Finally, Rome

After 21 hours of travelling on little food and no sleep, I've finally arrived. Serena was waiting in the Air B & B we'd booked on Via Montebello. Our first taste of Italy was a glass of vino Rossi at a nearby bar, and a delicious pizza made in an open oven with arugula salad.

Why was the travel so long? Not one but Two consecutive delays leaving the airport... First a small mechanical function that took an hour to resolve, immediately followed by a medical emergency that necessitated finding the passenger's luggage... and that took another hour! Then another hour waiting to have passports stamped. There were definitely 1000 - probably more- ahead of me in line.

Much more about the day that we needn't repeat, but when dear Jean from Sydney Australia offered me her seat on the train from the airport to Rome, I shed a tear at her kindness?

Tomorrow we wander, Friday the Vatican tour.

Now if only I can figure out how to get a photo taken on this iPad, to this blog, I'll feel pretty smug!

Oy what a day!

I'm wondering if everyone has the same thought, at this point the day before the trip:
WHAT WAS I THINKING!?

I found out Saturday that my roof is leaking. So that's why the drywall on the living room ceiling is blistering! Was able to find a recommended roofer who's able to fit the job in on Wednesday, but I'll be away and the cats will be terrified.

And one little nuisance after another, not worth describing...  I googled Mercury Retrograde, but it doesn't start till tomorrow. Maybe mine started early. I do have a lot of Mercury in my chart.
We shall overcome. All will be well. Be calm dear heart.

Next time I blog, it will be from Roma!

http://www.astrologyzone.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-mercury-retrograde/

La Bella Italia... io ritorno!!!

In only 5 more sleeps - well, actually 6 after the overnight plane trip, but who knows whether I'll  actually sleep - I'll step onto the land of my ancestors... La Bella Italia!

The earthquake in the mountains in Central Italy was a shock, and has put a cloud over the thrill of the trip, but I still can't help but be excited. I love Italy so much.

My great-grandparents, Pietro and Aurelia Lamborghini, lived their harsh, difficult lives north of Bologna, but my grandparents, Virginia and Luigi Borgatti, left there to come to Canada around 1907. I visited that area in 2009 but this time I will land in the city Michelangelo knew so well, beautiful Rome, and then spend a week in the city of his birth, Florence. With my dear friend, Serena, from BC, we'll explore the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Villa Borghese; we'll sit and drink leisurely glasses of vino in shady piazze (that's plural for piazza... you'll note that I'm thinking plural here...) that's about as far as I've planned so far for Rome.

Then we take a train to Florence and have a week of so savouring the delights of the Medici. We'll drink in the Uffizi, the Galeria Palantino, the gelato, the pizza which must be eaten standing in the street, the coffee ... THE COFFEE! is the best anywhere! ... and oh... the ciocolatta, warm molten chocolate in a cup that I savoured in 2009 outside the Academia, waiting to go in to see Michelangelo's David in the flesh. ... not literally, of course but it's the real one that he actually made with his own real hands, not a copy.

Then we have a few days in Orvieto, then to the south of Rome for a few days before coming home to Canada.

I plan to include some photos, so let's try one right now. Here's one of my favourites from Florence in 2009......  Ciao for now!