For every season...

As many of you know, we were saddened to learn that we lost our pup, Kona- very unexpectedly- while we were in Italy.  Our dogs are like our children and are a very large part of our life.  We do include them in many of our activities, from afternoon walks to snuggling in bed to gifts under the Christmas tree.  Our little Kona was always a bit quirky and different to say the least, but we embraced her originality.  She was my baby girl, and I had a particular fondness for her. She was only six when she passed, and unfortunately we will never know exactly what happened and why her time with us was so short.  

After she passed, Sam and I literally cried for about three days, both mourning her death and dealing with the many feelings surrounding the situation- mostly guilt.  We were also very uneasy about the fact that we did not get to say goodbye or ease her pain. As part of the process, we both wrote goodbyes to Kona since we did not get to say goodbye in person.  I was going to simply copy those letters here, but I struggled with that knowing that these letters were so personal. 

Due to this, I have been struggling for some time on how and what to write for the post.  I knew it had to be addressed, as she was such a huge part of our life.  It has almost been a month now since her passing, and it is time. Instead I have chosen to copy the words of a song that we all know.  It popped in my head, and I started singing it randomly a few days after Kona's death.  I think there must be a reason for that. 

Turn! Turn! Turn! 

To everything- Turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant, a time to reap

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down

A time to dance, a time to mourn

A time to cast away stones

A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace

A time of love, a time of hate

A time you may embrace

A time to refrain from embracing

To everything - turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose

A time to rend, a time to sew

A time to love, a time to hate

A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!

Thanks to everyone for your love and support. 

Day 14: All roads lead to HOME...

To be honest, by day 14 we were ready to get back to the comforts of home.  What we ended up coming home to was another story, but I will take you through the events of that day on our way back to the states. 

We woke up at 6:00 am thanks to Siri, showered, and packed the rest of our bags up, ready for our return journey home.  The day before we had decided to arrange to have a private car take us to the airport from our Rome rental apartment.  The owners of our apartment even called and set it up for us! This definitely was not the most affordable option at 50 Euros, but after two straight weeks of transportation coordination, we were really tired of trying to figure out this stuff.  It was nice to know that we could get to the airport in time for our international flight without any hassle or unknowns.  The other options would have been to take the train to Termini and then get on to the Leonardo Express train, which came out to be about 17-18 Euros per person or the bus, which was significantly cheaper at something like 3 Euros a piece, but both of these options would take significantly longer.  It was a Saturday morning so fortunately we did not run into much traffic.  The car ride was much further than I thought and took approximately 45 minutes to get to Fiumicino or Leonardo da Vinci Airport in very little traffic. It definitely was worth it to us, as we had absolutely no worries and it was a smooth ride. 

We arrived at the airport.  No one was staffed yet at the British Airways desk so we got our boarding passes for our first flight via the computerized kiosk.  It did not give us our second boarding pass from London to Chicago, but I just figured we were checked in and could get our boarding passes printed when we got to London before we boarded... 

We waited quite awhile before our flight, as we had arrived early just in case. I was so tired I slept the entire flight from Rome to London! Perhaps it was due to mental exhaustion? When we arrived in London, we quickly made our way towards security again since we were leaving the country.  Remembering that we did not have our boarding passes, we stopped by the British Airways desk to have them printed first.  Well, it turns out that we were never checked in for our second flight at all.  With it now leaving within an hour and a half, they had given our reserved seats away! I can't even begin to describe the pit in my stomach!  I was terrified we had just missed our flight back to the US, and we would have to buy another!  Luckily, on employee worked some magic and got us on the flight (BARELY), although we would have to sit apart from one another on the 9 hour flight.  Oh well, we were just happy to have seats! 

I managed to watch two movies and a TV show with some time to spare on our long trip home.  Why did this one seem so much longer than the flight there?  We arrived in Chicago and Sam's mom picked us up at the O'Hare airport in Chicago, and we started the three hour drive home to Muscatine. Little did we know that our little world was about to dramatically change. 

Day 13: Our final day in Rome

Well..it is hard to believe, but our stay in Italy was quickly coming to an end.  It was our fourth day in Rome, and we had made no definite plans for this day.  It was really nice to have this flexibility.  This gave us the freedom to revisit any missed sights or explore some new areas depending on how we felt on our last day in Rome.  We felt that we had seen most of what we wanted to see the past three days in the city, so we thought we would venture out past the city's walls and explore the ancient Appian Way (Via Antica Appia). 

The road was built in 312 B.C. and was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic.  The Appian Way made it all the way to the port city of Brindisi on Italy's southeast coast, 560 km from Rome (about 350 miles). It is named after a censor who recognized the need for a road to aid in his travels and this would eventually lead the way for advancements in transportation, communication, and military strategy throughout southern Italy. Near Rome the road was lined with tombs; the ruins of many can still be seen today. Since it was forbidden to bury the dead in the city proper, many were buried along the roads leading out of Rome. Important people built tombs for themselves or for their whole family. Sometimes these tombs were as large as a house. The Via Appia was lined with such monuments, and many of them are still visible today.

In order to get here, we walked to the Colosseo stop to hop on the Metro (covered by our Roma Pass) and traveled south for two stops, getting off at Piramide.  (Later, we learned we could have simply walked south toward the Circus Maximus and hopped on the 118 bus without even taking the Metro, but it was a good experience for us anyway.) 

Many of you have probably heard about the pickpockets in Italy and Rome's public transportation is probably the biggest pickpocket breeding ground. In regards to our personal affects, we were extremely cautious everywhere we went in Italy. Sam never carried a wallet or anything in his pockets. We did buy a money belt, but it was just too hot to wear it. I had my cross-body bag referred to in this earlier post on packing, that included many zippers and pockets,convenient for hiding things away. However, I never put anything of importance in the outer pockets.  In fact, we left our passports and anything that was not absolutely necessary in our hotel safe.  I had a small zipper-style coin purse where I brought a copy of our passports, some cash, and one credit card at a time.  I then placed this small coin purse in a zippered pocket within the zippered purse. We kept our iphones safe within this purse as well. I almost always had my hand over the opening of the purse no matter what we were doing.  This just became second-nature.  Another word of advice is to not set down your purse or bag anywhere- even when dining.  I often ate with it in my lap, which was not a big deal.   I really never let it leave my body if we were out and often had to double-check that everything was zipped up after each use.  

The Metro, in particular, was a bit shady in terms of pickpockets.  I wasn't really scared on the Metro or anything like that, but you could tell that there were people that were planted there to try and take your money- and I am sure this was not the only place.  However, since we were educated about this and felt prepared, it wasn't that big of a deal.  When we entered the Metro, we stood in the middle and held onto those vertical metal bars.  Standing directly in the doorway, strategically placed so that we would have to push by them- were two women holding a baby. They had several blankets over the arms, large bags, and baggy clothing. This was my first clue.  I had read that pickpockets will often carry babies in order to appear innocent and then use the baby and extra layers to hide wallets that they lift.  There were not that many people on the train, but one of these women kept falling into me, intentionally brushed up against me- and then when she got really desperate- she actually sneezed on me without covering!  She was expecting me to take my hand off of my purse in all of these situations, and probably to her disappointment, I never did. 

Before we left for our vacation, we watched this video, which was very fascinating.  It delves into the  gypsies and pickpockets in Italy, and it is very helpful!  If you are going to Italy, watch it!  

Anyway, after our adventure on the Metro, we got off at the Piramide (Ostiense) stop and waited for the 118 bus that would carry us down the Appian Way. While at Piramide, we caught a glimpse of this monument, the Pyramid of Cestius. The pyramid was built about 18 BC–12 BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius. 

€ 8,00 each and were taken underground for about a 30 minute guided tour, seeing only a portion of the miles of underground graves. This cemetery is named after the martyr St. Sebastian, who is buried here. But there are thousands of others who were buried here, and there are even underground chapels and mausoleums that look like something straight out of Indiana Jones. For a time, both St. Peter and St. Paul were buried here before they were relocated. After the underground tour, we toured the chapel above. It was very fascinating! For more information about San Sebastiano Catacombs here. 

The Tomb of Saint Sebastian

The Chapel of Saint Sebastian

From here we walked further down the Appian Way, eventually trading in cobblestones for the large pavers that make up the original road!  Along the way, we encountered several tombs- some small and some larger than mansions! 

Another tomb...

Eventually we stopped for lunch at the Cafe Appia Antica, recommended by Rick Steve's  We sat outside and ate some fresh sandwiches and split some eggplant parmesan.  See the full review here.

Pork Sandwich

Tomato and Mozzarella Sandwich

Eggplant Parmesan

Cafe Appia Antica

After we finished our lunch, we rented bikes at this same establishment at a rate of €4 per bike per hour. The ladies working here were very accommodating, as we didn't bring any documents- license or passport- in exchange for the bikes.  However, they were nice enough to take our copies and let us go on our way.  The bikes were somewhat rickety and worn, but were satisfactory for some tooling around for an hour.  With those huge pavers, some better shocks would have been appreciated!

Actually, we quickly learned that cobblestones were ok to ride on, but the pavers most definitely were not!  As we continued down the road, other bikers had created a dirt path off to the side of the road, which made the road much more smooth and enjoyable.  We passed many more tombs along the way.  

The ancient road- showing the switch from cobblestone to the original pavers

After riding for about an hour, we decided we had enough of the bumpiness and decided to return our bikes to the cafe. We walked back down to the bus stop in front of San Sebastiano and hopped back on the 118 bus to take us back into the city.  It is here where we eventually recognized one of the stops that was very close to the Colosseum and our apartment, so we decided to hop off and walk the rest of the way, rather than backtrack and get back on the Metro.  

We made one more quick stop at the market around the corner to stock up on cheap water, juice, and snacks for the airport the following day.  

After resting for awhile, we cleaned up and headed out to dinner close by- only about 100 meters away!  I found Naumachia on Trip Advisor, and we were lucky that it was so close!  We had walked past it several times, but did not realize it was so highly recommended. We were immediately greeted by an energetic server who took us to a table in the back. He tried very hard to speak English and make us feel comfortable. This place was fantastic!  Very good food and wonderful service unlike I had anywhere in Italy!  Our server was not only helpful and attentive, but funny as well.  Here we shared a large bottle of their house white wine , and when we asked for another small bottle, he gave it to us for free! We started with an appetizer of friend ricotta cheese laced with honey.  This was so good! Sam also ordered one more delicious fried zucchini flower filled with mozzarella and anchovy. We both ordered a pasta, and they came homemade! I had fettucine with a tomato sauce. Sam had a pasta with pecorino cheese, parmesan, salt, and pepper, and it was to die for!  We had not really tried any desserts in Italy (except for gelato of course) so we decided to split a piece of tiramisu.  HEAVENLY! It was delicate and light, but perfectly sweet. See the full review here. 

Fried ricotta with honey! 

Sam's delicious pasta!

Fettucine Pomodoro

Tirsmisu!

After dinner, we walked the short distance to our apartment and went to sleep, ready to wake up early and head to the airport.

Day 12: Off to the Vatican!

On Thursday, we took time getting out of bed and laid there for quite awhile.  We ate our bananas for breakfast that we bought the day before at the market.  We had already made online reservations several weeks prior to visit the Vatican at 12:30 pm.  I wasn't sure if this was a great time or not, as I heard that the lines for the Vatican can be crazy long, but I did know that this would avoid the busy tourist groups and cruise ship clutter that frequent the Vatican in the morning.


I had done some research- using our very unreliable Rome Pass map and on the internet and thought I had found a bus that would take us to the back of the Vatican by the museum.  This bus was supposed to stop at Colosseo according to my map, so I urged Sam to leave by 11 am since the Vatican was sort of far away, and I had no idea how long this bus ride would take.  However, when we got to the Colosseo stop. of course the bus we wanted was not listed.  This was frustrating and caused some tension so we kept walking up the Via del Corso, with hopes that we would eventually see the number we wanted.  However, by the time we had already walked down to the Piazza Venezia, we still had not passed a single stop with that number listed (and it WAS listed for several stops on our Roma Pass map!).  Here we stopped and looked at the map and decided to start heading west.  We decided that we would just walk, as time was getting short and we did not want to waste it waiting for a bus that we were not sure would get us where we wanted to go.  In retrospect, this is one of the times we should have used the Metro (also covered by our Roma Pass).  It is not a very extensive system, but we could have hopped on the blue line at Colosseo heading north and then switched to the red line at Termini and taken it all the way out to the Vatican.  This would have been our best bet.  Oh well, we continued to walk...quickly.  we finally saw the angels adorning the bridge leading to the Castel Sant'angelo so I knew we were getting close.  However, little did I know that once you cross the bridge and are walking up the road that leads to St. Peter's you still have to walk a pretty far jaunt behind St. Peter's to get to the museum entrance.  And I wasn't sure of what I was going to find when I got there.  I have heard horror stories of lines that take hours- even for those with reservations.  However, once we arrived, I was incredibly surprised to discover there was absolutely NO line! I guess 12:30 (actually about 12:40 by the time we arrived) on a Thursday is a good time to go!  We walked right in. 

The Vatican Museum displays works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries. It is rumored that many pieces were acquired as Christianity spread throughout the world and artwork was "confiscated".   The Vatican Museums include sculpture, many tapestries, paintings, but it also includes many, many ornate chapels and rooms commissioned to various artists.  

Within the Vatican Museum

"The Nile"- one of my favorites that we saw! 

One of the most famous sites here is the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo.  Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed in this area, but I found these photos online.  We listed to Rick Steves audio tour as we gawked at the masterpiece from below.  We were lucky enough to get a seat on a bench and chilled there for about a half hour or so while we listened to the story painted by the great artist. It is a fascinating story, and you may want to read about it here. 

After we were done in the Sistine Chapel, we exited through the back door on the left rather than continuing through the small amount of exhibits and rooms left in the museum.  Sneaking out this back door (and this was really NOT a big deal- almost everyone was doing it.) is a big time saver, as you can directly enter St. Peter's Basilica from behind rather than waiting in line again out in front of the church.  After we exited, we saw a sign that pointed to an area where you could go to the top of the cupola at St. Peter's so we decided to do this next.  They give you two options.  1) Walk all 320 stairs for 6 Euros or 2) Pay 7 Euros to take an elevator about a third of the way up.  We chose option number 2 and it was still a lot of stairs!  Once we arrived at the top there was some spectacular views!  However, Sam and I agreed that we enjoyed the dome in Florence a tad bit better- just seemed older and more interesting. 

The view of St. Peter's Square from the top of the cupola!

After descending from the top of St. Peter's cupola, we entered Michelangelo's church itself. St. Peter's was actually built atop the supposed crucifixion and burial site of St. Peter, apostle to Jesus. Read more about the history and significance of St. Peter's and the Vatican here.  It really is amazing.  Unfortunately they were preparing for a 5:00 mass so part of the church was roped off so we were not able to actually get close to Bernini's magnificent altar, but we did get some good pictures.  Once again, we listened to a Rick Steve's audio tour inside the basilica, which pointed out some very interesting details.  

We also were able to see Michelangelo's La Pieta.  It is a beautiful and very moving piece of artwork- now behind plexiglass thanks to  a man who came after it with a hammer sometime back.

La Pieta

After that we ventured outside in St. Peter's Square for a bit... 

St. Peter's Basilica 

From the Vatican, we hopped on a bus (randomly) that we simply knew was headed down the street of the west bank of the Tiber River.  We were headed for Trastevere. This is a more hip neighborhood filled with fun pubs and restaurants, fresh art, and a younger crowd.  I enjoyed the feel of this neighborhood and would consider staying here if we ever return.  It could also be convenient depending on where you stay- all you would have to do is simply cross a bridge (and there are several) to get to several destinations including the Capitoline Hill (The Colosseum and the Forum), close to the Piazza Navona, or the Vatican. We departed the bus when we were close to our destination.   We were headed for Dar Poeta, a restaurant recommended by our friends Abby and Dogan who were here the previous week.  We eventually found it and went in for an early dinner around 6 pm (18:00). It is tucked back in a small alcove off of the street and was a little challenging to find.  Apparently there is usually a line at this place late at night, but we walked right in. We sat down inside where it was cool, although they do have a small area for outdoor seating.  This place specializes in pizza.  We started with one of the many choices of non-traditional bruschetta and ordered one with beans and hot sauce.  This was tasty and different.  Sam ordered the Dar Poeta pizza- their specialty- laced with mozzarella, zucchini slices, olives, sausage, and olive oil.  This was the best!  I ordered a bufala pizza made with buffalo mozzarella cheese, but it had very little taste and flavor.  See my review here. 

Bean and hot sauce bruschetta

The Bufala Pizza

The scrumptious Dar Poeta Pizza

We continued to walk along the Tiber River and crossed the Ponte Palotino bridge that led us directly to the Circus Maximus and then a short jaunt past Palatine Hill, behind the Colosseum and to our apartment. It was a quiet and enjoyable walk. We relaxed for the rest of the night and laid low. 

A View of the Tiber River from Trastevere