30 June, 2019 - The Sabbath is a Delight

June 30, 2019

This morning, we promptly woke up, prepared ourselves for the trek across town to  attend church once again at the Rome 1 Ward. We got there in plenty of time to sit a bit before the meeting began. Barbara came and sat by us. It was a really good meeting. I was really impressed by the first speaker. Hers was a dear testimony about Jesus Christ and His role in her conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Islam. It was simple yet heartfelt. Jesus Christ is the Word, and we must follow the Word, and live according to His voice. We had the combined meeting today, so Sherry Ann and I were able to sit together. She had problems with her translation receiver, and I had problems with the 2 sisters next to me talking, so I didn’t hear a whole lot of what was said. We were all the way at the back of the meeting room.

After church, there was a baptism. We were invited to stay, so we did. The young boy, Julio, is 8, and comes from a part-member family where the mom is inactive, and the dad is not a member. It was a sweet ceremony. They had refreshments afterward; chocolate cornetti, potato chips, and rice salad. It was good (not so much on the rice salad). Sherry Ann and I are craving potato chips, root beer, and hamburgers. Good thing July 4th is coming. 

We waited for our bus and made it safely back to the apartment. Since Sherry Ann did not sleep well during the night, and I was ready, too, we took an Italian siesta. It was too hot to be outside anyway. LOL. When the buildings started casting longer shadows, we ventured out again. We really didn’t eat a whole lot today, so we went and found some pizza and sat in a nearby park by a flowing fountain and ate it all! Well, we can’t take it back to the apartment, there’s no oven or microwave. 

After dinner, we made our way to La Fontana di Trevi. I warned Sherry Ann that there would be a lot of people, and she said, “Ya, but it’s Sunday.” I laughed and commented that that’s why there will be more people tonight...it’s a weekend. It was amazing how many people were there. The piazza (already pretty small) was filled with people! You had to push your way to get to a decent place to see the fountain and get a picture. But it was worth it. We did not take coins to throw into the fountain, so we’ll have to go back Tuesday evening. Pazienza. 

From the Trevi Fountain, we walked back to the apartment by way of the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. We stopped at Navona for a while and sat on a bench just soaking it all in. It started to hit us that we only have 2 more days to enjoy Rome before we head back home on Wednesday. Sherry Ann sat there and held me, crying because she wants these memories to last. 

We made it back to the apartment and Sherry Ann has been talking to Mattina Ann and Tanner. I need to end this so that I can write my weekly to AJ. Buona notte da Roma. Ciao!

29 June - When in Rome...

June 29, 2019

At dinner tonight, Sherry Ann turned to me and started the popular saying that begins…”When in Rome…” and waited for me to finish the phrase. So I finished it my way…”walk a lot and take pictures.” Not what she expected, but you’ll see why in a bit. But first this morning. 

We woke up a bit later than we intended to (I see a pattern here). I looked at the weather and saw that it was supposed to get up to 100 deg. F! Okay, that’s not okay for Rome! So westalled going outside. We stalled until it was time to go and find food for lunch. When we got outside, we were greeted by the heat, but also a nice strong breeze. The first one since we got to Rome, and it continued pretty much all day! Yes!!! We found another pizzeria/kebab joint, and had kebab wraps for lunch. They were really good, as we anticipated. 

After getting some food in our bellies, we made our way to the Musei Capitolini. It’s a complex of 2 museums connected by an underground passageway. We saw art from way back before Christ until modern times. Pottery, sculptures in marble, busts(oh, so many busts), paintings big and small and enormous, figurines, and more. We spent a good 4 hours (or more) at the museums. We were even able to look out the back side of the museum and over the Foro Romano (Roman Forum). This, in my opinion is the best way to see the forum...in a building and not in the oppressive heat. From there,we walked around the buildings to the Mamertine Prison, where Peter and Paul, ancient Apostles of Jesus Christ, we imprisoned. Much of it was covered by scaffolding and machines, so we didn’t see a whole lot. But just being there, where those 2 prophets walked, and recently, 2 modern-day prophets walked, was amazing. 

After walking around the museum for more than 4 hours, we walked up the road to get a really good look at the Colosseo. We were too late to be able to go inside, so we just walked around the outside, which is still very impressive. We stopped at different spots and just looked up at the wonderful edifice before us. Although looking up gave me a stiff neck and I began to develop a headache. It was after 19:00 by the time we finished, so we knew it was time to eat. 

We wandered around, looking or a restaurant, and finally found one on a little piazza dominated by a cathedral. For a starter, they brought out bruschetta, 2 big cheesy tater tots (don’t remember what they’re called, but they were really good), and a big puffy thing of bread. It was all hollow inside and very crunchy. Sherry Ann ordered spinach ravioli and I had the lasagna. Sherry Ann was only served 2 ravioli, but they were huge...filled the plate. She really enjoyed them. My lasagna was amazing! We paid for our dinner, and we made our way back to Trastevere for our evening gelato. We were so glad to be back at the apartment after 9 hours of walking. I told Sherry Ann that I think my brain hurt from information overload today. She agreed. Veni, Vidi, Vinci...I came, I saw, I conquered! Now I’m ready for sleep.

28 June - Mostly Shopping, Shopping, SHOPPING!

June 28, 2019

Okay, so I must have been totally exhausted last night, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up at 13:00 (or so)! I couldn’t believe it. For the next little while, I was just trying to wrap my head around the fact that I slept for 13 or so hours, totally oblivious to the time. And I only woke up because Sherry Ann decided that it was about time. Well, we finally made it out of the apartmentment at 15:00 to do some souvenir shopping. It was for the 2 most difficult people to find something for...Geremy and me. Well, Sherry Ann wanted an outfit, too, so we went out to via Aurelia and via di Boccea to the UPIM out there. It’s kind of like a Kmart. You know, clothing for real people, not the over-priced tourist traps. She found a cute skirt and blouse she bought. The bus ride out there was insane. It was crowded with everyone pressed against everyone else. I’m talking about personal space? What’s that? Then we made our way back to the Zona Vaticana via metro (much roomier) to buy a bag she’s had her eye on. We looked and looked for something for Geremy everywhere we went. But nothing jumped out at us and said, “Geremy wants me!” 

By this time it was about 18:00, and we needed something to eat. We’ve been seeing a lot of these places that advertise pizza and kebab. Well, we finally went to one and ordered a kebab plate. So, the kebab is a long pole with pork meat on it that spins around cooking by the heat. As it gets done, the guy takes a little hand-held meat cutter and shaves off little pieces of the meat. Once he has a nice pile, he scoops it up and puts it on the plate. That was served with a salad, bread, and French fries. I also ordered a rice ball, because, why not? The kebab plate was amazing. We have been wanting a bit of meat since we have really only eaten pizza, pasta and gelato since we arrived on Saturday. 

After dinner, we went back to the apartment for a restroom break and a very short (less than 30 minute) cold down. We really needed that after that bus ride. It was even more crowded that the one going out to the UPIM. I didn’t think we could fit that many people into such a closed in space. But people just kept pushing their way on and letting the doors hold them in when they shut. 

After our break, we walked to the Pantheon. I was not about to get on another bus of tram today. It was a nice walk, and closer than you would think. It took us only 30 minutes (at most). Sherry Ann really liked the piazza and the fountain in Piazza Della Rotunda in front of the Pantheon. The church was closed since it was so late, so we decided to go another day. In that area, we did finally find a souvenir for Geremy. I mean, we had to think about what Geremy really loves (besides food). It was a long search, but we finally did find it. On the way to gelato, Sherry Ann spied as shop that we are going to have to get back to before we leave the Eternal City. The LINDT Chocolates store. There were Lindt truffles of all kinds of flavors! It was truly a sight to behold. We did not buy anything there tonight. But...we did go to Las Palmas Gelateria. They boast (appropriately) over 150 flavors of gelato. It was amazing. We each had the Monster cone. We had to. I did it 24.5 years ago, and wanted to share the experience with the one I love. You get to choose 6 flavors of gelato, and they put it either in a big cup, or on a giant cone. Uh...cone, please! Once the gelato is on there, it is as tall as Sherry Ann’s forearm! From elbow to fingertip! AAAAAMAZING! And it only cost 12€ each! That’s how much we paid for a small gelato by the Piazza di Spagna (don’t get a gelato over there, it’s way over priced). When people saw the size of the cone and gelato they would literally stop on the street and stare and comment on how big it was and they were holding their little tiny cup or cone. 

We slowly made our way back to the apartment by way of some small streets. We stopped by Piazza Navona and continued to stroll in the general direction of our apartmentment. We finally found a shop where I was able to find the souvenir that I wanted. I’ll not say what it is here, but it’s something that I will be able to use almost daily. We also made our way to the Campo de Fiori, and finally Trastevere. When we got back to the apartment, it was about 22:45. We had been gone and walking for over 7 hours! I got over 20k steps in that time, and Sherry Ann got 23k throughout the day! Not too bad. 

27 June - Sorrento & Napoli

June 27, 2019

Our goal was to leave the apartment with enough time to get to the train station, and then find the platform needed to go to Sorrento and Napoli. Our tickets were for the 06:26 train, so we wanted to be there by 06:00. So, we arose early and headed out the door at 05:02. Oh, my! That’s early. Instead of taking the tram and transferring to another train, we noticed that there was a night bus that would take us directly to the station...and it came before the tram, so we took it. We arrived at Termini Station at 05:30. Ya, so we had time to sit and wait for nearly an hour. We saw one departure board that indicated that we’d depart from platform 1Est. I know, my kids are disappointed that it’s not platform 9 ¾. We couldn’t verify that this was the correct platform, since the 06:02 to Firenze was still there. 

We looked at another “departures” screen, and it said that we should now make our way to platform 12. Well, we still had time. We made it to the train and found our seats. The train left right on time! It was a long ride to Napoli Centrale, but we made it. We tried to sleep on the train, but it was not very comfortable. We did catch little cat naps here and there due to near exhaustion. When we got to Napoli, we made our way to the Circumvessuviano to get our tickets and train for Sorrento. It came a minute late, but still not too bad! The trouble was when we got to Pompei. The doors on the train wouldn’t stay closed, so we couldn’t leave. The wait seemed like forever since it was so hot in the train...zero air conditioning. The windows were all open and people got off the train to try to be patient. Finally, we were on our way. I’ll be honest, at each successive stop, I was a little more than anxious when the doors opened...what if they didn’t close again? 

We finally made it to Sorrento! It took about 50 minutes longer than we expected. Which worried us a bit. We thought that if the train takes that long going back, we might not be able to get back to Napoli and print the tickets for the Museo Sansevero and get there by 16:30. We thought to find a place to print the tickets in Sorrento before leaving, just in case. 

We went to find the music box factory where I bought my box 25 years ago. Unfortunately, we found out that Notturno closed down about a year ago. That made me sad. Those music boxes were amazing. Dang! So we walked back down the street and found other stores to shop for souvenirs. We found something for Mattina Ann and Sherry Ann. We decided to have them shipped home instead of carrying them for the rest of the day. The problem is, it’ll take about 15 business days. They’ll get there about a week after we get home. You’ll have to be patient, Mattina Ann.

On our way back to the train, we stopped by a little cafe for lunch. Sherry Ann ordered the gnocchi al pomodoro (which were excellent, with little balls of mozzarella, too) and I had...spaghetti alla carbonara. I’ve had it at 3 different places, and the first one was still the best. They’re gong to get a good review from me. We got to the train at about 13:35, and waited for it to depart. We got there early so that we would have a better chance of getting back to Napoli on time. The train left at 14:00, and it was an express train, which means that it skipped many of the stops on the way back to Napoli, and it only took us an hour! Score!!

Once in Napoli, we quickly got to the metro and rode to the university station. We tried to find the place I had found to print the tickets for the Museo Chiesa Sansevero, but it wasn’t there. Please...no more pazienza! We were able to locate, after several failures, another establishment where we were able to print for 0,50 €. Fine with me. We got our printed tickets and hopped back on the metro for a couple more stops, and found the Museo. 

The sculptures inside were amazing! We were constrained to follow the rules of the museum, and refrain from taking pictures. The attention to detail and the skill demonstrated were phenomenal. We liked all of the sculptures, but we were especially drawn to three of them; Modesty, Christo Velato, and Disillusion. We paid a little extra for the audio tour, and it was worth it. We spent quite a bit of time there, admiring the artwork.

After the museum, we wandered the streets of Napoli for a bit and found a pizzeria. We HAD to try the pizza napolitana. I wanted to ask a local for the best (economical) pizza in the area, so I did. He said there isn´t a BEST pizza in Napoli...only a lot of different ways of making it. Okay, makes sense. So we found a pizzeria near the metro station. We were not disappointed. We failed to get the traditional margherita, but opted for other toppings. Sherry Ann thought the wurstel and patate looked good, and I went for the pizza bianca con prosciutto cotto. It was buonissima! 

After dinner, we got back on the metro and headed for the Napoli Centrale train station. Our train ended up being 20 minute late tonight, but we were soon on our way back to Roma. Sherry Ann commented that Roma seemed like a week ago. On the bright side, we were able to do and see almost everything we set out to do and see today. 

26 June - Rome Italy Temple

June 26, 2019

So yes, yesterday was frustrating.  I decided that our priority was to get to the temple.  That is the first reason for this whole trip, right up there with Aaron going to his mission ward.  So we got up “early” and we’re out of the apartment by 7:00. If you’ve been following, that is fairly early for us.  We caught the tram right away and the 60 bus as well. Now, all we had to do was hope the 350 would come this time. It did.  In fact, we only waited about 5 min for it. We thought, “the people last night would be frustrated that we didn’t wait very long”. 

We talked to another couple on the bus on the way there.  She had served her mission in Italy as well. We would soon find out that a lot of the people we would meet today would have the same story.  

We actually arrived at the temple at 8:15.  We were so happy it didn’t take long to get there.  That and we were at the ROME TEMPLE!! We had an appointment to do baptisms at 9 so we took some time to explore the grounds.  We quickly found that our camera was low on battery (because we’ve been trying to download pictures) and we hadn’t brought the camera case that has the extra batteries.  That was frustrating. We decided, oh well. We ended up taking pictures all day, we just had to take 2 pictures, turn off the camera, and start again. Annoying, but effective.

We went in and I did 11 baptisms and Aaron did 7.  Aaron did the baptizing of several people. He said it in Italian.  He can now say he baptized in Italy. He also was voice on confirmations.  So awesome. We had hoped to do the 10:30 session, but everyone else was very vocal about doing the 10:30 so we decided to just “wait” for the 12:00 session.  We left the baptistery at 10:15 and went to do initiatories. Aaron and I planned to meet up at the chapel when done. Well, I had 11 names I wanted done. I got to work right away.  They have a card with both English or Italian so I could read it and listen in Italian. I’ve done initiatories enough to know what they are saying. I just read the card once and then listened the other times.  One of the workers did do it in English every time because she doesn’t know Italian. I really bonded with one of the older Italian sister workers. I made sure to give her a hug on my last name. She was so cute.  

During this time, Aaron tried to do his names.  I guess they were short handed so Aaron ended up waiting until 11:00 to start his names.  He was only allowed to do 5 names so he gave the other two to someone else. He got them all done.  He then waited in the chapel for me for about 3-4 min.

I finished my names at 11:50 and they were leaving the chapel to go to the endowment room.  I just walked into the endowment room and sat down. Then, I realized I didn’t have my interpretation headphones.  And, Aaron wasn’t there. I left and found Aaron at the chapel by himself waiting for me with the headphones. He was worried I wasn’t going to make it.

It was different listening to the endowment on headphones.  I could hear the Italian yet heard it in English. We were so very happy to be there.  Aaron just listened in Italian. We participated in the prayer circle. I said very little, but the spirit was so great.  At the veil, they had it on cards so Aaron again was able to do it in Italian. The sister at the veil with me couldn’t keep up with what I was saying.  She tried backing me up 2 or 3 lines and I told her we were way past that. Not many people are “experienced” there. Why would they be? All of it is still so new to most of the people here.

We enjoyed the celestial room for a while.  Again, so happy to be there. It took a while for our names to come back from the recorder’s desk. .  As we waited, we continued to talk to people from all over. One gentleman, the other side of the veil worker for Aaron, saw him and asked where we are from.  He kept naming Europe countries. Finally he says, “Europe?” Aaron said nope. Then he asked, “Kansas City?” It was funny. The Italians have all been very impressed by Aaron’s Italian.  He sounds like one of them. As we talked with this gentleman, the sister that I enjoyed so much walked out and greeted me by name. “Sorella Reep.” I then listened to everyone talk. I usually just smile and try to understand, but don’t get a lot.  I get pieces. It’s fun to listen to them talk Italian. It’s so energetic and happy. She gave me another hug before leaving.

We went out and took a few pictures but then went into the visitor center.  We got pictures of the apostles statues and Christ. It is so amazing to see all that work and history right there.  We also talked with some of the missionaries. The sisters were great. There was one Anziano that came and told us that he and his wife are on their 3rd mission, all to Italy.  He told us to have a rental home and then we’ll be able to pay for a mission. We told him we still have children at home, but one day. That would be truly great. We continued to meet people from all over.  But the visitor center...beautiful. We took several pictures in there as well.  

We finally left to take our “plaque” picture by the street at about 3:20.  Yep. We spent all day at the temple. It was so awesome. Aaron couldn’t stop smiling.  

So at the bus stop, the gardner told us of a “faster and better” route to take.  So we tried it. We took 338 further from Rome to the next stop. Then after waiting about 10 min, (and talking to another couple member while waiting) we got on the 80 and rode it all the way in to Venezia.  I was so glad to get a seat after the first 10 min. That bus got so crowded, people couldn’t even squeeze in. I think there was more carbon dioxide on that bus than oxygen. The lady next to me was complaining about how hot it was.  I got out my portable fan and started to fan her. I think that really surprised her. After a bit, she took the fan and waved it for us both. She was so grateful for it. It was nice to help someone else try to feel better.  

We got home at 5:30.  Not sure it was a faster route.  Then again, the traffic was a lot worse that time of day.  We had taken some crackers and cookies to eat, but that’s all we had to this point.  We were HUNGRY! After cooling down for just a bit,we left to find something to eat. We haven’t been finding what we want at the grocery stores.  We finally found some pizza. I had sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella cheese and Aaron had Turkey. We sat in the piazza by our house and ate it. It was so good to eat.

We then did a little walking by the river.  It was hot and we are both tired so we didn’t go far.  We walked around our “neighborhood “ and explored some before deciding to get our gelato for the night and going home.  I had strawberry and mandarin while Aaron had mixed berry and mandarin.  

As I’ve been writing this, Aaron got our tickets for tomorrow’s museum and figured out our route.  I got to talk to Mattina Ann as well. She’s sitting by DI waiting for a bus. She has to go back to the temple to get her keys.  I hope she doesn’t get too warm.

25 June - Pazienza!

June 25, 2019

There’s a word in Italian that has a double meaning; pazienza. Literally, it means “patience.” But the Italians also use it to say, “Oh well” or, “What are you gonna do about it?” We have experienced both meanings today. Oh...where to begin? 

Our plan was to leave the apartment at 08:00, and head over to the Musei Vaticani. Well, we got there a bit later than we wanted, and ended up waiting in line for over an hour and a half, just to buy the tickets. The line still went on for another 30 to 45 minutes...maybe more. It was getting late enough that we knew we wouldn’t be able to give it the time needed to really appreciate it, so we left the line and decided we’d try again tomorrow morning, leaving the apartment at 07:00, and taking a faster bus. Well...pazienza!

When we got back, we got our laundry together and got that taken care of. We feel much better in clean clothes, now. Anyway, while the laundry was going, I went out and grabbed some pizza and brought it back. I like how the pizzeria did their bacon pizza. Just put the slices of bacon on there! Don’t mess with chopping it up. It was really good. After lunch, we got our laundry just in time to fold it and get ready to go to the temple. 

We had an appointment to do Baptisms for the Dead at 17:30, and other appointments at 18:30 and 19:30 for other ordinances. We also wanted to have plenty of time to walk around the grounds and take pictures, so we decided to leave the apartment in Trastevere at 15:00. That should give us plenty of time, right? WRONG!

Today, the ATAC (public transportation system in Roma) had a partial sciopero. How do they say it in “Newsies?” Oh, ya…STRIKE! So, this meant that certain routes wouldn’t be running as frequently as normal. Some lines wouldn’t be running at all, apparently. One of the lines we needed didn’t run today. There was a group of people from Arizona waiting for the same bus to go to the temple, but they got there 20 minutes before we did. We waited for a very long time for that bus, praying that Heavenly Father would send us the bus soon, so we could make it to our appointments. Apparently He had another lesson for us to learn today...pazienza. The bus didn’t come after 30 minutes of waiting. Sherry Ann and I both had the impression that He didn’t bless us with the bus because he knew that we had had a week and wiggle room in our schedule. So, we all crossed the street, and waited for another bus to take us back in to town. Again, we waited another 20 minutes before the next bus came to take us back to Piazza Venezia. By this time we had finished all of our water and didn’t dare leave the bus stop to buy more for fear of missing the next bus. Pazienza. 

At one of the stops, the doors at the center of the bus malfunctioned and they shut the bus down right there. It was jam-packed with smelly sweaty people. Ugh. Pazienza. Most of the people got on the 66, but we waited for the next 60, which was only about 3 minutes behind the other one. When we finally got to Piazza Venezia, Sherry Ann and I both filled our water bottles, chugged them, and filled them again. Water is great! We finally got back to the apartment at 18:40. Yep, that was 3 hours and 40 minutes full of Pazienza. It took a bit of time for us to regain the energy we needed to get back out there and enjoy Rome. 

We decided that it would be a good idea to get some other snacks to take with us as we try to go the places we want to go tomorrow, so we went out to find a grocery store. Well, that’s a bit tricky in these parts. You’ve got to know where to go and find those hidden neighborhood markets since there’s not a big call for supermarkets in the middle of the Centro Storico. We found one, but it didn’t have what we were looking for. They mostly had vino, pasta, vino, soda, vino...you get the picture. So we found an alimentari near our apartment, but they really didn’t have anything either...pazienza.

So, we decided that we’d just go and find dinner and then our evening gelato. We found a restaurant on a small piazza with al fresco dining. Sherry Ann had rigatoni with red sauce (which she said tasted a bit like the one I make...I’ll take that as a compliment…), and I had the spaghetti alla carbonara (I really like that stuff). She really liked her dish, and I sort of liked mine. I prefer the one I had the other day...pazienza. 

After dinner, we went and got our gelato. Sherry Ann had the blackberry, and I had mango. They hit the spot. The perfect ending of a “pazienza-filled” day.

**Side note...I had zero success when trying to sync my iPad to the Drive last night, so I was not able to post this until this morning...Pazienza, eh?

24 June - Kids, Castel, and Saints

June 24, 2019

This morning...we slept late! Since we got in so late last night, we took the opportunity to sleep a bit later than we wanted. 10 am! We didn’t get breakfast, since it was so close to lunchtime, so we spent time getting train information for our Napoli/Sorrento day trip on Thursday, talked to AJ a bit, and looked for information on visiting the Vatican museums. We actually didn’t get outside until after 14:00! 

We went to Termini station and timed how long it will take to get there on Thursday (about 50 minutes), then bought our tickets and made our way back to the apartment. This time, we found a bus that goes directly between Termini station and Piazza Venezia. That way we don’t have to walk between Venezia and Colosseum to catch the metro. Score! It will save us between 20 minutes and half an hour. 

We found yet another way of getting from the tram stop to the apartment. It’s fun to find our way through the winding streets of Tastevere. It’s kind of like a maze. It also amazes Sherry Ann that we can feel so lost one moment and then be right where we need to be. We made a pipi stop, then went to finally find some food...16:30! We found a prosciuteria down the street and around the corner and each got a sandwich as big as my open hand with prosciutto and pecorino cheese. Wow! I’m in heaven! And all for 9€. 

We took the food back to the apartment to eat and prepare to have a group video chat with all of our children. At about 17:00, AJ was ready in France, Geremy was ready in St. George, and we were ready in Rome. He went to tell Mattina Ann and Tanner to wake up for the call. Tanner woke up right away, but Mattina Ann took a bit more time, so Geremy decided to get in the shower like right before the call began. Mattina Ann joined the call, too and we had a great time for about an hour and a half. Mattina Ann had to go to work, and we were having connection issues, so we ended the call. It was so very nice to see and talk to the kids this afternoon. We love them so much. Sherry Ann commented that she couldn’t believe how much she longed for each opportunity to see and talk to them. 

After the call, we headed out to Castel St. Angelo. When we were just about there, we got off the bus and walked across Ponte St. Angelo. Construction on the castello began in about 130 BC and was added on to in the 13th and 14th centuries. We walked around the castello for a while, sat on some benches and just soaked in the atmosphere. It was so quiet and peaceful at the back side of the castello. Well, except for the couple making out on the bench across from us. We got up and walked to another bench. 

From there, we walked around the corner and entered another country. We were in Vatican City at dusk. There were some priests or something that finished a foot race at the obelisk in the center of Piazza di San Pietro. They were English speakers, so it was easy to understand that the winner ran it in 23 minutes. I decided that they raced around the perimeter of Vatican City. Anyway, they had a little devotional there at the obelisk and then sang a hymn to Jesus the Victor. It was beautiful a cappella. No harmony, but still beautiful. We took some pictures in the piazza, and then headed back to Trastevere. Instead of taking the tram, we decided to walk. We got back to our area before the tram did. 

We grabbed a gelato there by the tram stop. I noticed while we were in there that they have punch cards where after your 10th cone or cup purchased, you get one for free. Heck ya! We should have a free one pretty soon! And it was A LOT less expensive than the gelato by the Spanish Steps. ⅓ the price, actually. We ate the gelato on the way back to the apartment and settled in for the night. All-in-all, it was a great day. Ciao!

23 June - Sunday In Rome

June 23, 2019

Last night, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow...so Sherry Ann says...I just don’t remember. Anyway, this morning, we showered and prepared ourselves to go to church in the Roma 1st Ward. This is where I served all those years ago, although at the time, it was the Trionfale Branch. We had a quick breakfast of yogurt and juice, and headed out the door. We got there at 10:23; just in time for 10:30 church. Except for the part that they started at 10:00. I apparently misunderstood the sisters last night...a reminder that I need to ask clarifying questions to make sure I understood correctly.

So, apparently they have a lot of English-speaking visitors now, because they have these little headsets you can use to hear the English translation provided by one of the Anziani or Sorelle serving in the ward. Sherry Ann was able to use one of these, and I was very happy to have been able to just listen and understand.

After Sacrament Meeting, we lingered in the foyer before Priesthood and Relief Society began. Then I saw a familiar face. I approached her and asked, “Sorella Barbara?” She looked at me for a moment, then her face lit up and she said, “Anziano Reep!” We embraced, and I took her over to meet Sherry Ann. We chatted for a minute or two, then it was time to go to our meetings. Barbara took Sherry Ann to Relief Society, and I went to Priesthood. We talked about Elder Gong’s talk from the April 2019 General Conference about the Good Shepherd. It was a nice discussion.

After church, we visited for a bit. There are 4 Anziani and 2 Sorelle serving in the ward. One of the sisters served in L’Aquila not too long ago, so I was able to receive some news about a few of the people there. We talked some more with Barbara, then she had to leave. We returned to the apartment in Trastevere, and cooled down again. We started to transfer the pictures from the camera to the Google Drive, but it was taking forever! It said 5 hours and 45 minutes. The WiFi connection is there, just not super strong. So we decided we’d go out and try to find something to eat. I also found out that the laundromat is literally just around the corner from our apartment...attached to the same building. We’ll go and do our laundry in the morning. Right across the street, there is a small restaurant with homemade pasta, so we decided to stay and eat there.

We each had fettuccine alla carbonara with a bottle of Fanta aranciata and a basket of focaccia. Oh, it was so nice to eat some fresh pasta! It was delectable. So creamy with our daily dose of guanciale (crisp bacon). And the focaccia was so savory! We were well fed. Unfortunately, the food was gone way too fast. Before going out on the town, Sherry Ann and I decided to head back to check the progress of the pictures on the computer...3 hours 45 minutes more. Ugh. We let our food settle a bit before heading out again.

We made our way to the metro at Colosseum, then went to the Piazza Del Popolo. This is a huge public square with a central fountain and Egyptian obelisk. We sat and talked for a while, watching people in the piazza. We then went up the huge steps on the East of the piazza to the gardens above. We went to the balcony to overlook the piazza and take a couple of pictures. The view was stunning! In the park/gardens, we stumbled upon a water-powered clock. It was way cool. Basically, there was a system of water being moved through the clock that made the gears move to keep the accurate time! It amazes me the level of engineering some people have to be able to figure out how to do that.

From there, we walked to the church of Trinità dei Monti. This is the church that overlooks the Spanish Steps. Sherry Ann was amazed by the amount of people gathered on the steps and in Piazza di Spagna at the bottom. On the way down, we counted the steps. We discovered that the steps were grouped in 11 sets of 12, and the bottom set which only had 4. That was a little disappointing. It would have been really cool to have a perfect 12 sets of 12. Oh well. At the bottom, we found a gelateria, and sat on the steps, eating gelato, watching all the people with the one I love. I found out that that moment has been one of Sherry Ann’s dreams since she met me and began to learn about Italy and Rome. Yea! I told her it was also one of my dreams, too. She said, “For how long? About 5 minutes?” I nudged her and said, “No!...more like...1 minute!” We both laughed at that.

After finishing our gelato, we debated whether to just grab the metro and head back to the apartment or rather walk through town and get back in really late. It was already past 21:00...okay, we walked through town. We headed down the corso toward the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. It was a nice walk. The sun had gone down and there was a slight, but pleasant, breeze. We somehow missed Pantheon, but found Piazza Navona. I really love this piazza. I have so many good feelings about it and love the fountains. The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is the giant one in the center of the piazza. To the North is the Fontana di Nettuno, and, on the South, la Fontana Del Moro. We left the piazza (after spending a good bit of time strolling around the piazza) and found a bus to Piazza Vanazia, where we waited for the tram to Trastevere. Okay, it took 20 minute or so for the bus to come along, then after waiting for the tram, we decided to walk down the track until we saw the tram going to Piazza Venezia, then go to the next stop and wait there. We almost made it to the bridge crossing the Tiber before the next tram came. We could have made it back to the apartment before the tram came (maybe), but we waited for it anyway.

By the time we got back to the apartment, it was about midnight! Well, then we contacted the kids and talked to them for a bit, then committed to go to sleep...by 01:00 Monday morning. What a day!

22 June - Rome, at Last!

June 22, 2019

Well, today was a little bittersweet. We had to leave the Celebrity Infinity behind, and begin the next part of our journey. We had a good breakfast to get us started, then went to our cabin to collect the last of our belongings. We couldn’t believe how heavy those little bags were! As soon as we got to the other bags, we unloaded what we could into the bigger bags, then left the port via the free shuttle service to the port entrance. From there, we paid 4€ to get to the train station instead of walking. The taxis wanted to charge us 50€ to share a taxi into Roma. Ha! We only spent 9€20 to get to Rome. Anyway, we got our tickets and got on the train. We only had to wait about 30 minutes for the train to depart the station. Not bad. Our train traveled at top speed of 143 km/h (that’s more impressive in Km/h).

When we got off the train, we went to buy our tickets for the city transit system. It cost 24€ each for 1 week, so we ended up paying 96€ to use the transit system while we’re here. Which wouldn’t have been so bad except, they would only accept cash. Luckily we had that much cash with us, but we needed then to go and find a place to exchange more money so we had more cash for times like these. Anyway, we got on the tram and made our way to Trastevere and got off. We started by going NE from there, and couldn’t find the road we needed to be on, so we asked a couple of nuns. I figured, they vowed to help people. Well, bless their hearts, they tried. Unfortunately, we were inadvertently guided in the wrong direction. We did end up on the right road, but going to the South instead of North. We asked for further directions at a small bar, and they set us on the correct path.

We were able to find the address we were given for our room, but it was actually just a contact place. So we were guided to the actual apartment down the road and across a piazza. We are staying on the 2nd floor (what we think of as the third floor) of an apartment building. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that it’s HOT and humid here. Most of Europe is experiencing a heat wave, and appears to be centrally located right above Rome. It’s 84 deg F now,  it the humidity feels like over 100 to us, even though it says 89. Next week, we should be up to 98 for 3 days plus the humidity. Mamma Mia!

Anyway, after checking into the room, we set out for a passegiatta on Capitoline Hill. There, we visited the Giardino degli Aranci, where there are many orange trees, and a gorgeous overlook to the city. We also made our way over to the Basilica di Santa Sabina dell’Aventino for a look inside. You can definitely tell the original from the modern upgrades. From there we went to the “Keyhole,” the Bucco Della Serratura. Here, you look through the keyhole in the gate, and you can see through the sculpted bushes and look directly at the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. It’s pretty cool.

From there, we left the hill going nearly SE to the pyramid, which is a tomb of some rich guy from the first century BC that was fascinated with Egyptian architecture. By this time, it was 15:30, and we hadn’t eaten yet. So we stopped in at a small bar and got a panino, to share, with prosciutto and cheese. It was sooooo good. We got on the metro there and made our way to Termini station to find an exchange to buy some more Euro. It took forever! There was a couple in front of me in line that we’re having all kinds of problems. But, we finally got our money, and headed out of there. We decided to go back to the apartment to cool down for a bit. When we got there, we turned the a/c way down and lay on the bed, panting. Did I mention yet that it’s HOT?

To pass the time, I turned on the TV to find an Italian show to watch. I found one of our favorite movies…”Miss Congeniality”...IN ITALIAN! Which the Italian name is “Miss Detective.” It was already most of the way through, so we watched to the end. In the meantime, we were able to make contact with the kids back home...we’ll, two of them anyway. Tanner was still asleep. He did message us a little later, though. Sherry Ann was even able to let AJ know we had made it to Rome, and he replied, too.

After the movie, we went out again. This time, to find the church and time how long it would take us to get there, so we’d not have any problems in the morning. So...we took the tram to Piazza Venezia, then walked to the Colosseum, hopped on the metro and rode to Termini station, where we switched to the other metro line and rode it out to the end of the line...Battestini. From there we walked another 15 minutes to the church. It was really awesome to look down the street and see the same old building from 25 years ago! Time wise, it took us 75 minutes to get there. There were some members chatting outside, so we asked them for details about church and where to get something to eat. They said that church begins at 10:30 with sacrament meeting first. They suggested a small pizzeria across the street, then a child said that we could also try the McDonalds down the street. We laughed and I said that I don’t even eat there in the United States!

At that time, it was 21:00, so we went to the pizzeria. By the way...the pizza was great. Sherry Ann had hers with sliced potatoes, and I had mine with sausage. After eating, we made our way back to the metro for the return trip, looking for a grocery store along the way. We decided to buy some small snacks to carry around with us so we wouldn’t starve as we walked around. We got some cookies, fruit crackers, and to enjoy a little, I saw a candy bar that I hadn’t seen in ages! Tronky! It’s basically a wafer cookie filled with chocolate hazelnut cream. Amaaaaaazing!

Once we got back to the apartment, we were both beat. We each had over 32,000 steps today. So...buona notte da Roma! Ciao!

21 June - Day At Sea

June 21, 2019

It’s Summertime! I won’t have a whole lot to write about today. We have been at sea since we left Salerno last night. Honestly, I’m not sure why they didn’t just advertise this as an eleven day cruise and head straight to Civittavacchia today. We have been going so slow, we’ve barely even made a mark on the sea. Heck, we’ve been going so slow that, to quote an Australian man at our dinner table tonight, “If we were going any slower, we’d be going backward.” I mean, this evening, we went out on the deck, and instead of the breeze coming from the front of the ship, it was coming from the back. Anyway, we did see a pair of dolphins in the sea just outside our room.

We started the day with breakfast...eggs Benedict. It was really good. We’ll have to learn how to make a good holondaise sauce at home. We tried to stay out of our room so that our cabin steward could attend to the room. So, we took our Rome map and made a rough outline of what we will be doing for the second leg of our journey. It was very productive. We started out doing this outside, but like I said, we were going so slow that the air was not moving at all and it was very hot outside, so we moved our operation into the lounge. It was much cooler in there.

We were still feeling a bit warm even in the lounge, so when we finished we went back to our room. We have been keeping it nice and cold in there. Unfortunately, I fell right to sleep from the heat outside. It was about noon at that time, and next thing I knew it was 15:00! 3 hours had gone by! I felt so bad for boring Sherry Ann to death. She even turned on the TV for the first time since day 1! All we really get are things related to the cruise.

Anyway, we took some cards up on the deck and played Phase 10. It was so hot, and the air was still just as still as it was in the morning. When we finished the game, we went back to our room and did our packing before going to dinner. We had to have all of our bags out in the hall to be picked up before 22:00, so we decided that we’d get it done before dinner. Dinner, by the way, was great! Sherry Ann had prosciutto and melon and some escargots for a starter, then had turkey with cranberry sauce and a sweet potato something on the side. I, on the other hand, enjoyed a spinach and ricotta turnover (it was like a ravioli in a puff pastry instead of pasta) for a starter, then Steak Dianne for my main course. For dessert, we both had cannoli “Tutti-Frutti.” They we’re okay...nothing like we had in Messina! Near the end of dessert, the whole dining room staff paraded through the dining room, and we were able to applaud them for all of their efforts over the past 12 days. All of the chefs, sous chefs, servers, assistant servers, you name it, they went through and we applauded. They really did a great job. The Australian man had his camera and we had a group photo taken with our new Canadian, Australian, and English friends and our Server, Michael, and his assistant, Dmitryo. We gave him our email address and asked him to send us a copy of the picture.

After dinner, we went to the final show. A comedian act. Honestly, that was an hour we wouldn’t be getting back. We kept thinking it would get better...but it didn’t. Kind of disappointing for the final evening of entertainment, if you ask me. We left the theater and went back to our room to finish packing a couple of things, then went to the top deck and walked around the ship for about an hour or so. We took pictures of 2 couples (with their own phones) along the way.

Back in our room, we prepared for bed, put our luggage in the hall, and are now settled in ready to go to sleep. It’s been a relaxing day all-in-all.

20 June - Salerno and the Amalfi Coast

June 20, 2019

We had planned to get up semi early and be off the ship between 8:30 and 9.  I think we got off around 9:30. Oh well was my thought. We have 3 hrs to check out the castle.

When the shuttle bus dropped us off, we started looking for the information center.  We had a really hard time finding it. We finally stopped at a bus stop and tried reading the schedule.  Somebody started talking to Aaron and directed us to the information place where we could buy the bus ticket.  We checked which bus it was and they confirmed it and told us where to catch it. When we got there, about 9:50, we found that the bus had come at 9:38 and won’t come again until 11:20.  Now I was frustrated because we had to be back to the ship by 1:00 for an excursion. If we had just gotten up when we had said we would. Oh well.

So we walked down the coast to check out another bus stop.  We walked probably a mile. By the way, this place is completely on a hill.  You can’t go anywhere but up and down. It’s really pretty, but exhausting as well.  Very hot and humid. So we opened our map and decided where we wanted to go. We headed for a church.  It was up hill. Down “alleys “. I feel like we’re walking in the road that is only 8 ft wide. Okay, maybe 10 ft.  Just enough for a person to walk with a car driving by. It’s crazy. Tons of motorcycles. Oh, the cars are tiny.

We finally found a church.  It had a giant court yard. It has been fun to go inside the churches and look around.  It’s amazing to me what people believe, what they put in their churches.

We then looked at our map and decided to go to the cathedral.  I figured it was straight across and wouldn’t be much up and down.  Well, we managed to go up MANY stairs and tiny tiny alleys. When we got done we wished we’d taken pictures of the alleys.  You wouldn’t have believed it. Anyway, we finally decided we had to go down the mountain. We ended up at a church. We don’t think it was the cathedral we were looking for, but it did the job. At this point we were hot, tired, and sticky.  Humidity takes getting used to that we haven’t quite done yet.

We didn’t know for sure where we were so we walked toward the water.  You can always find down in these towns. We found an elementary school, then walked through a “garden” then to a “middle” school.  Aaron asked which direction to turn. I said right. We went right and then full circle around the building because we should have gone left.  We had gone a bit past our pick up spot. Wow!! What a walk we took. We made it back to the ship around 12:15.

We got burgers on the ship for lunch.  We then took a small break in our room and then headed down to our excursion by 1:05.  It was crazy on the pier. A lot of people trying to get on the excursion. We all ended up with a radio and half a headphone so that we could hear Roberta tell us things about the coast.  We then got on a boat (Aaron and I made sure we were on top so as to not have anything obstructing our view) and road down the coast to the city of Amalfi. We got some great pictures. So beautiful.  Plus, it was cooler to be up top with a breeze.

Once in Amalfi, Roberta took us to the stairs at the bottom of the church and let us go for two hours.  We headed up the many steps, (about 70) and paid 6€ for the two of us to go in. Wow! I guess the apostle Andrew is buried there.  It was cool to see. I was so happy not to be one of the ladies carrying paper over my shoulders to cover myself up. It helps to already be modest.  We spent about 1 hr at the church. It was nice. We saw the crypt of Andrew. It was a huge church.

We then did a little shopping.  We started with a gelato of course.  I had Nutella and cherry (cherry was really good) and Aaron had Amalfi and lemon flavors.  Lemon is a “product” of Amalfi so the lemon was amazing. I should just get what Aaron does.  But I am trying them all. So far, gelato is just great. American ice cream isn’t nearly as good.  My opinion of course. We then bought a bag of lemon and orange hard candies for 5€. We looked at some other things and then made our way back to the pier.  We enjoyed Amalfi. It was filled with people but where hasn’t been?

After a wonderful half hour ride back on the boat, we showered and went to dinner.  We both had a honey glazed pork loin. It was great. We then went to the show. They did songs from Broadway.  Aaron really enjoyed that of course. After the show we went back to Salerno where we walked by the beach. The locals were out and it was fun to see them.  Aaron really enjoys hearing the children talk. After a 45 min walk, we turned and went up a couple of streets to the corso. Only the food shops were open. You could tell what was good because the places were crowded.  We finally caught the shuttle bus back to the ship around 11:00.

We went out front and tried to catch up on some blog info.  It was fun to be there and watch the ship turn around. It’s amazing what they can do in a tiny spot.  At midnight Salerno let off fireworks, we guess to send us off. We watched part of the coast go by. It was 1:00 by the time we went to our stateroom for bed.  A very long but productive day. So sad to see this part of our trip ending.

19 June - Messina, Sicily, Italy

June 19, 2019

This morning, we found ourselves back in Italia! We are on the island of Sicily...the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. After a light breakfast and some quick preparations, we head off the ship. As soon as we’re out of the port...BAM!! We get inundated with taxi drivers and tourist bus drivers vying for our money to take us anywhere. One guy wanted to drive us to another town and back for 100€. HA! Then he said he’d find another 2 people and we could split the cost. No, grazie!

We found a little pasticeria that Sherry Ann found online before we left home, Raguso Eventi, and went in for some cannoli. Oh, me, oh, my! Such delicate, crispy, flaky pastry filled with rich and creamy goodness with crushed nuts on top. Oh, my mouth is watering just thinking of it. We decided that after a day of walking around, and before heading back to the ship, we’d stop in again and get an evening treat.

We walked around the area a little, and found ourselves at the Piazza Duomo (cathedral square). We went inside the cathedral and took a look around, then went back outside. It was about 11:30 at this point, so we paid the entrance fee to go up to the top of the clock tower. It was really cool. There ar different levels of the tower, and at each level there is a series of gears, pulleys, and weights and counter-weights. These ar all connected to guilded (gold plated) automatons depicting stokes from the Bible and the local catholic legends. Once at the top, we walked around the perimeter outside the tower. Sherry Ann hung back from the edge and did NOT want to look down. We were told that we had to be out of the tower by 12:00, because that would be when the automatons would come to life right after the stroke of 12:00. So we did.

In the piazza below, crowds had gathered to see the clock tower presentation. It was a lot of fun. We stayed and watched it for the 10-minute “show.” Pretty much as soon as it was over, the crowds dispersed, and the piazza was all but empty. We had lunch at a little cafe there on the piazza. We ordered a tall bottle of water, and a local specialty for lunch. Just about everything was made of puff pastry. On two, there were tomatoes, another 2 had tomatoes and artichokes, then there were 2 filled with cheese and ham, 2 with hot dogs in them, and then 2 mini hamburgers. I’m talking min-sized mini hamburgers. We paid our bill, and set out.

We decided to head our for a walk and find a a church and a war memorial. We climbed, and climbed, and just when we thought we couldn’t go any farther, the path turned again, and we found another set of stairs to climb. When we got to the church was closed. But the view from up there was amazing. So, we walked across the valley to the war memorial, and guess what? Yep, it was closed, too. Oh my word. It was only, what, 12:30 or 13:00. Oh well. We made our way back down the hill toward the port.

It was a short day at port, so we made our way back to Raguso Eventi, and bought our evening cannoli along with some marzipan and headed back to the port. Before going to dinner, we went to the top deck, and watched as we left the port and through the strait between Sicily and the tip of the boot. It was super windy up there, but we didn’t care. We were a little later to dinner than normal, so we were able to have a table to ourselves...right next to another couple. I tell you, those tables are so close to each other. We enjoyed the bit of conversation we had with the other couple. For a starter, we had scallops on a sea shell. They were SO good. Then, for our main course, we had saffron risotto with lobster, shrimp, and muscles. Holy goodness, Batman. By the time we finished dinner, we missed the beginning of the show, so we talked about going to the 21:30 show. However, I was feeling extremely exhausted, so we opted to return to our stateroom, eat our evening cannoli, and go go bed. It was a really good day.

18 June - Malta

June 18, 2019

Well, if you’re thinking that we slept in and got a late start this morning, you’re wrong. We were scheduled to make port at 08:00, and we had a private excursion at 08:30, so we wanted to get ready and have breakfast all before 8. So, that’s what we did. We were off the ship and waiting down on the street near the polizija station by 8:15...plenty of time to wait for our ride. The problem was that by 08:55, they still had not arrived. We began to think that maybe they had to cancel like our snorkeling trip in Nice, so I went back to the ship to get my iPad so that I could check my messages. When I got back, 10 minutes later, the guy was already there...no need to check the messages. We got to know our driver, Stephen, from Ireland, who spent a couple of years in Michigan, where he learned to SCUBA, then went back to Ireland, where he taught SCUBA and brought people to Malta 2-3 times a year and finally decided to just move here. When we asked him why, he just said, “Have you not seen the weather here?” Gee, that sounds a lot like what we say when people as us why we chose to live in St. George. Anyway…

Stephen was also our PADI instructor for the dive with Dive Systems Malta. We got there and watched an introductory video, then took a short True/False test afterward. I got one wrong. I dropped to the bottom of the class. Then we went downstairs and got fitted for wet suits, boots, masks, and weights, and learned how to use the equipment so that we could have a fun and safe dive. We suited up and headed down to the water.

At first, we just went a couple of meters to show that we had learned the required skills and could safely demonstrate each one. We learned how to clear the mask of water, stabilize the pressure on your ears, how to remove the regulator from your mouth underwater and put it back, how to find your regulator if you drop it from your mouth, how to shar air if your partner runs out fo air, how to adjust your boyancy, and how to purge water from your regulator. Then we went a bit deeper, and did most of the same exercises. Then we were able to go for a swim, I saw a lot fo sea grass, a bunch of fish, a couple of sea centipede things, and a crab down there, as well as a lot of shells. Those 45 minute under water went by so fast I couldn’t believe we had been down there that long. Of course I loved it. Sherry Ann was right, it was something I could totally get into and certify when we get back home. After the dive, Stephen drove us back to the port and dropped us off.

We walked around at the waterfront for a. Little while looking for souvenirs, but didn’t really find anything that screamed out to us, so we didn’t buy anything here. We didn’t even take a lot of pictures today, since we didn’t have an underwater camera. Since I did have my iPad, we did get online and send a couple of messages to the kids. Back on the ship, we showered and got ready for dinner. We had a little time, so we just walked around, and played some games on our iPads. Dinner was nice. Sherry Ann didn’t feel to great today, so we went and had her lie down a bit before gong to the show at 21:30. It was like a mini-musical (45 minutes). It was a lot of fun.

Finally we took a stroll on the deck and got our bottles of water before returning to our stateroom. I have to say, the moon was full tonight, and it shone across the water just like it does in the movies. It was so relaxing and beautiful, and (dare I say)...romantic! Malta was definitely one of our favorite ports, and we would love to come back again some day and see what’s above the waves!