On vacation in Rome at St. Peter's Basilica

On vacation in Rome at St. Peter's Basilica

Our spring hiatus is coming to a close. Our casual time as a straight bed and breakfast is just about over. Our restaurant re-opens for the summer season next Thursday. (You will be reading more about that over the next few days).

Over the hiatus we completed many renovations through out the inn. But we also had a chance to take a real vacation. Over the last several years, as the health of our fathers declined, we stayed in the area to be with family. This year. with elderly mothers in good health and relatively settled, we decided it was a good time to get away. So in May we embarked on a trip to get a city fix. Spinning the globe, our travels took us to Rome Italy. After research on TripAdvisor, some scanning of Expedia, some research on flights through Alitalia, and some emails to hotels, off we went on our first foriegn vacation in more than a few years.

After an uneventful 8-hour flight "across the pond" we landed in Rome and greeted by our hotel driver. Traffic in Rome beats anything we have seen before. Rome makes Boston look like it is a well organized city. But from talking to our driver, and some subsequent conversations, it became obvious fairly quickly as to the reason.. NEWSFLASH---- Rome is ancient! ----ENDNEWSFLASH. Rome is one of the oldest continiously inhabited cities in Europe. While each generation has made their mark on the city, the overall city structure is virtually unchanged in over 2000 years. Todays car choked boulevards were wide to allow Roman Legions to march shoulder to shoulder in victory parades through the city. Typical streets designed for donkey carts are barely wide enough to allow safe passage for todays tiny cars; and the myriad alley ways, while large enough for for a centurion on a horse, have been taken over in modern times by a nattily dressed 21st century Romans on a Vespas.

Our adventure was a learning process. On the first night, Mary had a sweet tooth (probably the jet-lag kicking in) so she decided to order something she felt comfortable about in Italian... the classic Tiramisu. Of course, Tiramisu in Italy does not resemble the lady finger pudding soaked creation we see in America.

Mary with her first real Tirimisu.

Turns out classical Tirimisu is a pudding with a fruit compote on the bottom of the bowl. It can be toped with grated chocolate. It could be coffee flavored. We saw various fruit flavors of tirimisu all over Rome and virtually every restaurant we visited. Chalk this one up to interesting.

Rome is filled with majestic sites. Here are some pictures from our visit.

St Peters Square and St Peters Basilica.

The sites of Rome.. Click again to resume rotation.

We enjoyed our trip. Once we got back, renovation efforts began in earnest around the inn. I will detail some of that in the coming days.

Where ever you may be, hit the ball straight.... keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sunscreen.