Roman Holiday

Okay, I know I don’t have Audrey Hepburn’s waist and George certainly does not have Gregory Peck’s hair colour, nor did we ride a scooter, but we did go to Rome for the weekend for a Roman Holiday for our 29th wedding anniversary.

On Thursday morning we dropped off Toby at his Italian babysitters.  They are a wonderful couple, Maria and Toniello love dogs and Toby has certainly charmed his way with them.  The only problem is that Maria and Toniello had was that Toby does not understand Italian.  When it was time for Toby to go to bed, he would not go as he did not understand “go to sleep” in Italian.  Hence, they had to call upon their son who does speak a little English to tell Toby that it was time “to go to sleep”, which he obeyed and went to sleep.

George and I took the bus into Rome and then attempted Rome's subway to take us to our hotel.  We dropped off our bags, went for a late lunch and then started our walking tour.  We spent the afternoon roaming around Rome, going to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Pantheon, visiting cathedrals, walked along the Tiber River and ended up in Piazza Navona.  We went to Cul De Sac for dinner which is a wine bar that served with plates of prosciutto, carpaccio, cheese and salad and of course, wine.  It was a nice way to the end the evening.

Colesseum

Friday after breakfast we began our walking tour to Campo de’ Fiori.  In the morning it is full of stalls of fresh fruit and vegetable stands, spices, olive oils, vinegars and fresh flowers.  Surrounding the open market are small restaurants.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch sitting outside watching the people and action.  

Campo de' Fiori

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Yum - Lunch in Campo de' Fiori

In the afternoon we strolled through the Jewish Ghetto in which during the 16th through 19th centuries, Rome’s Jewish population was forced to live in a cramped ghetto near the often flooded bend of the Tiber River.  Today there stands a large synagogue, restaurants and shops selling Roman Jewish food in this vibrant area.  

Wandering down one of the streets in the Jewish Ghetto

Synagogue 

Fresh artichokes at a local Jewish restaurant

From there we wandered over to Bocca della Verita (The Moment of Truth)  which is an ancient sewer cover which is supposed to bite off the hands of liars.  If you have seen Roman Holiday there is a scene with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.  Gregory Peck puts his hand in and pulls out with his hand pretending to be bitten off which got a reaction from Audrey Hepburn.  Apparently this was an impromptu scene that the director decided to keep in the movie. From there we wandered over to Trastevere which houses a small piazza. We climbed to the highest point there and were able to look out over all of Rome below. After another long day of walking we went to  Enoteca Cavour 313 for dinner and enjoyed wonderful meats and cheeses and wine.  We spent the eveing wandering along the Tiber River. 

Saturday morning we took the subway to Ostia Antica which was Rome’s orginal port at the mouth of the Tiber River and a busy trading centre.  After a combination of malaria and commerical competition the town went into decline. Due to silting over the years and a change in direction of the river itself, the town now lies 3 miles inland. 

Theatre in Ostia Antica

Main Street

Mosaic tile floors of shop keepers

 In the afternoon we strolled through Villa Borghese Gardens which were spectacular.  

A temple in Villa Borghese Gardens

A sign of Spring

For dinner we decided to dress up and go out to a nice restaurant that we like for our anniversary.  We had a delicious dinner of antipasta and homemade pasta.  After dinner we went to the Trevi Fountain.

Trevi Foundation

Sunday was a travelling day.  We took the train to the airport to meet the CCI students arriving back to school and accompanied them on the CCI bus back to Lanciano.  

Oh yes, if you ever have a chance, don't miss watching the movie Roman Holiday.  It is a classic.

Sicily

March 20

We just returned from our week long driving trip to Sicily.  Once the school closed for March Break, George, Christine and Terry and I got ready by going to the market getting snacks for the trip along with lunch and dinner for our first day.

The Gorgan - the symbol of Sicily

We left early Sunday morning in the rain and drove to Naples.  We stopped on the way to tour Pompeii in the rain.  It was destroyed in 79 AD after Mt. Vesuvius erupted.  The people of the town were either buried or suffocated by poisionous gases.  After Pompeii we then headed to the overnight ferry in Naples to take us to Sicily.  Driving there was a bit of a nightmare as the roads themselves were in disrepair; it was raining hard; and, there were hardly any signs to give us directions.  Once we boarded the ship and settled in we had our picnic dinner of roasted chicken, cheese, bread and veggies along with some wine.  

Our Picnic Dinner - it was delicious

On Monday morning we arrived in Palermo, Sicily.  Once off the ship we navigated to our hotel to drop off our luggage and explore the city.  Palermo in our view was quite disappointing.  We saw a lot of garbage everywhere.  The guidebooks talk about that many buildings that were bombed in World War II have been left as is and are quite an attraction to the city with little cafes etc located in each.  The buildings we did find were in the slums surrounded by garbage.  We took the local bus up to Monreale and that was quite pleasant.  We toured the Duomo which is spectacular.  The inside ofthe cathedral was full of glittering mosaics on the floors, the walls and ceiling.  We had a wonderful dinner in Palermo that evening at a restaurant that was recommended by the hotel.

A building bombed in WW2 - notice the graffiti

Palermo

Duomo in Monreale

Tuesday we left to travel to Trapani.  It was quite a challenge getting out of Palermo.  After many one ways streets, no marked lanes on the road, cars honking and merging in we managed to get safely out of town.  George had white knuckles and the rest of us sighing with deep relief that we were still all alive.  We drove to Trapani which is a small port town.  We wandered around, went to the market to pick up some lunch and continued our drive to Agrigento.  

Trapani

 Once in Agrigento we went to Valley of the Temples which consists of ancient Greek buildings.  

Temple of Concord

From there we headed to Taormina.  Along the way we hoped to see Mount Etna but because of rain and low clouds we were unable to see it.  By the time we reached Taormina it was early evening, a much longer drive than originally anticipated due to construction.  I would say Taormina was probably my favourite.  Such a pretty town with wonderful views if the skies were clear.  We had probably our most favourite meal in Taormina.  We ordered fresh fish and it was absolutely delicious.  The next morning we wandered through the town.  

Fresh fish for dinner

Taormina

The view from our room in Taormina

A Greek Theatre in Taormina

We left early afternoon and headed to Cefalu, a seaside town.  The weather stared to turn in our favour.  Bright blue skies.  In the morning we walked up LaRocca which is a rock that dominates the city.  La Rocca is where the Temple of Diana is.  We climbed up to the top (almost a 1 km) meeting sheep on our way to see the temple and then further up to a castle overlooking the town and sea.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the view was spectaular.  

The afternoon was spent lying on the beach and enjoying the warm weather, we all ended up getting sunburned.  Late in the afternoon we left to go back to Palermo to catch the overnight ferry back to Naples.  Unfortunately we missed a cut off and had to drive through Palermo one more time.  It wasn’t any fun.  

Cefalu

Temple of Diana - at the top of LaRocca

Mom and baby on our way to LaRocca

Looking down from LaRocca

A group photo

We arrived in Sorrento early morning and took the city bus along the Amalfi Coast and to Ravello.  It was quite the drive.  The road which winds left and right is quite high up on a cliff with the sea hundreds of metres below.  There is no way we would ever attempt to drive it.  Unfortunately we had rain most of the way and the clouds were quite low.  Even though it was quite interesting to be above the clouds in Ravello and we were able to see some of the great views.  We had a great lunch in Ravello which consisted of homemake bean soup.  Great for a rainy day.  We spent the evening in Sorrento. 
 

Sorrento

Waiting for the bus to go to the Amalfi Coast

In Ravello

Early Saturday we were up and the Thomsons left by train for Rome and Florence.  George and I returned back to Lanciano.  

Venetian Ball

March 6

Friday night the school hosted the Venetin Ball for the studens.  Everyone in attendance had a mask on.  They were all of different shapes and designs.  George will post the pictures of the students with their masks on the school blog.  

It has been raining since last Sunday.  Today is the first day we have had no rain so took advantage to go for a long walk with Toby.

This is the last week of school before March Break.   We are planning a week in Sicily with the Thomsons during the first week of March Break and a trip to Rome for a couple of days at the end of the break.  Till then.

Debbie

Getting Ready to Leave

Do we have to walk outside like this?

Terry and Christine

Vittoria (one of the dons) and myself

George looks like he is going to fall asleep or he is hung over!

They look pretty serious....