Rome

Mom and I flew to Rome for a couple of days during her second week in Italy. We took a bus tour which deposited us at most of the top destinations in Rome. Although I've never been in, Castel Sant'Angelo looks kinda cool. I think I gave some info. about it on another Rome blog.
Another stop was the Vatican. We did brave the line for the Sistine Chapel. It was longer than when Jennifer and I went, but after talking to Shelah and Michael and hearing how long it was when they were there, I guess it wasn't near as bad as it could have been.
Something we witnessed near the Vatican that we did not get a picture of was a seagull eating a pigeon. Yum.
These were some members of the Swiss guard. It was actually the first time I had seen them, so I was pretty happy about it. Their outfits were a little less flashy and ornate than I thought they would be, but still nice.
A trip to Trevi Fountain would not be complete without enjoying a gelato. Jennifer and I found this shop on my first visit to Rome and they were so friendly and fun that I decided to take Mom there. Don't you love how they do their cones? Looks good huh? Left, of course, is Mom and I at Trevi Fountain. Still my favorite place in Rome. If you throw a coin in the fountain it means that someday you will return to Rome. It worked for Mom, so she was sure to do it again. I'm not sure if it works twice though. Or even if the fountain recognizes Euro. It might only work if you throw Lire in. Ha. You might notice that we are wearing sweaters. Can you believe it? The middle of June and still chilly. Yea! I love Italy.
This building is where the President of Italy lives. The band of one of the branches of Italian military was playing and there was a crowd gathered. I don't know what occasion it was.
It was also my first time to see the Mouth of Truth. It was a little hidden and we had to ask a vendor where it was. Sadly, it was already closed so we had to take a picture thought the fence. The legend is that the Mouth will chomp down on the hands of liars. Who would be crazy enough to stick their hand in there anyway? Not I. You may also recognize it from "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn.
We spent all day the next day in Pompei. Unfortunately, the battery in Mom's camera died. Despite our efforts, we could not track down the right kind of battery. We did manage to use video camera for some video and still pictures at Pompei, but I haven't figured out how to load them onto the computer. It was awesome though. What they had excavated was so much bigger than I thought.
It was a fairly short trip, but we managed to see a lot.

"In fair Verona, where we lay our scene..."


After Florence, Mom and I took a train to Verona. Because we missed our second train, we didn't have quite as much time as we had planned. We got there with just enough time to check into our hotel and find something to eat (which was a bit of an adventure in itself). In the morning, we had time to go to the Castel Vecchio for a quick tour. It was an Italian holiday so admission was free (who knew?). We took advantage and didn't really feel like we had to look and every single piece of art to get our money's worth. These two pictures were taken from the castle. There is snow on the mountain just above the trees in the first picture (it snowed a couple of days before) and the river is the Adige. The second picture is from the same spot; just another view of the city.
After our tour, we had to rush to the airport to pick up Matthew and Cathy McMichael.

We left our luggage at the train station so we could do a little more sightseeing before heading home. Matthew took this picture of Mom and me in front of the Arena (you can see it it the background between the trees.) It looks like a smaller Coliseum. It's the best preserved Roman arena in Italy. They still have operas here all through the summer. Operas performed in Verona are among the best in the world. We hope to come back to see one. (Yes, even Mike doesn't mind opera once in a while.)

We continued around the corner and ate at this little cafe. Mom took this picture of Cathy, Matthew, and me.

Matthew needed to go to a specific place and take a picture for one of his friends (his name is Dante Verona) so we headed to Piazza Dei Signori. On the way, we stumbled upon the house that supposedly belonged to the Capulet's. You could pay to go up to Juliet's balcony, but the tiny courtyard was super crowded. We settled for a picture and moved on.

After taking the wrong bus (twice) we ended up back at the train station and made our way back home.

Mom and Erin in Florence


Since I've put most of the sights we've visited in Florence on the blog before, I decided not to put the same things again. The first picture is Piazza Reppublica. We stayed with our friends Henry and Michelle and we went through this piazza to almost all of our destinations.
Crossing the streets in Florence was good practice for Mom, as it is always a risk to cross streets in Italy. I say Florence was practice, because crossing streets in Rome is even more lethal. We successfully crossed all streets with all body parts intact.

There is one picture (above right) that is a motorcycle parking lot and the other (underneath it) is a bicycle parking lot. Mom was particularly impressed with these.

I know I've included a picture of this before (Palazzo Vecchio), but I like it. Too, it has other significance now because Mom and I had a Florentine lunch in this piazza in the shadow of the medieval building.

We did visit somewhere I had never been. (Not that in my 2 previous visits I could claim that I saw everything there was to see in Florence...) We went to Santa Croce. This church is undergoing quite a lot of restoration, but there are many famous Florentines buried here. This (left) is the grave of Michelangelo. In addition, we saw the graves of Galileo, Dante, and Marconi (who Mike and I did not know, but Mom said to include him because everyone else would know who he was). Any guesses? No fair doing a google search. If no one guesses correctly, I'll tell you in the next blog or 2.

There were a couple of other pictures that we wanted to include, but due to technical difficulties we were not able to upload them to the computer. That's all for now.

Mom adds:
I'm having a great time! Erin is a masterful tour guide. I ought to be in great physical shape when I get back with all the walking and stairs!! You won't even recognize me! Patty

Rome again.

This was our last excursion while Mike's mom was here. However, we were all unexpectedly inconvenienced when Milda broke 2 bones in her foot 3 days before we were supposed to leave. A word to future visitors: watch the bottom step on our staircase. I could not help but to include the picture of Mike piggy-backing his mom to the terminal from the airport parking lot. The Italian man following closely behind was kind enough to help with our luggage. (While I, crippled with laughter, attempted to take this picture.)

As our movement was hindered by the crutches, we opted for a couple of rides around the city on a bus tour. We were able to see the major sights at least. On the upper left is the Mausoleum of Augustus or more recently called Castel St. Angelo. Originally it was a place for the bodies and ashes of the dead. It was built outside the city walls for sanitation purposes. Then, much later, it was made into a fortress for the defense of the Pope and Cardinals from the Vatican. A raised walkway was built going directly from the Vatican to the fortress. It still exists and is pretty cool.
The next pictures are inside the Coliseum. I think my favorite part was the steps going up to the next level. They were incredibly steep. I can't imagine how people got up there in "togas":). The next picture was taken from the upper level of the Coliseum looking out over the historic center of Rome. Except the big white building in the back wouldn't have been there.
Then next stop on the bus tour was the Circus Maximus. There's a sign obstructing the view but, hopefully you can get a feel for how big it is. You can kind of see where it looks like a track in the middle of the green. That's it. This is where the Ancient Romans had chariot races. The ruins to the right of the Circus Maximus are on the Palatine hill. The Palatine was where the emperor's palace was. The next picture is just a different view.
I can't remember what this building was (left), but the history was interesting. You may notice it looks a lot like the Coliseum. That's partly because a lot of the stone that was used here came from the Coliseum. When the Coliseum went through a period of neglect, it was actually used as a quarry for other buildings. Romans harvested the valuable travertine stone to build other stuff. Not only is this site updated for your viewing pleasure, but also I hope, a source of great insight and knowledge. Ha! Just kidding.
I don't know exactly what this is, but I do know that the giant statues at the top of the stairs are Romulus and Remus--the founders of Rome.
I know this next picture is hard to see. It snuck up on me both times we passed it and the bus didn't really stop here. On these steps (behind the obnoxious yellow car and down about 10 feet) is where Julius Caesar was murdered. "Et tu Brute?"
This is the Vatican and St. Peter's square. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the Pope knows me by name, what with all my trips to the Vatican.
And last, I know you saw it on my other Rome blog, but it is becoming one of my favorite places in Rome. Trevi Fountain. It was especially nice this last time because Mike and I were there at sunset. We people watched and chatted. I know the picture on the right doesn't look like he's having that great of a time. He's just concentrating really hard on taking a good picture for the blog. :) The bottom picture is at twilight with the lights on.

Salzburg, Austria

Buona Pasqua! (Happy Easter) We went to Salzburg with Mike's mom who came to visit for a month. It's about 3 1/2 hours from our house and the drive alone, in my opinion, is well worth the trip. The autostrada cuts right through the Alps so obviously the vast majority of the drive is right through the mountains (literally-there were lots of tunnels). It was the perfect time to go because the upper elevations are still getting snow while the lower elevations are getting rain making the fields lush and green. Also, the snow run off created many waterfalls and filled a babbling brook we drove along part of the way. There were also 2 awesome castles (left) and another large dwelling of some kind carved into the mountain.
Right is the Dom (again, scaffodling on the right tower ruining my picture). It's the largest church in Salzburg. Mozart was baptized here and it houses a 4,000 pipe organ on which Mozart played regularly. Left is the inside of the Dom.



These pictures are of St. Peter cemetery and catacombs. One of the guide books I read said that early Christians held secret ceremonies here. Above left is inside the cliff where there was a marble altar. Below left is a tombstone marker. I'm not sure who actually lies in these tombs, but it's someone in Mozart's family and Haydn's family. The markers were at the entrance to the stairway leading up to the rooms carved into the cliff. This picture (below left) is of me and Mike's mom going up the stairs inside the cliff. We took this picture (right) from the place where you can see people standing in the picture above. It shows St. Peter's church and the graveyard. Left is another picture from the cliff. The picture on the right is of course Mike and I standing on the little place on the cliff where we took the other pictures.
The picture on the right is Mozart's birth place. The whole building is a museum now, but when Mozart lived here, they had a 4 room apartment. He lived here until he was about 20 and then moved across the river. We didn't make it over there.

Above is a picture of the Fortress and Mike and I being ridiculous. You might notice that we appear to be the same height. He's holding me up. :) We rode a tram up the mountain to the Fortress (you can see the track on the far right in the picture of the Fortress). The picture on the right is a close up picture of the tower at the far right of the fortress. I don't know if you can read the sign, but it says Torture Tower. On the tour we were told that tortures didn't really take place here, but it got its name because it was where all the instruments of torture were kept. It was also where prisoners were kept who were awaiting execution. The picture on the right is Mike and I atop the Torture Tower. The big picture above and left is the view of Salzburg from the Fortress. Cool huh? Also inside the fortress was a small marionette museum. If you recall from the Sound of Music, marionettes used to be very popular in Salzburg. On the left, Mike trying his hand at marionetting (I just made that word up...). This is an every day sight in the streets of Salzburg...(bottom right). Just kidding. I think they were advertising for the dinner shows. Underneath is Mike and I about half way down the mountain from the Fortress. Salzburg was really, really, awesome and with it being so much closer than we thought, we will be sure to make many other trips. (Especially to the Christmas market!)