Walking The Socks Right Off...

Wednesday 3, September: Today is ancient Rome...we certainly felt ancient afterwards! We visited the Coloseo, the Ruins and The Pantheon. My Dad was very impressed with the guide at the coloseum...was she knowledgable or just cute..hmmmm. We have mastered the Metro and watch out now! We also visited Piazza Navona (did you see "Return To Me"...that's where he finds her painting). Really good gelato there. Pam said it was in her contract to have a minimum of one gelato per day...she's earning it! We all bought matching Rome shirts...we are sweating our

way though our entire wardrobe...daily!

Thursday 4, September: Today was Catholic Day! We went to the Vatican (cross yourself here) . We saw Saint Peter's. It is amazing...gigantic and amazing. You really can not believe how big it is. They were having a mass while we were there, at one of the 10 alters. We went to the Vatican museum and saw the Sistine chapel....also amazing. You have to walk about 2 miles (and this is not an exaggeration) to get to the Chapel. We climbed to the top of the "Oh My God it's the Cupola" Cupola.

You ride an elevator up and the sign says 323 steps to the top. We went up about 10 and had a wonderful view of the city and the inside of St. Peter's. But of course then Jim wanted to know where the rest of the steps he had paid for were....and then we found all 323 of them. The view was magnificiant...the climb was...well, 323 steps!

After our tour we went to dinner at a friend of Jim's uncle, Donatella. It was wonderful. Really good wine, lots of Italian friends and waaaayyy toooo much food (have you seen "Big Night"?????) We stayed so late that we had to catch a taxi home...the metro closed! But we got to see St. Peter's at night...breathtaking.

Friday 5, September: Italian lesson for the day: Jim ha ricevuto una puntura di zanzara nel suo pisello e no é felice! (but he's happy with the swelling....)

My parents and Pam are on the first excursion of their tour today. Jim and I took the opportunity to walk to Ponte Milvio to put our lock on the bridge. It was a really long, hot walk but so worth it. We had lunch afterwards at a little bakery. We also visited the Piazza del Popolo. The man at the gelato store reprimanded Jim..for not wanting cream on his granite di caffe...you live and you learn!

Madonna is in Rome. She will be preforming near the Ponte Milvio at the soccer stadium. We saw her hotel (they had police and baricades!!) but not her.

Saturday 6, September: Our friend Enrico showed up and took us for a mini tour...he showed us all the short cuts for what we had been doing all week (don't tell my mom!!!) and told us Rome is experiencing a heat wave (your kidding) the worst in history sinced 2003...when 15 people died from the heat in Rome!!! Of course...we would bring a heat wave!! We saw the Villa Borghese, a really cool restaurant called the Casa di Cinema and the place where they show films outside. Really fun. We caught up with Jim's parents and went to see the Trevi Fountain...again!

This section is especially for Juanita and Karyn....This morning I ordered my shoes. The shoe maker drew my feet on paper and took all kinds of measurements. Then I picked out what model, what heel, what color, what material....everything! They are shipping them home when they finish making them! Don't tell Cynthia...she wears the same size I do!!!

After a full day we ended with a drink at Harry's Bar (original one is in Venice)...it was so much fun. I had a Bellini (if you attended the final TGIF-knitting ...well, these were a little better than that!!). There was a whole wedding party and I "accidentally" got in one of the wedding pictures...hey, I'm a Bride too!!!!