Destination ROME

Enjoying my coffee
Entering the Vatican
View from Assisi

For this post about more of Italy, I'm taking from the journal I kept on the trip.

Thursday: We left early, destination Rome. On the way we stopped by Assisi. This was unexpected, I didn't remember the stop being on our itinerary. Assisi was the most moving place we have visited. The town felt (is) so ancient. It even smelled old. There were monks, priests, and nuns walking everywhere along the cobblestone streets. Santa Chiarra (St. Clare) is from Assisi, she was a friend of St. Francis (Francesco), the patron Saint of Italy and of animals. St. Clare began the order of Poor Clare's. There is a monastery in Roswell, which is the Poor Clare's monastery. So there was a connection there. The Basilica of St. Chiarra was so moving. I was moved to tears....it was just so peaceful.
We ended Assisi at the Basilica of St. Francis and actually got to see the tomb where he is buried. And also saw Mass being performed at the chapel. One of the things I noticed was that none of the monks were sitting in the pews - at the mass and in front of the tomb of St. Francis. There were either kneeling or sitting on the cold hard floor. I wonder if this is for penance. I really cannot explain the feeling of peace I had while in Assisi. I am very affected by what I saw...felt.
Rome is HUGE! We went out exploring this evening and I was a little nervous - but we found our way! We wanted to look for some shoes for Tony and go to a wine bar that Martin (our awesome tour guide) recommended. We really wanted to try it since Rome is his hometown. It was probably 2 miles away and most of the time we couldn't find the street names. But we winged it and we found the Piazza Cavour where the recommended wine bar was. First thing on the menu was Foie Gras para duo. - 60 Euros....ummm, no gratzia! So we went to the bar/restaurant next door and had pasta. It was a great place, not touristy, good food, relatively inexpensive. Coming back I was a little worried because at one point we seemed lost, but we kept following the wall of the Vatican, remembered landmarks, and found our way back. Once we were reoriented, we stopped at a really nice little coffee bar - my cappuccino was 1 Euro! What a great day!! Only 1 day left. :(
Saturday - Rome is a great city! Our last day was exhausting and overwhelming, but so great! We started off early going to The Vatican. It was beautiful and has great pieces of art. One of the ceilings even appeared to be 3-D and it was painted hundreds of years ago! And then we got to see the Sistine Chapel. Wow...the beauty, the colors, it was wonderful. Tony's favorite part was the back wall painting of Jesus casting people into hell and raising the dead. It was crowded inside the Chapel though, and it was noisy, so it really took away from the experience. People's cell phones were going off. I just don't understand how people can be so disrespectful. That was frustrating. The guards kept shhhing, but it did not good.
We went from there to another piazza for lunch, The Trevi Fountain (where we tossed a coin of our shoulders to come back to Rome), and ended the tour at the Spanish steps.
Last night's dinner was pre-planned. It was called Cafe Concerto. And these people sang opera off and on throughout our meal. It was lovely. The food was ok, the wines were great. Very fun night. After dinner Martin wanted us to see some more of Rome at night, specifically, The Colosseum. It was one of the best parts of the trip. To see a building still standing where Gladiators fought. It was truly Roman times. Then we went to see St. Peters illuminated as well.
Now we are in Paris, CDG airport, waiting to be pushed back from the gate. We are so tired and hungry, but so thankful that we were able to take this amazing trip. I had always dreamed about seeing these places that I actually GOT TO VISIT! I am so lucky! And even the scary parts, like the Rome and Paris airport, we made it out ok. It was nerve wracking and I wanted to barf, but we just tried to go with it and it worked out.
I am glad to be going home though.

So those are my last couple of journal entries. I don't think anything I could write would do the trip justice. I hope we get to go back one day. And as great as Italy was,