Roman Vacation

We are just back from Rome and enjoying that feeling of being home after too many days of restaurant food and suitcases. I have two days off before I have to go back and face the email, so I have grabbed the opportunity and am dealing with a gigabyte worth of photos -- which I'm looking forward to sharing with you because Italy was so beautiful!

We started and finished in Rome and spent four days there in total. For those of you who've been to Rome, we stayed right downtown near the Presidential Palace, up on the hill above the main tourist spots. The weather was gorgeous for the whole time, blue skies (through the smog) and 24 degrees in the middle of the day. T-shirt weather but never too hot.

Rome seemed to have more tourists than Paris. There were so many English that it was quite dis-orienting at times. The Italians must feel like they are over-run. English tourists aside, the Italians are still running the country and are calling the shots on the roads. Which is to say, chaos seems to reign wherever you go. I have never seen anything like the driving in downtown Sorrento. Rome was a piece of cake in comparison. If Canadian driving is a game of yards, Paris and Rome a game of feet, Sorrento is a game of inches. I still don't know how we got through it with our paint intact. Scooter madness.

I can't wax eloquent on the food. We were a family of four on a tight budget so we settled for what we could get and ate a fair bit of pasta. Pretty standard fare and no surprises really, except the Gelato, which was always heaven. The first night we met Virginia and Rogerro, who made the trip down from Milan to see us, and we had a memorable meal in the Jewish ghetto. Fried artichokes. Crunchy, sometimes a bit hard to swallow, but leaving that hint of flavour that lingers long after the meal is ended.

Here are our photo sets by day. Cat's photos are identified with a (CVR) in the title.

	Rome (Day 1)We started with a visit to the Vatican, where we discovered that 5 new saints were being recognised. Catharine and Alexander did some further exploring of the Campadoglio, the Trevi Fountain and assorted sites.
	Ancient Rome (Day 2)The Coliseum was our starting point, then we explored the Forum and the Palantine. We finished the day with a visit to the Pantheon and a nearby church where St. Catherine now lies.
	Vatican Museum (Day 3)We returned to the Vatican, this time to see the many treasures in its museum and, of course, to marvel at St. Peter's.
	Pompeii (Day 5)We travelled down to Sorrento on our fourth day and on day 5 we visited Pompeii. What a massive site. Like everyone says, it was too much to do in one day, but we took in as much as we could.
	Drive to Amalfi (Day 6)Catharine and I left the boys by the pool to go explore the beautiful villages of Positano and Amalfi. What a beautiful coast. Of course, meeting tour buses coming round the side of a mountain elevates one's appreciation of everything, including life itself.