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!