beach was well spent. No email from Phil but I did get Saturdays blog posted and also the start of today, Sunday. Checked emails and Facebook . Actually posted some pictures from yesterday to Facebook and transferred most of the pictures on My IPOD. And sent a couple of emails...lot done in one hour. Will finish this later after dinner. Martha just called at 4:45 and said they were on the boat and should be here during next 30 minutes or so. I have had a fun afternoon doing a lot of people watching in between packing and reading my book which is so like Downton Abbey that as I read I keep seeing the people from the TV show in my minds eye.... Their script is a direct take off from this book.

Martha and Jane got back about 6 PM...... I met their boat then we took the lift up to the town. We had not heard from Bonnie so we walked over to her favorite restaurant. While searching the tables for her she walked up to us on the sidewalk. We decided to eat our last dinner right where we were. I had spaghetti ....real Italian spaghetti.... Wow a great meal with red wine and bread. As it was after 8 PM Martha and I walked back down to the harbor and up to our room got over computers and are now at the B&B using the internet . By the time we walk back up again I will have done 4 round trips or 488 steps today. Guess that offsets the chocolate bar we plan to eat before bed. Tomorrow is a travel day as we leave for Rome.

Saturday a trip to Naples

10/12 Saturday - A visit to Naples A rainy morning again but by 10 it had pretty well quit so the four of us decided to make a trip to Naples by boat. At noon in a light rain we set off for Naples. It was about a 45 minute ride. We all decided that the best way to get to the National Archeological Museum of Naples would be by taxi. We spent 3 hours looking at the finest art and artifacts that have been excavated from Pompeii and others cities destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Plus a lot of Roman and Greek statuary in great huge halls. Many of these statues are over 10 feet tall. My take on this museum is the best tile picture was "the black dog" which reminded me of our dog coco. The weirdest.... The gated secret rooms of the Erotic frescoes, well hung pottery and perky statues that once decorated brothels and bedrooms of Pompeii. The most interesting was the clay model of the city of Pompeii which took up one large room. As I had visited Pompeii back in 2009 I found it fun to remember seeing it in person and finding buildings that I remembered. This museum had many, many sets of stairs to go up and down.....soon my arthritic knee was giving me problems. Was wishing that I had brought my knee brace which was sitting back in my room. But with Martha's arm for support I made my way around the museum.

Outside off we went, my offer of a taxi ride fell on deaf ears, so down the street we walked and walked. We were looking for the pizza place of Julie Roberts fame as listed in the Rick Steve's book. An unexpected bonus was the large Duomo of Naples, Chiesa Cattedrale Di Napoli. Saturday mass was going on and the kids were doing a lot of singing. It is a huge beautiful church to see. Am so glad that we were able to stop and see it. On we walked and walked with Bonnie leading the way, Rick Steve's book in her hand. YES, this must be the place as it had people lined up outside waiting to get in.

We actually were given a number. After about a half hour wait we were taken to a table and asked for our order. Pizza without cheese or pizza with extra cheese which is what we ordered of course tomato sauce was on all. To drink it was beer,coke or water with gas. On the walls were several pictures of Julie Roberts when she was making the movie, Eat, Love and Pray..... Would I go back again NO, But the experience was one to be remembered.

Our next goal was to find the train station...by now it was 75PM... Tickets were purchased for our return trip to Rome on Monday afternoon. Then we went to find the little train that will take us back to Sorrento. We made this train with 5 minutes to spare. Arrive back home just after 8 pm ...to late for the lift or the bus....so down the hill we walked arm in arm. A full day