Our last day in Rome...in Italy...in Europe. Hard to believe our wonderful trip is over! We made the best of our last day here, though. Deb left for Chicago early, and Ann and I grabbed a cab for the Borghese Gallery where we met up with Michelle. It's a rather small museum, but it has some of Bernini's best work, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the tour given by an English-speaking guide. We grabbed a quick lunch in our neighborhood (Deb, you'd be proud--salads!) and walked to St. Peter's to catch the afternoon tour given by a seminarian. We had a great guide, Daniel from Australia (remember Michelle is from Australia). We learned so much from him about St. Peter's. Great tour! We especially liked hearing the story about when his family got to meet John Paul II. Daniel's little brother had sent the Pope a birthday card for his 80th birthday while they were in Rome. The card actually made it to the Pope, and the Pope invited the whole family to come up and meet him. He said he had such a presence and was very kind to all of them, giving them gifts, and touching the cheeks of the children. Later, Michelle and I climbed to the top of the dome of St. Peter's. We were able to take a lift to the base of the dome, but then it was over 370 stairs up. You'd be proud of us again, Deb! It was really, really hard to do. The passage ways got narrower and narrower the higher you got, and the passage ways slanted just like the dome, and most of the way was a very narrow spiral staircase. Quite claustrophobic, but what a view of Rome from the top! We were so lucky that it was a picture perfect day and we could see for miles. We spent quite a bit of time up there identifying different sights like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and Vittorio Emmanuel Monument. We could see all of Vatican City with the different buildings and beautiful gardens. At the base of the dome, we were able to look down inside St. Peter's. We could hear mass being said and the singing in Latin. What an experience! The way down was actually pretty scary. There were no hand rails most of the way. I led the way, and I was nervous. But we made it. Ann was a little worried because we were up there so long. We were at the Vatican for four hours, but it was an incredible experience today. We had dinner at our favorite place--Navona Notte--with a nice bottle of wine and limoncello. Michelle and I decided to take one more walk, this time to Castel San Angelo to see it lit up at night. On the way, we stopped for one last gelato. Perfect end of a perfect day. We were sad to say good-bye to our new friend Michelle, but we all promised to keep in touch. She has invited us to come to Australia, and her daughter will be getting married in New York in a couple of years. We said she should stop in Florida then. I think we'll meet again. This trip has just been amazing. We talked about it tonight, and we just loved all of it. It's hard to pick a favorite place or experience. We've had a lot of laughs, and we've learned so much. We've had some of the best guides you can imagine, but we've also learned so much about Europeans from the people we've met. Yes, we've had a few surly waiters and cashiers, but we've also met many wonderful European people, not least of which is our lovely family in Holland. We enjoyed the ladies on the train, and our housekeeper here in Rome is the sweetest lady you'd ever want to meet. We've had to ask for directions so many times, and most of the time we were able to find people more than willing to help us, like the young woman at the train station who turned around and led us through the entire train station, using her pass to get us through the turnstiles with our luggage, and got us to the street. It's so different here in Europe. And every city we've visited is unique. We love them all. Rome is crazy. The traffic with the cars, motorcycles, pedestrians and cafes on every street is unreal. It makes New York traffic look tame, but we got used to it and jaywalk like everyone else. We just love Rome. Ann had been worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up on the tour, but she did great! In fact, I think we've done more walking in Italy than we did in France. After yesterday, we were so tired and she said she didn't know if she'd ever walk again, but she did as much today or more. Michelle and I had a hard time keeping up with her on the way back from the Vatican! Thanks for reading our blog. Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry if the posts were too long, but we wished you could have been here with us and wanted you to feel like you were.
Ciao from Rome!

We had a long and busy day today. We began by taking the underground tour at the Colosseum. They've just opened the lower level and upper level recently. Previously, we were only able to go to the main level. The lower level is where the gladiators and wild animals would wait before the show. It was interesting to see the pulley's that were used to raise the animals and scenery; there were 60 "elevators". I never realized that scenery was used, but apparently the sets were quite elaborate, even recreating jungle scenes. Two hundred slaves were downstairs getting everything together. Performances were free, and the Romans had a great system for getting people in and out efficiently. The shows were an all day affair, and the people cooked in the Colosseum. Basically, they were tailgaiters! The animal shows occured in the mornings, and the gladiators, who were prisoners that were sentenced to death, came on in the afternoon. I was totally surprised that the Romans had a canvas awning that they stretched over the Colosseum! The last show took place here in the year 523 AD. Later we walked to the Roman Form with our new BFF. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you. We have a new BFF here. Her name is Michelle, and we found her at the Colosseum. She's from Australia, traveling alone for five weeks, so we invited her to join us for the day. She is so nice; we really enjoyed her company. On the way to the Trevi Fountain, she stopped at an ATM and it ate her card! Speaking of the fountain, Deb keeps callling it "Trivia" fountain, but she made sure to throw in a coin so that she could return to Rome some day. I told her it worked like a charm for me! In the evening, we strolled around Piazza Navona and Campo de Fiore, had dinner, and drank a couple of bottles of wine in our courtyard with our new BFF. Deb leaves tomorrow, and we'll be heading for home on Friday.

We made it to Rome! Oh, the traffic! It’s crazy. Cars and motor cycles buzzing around in every direction. Can’t believe cars can fit on these tiny side streets, but they do. Our B&B is on the cutest side street, although when Ann and Deb first saw the door to the B&B, they were wondering what kind of place I got for them. The building was built in the late1400’s, and it looked like something from the Phantom of the Opera. Once inside, though, they were pleasantly surprised. I’ll take pictures tomorrow. Today we were anxious to get to St. Peter’s. It is a massive, massive church. Just gorgeous. Ann was most interested to see where Pope John Paul is buried. The last time we were here, it was in the lower level. Now that he has been beatified, he was moved up near the entrance at a side altar. He is right next to Michelangelo’s Pieta. We had dinner at a place recommended by Jen and Ken as well as our B&B owner, Triano, called Navona Notte. We each ordered a different entrée and shared. The pasta with meat sauce and the linguini with pesto were awesome. The pizza? Just so-so. Deb is counting my gelato scoops, and the ones we had tonight shouldn’t count—not good. We’ll have to get recommendations tomorrow. The wine was great; however, I’m not sure what Deb’s problem was, but she meant to top off the wine, but she poured water into the glasses instead. Talk about me having too much to drink! By the way, we almost got to meet Dr. Vino after all last night. Ann pulled the emergency cord in the bathroom last night. She thought it had something to do with the shower. Dr. Vino never showed up on his bike, though, and we were happy to be drinking vino rather than meeting Vino. Before we left for Rome this morning, we had ample time to grab breakfast, so there was no need for hoarding yesterday. The staff in the dining room wasn't very pleasant. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because we wanted to sit where we could keep an eye on our luggage. The waitress said, "Don't worry. We don't need your luggage." It was either that or she saw us stocking up on our trip for today. Deb gave up on hoisting our ever-heavier luggage in the overhead compartments today. She just lined it up in the hallway outside our compartment, but her spinner suitcase kept rolling up and down the hallway. We didn't do as much talking on this trip and didn't seem to annoy the other ladies in our compartment. We were getting a little tired, and I told Deb she could take a nap and I'd watch for the stop. She said, "Oh, no! I've read too many of your blogs before." She has no confidence in me! Sorry the pictures aren’t the best quality today. My little camera does not do well indoors.

I can't stand it! I just can not stand it! This place is just too beautiful! It's every bit as gorgeous as it was four years ago. I'm so glad we decided to stop here. We had the most wonderful day today. Ann and Deb love this place too. We took a boat ride from Monterosso all the way to the last village. You have to understand that this boat ride is probably the highlight of the Italy portion of our trip for me. The beautiful royal blue water of the Mediterranean Sea has been calling my name since I was here last time. It was questionable that we would be able to take this boat ride because all along rain has been predicted for today. Had we been here yesterday morning, we could not have made the trip as the boats could not go out. I am so, so lucky that we are here today when the weather was perfect. So here we go--we board the boat, I get a pretty good spot (after climbing over people in a variety of places), and I've got my camera ready. I take about four pictures--and my memory card is full! No problem, though, as I had Deb bring me a new one, and I've got it in my day bag. I fish around for it and try to open it. It's wrapped in plastic. I try tearing it, biting it, bending it, screaming at it, and pleading with it. Nothing works. I bend and bend and finally get to a bit of the cardboard. I gnaw on it, pry it, lick it and do more pleading. I frantically look in my day bag for a box cutter. Of course not--why would I have one of those. Nothing! Ah, finally I find my pen. I'm able to poke a little hole in the cardboard and am ecsatic! Oh, no....more plastic inside! Several more minutes of bending, tearing and swearing, and finally I get to the prize. By this time, I've only missed one village, so all is not lost. The rest of the trip was wonderful, and I enjoyed every moment thereafter. We got off the boat and explored the little villages, all so quaint. We had our best lunch in Cinque Terre in Manarolo, pesto lasagna, pesto pasta of some kind and lobster pasta. Pesto is the specialty here. We learned that you never heat pesto, just pour it over hot pasta. Maybe that's way I don't like it at home. We walked on the Via dell Amore and saw some of the prettiest scenery you can imagine. Deb hiked the last two villages, which she said was very challenging, but she loved it. It took her two and a half hours. Afterwards we walked around town, had some gelato, watched the sun set on Cinque Terre and ended with a nice bottle of wine on our balcony. What a perfect day. However, that's not to say there weren't some issues. Deb is having just as much trouble with the plumbing as we have had. Today she took a shower and flooded not only the bathroom, but also our bedroom. We took a little food from from the breakfast buffet because we're leaving very early tomorrow, and we decided to hide it in the safe where we keep our money belts. Now all our money smells like bananas. Ann did not make friends in the store when she was looking through some linen cloths. People in Italy do not like you handling their merchandise. I tried to warn her... We seem to ask too many questions. The man at the boats was getting pretty annoyed with us because we couldn't decide which ticket to buy. The waiters roll their eyes when they have to explain every item on the menu. And look out if you pull out a 20 to buy one scoop of gelato. They look like they've lost their best friend in the world. And Ann had a problem last night. She's perfectly OK now, but her worst fears materialized. She made it through the tour without a problem, and here in Cinque Terre, she fell. She missed seeing a short curb. She says today that she was watching someone get into a cab and was wondering where they were going. She scraped the palms of her hands and her knees, but today she's fine. She was able to walk all day, so don't worry. Today we found out that there is a doctor in this village. He gets around by bike, and his name is Dr. Vino. Not kidding! Ann's just happy we didn't have to call Dr. Vino. And Deb said she's not feeling the love. She wants to know why none of her family or friends are making comments. She wants to know if you people are reading.

We're in Cinque Terre today, and it's just as beautiful as I remembered it. We are so lucky. It was supposed to rain today, and it's just beautiful--cool but dry. We had wine waiting for us in our hotel, and we have a small balcony, but the room does not compare with the one we had in Venice. It is tiny! We keep banging into things, but that's OK. We're among friends. Walking around Cinque Terre brings back so many great memories with Dottie, Kristin and Robin: the Punta Mesco hotel, the laundry (remember how we got some man's clothes mixed in with ours?), watching the girls kayaking on the Mediterranean, the pesto making experience, the place where we took that great picture of the four of us, even the Internet cafe and bar. It's just like I remembered it, and the views are still spectacular. We spent some time just sitting on a bench and watching the tide come in. And of course, there were plenty of carbs--yes, even for Deb. We had the best bruschetta and a pizza with pesto and rocket (a type of lettuce). And two scoops of gelato, although the best gelato place in town was closed already. Getting out of Venice by vaporetto today was a lot easier than getting in. We are so lucky Deb is here to help with the luggage. I'm not sure how we'd manage without her. We took a high speed train to Milan. These high speed trains are awesome. Wish we had them in the States. Very comfy and quick. We picked the seats closest to the door and got all comfy. Turns out we had assigned seats elsewhere. We didn't realized until people were milling around looking at seat numbers. If we were in anyone else's seat, they were polite enough not to kick us out. In Milan, we transferred to an inner city train which isn't as fast, and we had to share a compartment with three Italian women. We didn't stop talking for the four hours we were with them. (Actually it was Deb doing most of the talking.) I got the impression that we were annoying them. The lady in the middle was trying to read her newspaper, and for the whole four hours she was still on the same page! Deb had a whole big bag of Halloween candy in her carryon, and I offered them some, but they refused. The lady with the newspaper finally got up in stood in the hallway for three stops before she got off! Ann passed me a note and said they were talking about us when we got on the train. She thought one of them knew English. Once the newspaper lady got off, I pulled out my Italian phrase book and started throwing words out to the other two ladies. Ann was right, one of them did know a tiny bit of English, and we had a nice conversation. They had been to Venice for a birthday party and were coming back home. She was surprised to find that we were Americans. She thought we were British because Americans are louder. Go figure! We learned all this with only a few words being said--it was more like charades, but it was so much fun! They were very, very nice. And I'm pleased to report that our French is greatly improved. The bad news is we're using it in Italy! Hope you enjoy our photos today.

We've had another wonderful day in Italy--a three scoop gelato day for me. We decided to throw all caution to the wind and get on the vaporetto again today and head for Murano which is where all of that glass in blown. This time Deb and I decided to make an "Ann sandwich." We figured we'd put her between us, so that if she got stranded, at least one of us would be with her. That worked beautifully! We spent most of the day in Murano, watching a glass blowing demonstration for a few minutes and then shopping the rest of the day. (Ann is definitely going to buy a bigger suitcase.) We were in so many stores that we gave them names. The most memorable was the "crabby people" store. They had all these beads in little baskets, but apprently customers weren't supposed to look through them. The man would make comments. He especially didn't appreciate it when Ann looked through the whole basket and found nothing she wanted. Deb found a nice bead that Ann did like, but it was in the middle of a string of beads on a rod. When Deb started to unscrew it, the man ran over and yelled at her. He did take it off for her, but he was mumbling under his breath. Ann picked up an ornament, and she asked the man if it was a Santa glass blower. He said yes, she bought it, and then she later realized it was a Santa blowing a horn. Then Deb backed into glass shelves which had hand blown Christmas ornaments on them. I was afraid to turn around and see the expression on his face. He seemed very happy to see us leave; however, Deb and Ann would not leave well enough alone. After looking through ALL the shops in Murano, they decided they liked the "crabby people's" merchandise better. Once again, they were digging through baskets of pendants. The crabby guy came and asked how many they were planning to buy. Deb said, "Oh, lots!" Total purchase: $5.00. Oh the mumbling and grumbling! That was our cue to leave Murano. I was bound and determined to have gnocchi carbonnara, and we found a restaurant yesterday that I wanted to try. It took us FOREVER to find it again, but we did, thanks to our chief navigator, Deb. It was an uneventful lunch except I had too much wine and Ann got herself locked in the restroom. Luckily, a cute Italian man heard her and helped her get out. Jen, your mother is eating lots of pasta, pizza and gelato. She's even talking about giving up her gym membership. We had a special treat this evening. One of my e-mail buddies that I met through Rick Steves’ web site happens to be here with her friend, staying at this very hotel. We all got together for a walk around Venice, a vaporetto ride on the Grand Canal—and one last gelato. It was such fun! As we were walking, I wanted to absorb as many of the sights and sounds of Venice as I possibly could. I LOVE this place, and David, I will miss it too!

We're in Venice! It went so smoothly for us this morning. Cab arrived at exactly 5:00 AM, airport was very easy to negotiate, plane flight was a breeze. Deb arrived from Chicago just a few minutes after us. We found the bus with no problem. The only little blip was in the tram when Ann lost her balance and almost fell. (I think it was her new suitcase that threw her off balance. She's going to ditch it here in Venice.) Luckily I was there to break her fall, so she's OK. When I say things went smoothly, I really mean to say they went smoothly up to a certain point. The problem was once we got off the bus and went to get on the vaporetto, the water bus, to take us to the island of Venice. Remember the Metro in Paris? Yes, just as bad. Think packed Metro but with all of your luggage on a boat. There was that familiar look on Ann's face again! She asked how much the private water taxis cost, and I thought it would be about $140 for us. She said that she would pay it all! But we were at the point of no return. We were trying to read the number of stops, and we missed our stop before we realized we should have been reading right to left instead of left to right! A nice British tourist tried to help us, but it was too late. We were able to get off at the next stop, but then we had to wait for a vaporetto going in the other direction. After that, though, we were back on course and found the B&B with nary a problem. I'm not sure Ann and Deb are impressed with Venice as much as I am yet, but I LOVE this place! We're staying away from the touristy areas. We're in a HUGE corner room overlooking a canal, we have our windows open with the breeze blowing our curtains, and the sounds of the neighborhood are serenading us. It's music to my ears! Our hotel was built in 1650, so cool. We took a little walk and stopped to eat at a place recommended by the owner of the hotel. It was a little hard to find at first, but that's Venice for you. We had a carafe of wine with our pasta dishes, and when it came time to pay for our meals, we had a little difficulty splitting the check evenly with the change we had. Eventually the owner brought over a calculator! How embarrassing! Oh well, there are lots of other places to eat. Although I sorely miss the pastries of France, we did have our first gelato today. Actually, I had my first, second and third. I couldn’t resist my favorite, nutella. We walked around eating pizza tonight and exploring Venice. It’s pretty small, and everything is within walking distance. We ended the evening with a gondola ride and now we’re ready to crash. No alarm clock tomorrow!