Adventures in Rome

In April 2005 I traveled to Italy for the first time. I love Italian food and my half-Italian husband (his mother was first-generation American) but I never had any overwhelming desire to travel to Italy. When my friend Gisele asked if I was interested in a trip, my first reaction was.......hmmm, maybe, maybe not. Obviously I said yes, and my stepdaughter Pam of Pam's Perspectives, Gisele and Gisele's stepmother Muriel and I traveled together. We had a great time.

It was also my first time on one of those Six-Countries-in-Four-Days kinds of trips where they keep you moving from 6:30 a.m. to midnight. Not the most restful way to travel but you see a lot. We actually only visited Italy but in one week we traveled from Venice all the way down to Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast. From nearly missing the plane in Boston after getting to Logan 7 hours early (don't ask) to Pam and me getting lost in the streets of Venice, it was a wonderful trip!

Here are a few photos of our stay in Rome.

This is a Lamborghini. It probably took 5 minutes to get this shot as Gisele kept saying......'okay, wait a minute, no, oops, I missed it, go back.' I was smiling but was thinking about killing her as I stood making a spectacle of myself in the middle of the street.

Probably my favorite photo from the trip. That's Muriel, Gisele, Pam and me on the Spanish Steps. Don't know who those people in front were.

Another of my favorites. To me this was the ultimate new meets old. Or at least newer meets ancient as the yellow building was probably mid-1800's.

We were there the week after the funeral of Pope John Paul II. This is the door to the Sistine Chapel which was as far as we got because the College of Cardinals was meeting. In fact we were in Italy when they elected Pope Benedict XVI.

These photos are taken on the grounds at the Coliseum. It was a drizzly day which made the site a little eerie especially when you looked into the pits where the animals and slaves were kept but it also made the trees and grass so green, it was a beautiful contrast.

Stick around and I'll post more photos from our visit to other cities.