Still in Rome

We are still in Rome. We have adjusted somewhat to the pace and the fact that we will never figure out where we are in relationship to anywhere we have been. All of the streets are on angles that do not seem to lead back to where we were coming from. So many one way streets that it is a maze.

Our bed and breakfast was advertised as being in a quiet residential neighborhood. No mention that the main ambulance depot was around the corner, the frieght trains run 1 blcok behind us, we are on a major street with busses, motorcycles, and cars rushing by all the time. Also, the Romans are not shy about honking the car horns at every opportunity. So as far as quiet goes, I guess it is relative to the rest of Rome. Luckily, our room as good, double paned windows so we can shut out a lot of the chaos. Our host and hostess, Ricardo and Jordanna are wonderful. We have just fallen i love with Jordanna. She works so hard to make sure everything is just right for us. She has the cutest little girl, Lucretia who is just a few weeks older than Matthew. Darling little girl.

We have everything we need close by. The supermarket, internet cafe, a good restaurant, and the bus and tram lines within 1 block. It is very convenient and worth it inspite of the noise.

We have seem some of the most amazing things here. The Colliseum was such a high light. I stood before it with tears in my eyes. It has such a majestic feel about it and I cannot image that I finally got to see it in person. We took a guided tour which was wonderful because we got a lot of history lessons along the way plus the delightful sense of humor of our guide. Today we are going to Scuderie Del Quirinale museum to see a painting called The Kiss in English,
li bacio in Italian. I know we will see other special piece, too, but we are going especially to see this.

Tomorrow we are going to St. Peters Basicilla to see Michaelangelos, The Pieta which is a statue of Mary holding the crucified Christ. It is number 2 on my list of things I had to see here.

Cari went home on Saturday. She arrived at LAX exhausted but very happy to see Sam. She was not ready to leave Italy. She loves it here so much. I know she and Sam will return someday. Her heart is one half here.

We have decided to leave Rome a day early and head back to Florence. We have rented an apartment near the Duomo which is the center of our comfort zone. It is close to the train station, too, so we can do our day trips easily. Florence will be our home base until we leave for home. We fly out of Milan which is an easy train ride from Florence.

I will take some time, in the next day or so, to tell some funny tales. We have had so many hilarious adventures and I want to write about them so you can laugh at and with us.

More soon,

Love, Kathy