Wrap It Up!

This was an amazing vacation. I feel privileged to have been able to spend time with Mariola, Tom, Kate, Sarah and Sammi. Tom was a most excellent tour guide who was patient in guiding us, thoughtful in balancing those things he thought were important for us to see with things we were interested in doing. And wonderfully thorough in the depth and breath of knowledge about the city and its history. For all these, he has my thanks and appreciation.

Spending time with Mariola and the girls was awesome. Talking with them and working to see Rome through their eyes helped me see things I would never have seen on my own. Laughing and playing with them while taking in this eternal city was an experience I will always remember.

Mariola, I love your dry, cutting wit. It's just my style and always brought a smile to my face.

Kate, thanks for playing along with me and filling the city with an amazing though imagined feast. It was most delicious.

Sarah, thanks for smiling even though you really wanted to be quiet and introspective. Consider doing it more often ;-)

Sammi, thanks for sharing stories about your life, your love of dogs and for always being a spot of sunshine on this vacation.

Thank you and good night.

Home!

We're home. The monster dogs are fine and our house is still standing.

Total travel time from the apartment in Rome to our home was 21:46:28. This was a long day.

Zurich, Duty Free and the TSA. Again.

We made our connecting flight in Zurich. It was close but they held the flight just for us. Well, maybe for us and the dozen other people who were running to catch it.

When we were in the airport in Rome, we stopped by one of the duty free shops to pick up some last minute things. On talking with the lady there about taking wine on board, we were assured that we could take wine with us on the plane to the US. So we picked up a couple of bottles to bring home with us. There wasn't a problem carrying them on board the flight from Rome to Zurich.

But the long reach of the TSA screwed us in Zurich. We had to go through another security check point in Zurich before getting on the plane. And at this one, a female security agent confiscated out wine in the sealed duty free bag. Frack you, TSA for these asinine rules. And another hearty frack you to the lady in the duty free shop in Rome who assured us that we could carry our wine on board the plane. The real kicker came when the stewardess on board the flight to SFO asked if we wanted wine with dinner. The wine was served in glass bottles. I took 2, a bottle of red and one of white. They sat next to my metal fork, knife and spoon that were on the tray served with dinner.

Leaving Rome

We're at the airport waiting for our flight. It's been delayed because the plane isn't here yet. Who knows why. Hopefully we'll still make our connecting flight in zurich.

We were up this morning in time to see Mariola, Tom, Kate, Sarah, and Sammi off to the airport. It was nice to send them off with hugs and kisses.

Cleaning up around the apartment, last minute packing and a typical insane roman drive to the airport. We were picked up in a van and the driver had to grease the sides in order to fit the small, packed streets around our apartment. He basically had three states of motion: stopped, accelerating and breaking. Needless to say, the ride was a bit bouncy.

There was another couple in the van when we were picked up and we made a stop for one other person on the way. Listening to them take about their stay in Rome, we realized that our vacation was so much better. The couple only spent a day in Rome. About all you can do in that amount of time is to wave as the sites go by. And the other person had to travel 2 hours by bus every time she wanted to see one of the sites. Mary and I realized how lucky we were to be staying in an apartment in the middle of ancient rome, a couple of blocks from the forum and colosseum. What a great way to see this city.

Seriously Folks

Seriously folks, life just does not get any better than this. We just shared another fantastic dinner at Carlos Menta. Appetizers, first and second courses followed by a yummy desert. Mix in some water and wine and you have a seriously content group of people. That ever so slight drunk feeling on top of a full belly and the remnants of flavors from dinner followed by a nice walk home in a slight rain. What a wonderful way to celebrate our last night here.

Thank you everyone for a fantastic week.

Waiting for the bus

We had a long wait for bus. But it finally came and took us down the Appian Way to the Catacombs of San Callisto.

Our tour of the catacombs was led by a priest as a church is now responsible for the maintenance and upkeep. There 4 levels to the catacombs, each level is around 12 meters deep. There are around 20 kilometers of corridors here and around 500,000 people were buried here at one point. Today there are few if any still buried here. Most of the remains have been taken to another site for safe keeping mostly because of the looting over the centuries. Christians would practice their faith here and the Romans (and others) would persecute them for it. Of the people buried here, 16 were popes and bishops of Rome. Did i mention the looting? The place was forgotten for long stretches of time.

The crypts were small as befitting the size of the people from the time. You can see the tool marks in the walls and crypts where the volcanic ash and stone were cut away. Down a corridor there could be 5 to 8 crypts high lining both walls. The floor of corridor was cut lower as people were buried. There are chambers off the sides for families, guilds and people who wanted to be buried together.

We had another long wait for bus back. Mary and I split from the others since they want to go to the Colosseum to look for souvenirs for the girls and something for Tommy. Mary and I were more interested in lunch.

Lunch was some outstanding polenta for me and some great cannoli w/ pumpkin for Mary. It was most excellent though expensive at 50 euros. Perhaps when I consider the water, wine, appetizer and desert along with the main dishes it's not that bad ;-)

I'm not a coffee drinker, never developed a taste for it. At the recommendation of a friend, I tried an espresso after lunch. It was very good. I must now pause to hurl many curses at Steve for introducing me to this interesting elixir. And i may have to search out a good espresso when I get back home. Damn you, steve!

We walked a bit after lunch before Mary and I split. I head back to apartment to take a nap, she is off looking for interesting treasures to bring back home.

Everyone else return 5 minutes after I do, Sammi, Kate and I spend a few minutes comparing snow globes (I picked up one from the vatican for a friend) and Sarah showed off the small statue that she picked up as a memento of her time here.

Mariola calls Mary and arranges to meet her so they can go shopping together. Tom spends a while herding cats trying to get Kate, Sammi and Sarah to start packing up their clothes. It's pretty amusing from where I'm sitting.

Here's the quote of the day from Sammi: "When I get married, I'm going to take my husband here for our honeymoon." She's almost 12, already getting married and telling him what to do. Too funny!

Fruit Juices and Water Fountains

One thing I'm going to miss is the fruit juices that are ubiquitous here. There is a huge variety available. We had blood orange, peach and pear. They're all thick, rich, delicious and fairly inexpensive. The blood orange was 2 euros, around $2.60 for a liter. Made a great addition to breakfast.

There are public drinking fountains all over Rome and there's nothing like what we have here in the States. For starters, they look nothing like our public drinking fountain and they're always have water running. And to drink from them, you plug the flow with your finger and drink from the stream that comes out the top. Very different and pretty cool.

Crossing the Street

Crossing a street in rome is different. There are some crosswalks by traffic lights and crossing there is like anywhere else. But many crosswalks are just stripes painted in the road. To cross, you step out into the street and cross. It seems that you put your life in peril because of all the cars and scooters whizzing by but to hesitate is to be lost, you'll never get across. That first step into the street feels like you're about to be run over but the cars will slow down and go around you as you cross. It is a lot easier as a group since there's just more people and the cars will come to a stop. But it's an experience like no other!

Imagined Feast of Rome

Looks like today is going to be a very light final day, forecast calls for heavy rains throughout the day. Right now, it isn't raining yet but i pretty sure the storms will be coming our way soon enough.

Sarah, Kate and I imagined a wonderful feast throughout the ancient city of Rome all this week. Anytime we saw a statue that looked like it could hold water, we would consider it for a moment and then pretend that it was filled with some sort of favorite food. The first one we did at the National Museum of Rome on Tuesday was filled with split pea soup with ham and carrots. At the Vatican Museum, we pretended that some of the empty sarcophagus bases were filled with different flavors of jello. And at the city ruins of Ostia Antica, we filled a bowl with bananas. It was a wonderful game we played. The first person to see something that could be filled would quietly come to the others, point and say sliced ham. We'd smile, agree and the move on to the next interesting piece of history content in knowing that we had this outrageous feast waiting for us scattered throughout rome.

On Sunday mornings, there's not much open. I had to walk for a bit before I found someplace open to pick up pastries for breakfast. And they were a bit stale, my guess is that they're leftovers from yesterday.

Protesting in Rome

The Catacombs of San Callisto and the old port city of Ostia Antica were the plan for today. Unfortunately there was a protest march that prevented us from getting to the catacombs. Seems that the bus line we needed to take was on the protest route and the bus was canceled for the day. That was rather annoying.

So we skipped the bus to the catacombs and took the train out through the country. This was very different than the ancient part of Rome. Out in the country with trees, grass lands, open space and a lot less cars.

The old ruins at Ostia Antica are in much better shape than those at the forum. The port city used to be on the coast where ships could dock and unload but centuries of silt build up from the Tiber River have push the coast line miles west.

When you first enter Ostia Antica, there's a great little necropolis where many of people of Imperial Rom were buried. Continuing down the main road, there are lots of interesting buildings, many with wonderful mosaics.

The main road is more of a collection of stones that happen to be near each other and almost horizontal. It's interesting to imagine ox drawn carts overflowing with goods that were just brought in from the sea and being brought to one of the warehouses for storage before being transported to Rome.

From Ostia Antica, we hopped back onto the train and made our way back to the Spanish Steps. We walked back to the apartment from there visiting shops and the newly opened christmas market in Piazza Navona. Unfortunately only around 1/2 of the stalls were open but there were people everywhere!

Along the way we stopped for some gelato from Gelateria Produzione Artigian. I had mint and chocolate chip, great mint, ok chocolate chip. The presentation was great.

We had dinner this evening at a not so impressive restaurant. The service was shoddy and half of us thought the food was good, half didn't. Not that great of a way to end the day.

So what do you do? Head on over to Fior di Luna for some gelato! I had the most excellent pistachio and crema clamente! (*****) Good stuff!

Hibernating in Rome

I'm sick. Sore throat, stuffed nose slight fever, annoyed. sending the day hibernating while everyone else goes out to play.

Mary found a decongestant for me, worked wonders. Also brought back some crusty rolls and smoked salami. I can recover with this.

Best Dinner Yet

We went on a death march this evening while looking for a restaurant for dinner. Tom led us from restaurant to restaurant looking at menus, comparing options and prices. It seemed to take forever. All of us were bemoaning the fact that we were going to look at yet another menu at yet another restaurant. Oy.

But I must say, this evening was the best meal of the trip to far. Tom's menu / restaurant selection process works. This was a fabulous, 4 course meal at Carlo Menta in Trastevere. We all ate our fill and loved every moment of it. Including a nice bit of tiramisu. To end it all, the total bill for all 7 of us was 114 euros. That was just a brilliant restaurant selection.

Just up the street from Carlo Menta was Fior di Luna, a lovely little place to get gelato. The vanilla and white chocolate combination that I had was most excellent. Yes, we just ate a 4 course meal w/ desert and then went out for some gelato. Not saying that we're glutton's or anything but, sheesh ;-)

Meeting St Peter

We just returned from visiting the Vatican. We went on a bus ride (route 23) there and back. In general, driving in Rome is insane. Wherever you want is a lane. Scooters make up at least 1/4 of the traffic and they zip through the cars and busses to get to the front of the traffic waiting for a light to change. Then they try to zoom off before the cars though often can't. To cross a street as a pedestrian, you walk into the intersection with purpose and hope the cars will stop or go around you. If you don't, they'll just keep driving and you'll never get across. No hesitation allowed.

St. Peter’s Basilica, huge, enormous huge. Inside the central dome you can place the Statue of Liberty with it's base. That's really big. In fact, they want you to know just how big because they have bronze markers on the floor showing the relative sizes of other churches. That's a serious ego booster.

Before I left on this vacation, a friend asked for a snow globe from the Vatican. I'm reasonably sure that he was asking just to send me on a wild goose chase through the Vatican looking for a gift shop that has a snow globe. Won't he be surprised to see that I was able to find one! Ha!

I met my namesake, St. Peter. Well I didn't actually meet him, just saw his statue as well as his tomb. His tomb is seriously ornate. I'd prefer mine to be a bit simpler.

The Vatican museum is home of generations on generations of captured loot, statues, paintings and other fantastic works of art. Along with lots of amazing works of art that were commissioned by the church. It's a seriously impressive collection of art works.

In an inner courtyard, there a huge rotating globe. I'm not sure what it's for but it did remind me a bit of Sauron's eye from The Lord of the Rings.

The Sistine Chapel, home of Michelangelo's ceiling was crowded when we got there. This is the off season and I cannot imagine how crowded it would be at the height of tourist season. I sat for a while looking at the paintings, at the ceiling. Every time I would look at another area, I'd see more. This is a place where you can get completely lost while sitting still. Pretty amazing.

There's a double spiral staircase at the exit of Vatican Museum. It's a beautiful, amazing, double helix staircase. The ramps are around 5' wide with a cast bronze side and railings. At the top, the ramps are around 25' apart and with a decreasing radius, they're around 15' apart at the bottom. It's simply stunning.

Awake again

I'm up early again, this time with a sore throat. That's not good. All things considered I'd rather not be sick on vacation.

Galleria Borghese

We spent some quality mass transit time this morning, a bus to Borghese Park and walk to the Galleria Borghese, a museum with an interesting collection of statues and painting. The museum has limited access and we're luckily in that Mary and Tom plan ahead. They purchased tickets ahead of time and we just had to show up 30 minutes before our scheduled time to pick them up.

The Galleria Borghese is located in a huge, beautiful park. It was pretty nice walking around though it rained a bit. I accidentally left my passport in my day bag when I checked it at the museum. That was not a good idea. Luckily, it was still there when I picked it up again after the time inside.

We headed to the Spanish Steps. This is the place to be seen and to see when in ancient Rome. People sit out on the steps and watch others going about their day, shopping, working, or whatever. Today, it was mostly empty in the rain.

The area around the Spanish Steps is an amazing collection of small alleys and streets with people, shops and restaurants. These are shops on par with that of Paris or New York and are a whole lot more interesting than your average American strip mall.

After wandering through the streets, we made it back to the apartment just in time for our regular afternoon naps!

Alone in the morning

I'm awake again way before everyone else. It's peaceful in the morning but on the whole I'd rather sleep more. Though I suppose it's good since I can catch up on the dishes from yesterday and spend a bit of quiet time by myself. That's always nice.

Nonna Betta, Fire and Gelato

We just had a wonderful dinner at Nonna Betta in the Jewish Ghetto area of Rome. It was my first experience of deep fried artichokes and they were just delicious! Diner was pretty good overall though Mariola tried to get us kicked out by picking up the appetizer plates and stacking them for the waiter. There was a bit of a ruckus when the waiter saw that he wasn't being responsive enough and we had stacked the plates for him. Most amusing in that most of the restaurant had a laugh at Mariola's expense from whatever the waiter had said to his compatriots.

Along the way to Nonna Betta, I discovered what has got the be the hands down best outdoor heaters ever created. Instead of the regular old patio heater with it's enclosed burner and saucer pan top heat reflector, these were a beautiful column of flame! The flame is enclosed in a column of glass, I'm guessing that it's some sort of borosilicate glass. They radiate heat very well and just look fantastic. It's interesting that there's no soot buildup on the inside of the glass, I'm guessing that there's either a small fan or a venturi style burner at the core. I really need to do some research on these when I get back home. They're wonderful!

We stopped at the first gelato place, Blue Ice. It looks to be a franchise with stores throughout Rome. I had a small cup with mint and vanilla. The mint was ok (***) though it left a slight flavor of coconut on the tongue. The vanilla (*) was just not vanilla, much more of a creamsicle. As a creamsicle it was ok but it was definitely not vanilla. On the whole, I'd give this place a two star (**) rating.

The Bar Tre Scalini was next where Tom picked up a tartufo which happens to be one of the most delicious chocolate desserts ever created by man. It was just fantastic. The chocolate just melted on your tongue to yield it's delicious flavors. I'm giving this desert 5 stars!

The second gelato place where we stopped was San Crispino. Mary and I split a carmel and chocolate gelato. The chocolate was just ok (**), not our favorite. The carmel (****) was very nice. Smooth and creamy with great flavor and chunks of carmel. Mariola, Tom and the girls split a chocolate ricotta (*****) and the carmel (****). The chocolate ricotta was most outrageous! This place gets four stars!

Tired Feet

Another day spent walking. Feet are tired, legs and backs are aching but there are satisfied smiles all around.

We spent much of the morning walking through the Colosseum. It was amazing. The thought of the period entertainment of gladiator fighting and huge crowds of people, simply amazing. The size of the building and scope of with work that went into building it are astounding. I felt awed to walk in this place where 2,000 years ago all this happened. It made for a really good morning.

We stopped in at the San Pietro in Vincoli church where the chains that held Peter the apostle are on display along with Michaelangelo's statue of Moses. The statue was beautiful. Later in the day, Tom mentioned that the statue of Moses had horns on it. I didn't notice when I was there but on looking at a picture, it's very obvious that there are horns. They have something to do with a misinterpretation of the word wisdom from a copy of the old testament. Apparently, the word for wisdom and horns were very close in their use.

We spent some time at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and the grave of Bernini.

Lunch was at Gallo Matto. The place had a very unique decorator. The had animal masks, a small surfboard, a star, 1/2 of a pig and all sorts of other strange things hanging from the walls including a rubber chicken, and christmas lights. You can see some of the madness on the left. Very unique. I had a cheese pizza with some pepperoni on it. Wasn't my first choice but it was ok. Everyone else had pasta of some sort. By far, I thought the tortalini that Sarah had was the best. It was interesting that they have their own house label wine.

We stopped in the National Museum of Rome. Lots of carved stone of old dead people. (I was getting tired at this point.)

Baths of Diocletian, picture a thousands of your closest friends exercising, wrestling and then taking a bath together. In a bath house that spans 50 acres or more. Pretty impressive sight.

It's nap time for me and then off to dinner.

Searching for pastries

I'm up early, around 6 again. I guess I was a bit tired last night. Went to take a quick nap before dinner and missed it completely. Oy but I was tired. I hope everyone else had an enjoyable evening.

They're all still sleeping this morning so I took a quick shower and went out in search of a pastry and a cafe with wifi. Found a nice little cafe that had fresh pastries but no wifi. It's interesting how ubiquitous it is back home and how much reliance I put on it. I have no doubt that I'll find access somewhere, just not sure where yet.

The Forum and Circus Maximus

I'm up, it was around 5am and everyone is still sleeping. Spent some time just listening to the sounds of the apartment. Subtle noises, slight rain passing by. Shower, dressed and went for an early walk to see what was around the block. Discovered narrow, cobble stone lined streets and a few small shops. And rain. Since I didn't feel like spending too much time in the rain and I was wondering if anyone else was awake, I headed back to the apartment. Still not a peep, everyone's still asleep.

Did the dishes. Watched a couple of shows on my iPad. And everyone's still sleeping. Read a bit and Mary finally woke up. She showered, dressed and we went for another walk since the rain had stopped. Getting out of the building was a challenge. When I went out earlier, the main front door was already open. But this time, there was another guy trying to figure out the lock so his wife could outside. Since he was a bit frustrated, I tried. And tried and tried. Really strange but you would think that the door would just open. After some more poking and prodding, I realized that we had been locking and unlocking it but the door itself stuck and needed a strong pull to get it open. Yea. All was once again right with the world.

We talked for a few minutes with the wife of the guy who tried to open the door. She's from New York (my home town) and gave us some pointers to a few things around the area.

We found a nice, simple deli just downstairs from the apartment. We lucked out in that the dude behind the counter spoke reasonable english and was quite willing to help us find foods to our tastes. Let me say that smoked salami is such a joy! And cheese, yoghurt, fresh bread, honey, a spicy jam and some blood red orange juice. What a great collection of foods for breakfast.

Once we got back to the apartment and started with breakfast, the rest of the slumbering creatures finally started to wake up. Mariola and Tom were a bit shocked to find out it was after 11 in the morning! Slackers ;-)

Coffee, showers, a small bite to eat, more dishes and we're ready to start the day. Let's go explore Rome!

Capitoline Hill

The apartment that we're renting is in a great place for day trips through the sights of ancient Rome. A short walk and we're standing at the entrance to the Forum.

Walking into the Forum, I see just a bunch of old rocks, columns and remains of buildings. You know, ruins. It's not that interesting. But as I walked through, I began to imaging how it looked back all those centuries ago. People doing business, temples filled with worshipers, senators debating points of governance, people trading goods, meeting friends, all those things of a bustling, living city. The Forum comes alive in my minds eye. That's pretty cool.



Circus Maximus, the track around which chariots were raced. Nascar has nothing on this. From the ground, it seems like just a mostly flat, long stretch of dirt. There's a small berm that runs the length through the center and a tree on one end of the berm. Not very impressive. But from the top of the Palatine Hill, it's easy to see the whole of Circus Maximus. Imaging the chariots racing down from the flat, open end, coming around that really tight turn by the tree on the berm and then racing back up the other side. Coming around that turn must have been the most intense part. Picture being a driver on your chariot, pulled by horses as it's thundering down a straight away that's a bit over 1/3 mile long. At the end, you have to make a seriously sharp, tight u-turn and race up the other side. When you flip because you were going too fast into that turn, there's a really good chance you'll get run over by another horse or chariot. If you were lucky, you died. And all this happened to a screaming crowd of 250,000 of your closest friends. Wow.

We wound up walking around the Colosseum looking for an entrance. The only one we found was being used as an exit. It was a little before 4pm and the posted time for the last entry is 4:30. But we couldn't get in. That was a pretty big bummer since the Colosseum is one of the places I'd definitely like to see. It'll have to walk till tomorrow.

We got back to the apartment after stopping to pick up a couple of sandwiches and light faire for a snack before dinner. Tom spent some time looking through areas with restaurant choices. The girls had a snack. I typed. And then took a nap. Seems the time change was catching up with me. Everyone else went to dinner later in the evening while I slept.

Rome is Dark

Our flight from SFO took us through Zurich on a 2 hour layover and then onto Rome. Landing in Rome was mostly uneventful with the exception of around 5 minutes of some seriously choppy weather.

The wait for our luggage was much longer than we expected but as long as there were other people from the flight, I wasn't worried that our luggage was lost someplace in Guam.

We meandered our way through the airport to the train station. Mary went in search of an ATM for some euros while went off to find tickets and the train that would take us to Roma Termini. While walking down the platform, I was stopped by a guy and asked a question in Italian. My understanding of Italian is just a smidge above nonexistent. But I caught the word train and Roma Termini so I smiled, pointed to the train we were going to get on and said Roma Termini. He smiled, said grazie and headed to the train. Afew moments later and an Asian dude stopped me and asked something about his ticket. After miming through for a bit, I realized that he wanted to know where he could validate his ticket. So I pointed off to the beginning of the platform, drew the outline of the boxes and mimed putting the ticket in to get stamped. He said thank you in asian influenced English and off he went. I'm still wondering why people chose me to ask for help. Strange but satisfying to help.

The train ride to Roma Termini was pretty short, around 25 minutes. The terminal itself was huge! And when I say huge I mean enormous! We walked for at least10 minutes along train tracks and platforms before we made the front entrance. It's big.

Next we needed a taxi to be able to get to our apartment. The first taxi driver we talked with didn't have a clue where the address was but the next pulled out his gps and found it quickly. Cost will be 35 euros which Mary thinks is a ripoff. We decided to pay it just because we didn't want to deal with trying to find other transport.

Driving through Rome is entertaining. Seems that wherever your car is located, that's your lane and that's where you were going. The drivers move fast, cut across traffic and treat traffic rules and signs as suggestions.

Most of the houses on the street of our apartment don't have numbers shown, It's more of a hunt and guess game to find the right one. Luckily Mariola and Tom were watching out the window and saw our taxi driving in circles.

The apartment is a cozy 3 bedroom with a kitchen, eating area / living room. Perfect for a group our size and way better that a hotel.

So far, my impression of Rome is that it's dark. I'm looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.

Frisky Zurich

Our first stop is in Zurich just to transfer planes to get to Rome. This had to be the fastest customs ever though Mary thinks that it was just passport control. Regardless, we were through within minutes. And I got my passport stamped. Proof, proof I say that I was here!

We had to go through a security checkpoint again before heading to our gate. It is much simpler and much faster than the ones in the US. Very much all business, scan bags and everyone goes through a metal detector. For me, it was a bit more since the rivets in my pants tripped the metal detector. I was immediately led to a screening booth where a guy used a handheld wand to check me. Every time he went passed a rivet the wand would beep. Seeing that, he did a very thorough frisk of my waist band, groin and legs. He was not at all worried about offending, just strictly business. As soon as he was done, he waved me on through with a "have a nice day."

While SFO doesn't charge for wifi access, Zurich airport does. So posting this will have to wait until I can find free wifi access.

SFO and the TSA Theatre

We're flying out of SFO to Zurich and then onto Rome. A dear friend of ours (thanks Dana!) was kind enough to drop us off at the airport. That's pretty convenient since it means we don't have to leave our car at the airport and pay $20 per day.

Getting to the Swiss Air checkin counter was pretty easy and there was no one in the economy line in front of us. We thought it would be a breeze. Unfortunately, the person who was checking in the economy passengers left after finishing with the person in front of us. The other lines, for web checkin, business and first class all had customer service people and the folks were moving through there at a pretty reasonable clip. We waited. And waited. Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad, only about 10 minutes before we were called up and were able to checkin. That went slow but pretty smoothly. Though we only received our boarding pass for the flight to Zurich, only it wasn't a boarding pass. We'll have to check in again at the gate to get a seat assignment for the first flight and to get the boarding pass to Rome.

Next up was the security screening, also know as the TSA security theatre. They're now using the new x-ray full body scanners and I really don't want to go through them. When the woman security person directed me to go through, I told her I refuse. She looked at me a moment and then called on her radio for a male security person to come and pat me down. While waiting for him to arrive, I watched as she purposefully directed 2 people with children around the body scanner and through the standard metal detector, saying to them that they can't go through the scanner with a child. And it seemed to be a bit arbitrary who was directed into the scanner and who was let around and just through the metal detector. Mostly guys were directed into the scanner though there were some women. Lots of people were directed around.

Once the male security person arrived, he asked why I didn't want to be scanned. I told him that I didn't want to be exposed to the x-rays. He wrote something on a clipboard, hopefully this is an indication that the TSA is trying to listen to people. But who knows.

He collected my things and walked me over to an area on the side but in the open. He carefully explained what was going to happen, that he would touch me an various places to ensure that I didn't have any hidden items. He explained that are this part of my body he'd use the inside of his hands and on that area he'd use the outside. He explained that he would be reaching up the inside of my leg and touch personal areas. He asked if I wanted to go to a private room. I refused, if they were going to go through this much theatre, at least everyone else going through the checkin point should be able to enjoy the show.

The pat down itself was pretty quick but not very thorough. He had me turn and face my belongings which were in the grey plastic bins on the floor and walked behind me to begin. He patted my back down, checked the cuffs of my shirt sleeves, check my waistband by pulling it away from my body and running his hands around the inside. He felt down my left leg and then the other. On standing up again, he moved around front and again told me that he would be feeling my private areas. He raised his hands up my leg but didn't make it all the way up to my groin. If there had been something hidden, he wouldn't have found it. He then asked me to sit down and proceeded to wipe down the outside of his gloves with a white pad. The pad was fed into a machine and a moment later he said I can go, that I should enjoy my flight. I'm assuming that I passed the test for trace explosives. Yea.

The entire time he was courteous, and explained everything before he did it, asked if I had any questions. I don't think that the pat down was all that thorough but I do think that there are a lot of people who would be offended that a stranger put his hands on private parts of their body.

I really found it interesting that the full body scanners were optional and that opting out was as simple as saying no. It took me a few minutes extra to proceed through the security check but it wasn't too much of an inconvenience. While I was there, I was the only person I saw who opted out of the scanner. I think it'll be interesting to see what happens next Friday (11/29) when large numbers of people opt out in protest to this farce of a security check. I think that it's going to make for long delays and missed flights but hopefully the TSA will listen and that the general public doesn't agree with this, that they should perhaps implement a better security process. I know that I don't feel any safer with the theatre they're putting on.

Traveling Technology

In my past travel logs, such as Baja 1992, I've mostly written them with good old fashion pen and paper notebook. I'd write out thoughts, ideas, experiences and such two or three times a day. When I got back from the trip, I'd then transcribe everything and either self publish or post it all online. That whole transcribing process was always just a royal pain and fairly prone to errors. This time I'm going to try something a little different. Most of the posts will be published online as they're written. And to do that, I'm going a slightly different route than usual. It'll be done all on my iPad.

With the iPad, I'm also bring a bluetooth keyboard, my iPhone, a Flip video camera and associated power adapters and cables. I'm pretty sure that shorter posts can be written easily on the iPad's built in keyboard but anything longer than a few paragraphs will start to get obnoxious. That's where the extra keyboard comes in.

I think that the camera on my iPhone will be sufficient for most of the simple photos I'll take and Mary will be bringing here Nikon DSLR to capture great pictures. And I'm hoping that the new Flip video will catch some interesting videos. Though I'm not yet sure how to get them from the Flip and online since it seems to want to do that through a computer. Perhaps I'll be able to use an internet cafe in Rome. If not, then they'll have to wait till we return home.

Today's The Day!

This is it - we are leaving today! The frenzy of last minute preparations is almost over. Yesterday was the major packing day for me and last night the last minute fighting with my husband over whether something got done, didn't get done, was supposed to get done as he battled computer problems while trying to download books onto our girls new MP3 players. Vacation nerves, always happens. The good news is I'm packed (although he's not) so other than piano lessons, watering the plants and turning down the heater, we are good to go! Like Mary, the moment I crave is when the airplane doors slide closed because then the worry and preparation stops and the vacation begins.

Stages of Trip Planning

I’ve been noticing the many stages of trip planning. Thinking back, it’s almost a predictable process. First the Dreaming or Wistful Longing. As both Peter and Mariola mentioned, we spent *years* in this stage. This is the someday, maybe we’ll go on a trip together. Wouldn’t a castle in Tuscany be grand? Provence sounds great…what if we went there? Biking thru the green hills of Ireland? With a world of possibilities, it’s easy to dream.

Then thru some process that is not quite clear, those dream start to take concrete shape as we enter the Commitment stage. A tentative comment is taken seriously. Could this be the year? Financial and vacation budgets get reviewed. The stars align. Yes, we’re going! We made this decision in July. Only thing from perfection is Tommy’s absence; hopefully college will hold other adventures for him.

This is when we make the big chunk decision about when and where - Rome over Thanksgiving. We purchased tickets and reserved an apartment for all of us near the Forum. (Not a castle, but we’ll save that for next time!). All signals go.

Then it’s all about Anticipation. Rome! We’re going to ROME! Purchasing and pouring over guidebooks. Surfing the web. Going thru the days with a new alertness to everything Italian, and Roman specifically. Restaurant famed for authentic Italian cuisine…gotta try it. New movie When in Rome…watched it. (Cute, but skip-able). Talking to friends for advice and recommendations. (Consensus advice is “watch out for pickpockets.” Sigh). Basically counting down the days.

While anticipation also involves some preparation, it’s mostly in the form of a list in my head. Then about a week before departure the Preparation Panic stage kicks into high gear. The details large and small involved in relocating and stepping out of our daily routine get addressed. Time to do the laundry, the packing, and finalize arrangements for dog care. Can we stay connected while abroad? Do we have the right power supplies? Enough batteries? What’s the weather gonna be like? (Rain.) And what about [x]? Did you do [y]?

Funny thing about this stage is how the trip acts as a milestone. All of a sudden, those things I haven’t gotten around to for 6+ months now absolutely have to get done before we leave. (Can you say “Toyota floor mat recall”. Sheesh). It’s an interesting motivator, but easy to get out of hand. Sometimes it’s helpful to remember the basics. We have our passport, we have our tickets, we have our credit cards - everything else is optional. There will be time when we get back, even for Christmas shopping.

Departure. At some point, it’s just time to go. Everything either got done, or it didn’t. For me, there is a certain comfort in that inevitability. When the doors of the plane close, the preparation is over, and I can get back to the anticipation. Tomorrow is the day!!!

So, I haven't thought about gelato at all today - seriously, I've never had a bad gelato! Instead I'm worrying about science homework, Thursday's chorus concert - and getting the house clean so my mother won't be appalled when I bring her over so she can see the concert, getting Euros from the bank, and figuring out who's bringing what clothes. Did I mention that I'm not at all like Peter's "I'llgo where the wind blows" person? No, I'm in charge of making sure that everyone has the clothes they need, the meds in case anyone gets sick, the contact info. in case the families need to get ahold of us, and, of course, clean the house before I leave so that if something happens while I'm on vacation and someone needs to come into my house they won't see that I'm a slob (did I mention that I'm not laid back like Peter.....?) I'm in full frenzy mode and can't wait to get on the plane becuase that's when I start to relax.

The Quest for Great Gelato

I'm going to be on a quest to find the best gelato in Rome. There's a number of ways to go about this but I think that the most objective will be to define a way to rate the various facets of gelato. Here's what I'm thinking about:

• color - is the gelato visually interesting? does the color match the flavor?
• flavor - how is the flavor when it touches the tongue?
• creaminess - how does the gelato feel when it's in your mouth?
• presentation - how was the gelato served?
• store - location, friendly service, clean

So if I track the store's name, location, grab a picture or two and rate each of these facets on a 1 - 5 scale, I think we'll be in good shape to find the best gelato in Rome!

The countdown has begun! Samantha was just expressing the wish that this week be one of those weeks that just flies by. Now, I'd love that too - but since I'm the one in charge of all the packing and last minute details, I could use at least one day that drags.

As Peter mentioned, I've been to Rome before - twice, actually. The first time was on my honeymoon, more than 21 yrs. ago, and the second five years later, with our then 3 yr. old son. Since it's been 16 yrs., I'm really looking forward to a return trip, this time with our daughters. They definitely plan on joining Peter on the great gelato hunt. Actually, we might try to get Peter to participate in Tom's version of Survivor Italy. When my son Tommy was 12 we went to Florence. After dinner, while I was putting the girls to bed, Tom and Tommy would go on a gelato expedition. After they bought the gelato, Tom made Tommy find his way back to the hotel, without his help. I'm happy to say that Tommy did end up coming back home with us, and the therapy bills from the trauma haven't been too bad.

My daughters, who turn 12 yrs. old 4 days after we get back (which, of course, means that I'm also trying to buy birthday presents and plan a party before we leave), are fraternal, and, frankly, don't really look that much alike, especially Samantha, who is a good 5 inches shorter than Kate. Peter's inability to tell them apart can only be accounted for by the fact that he's seen them in person perhaps 3 times in 12 yrs., and each time there was heavy wine drinking involved. I have no doubt that with the opportunity to spend more time with them, sober, he'll be able to tell them apart in no time. My only question is whether we should let them mess with him and misindentify themselves....could be fun.

One clarification, only for my personal prides sake, I didn't just study to be a lawyer, I actually practiced law for 12 yrs., with my career ending and full-time mom status starting when I became pregnant with triplets. I only clarify this because my son likes to insist that I'm not a lawyer because I haven't practiced for so long, but the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois still considers me a lawyer, so I'm sticking with that story!

Destination Rome!

We're going to Rome!

Mary and I have been talking about doing a longer, international vacation for several years now. There have been lots of ideas but one thing or another always came up to keep us from going.

When we were back in Chicago visiting with her parents in July, we had dinner with her friend Mariola. Mary and Mariola have also been talking about doing a vacation together for a long time. The four of us (with Mariola's husband, Tom) decided over dinner and wine that this was the year and that Rome was the destination. Pretty simple, let's just go.

Before I continue in this journal, I'd like to introduce the cast of characters. There's my wonderful wife, Mary. She's had an interest for traveling and living abroad since she first traveled to Russia as a teenager. Now, she's a successful customer experience designer in silicon valley. Living abroad hasn't happened yet but she does travel regularly which makes her happy.

Mariola was Mary's college roommate who studied to be a lawyer but decided to stay at home and raise a son and three wonderful girls. The day-to-day stories she shares about raising kids are entertaining and the kids are a great testament to her as a mom.

Next up is Mariola's husband Tom. He is a lawyer and has a fantastic ability to remember facts, trivia, details and stories. He spent a year in Rome as part of his college days and is a walking, talking, story telling machine. With his past experiences there and the research he's been doing for this trip, it's going to be great.

Lastly, there are Mariola's 12 year old daughters, Kate, Sarah and Samantha. They're fraternal so you would think it would be easy for me to tell them apart. But the couple of times I've met them, I've confused names and faces. It's going to be interesting. Maybe I should get shirts made for each of them. Perhaps with their name, perhaps just a number. But if they're anything like their mom, they'll trade shirts through the day just to confuse me.

We don't have too many details of the trip planned out which is how I typically like to travel. There's the flight from home to Rome and back again. There's a place to stay in Rome, we've rented a 3 bedroom apartment near the forum. And there are tickets to a museum that's reservations only for sometime during the week. The rest will be wherever we wander and whatever we discover. Since I've never been there, it's all new and will be almost impossible to go wrong. Mary, Mariola and Tom have all been to Rome before and I'm sure their ideas on what to see will be a little different.

I think the only thing that I really want to do is find the best gelato in Rome. With a city like Rome, traveling from one gelato shop to another will take me past and through much of the wonderful places and sights to see in Rome.

It's gonna be a great trip!