# 9 Friday, March 14 "Happy Birthday, M.R."

We are up to start a full day of Roman sightseeing. We eat breakfast in a different dining room this morning, but the food is pretty much the same fare that we have had every morning. There are more sweet pastries than anyone could ever eat and more wonderful cherry jelly.

We gather in the lobby to catch our bus that takes us to meet our guide Marina at one of the gates to Vatican City. We cue up for our turn to have the electronic wand passed over us and to go through a sort of customs before we enter the city. As we ride up the escalator, the blue green dome of St. Peter's Basilica comes into view through the window. For most of us, we have only seen pictures of St. Peter's in books and on TV when there is a news highlight of an Easter or Christmas mass being led by the Pope. But no picture or film clip can do this place justice. It is a place that has to be experienced. We follow Marina into a piazza lined with statues and carvings of which she explains the importance. She also explains the Sistine Chapel to us with the help of a display board on one side of the piazza.

The piazza inside Vatican City. Above is the bronze pine cone that is the symbol of the Pope.

As we enter the chapel area, we walk through several museum halls that display statues, paintings, frescoes, and tapestries. Before we enter the chapel, we are given instructions that we are not to take pictures and to talk quietly. The Sistine Chapel is so striking, and I can't remember a time I have enjoyed getting a crick in my neck.. We get to stay 15 minutes looking at the art work and comparing our guide book to the real thing. I have seen Michelangelo's hand of God and it is truly awesome. We go outside the chapel and into St. Peter's. Overwhelming is the word that comes to mind. It is big! It is beautiful! It is crowded! We make our way around the basilica to see the important points of interest, the statue of St. Peter, the toe of which has been rubbed and worn down by pilgrims from all over the world. But, most importantly, we view the bronze canopy that is above the tomb of St. Peter, which brings to mind "Upon this rock I will build my church . . ." We also get to see Michelangelo's Pieta, the statue of Mary with the dead Jesus in her lap, and the red piece of porphyry that marks the place where Charlemagne knelt to be made the first Holy Roman Emperor in AD800 After spending time inside the basilica, we venture outside to St. Peter's Square. It is imposing and amazing with the statues of the saints and the apostles looking down on us. We venture out to the front of the square and look back to the front of the basilica. TV doesn't do it justice. The square is being prepared for Palm Sunday services. We will be leaving early that morning. What a shame to be so close and have to miss an experience of a lifetime.

Art work on the ceiling in one of the areas of the Vatican museums that lead to the Sistine Chapel.

The bronze canopy over the tomb of St. Peter. Only the Pope can lead mass from this spot.

Shirley, Cathy, DK and Mary Kat outside of St. Peter's Square.

The Pope's residence is on the top floor of this wing. When he speaks to those gathered in St. Peter's Square, he does it from the second window from the right.

We eat lunch at a sidewalk vendor and wander around St. Peter's and then meet back with our group to go on a bus tour of some of Rome's well-known sites. We ride along the east and west side oft he Tiber River; see the remains of Circus Maximus, home of the well-known chariots such as the ones in Ben Hur; view the remains of Palentine Hill, the first site of the Roman caesars' palaces. We ride to the Jewish Ghetto where we learn of the fairly strong Jewish population after the dispersion with the fall of Jerusalem. We drive to the site of the ruins of the Coliseum and debark for our tour. Marina takes on an informative tour, and it is amazing and humbling to be be able to see this site, knowing what death and destruction it meant for many of the Christians who met their end on the floor of the Coliseum.

Remains of an ancient harbor on the Tiber River

Ruins of the Circus Maximus

Palentine Hill

View of Coliseum from the street

Inside of the Coliseum. In the lower right is a section that has been added to show where the floor of the Coliseum would have been originally. To the left is the under ground area that had rooms that held the wild animals and the people who fought them for the entertainment of the people.

The marble area was the place where the Caesars and other rulers sat

Yep. I was there.

The day has come to an end, and we load on the bus again for a ride back to our hotel. Shirley and Cathy and I walk to the Pharmacia to get more meds for Shirley's pain and then find our way to the wonderful pastry shop: "Some of these; Oh, two of those; Ah, there are some mini canolis." It can't get any better unless it is some of the tomato gravy I have been eating all week.


We get back to the hotel and go visit Mary Kat to present her with a demitasse set we purchased for her in Sorrento. We hope it will be a welcomed addition to her collection. We snack on some of the pastries and get ready for dinner. We gather for supper and eat fairly close to the hotel. We eat yet another great meal : tomatoes in olive oil, rigatoni in tomato gravy, along with austi spumante. We save room for some of our pastries in the room.


We have a birthday to make note of and sing to M.R. We have sung to her several time during the day, but tonight's version makes it official. The 3 Traveling Buddies give her a silver salt cellar we bought in Sorrento, and I give her a lanyard with Italia written on it for her keys and ID when she gets back to school.


We are so tired and as we have done every night, I set the cell phone and we fall into bed. Tomorrow is our last day in Rome and there is so much to see and so little time to see it.

#8 Thursday, March 13 "When in Rome . . ."

In the same routine of the previous mornings, Cathy and Shirley pop right out of bed while I struggle to put my feet on the floor. We are up earlier this morning because we are leaving for three days in Rome (better known as Roma), and have to get dressed, get our luggage downstairs and eat breakfast. All is accomplished and we we get under way. We are making a stop in Pompeii, which is about an hour ride from Sorrento. Again we ride through some of the most beautiful countryside. As we arrive in Pompeii, the old city walls rise before us hiding what was once the city but is now the ruins that were buried under 23 feet of ash from August 24 ad79 until excavation began in the mid-18th century. The buried city was actually discovered in 1594.

We are scheduled with 2 guides to take us through the ruins. The students go with one guide, and we older tourists go with our guide named Antonio. We start our tour at the city gate known as Porta Marina, through which passed the road that led to the ocean. We gather at the Fourm, which was the meeting place for the city to carry out its government and political business. After getting our bearings of north, south, east and west, we step into the center of the piazza outside the Fourm and look to the north to see Mt. Vesuvius rising in the background. The volcano lasted erupted in 1944 and is still considered the only active volcano on the European mainland. We go on a walking tour of the city visiting the market place, the public baths, two homes, bars, public wells, and other places that made up the town. Antonio shared so many facts and interesting tidbits about Pompeii that there is not enough space to tell you everything. Hopefully some of the pictures will do justice to the town. It is absolutely amazing what was learned about early Italian life from the ruins of Pompeii.

Entrance into Pompeii via Porta Marina

The Fourm

Outside area of the marketplace

The frigidarium better known as the cold bath area in the public baths

Entrance way to one of the upper class homes

Mary Kat standing by one of the grist mills in the public bakery

Cast mold of a man found crouching in a corner covering his nose to keep from breathing the ash

Our tour lasts about 2 hours after which we are own our own for about an hour to eat lunch and by our souvenirs. Now, here is my next story. My mama will love this one. It starts when we decide to eat lunch first. Cathy and Shirley and I opt for the lunch counter that has pasta and sandwiches. I get a plate of ravioli and begin to sprinkle Parmesan cheese on it when the top comes off and my ravioli is covered with grated Parmesan cheese. The lady who is serving gives me the most disgusting look that reveals that she must be thinking, "Stupido Americano." Remember, I thought that's what the police in Pisa probably thought about me too when I was "separated" from my group. I select my drink and pay for my meal. We find a table outdoors and sit to eat our lunch. I get comfortable and take my small travel purse from across my shoulder and drape it over the back of my chair. After a pleasant lunch of pasta and conversation, we decide to walk around some of the souvenir shops to find our travel book on Pompeii and some postcards. I find the ones I want and reach for my purse to get out my euros. Panic immediately sets in. I don't have my purse! I left it on my chair. In my later years I do not panic over things I have no control over. Yes, I was stupid to leave my purse on the chair. No, I can't do a thing about it if someone has stolen it. The money I don't care about. It's my passport I care about. I really would like to be able to get back into the United States when the time comes. I quickly return to my table with my heart beating out of the same chest I did not want the purse strapped across while I ate. A waiter must see the panicked look on my face and asks if he can help me. I describe my purse, small red, two zippers, long strap. I show him where I was sitting. He turns to open a cabinet and then produces my purse. Thank you , Lord Jesus!!!! Yes, I am one of those "stupido Americanos."

Now, the reason I say my mama would love this story is that we have a saying in our family when someone goes on a trip. Several years ago when I went to visit Laura and Chase in San Diego, one of the last things my mama told me was, "Be sure to watch your purse." I remember thinking, I am a grown woman with a grandchild and you are telling me to watch my purse. Yeah, right! Well I guess she knows me better than I thought. She said it to me kiddingly before I left for Italy, but she didn't have any idea that those words would come back to haunt me. Anyway, we never go anywhere now that we do not tell each other to, "Watch your purse."

We load up in anticipation of arriving in Rome in 2 hours. As we first enter the city, it looks like any other large city with modern buildings, but as we get closer to the heart of the city, it begins to look like the pictures we have seen in history books and the scenes we have seen in movies. The place is beautiful and there is a church on every corner it seems, which is the way it should be I guess since there are over 900 hundred churches within the city limits.

Entering Rome, one of the many fountains and piazzazs

We wind our way past fountains, beautiful piazzas, and wonderful architecture. We arrive at the Hotel Genova, a contemporary hotel that looks as if it was decorated by a decorator who liked IKEA furniture. I like it in a way. We claim our luggage, and ride the elevator to the 4th floor with packages in hand, and Shirley pulling the extra suitcase with our purchases tucked inside. I am clutching my pasta bowl with every inch of my being. We arrive at our room and manage to get our things into the room without a problem, at least that is what I think. I get my suitcase situated and begin to tuck my pasta bowl underneath the luggage rack when I hear a rattle, the familiar rattle of broken glass. "No. No. No. Please Lord, tell me I didn't hear what I thought I just heard." I cradle the wrapped pasta bowl in my arms and carefully shake it. It sounds like a baby rattle instead of an intact bowl. I tell Shirley and Cathy to listen. I shake the bowl and the looks on their faces tell me all I need to know. It is broken. Someone says, "DK, what are you going to do?" What can I do? The bowl is broken, and at this point I don't even have the heart to unwrap the bowl. I leave it in the bag, insulated by the bubble wrap. I think I take it pretty well. I am in Rome on the trip I have always wanted to go on and the bowl is only stuff, albeit stuff that I had purchased with money from the Lalis for a special place in my kitchen. I will get over it, but when I think of it even now, I feel sad. I have the web address of the place and plan to get online to try to replace the bowl, but right now if I am going to be charged 50 euros to ship it, i may have to wait a while.

Back to our room. It is a nice room and we open our window and shutters to find the busy Via Cavorso below us. We unpack our things and take out for a tour around our hotel. We find the nearest Pharmicia for Shirley and a pastry shop just across the street where we can purchase scrumptous pastries and, more importantly, a $4.50 coke.

View directly below our room

View to the right below our room

Shirely standing by one of the smart cars. Can you say small?!!!!

We gather in the lobby for a group dinner for another fantastic meal of ravioli and veal cutlets. We catch a bus to the center of Rome and walk around the Fourm area and the monument to Vittorio Emanuele. Some of the students with a few of the adults continue on a evening walking tour of Rome, while the rest of us catch the bus back to the hotel. We take our baths, I set the trusty cell phone, and we fall into our beds. Tomorrow is a long day.

Kakki Time

How could I not love this face?!

Earlier in the week I had a feeling in my heart; it was a yearning to see my grandbabies. So I took a break this Friday and Saturday to visit the kids in Tupelo. All were doing fine, and the boys were as cute as ever, and they were just the medicine I needed to cure that feeing in my heart. After hugs and kisses all around, I was one content Kakki. We played in the sand, visited Phillip's Garden Center and Lowes, worked in the yard and gave Laura and Chase some time to themselves. What can I say? MY LIFE IS BLESSED!

#7 Wednesday, March 12 "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"

Well, the ole trusty alarm goes off to start another day. I talk myself into getting out of bed and hope to see the view I know is out our window. I open the shutters and the most beautiful day greets me. The view is spectacular!! The blue waters of the Bay of Naples stretche out before me, and I am immediately jealous of the people who live along the bay who get to wake to this view every morning. We have the same wonderful view as we eat breakfast, and this is truly the first beautiful day we have had on the trip.

View to the left out our balcony

View directly in front of our balcony

View to the right out our balcony

View below our balcony

We get aboard the bus and settled in for a wonderful ride along the Amalfi Coast, heading for our destination, the town of Amalfi with a stop at Positano. The stretch of road winds on the side of the mountains of the coastline. The twisting curves double back on themselves, and the bus driver blows the horn each time he prepares to enter a curve to warn approaching drivers. Many of the turns have large mirrors so the drivers on each side of the curve can see what is approaching. After the maneuvering of the first few curves, we settle in for one of the most scenic drives I have ever been on. MR has forgiven me for my being separated from the group in Pisa and allows me to sit in the front seat with her so I can take in even more of the view, making each turn even more dramatic. The Bay of Naples stretches out before us into a vastness of blue. Homes are perched on the the cliffs on both sides of the road and the continual sound of the bus' horn reminds us of the precarious nature of our drive. It is hard to find the words to describe the view so the pictures will have to do.

One of the many curves with a parking area for the owners of the homes built on the cliffs

View of the Bay of Naples from the front window of the bus. Notice the drop off to the right!


One of the beautiful towns we pass along the way is Positano, which covers a hillside that runs down to the coast line of the bay. An interesting building is a Byzantine styled church Santa Maria Assunta with a majolica tiled dome. The town, along with Amalfi, is the chosen vacation spot for celebrities, including Tom and Katie who have a villa somewhere tucked into a cliff overlooking the Bay of Naples. We stop outside Positano an at overlook point and souvenir place. We take pictures and leave more euros behind. One of the things we seen here is lemons the size of softballs. Lance needs to get some of the fertilizer the Italians use for his garden in Inverness. We load up again headed for Amalfi.

Our stop at the overlook. Cathy and I with Positano in the background

This picture really does not do justice to the size of the lemons, but they really are as large as softballs.

The town of Positano

The Dome of the Santa Maria Assunta Church with majolica tile roof

A look back at Positano as we leave

We arrive in Amalfi at 11:00 a.m. and make plans to be back at the bus at 1:00 p.m. My first response is that I don't think 2 will be enough time to cover the coastal town. It is the typical quaint Italian town that we have all seen in the movies, and Cathy, Shirley, Mary Kat and I strike out determined to do the most we can in 2 hours. Clothes hang from lines stung across the streets from window to window. There are fish markets, bakeries, pastry shops, small eating places, ristorantes, and quaint shops with every imaginable souvenir to take home. Amalfi is where I find my major purchase of the trip, a pasta bowl that is purchased with the money the Lalis gave me for my retirement. It is the most beautiful hand painted pasta bowl, and it takes me a while to pick out the perfect one to display on my kitchen counter along side Lance's mom's handwritten spaghetti recipe that I have framed. Her recipe is a genuine Italian recipe for what is known in Italian speak as tomato gravy. I mentioned fixing the sauce for our Lalis get together back in February. If you want to know more about the Lalis, go back to the post of February 5th, and you can find out about them. Anyway, I finally make a decision, and ask the store owner if he will ship it home. He says he will for 50 euros, which is right at $75 American dollars. Okay, the bowl is beautiful; it is one of a kind; it is expensive; but I can't see spending $75 to ship it home. I will sit with it in my lap on the plane if I have to. So, he wraps it up in layers and layers of bubble wrap, and I go on my way happy that I have made "the purchase" of the trip.

The narrow streets of Amalfi

Laundry hanging above a fish market

Cathy, Shirley, Mary Kat and I reconvene to find a small, quick place to have lunch, you know one of those 5 euro delights with prosciutto. We find one and then eat some gelato for dessert. Our entire group gathers at the old town wall at the appointed time and strolls down to the waterline to take some pictures before we head back to Sorrento.

View of Amalfi from the shoreline

The shoreline of Amalfi

We return by the same gorgeous route, and on the way the driver points out that a particular villa on a cliff is the home of Sophia Loren. All the adults say "Oooh" and "Ahhh," and the kids say, "Who?" Can you say generation gap?!

This is a rock formation called The Virgin. The tree makes her look as if she is holding a bouquet of flowers.

We arrive in Sorrento around 3:00 p.m. We take a while to rest up a bit, and I walk around our hotel to take a few pictures. Several of us gather again to take in Sorrento and to spend more euros. At one point Shirley figures we need more luggage to get our purchases back to the States, so she buys the cutest lime green suitcase. I vow not to spend anymore money. Yea, right! Our hotel perched on the waters' edge. The dining room is the level that is white just beneath the terra cotta color part of the building. Our room is on the second level of the terra cotta part of the building, first window on the far left.

Part of the grounds around the hotel

Some of the many orange trees around the hotel

We gather at 8:00 p.m. in the hotel dining room for our evening meal. Now, I know this sounds crazy, but for the life of me I can not remember what we had to eat that night. I didn't write it down so it must not have been that memorable. However, I just can't imagine that! I'll have to think about this some more. As always, the kids head out for the nightlife, and the adults head to their rooms to crash. However, before we get to go to sleep, we have to get our bags ready for the ride to Rome tomorrow, with a stop at Pompeii. We stuff the lime green suitcase with our purchases minus my pasta bowl and then get our own in order and fall into the bed, 3 tried little puppies. Oh, did I mention I set the cell phone?!

Okay, Time to Vent, Again

I know I said I was swearing off TV, and I have for the most part, but I still listen to the news. This morning I was listening to Fox and Friends, (yes, I am a conservative by nature and no, I do not apologize for it) before GMA came on. There was a news story about a cheerleader being tragically killed after being kicked in the chest by a squad member on a stunt that went wrong. One of the young girl's friends was interviewed, and her response when asked about the girl was "She liked glitter." She liked glitter! That's all the girl could say about her friend! Now, I know she may have been overwhelmed by the death of her friend, but give me a break. And I'm even more mad that FOX thought that was a worthwhile comment to put on the news. AHHHHHHHH!

On the local news last night there was a report on a man who shot and killed himself accidentally by scratching his head with the shot gun he was holding. Need I say more!!!

The Mississippi State legislature is going to have a special session to take care of the business they did not get around to in the regular session. Oh, I can't stand it!!!! They were more concerned with deer plots than Medicaid. The state of Texas' legislature meets every other year for 3 months. Now, you may think the state of Texas is messed up but so is Mississippi. It just takes our legislators twice the time to mess it up.

Have a great day! And, be careful when you scratch your head. DK

#6 Tuesday, March 11 "Rain Rain Go Away"

Yep. The cellphone lets us know it is time to get up and face the day. Cathy and Shirley continue their getting up so promptly, and I continue to "work" on getting up. It's just that I have to "work" harder each morning. I look forward to throwing back the shutters to see our view of the bay only to be disappointed that it is raining and the bay is covered in a gray mist. What I do see is impressive from the stand point that we are perched and I mean perched on the side of a cliff that overlooks the Bay of Naples with a sizeable drop (I'm not good at measuring distance at a glance or even after I have time to think about it.). We head to the dining room for breakfast. Our table overlooks the bay also, and by the time we finish we are beginning to get a better view of the bay. Breakfast is a wide assortment of cereals, fruit, breads, eggs, meats, juices, pastries, and tomatoes. I could truly get use to eating breakfast if it was prepared for me every morning. Yes, Lance I know you fix my oatmeal for me, but for some reason your breakfast doesn't quite match up to an Italian breakfast.

We return to the room to don our rain gear and then ride the bus to the dock where the boat lands to take us to the Island of Capri. The weather is miserable. The temperature is cool and the rain is coming down fairly hard, so we shelter ourselves on the dock under an awning until we are told to board our boat. Strike one against our day on the island. Our boat is the kind that ferries passengers back and forth between the island and Sorrento. It probably holds 150 to 200 people and is comfortable. All the stories of ferry boats sinking are running through my mind, but I push them back in my mind and enjoy the company around me.

The view from the boat dock. We walked down the steep hill from our bus.

We are a joyous group boarding and finding our seats, even though the weather is so rotten. We laugh and talk with each other and take pictures of the beginning of our journey.

Mary Kat and Dianne are all smiles before the ride to Capri

MR, Bill and John before the nausea sets in

It is still raining and the water becomes rough. Our fun ride is not so fun now. Several of us start to get a nauseated, white around the mouth, and sweaty. Several of the kids are going to the restroom and some of the adults are trying to find cool air. If you haven't figured it out, we are sea sick. This all happens about 10 minutes into a 30 minute ride. Before the crossing is finished, half of our group is nauseated, a fourth is throwing up and the other fourth is seeing to those who are sick. Strike two on our day on the island.

We finally debark and get our land legs back and walk in the misty rain to the lower part of the city. As we make our plans, the monsoon hits with a vengeance. It rains for a good forty five minutes as we try to decide what to do. Shirley and Cathy and Mary Cat and I decide to take the funicular, a.k.a. a tram, up to the shopping area of the island. We ride up only to get off in the still pouring rain. This is not how I imagined my day on the Island of Capri.

Getting ready to ride the funicular

A Brief Lesson on Pronunciation: Capri

In our southern drawl, we say Ca pri with the emphasis on the second syllable. The pronunciation should be Cap ri, with the emphasis on the first syllable. It is much more lyrical, as is much of the Italian language, with the second pronunciation.

Class dismissed.

We have come this far so we might as well see the sites. We wander the narrow streets lost as a goose (Does a goose get lost that often that it gets to be part of a phrase meaning you are lost?) in the pouring rain. Strike three against our day on the Island. As we return to the piazza where we started, the rain begins to lighten some. We find seats at a small ristorante and order the most delicious hot chocolate. The rain finally stops, so the day may not be a total loss after all. At this point Lisa Young joins us and makes our day. She introduces us to scopolimine patches. We all go with her to the pharmacia to purchase patches for our return trip. The druggists are more than happy to help us and probably think we are crazy by the time we leave the store.

Shirley, Cathy, Mary Kat, Me and Lisa warming up with our hot chocolate

Our druggists who helped us with our scopolomine patches

The rain stops for a while and some of our group finds us to tell us that our trip to the island has been shortened because another storm is coming and the last ferry to Sorrento will leave at 2:30 p.m. So we have to make the best of the time we have left. One of the best bargains on the island is the cameos that are carved from the shell around the island. We peruse some of the shops and settle on our cameo purchases. We do not get to make a trip around to the other side of the island to see the rocks at Punta Tragara or go to the Blue Grotto or go to Anacapri at the top of the island. We eat a quick lunch at a small ristorante. I wish I could say we have a congenial waitress, but that is not the case. Now, I am a nice person when I dine out because I adhere to the old saying, "You can catch more bees with honey than vinegar," but my southern charm has not worked on the Italians. I vow to keep trying. I share a pizza with Mary Kat. It is the best. The crust is thin and soft and melts in my mouth. It has a marinara sauce with fresh basil. What can I say? Another good meal. The weather clears for a while, and we take pictures at the Pizzetta by the Santo Stefano church.

Picture at the Piazzeta with the mountain leading up to Anacapri in the background

The clock tower in the Piazzeta

The apartments above shops at the Piazzeta. Notice they all have balconies.

The view from the Piazzetta. The boat landing is in the distance.

Our group gathers and after a lengthy wait, we board our boat back to Sorrento, many of us armed with our scopolomine patches. They do the trick and before we know it we are back at the dock in Sorrento. We attack the steep hill going up this time and find our bus that takes us back to our hotel. Our trip to Capri was somewhat disappointing, but it it was worth braving the rain and the nausea.

We arrive back at the hotel. After a short rest, several of us gather and walk into the main shopping and restaurant area of Sorrento to spend the rest of the late afternoon and evening. We visit several of the shops and leave several euros with the owners. We then scout out a place to eat and enjoy the company of our group. We eat a variety of food that night. I order a prosciutto sandwich with lots of cheese and basil along with tomatoes. I know you think I should be tired of prosciutto by now, but it just keeps getting better and better.

Our group enjoying our meal. Notice Shirley is still standing in the background.

Shirley ordered a hamburger. Do you notice anything missing?

I said in an earlier that John (on the right) was a nut and the Drew (on the left) became a different man when he hit Italian soil. Here is proof!

We finish our meal and look in some of the stores as we walk back to the hotel. The day has been long and tiring. We bathe and collapse into bed, but not before I set the trusty cell phone.