In Vino Veritas: Catching Up

We had some technical difficulties with our blog. They wanted verification of Angel’s email address and we didn’t have her email set up on the laptop we brought. The internet was often times too slow to allow us to down load it. We were finally able to down load and get it back working. So I will try to catch up.

Maria

I found a pet shop that sold puppies and met a little Shizhu named Maria. She was so cute and happy to have someone give her some attention. I went to visit her almost every day. I even considered taking her home with us but knew that was not an option.

Maria

I was scheduled to take a cooking class but they cancelled it because I was the only one signed up for it so I decided to go back to Portovenere and did some shopping and had a very nice lunch.

Trip to Rome

The trip to Rome started a little rough. When Angel got to the six seat compartment it was full and two older men were in our seats. When Carlos informed them that they were in the wrong seats and tickets were pulled out, one of the men conceded that he was not entitled to the seat. The other refused to get up. The two men were on the right car and the right seats just not the right day. Angel took the seat while Carlos dealt with the baggage and tried to find one of the Train Attendants. The obstinate little old man proceeded to argue with all the ladies in the compartment about how he had the right to the seat even though his ticket was not valid. When the attendant arrived little mount vesuvios lost it and the attendants where threatening to just have the police remove little Mousselini. Carlos spoke to the attendant to just find us two other seats before the little angry (wrong) man had a heart attack. (See Carlos really is the nicest guy in the Navy. Realize little angry man refers to the fact that he was barely 5 feet tall and maybe was 100 pounds soaking wet. It really could have been a seen from a movie, “Throw grandpa (angry little man) from the Train, starring Carlos, The Nicest Guy in the U.S. Navy!”) Any way the attendant found us two seats in a compartment with a quite older couple and the rest of the trip to Rome was fairly uneventful.

We checked in to the Grand Hotel Plaza around 3pm, and found probably the most beautiful hotel either of us has ever seen. See the following link for the website, http://www.grandhotelplaza.com/en/gallery.html , but even the website does not do it justice. We will try and include as many pictures into the blog. The reception attendant informed us he would be upgrading us to a corner executive room. We settled into our room and then took our first walk along the “Via Del Corso to the North until we came to the Piazza Del Popolo . It was incredibly beautiful. We stopped on our way back to the hotel for a quick snack and then reorganized our thoughts and headed off to see the Coliseum. Again we walked along Via Del Corso but this time to the South. There is a little vehicle traffic on this road but for the most part it was a Sea of Humanity and any driver that dared brave this road found his path slow and highly impaired. We arrived at Monuento A Vittorio Emanuele II, were we went to the top of the monument and took several pictures of the Roman Skyline and got our bearings for our trek to the Coliseum. On our path to the Coliseum we passed a large excavation of the old roman city that was totally breath taking. We made it to the coliseum only to realize that the excavation did not compare to the splendor and the engineering feat of this great structure. Carlos had watched a special on the history channel on the making of the gladiator. The computer graphics that were used to bring the coliseum to life were spectacular but standing inside that structure really did bring to light the significance of this structure that was 2000 years old. At the end of our walk through the coliseum we decided to head back to the hotel. We stopped at a restaurant that we mistakenly thought was recommended to us. The food was fabulous but the service was trying for a spot on the Godfather. Over three weeks we really have had nothing bad to say about any restaurant in which we have dined however the Twelve Apostles in the Piazza S.S. Apostoli gets the “Double O negative” from both us on hospitality and just plain good behavior. Though on the good side, we did meet three young men from the Australian Military that were in Rome for the 65^th Anniversary of the Italian Republic.

Inside the Coliseum

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II

Coliseum

We had breakfast Sunday morning in an area of the Hotel that was part of the main Ballroom. The room was incredible; it is hard to believe that this place was once a private residence. After breakfast we headed off to the Vatican City. We signed up for a guided tour and headed to the Vatican Museum. We had to pass through security and Mr. Fish failed to pass the radar scanner. It was traumatic for Mr. Fish when the Vatican security guards frisked him. The Vatican museum was truly impressive and the Sistine chapel required your presence to truly understand how spectacular it really is. After this tour we went through Saint Peters Basilica. It was so beautiful inside that the pictures we took do not do it justice. Carlos said that he had never really expected to get anywhere beyond Saint Peters Square but to walk throughout the Vatican was truly beyond his expectations and wildest hopes. We stopped for a snack of wine and bruschetta (I have found a new recipe for this that I will be trying out once we get home). We then went to the Pantheon (another 2000 year old structure that looks every bit as functional as it probably did the day it was finished) and the Trevi Fountain. I will post pictures of these but pictures cannot do these landmarks justice.

Angel & Mr. Fish outside of St Peters Bascillica

Facing the Main Alter in St Peters Bascillica

Inside the Bascillica

Inside the Vatican Museum

St Peters Square

We finally found the restaurant that a good friend of ours recommended and ate dinner. It was every bit as good as he said it would be, down to the Green Sambuca.

I liked the history and art of Rome but found it to be loud and crowded. Sunday there were parades of people in the street cheering for an Italian soccer team that was playing a championship game tonight. It was crazy, kind of like New Orleans after the Super Bowl.