Europe – September 17-29, 2016

The western Mediterranean countries Part 2: Madrid to Rome

Saturday, September 17 — Overcast skies kept us from seeing much on the flight from Milan and we were sitting in the aisle and middle seats. When we were able to see the ground in Spain it was an arid, desertlike landscape reminiscent of southern California where Jim grew up (minus the oil wells). Once our Air Europa flight reached the gate at Madrid-Barajas we were quickly off the plane. Our bags were among the first to show up at baggage claim. We deplaned in Terminal 2 but had to catch our ride in Terminal 1 so we went for a bit of a walk.

Our instructions said to go to the Meeting Point. We tried to figure out what they meant by that, looked around Terminal 1 and finally googled it. Jim found a couple of hits that said it was by the bronze man sitting on a bench. When we found the statue we found some other travelers with Trafalgar tags on their luggage and figured we were probably in the right place so we sat down and leaned back. That’s when we first noticed the large round sign on the ceiling that said “Meeting Point”.

Eventually someone from Trafalgar came by, took our transfer vouchers and led us out to the bus parking lot. The other travelers were going to a different hotel and did not travel on our bus. We had the full tour bus all to ourselves and our driver Maurizio. We headed over to Terminal 5 where we were supposed to pick up more people but no one was there. Our private bus took us to the AC Cuzco Hotel near Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of Real Madrid. We met our travel director Gerry in the lobby just after checking in. After a short break to freshen up our entire group hopped on the bus for a brief tour of Madrid followed by our welcome dinner, a selection of tapas with wine and sangria at the Bar Restaurante Avelan where we got to meet some of our companions.

Sunday, September 18 — Our morning started with a daylight bus tour of the city with photo stops at the Plaza de Espana and its monument to Miguel Cervantes, a view of the Royal Palace from the Glorieta Puente de Segovia bridge over the Rio de Manzanares and the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas (the bullring) with its Moorish architecture. We also saw the Temple of Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple relocated to Madrid for Spain’s help saving other sites that would have been flooded by the Aswan Dam. Our tour ended with a stop for lunch and shopping at Atocha Station. Outside the station a memorial honors the victims who lost their lives in the March 11, 2004 suicide bombings of commuter trains.

The afternoon found us leaving Madrid for La Mancha and the old capital of Toledo. The landscape grew even more arid as we headed west. Toledo sits impressively atop a hill with the Tagus River forming a natural moat at its base. The skyline is dominated by the Alcazar and the Cathedral. After the capital moved to Madrid in 1561 the city went into a decline leaving it something of a time capsule. Toledo is known as “the city of three cultures” because Jews, Christians and Muslims all resided there at the same time.

Our first stop was a tour of a Damascene Steelworks where crafters inlay gold and silver into steel. We were shown the Charles Bridge which was our designated pickup spot then driven to the base of the escalators built inside the hill to be taken up top for a walk back down. The streets of the old town were narrow and twisted and the day was very hot. A highlight of our visit was the Church of Santo Tomé with its El Greco piece The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, painted in 1586 and still on exhibit in its original location. After the church we took a short break for ice cream before walking through the old Jewish Quarter back down to the bus.

We did not get back to the hotel until after 7:00. The heat and Lynne’s ankle tear were taking a toll. We went out for dinner, walked as far as the Burger King next to the hotel and decided it was good enough. Their wifi was better than the hotel’s and they served cerveza so it turned out alright. Madrid is a very green city with plane trees (of the sycamore family) planted along all the major roads providing shade.

Monday, September 19 — Our day started with a tour of the Royal Palace in Madrid. The Palace is used only for state functions now and is no longer a residence. In addition to a wealth of paintings and tapestries the building also has the world’s only complete Stradivarius string quintet. The instruments are still used in concert when not on display. We entered via the Grand Staircase and toured King Charles the III’s apartments, the Queen’s apartments which have been converted into a single huge dining room, the Crown Room, the Royal Chapel and the Throne Room amongst others. Two of the more interesting were the Porcelain Room with the walls and ceiling all covered in porcelain and the Gasparini Room with its Oriental decor.

After seeing the overlook of Madrid from the palace square we wandered a couple of blocks and ate lunch at Cafe de los Austrias. Our waiter’s English apparently consisted of “Thank you” and “Okay”, and our Spanish was not much better, but we muddled through and enjoyed some flavors of Spain. Went for a walk through a bit of the palace gardens before our group reconvened to hop on the bus and bid adios to Madrid.

The Monegros Desert resembled the American southwest complete with abandoned towns standing in ruin. We saw a couple of the Osborne Bulls, 46-foot tall black silhouettes on the side of the highway. Originally put up as advertising for a type of brandy, the signs have achieved iconic status and are now preserved (with the red stripe promoting the liquor painted over in black to match the rest of the figure). We drove through a huge wind farm. Our tour director put on some Pink Floyd to go with the spectacle of hundreds of giant windmills slowly rotating above the arid landscape. As we neared Zaragoza and the Ebro river the terrain became greener with scrubby trees and an increasing number of farms and orchards.

Zaragoza was founded by and named for Caesar Augustus and is the home of the Basilica del Pilar. According to tradition St. James was preaching the gospel soon after the crucifixion but was having little success and was losing hope when Mary appeared to him atop a column, telling him to raise a church in her honor based around the pillar. The pillar is today an object of veneration and the church, originally a small chapel, has been rebuilt and expanded many times over the centuries. We took an elevator up one of the towers for a view of the city. A staircase from the top of the lift led up three flights to a glass floor and a spiral staircase that rose another three flights to the highest openings in the tower.

From the church we made our way across the square for some shopping at a perfumery and a pharmacy before settling down in a cafe on the square for some sangria. We often encountered beggars and gypsies but Zaragoza had more of them and they were more persistant than anywhere else we’d been. From the center of town we made our way to our hotel, the Diagonal Plaza which was next to the airport / military base. Loud fighter jets flew over our hotel several times during the evening and overnight. We ate dinner at the hotel which was convenient because it was in a light industrial park with very little else around it.

Tuesday, September 20 — Left the hotel at 9:00 for a leisurely drive from Aragon to Catalunya. A sign alongside the highway marked where we crossed the Prime Meridian. We stopped at the Giró Ribot winery near Santa Fe del Penedès for a tour to see how Cava sparkling wine is made. We saw the destemming apparatus, testing labs and fermentation tanks before heading down into the cellar where the wine is aged then back up to the bottling room. A load of grapes arrived when we came up so we watched them begin their journey from fruit to wine and sampled a little Cava before enjoying a typical Catalonian lunch on a patio shaded by vines. The winery sits in the midst of the vineyards with a spectacular view of Montserrat.

About an hour later we arrived at our hotel, the U232, in Barcelona. Lynne’s legs were swollen from all the walking and sitting so she skipped the orientation tour. Jim went on it to Montjuic, site of the 1992 Olympics, for a view of the city before driving past a couple of Antoni Gaudi’s creations (Casa Batlló, aka the House of Bones and Casa Milà) before arriving at his most famous work, the Sagrada Familia for a tour of the exterior. The church as been under construction since 1882 with the completion date still a matter of speculation. Finishing the church will require the demolition of a block of apartments across the street which requires ten years notice and restitution for the residents.

Back at the hotel we walked around a bit looking for an enticing restaurant. Feeling worn out, and having eaten a very large lunch at the winery a bit later than we were used to, we opted to pick up a few things at a nearby Suma market and take them back to the hotel. Our room overlooked several apartment buildings; many of the apartments had the Estelada flag (symbol of Catalan separatists) hanging from their balconies.

Wednesday, September 21 — This morning we were off to Montserrat with a local guide. He gave us the history of the mountain as we drove through Barcelona’s rush hour traffic. The drive up was a series of twists and hairpins with a couple of tunnels. The range’s name translates as saw-toothed mountain, an apt description of the many sharp peaks. The Benedictine Abbey is reached by cable car and rack railway but we arrived by bus. The Abbey is famous for its Black Madonna which legend holds was found in a cave where it had been hidden from the Moors who briefly held this part of Spain before being repulsed by the French. There was a very long line stretching out of the church of those wishing to visit the Madonna. Did a bit of souvenir shopping before returning to the bus park. There were only a couple of other buses when we arrived; by the time we left the large lot was almost full.

The drive down the mountain was on the opposite side from our ascent. Back in Barcelona the bus dropped a group off at Plaza Catalunya to see the old section of town but we opted for some downtime and returned to the hotel. After the hectic pace of the previous tour we swore we would force ourselves to not try and do everything and got a bit of rest.

In the early evening we went to Tablao Flamenco Cordobes. The restaurant and theater are near the port and a small remainder of the old city walls. Lynne was able to see a bit of the city she’d missed on the orientation tour. Dinner was a tapas buffet preceded by a frothy glass of sangria. We were packed like sardines for the flamenco show which followed. It was excellent with amazing footwork. We’d been advised the dances were separate works of passion but overall we felt like we were missing a story. On the way back to the bus we walked along La Rambla with all the other tourists.

Thursday, September 22 — Lynne got a distant look at the Sagrada Familia as we headed east from Barcelona heading for Figueres, home of the Dali Theatre and Museum. Built in an old theater in his hometown, the museum includes early works, jewelry, sketches, pieces by other artists collected by Dali, pieces both surreal and absurd, and the tomb of the artist. After touring the museum we ate lunch at a cafe outside the museum. A few minutes after leaving Figueres we crossed into France.

We exited the highway to see the Pont du Gard aqueduct. On the way we ran into a terrible traffic jam which slowed us to a near stop for 45 minutes or so. Eventually we made our way to the site. The aqueduct was built almost 2,000 years ago by the Romans as part of a large system to supply Nîmes with water. Pont du Gard carried the water supply across the valley of the Gardon River. The aqueduct has three tiers of arches. A bridge was built adjacent to the structure in the 18th century to remove traffic from the lower tier. Some of the blocks still show marks made by the Romans to identify the purpose and placement of the stones.

From Pont du Gard it was a short drive to Avignon. The Rhone had several river cruise boats tied up at the quay. We had a view of the Pont d’Avignon from the bus park. Avignon still has its medieval wall so we had a short walk through narrow streets to the Mercure Pont d’Avignon hotel. After checking in we took a stroll through the old town to see the Palace of the Popes. For almost 70 years in the 14th century a succession of popes ruled from Avignon rather than Rome. Today the great palace sits mostly empty and unfurnished. Avignon was very pretty with lots of outdoor cafes on the square by the Hotel de Ville and, this being France, a carousel.

Avignon is in Provence, famous for its fields of lavender. The delay at Pont du Gard bit us; all the shops selling lavender products were closed or in the process of closing when we returned to the hotel. We enjoyed a Provencal dinner at the hotel. Lynne said being in France was like returning to civilization – they had public restrooms (and signs pointing to them) and put salt and pepper shakers on the tables.

Friday, September 23 — We left Avignon at 9:00 just as the shops with all their lavender products were starting to open for the day. From Avignon we took the A7 and A8 highways through the countryside and around Nice to Monaco. Upon entering Monaco the bus had to stop so tour director Gerry could pick up a parking permit – 150 Euro for two hours. A succession of zigzag streets and tunnels took us to the underground bus park.

A series of underground escalators and a lift brought us up to the surface by the Oceanographic Museum. Jacques Cousteau had been its director from 1957 to 1988. Most of our group took a walk through the gardens to the palace but we bought tickets for the sightseeing train (actually a tram that runs along the streets). We were behind a drunk Englishwoman who never shut up, waved to everyone and kept shouting at them, “We’re going back to England tomorrow!”. The train took us past Port Hercule with its dazzling array of yachts, along the Grand Prix circuit, past the Casino in Monte Carlo, the Prince’s Palace and the cathedral, burial place of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier. In 40 minutes we had seen just about everything in the entire country. Monaco was interesting but the throngs of people made it feel more touristy than posh.

After passing through a toll plaza on the way out our bus was stopped by a French policeman checking for illegal immigrants. We were only a few miles from the Italian border and Italy is a popular route for Africans entering Europe. Once our driver and director assured him we were Americans coming from Monaco he waved us on our way.

We backtracked past Nice, exiting the highway at Cap Antibe and the town of Juan les Pins. Our hotel there was the AC Ambassadeur. The atrium featured a glass-walled lift. Lynne was thrilled to find an iron and ironing board in our room and exclaimed, “I love France!”. We planned on trying out a crêperie on Avenue Docteur Dautheville for dinner but it wasn’t open yet. We sat outside and had kir and spaghetti for dinner at Les Arcades a little bit farther down the street. This was our third visit to France and our third time having kir for an aperitif so it’s now a hallowed tradition. On the way back to the hotel we stopped for gelato at Glacier Papilla Pinède. Jim apologized to the fellow working there for his poor French only to find out the man was Italian so we bid him grazia and arrivederci as we walked off with our desserts.

Saturday, September 24
St. Paul de Vence was our first stop today. The walled medieval hilltop town, very well preserved, is now home to many artists and galleries. Marc Chagall was a longtime resident. His grave is in the local cemetery and the elementary school features one of his murals on an outside wall. The main avenue is not much wider than one’s outstretched arms. Partway through town we encountered a door with police tape on it. It had been sealed as part of a homicide investigation. After some window shopping and enjoying the view of the surrounding countryside we stopped for some gelato and watched a game of Pétanque (lawn bowling). Lynne shopped in the Fragonard perfumerie.Next up was Nice. We drove down the Promenade des Anglais, site of the July 14 Bastille Day attack, and saw the makeshift monument to the victims. From the Square Général Leclerc we walked past the Palais de Justice to the Cours Saleya. The open air market is filled with stalls selling everything from fruits and vegetables to lavender products from Provence to flower shops and is surrounded by restaurants and cafes. We headed down to the beach – in Nice it’s rounded stones rather than sand – and were debating taking our shoes off to wade in the Mediterranean when a wave broke over our feet and made it a moot point. The square in front of the Palais de Justice was holding a book fair so we browsed a bit before returning to our pickup point.

From Nice we climbed via the three corniche roads. Basse Corniche starts down by the coast, Moyenne Corniche sits in the middle and Grande Corniche sits at the top. Our drive took us past the houses of numerous celebrities and gave us a view of the site of Princess Grace’s crash. We stopped at an overlook of Cap Ferrat where the Leopold Estate is on the market for $500 million.Once atop the Grande Corniche we stopped in La Turbie for lunch at La Terrasse with superb views of the French Riviera. The food was excellent. Owner Helen led a walk after lunch. Lynne and a few others opted to stay at the restaurant while Jim and the rest of our group took a short but hilly stroll to see the Trophy of Augustus. Also know as the Tropaeum Alpium, the monument was built by the Romans in 6 BC to commemorate Emperor Augustus’ victory over the tribes who populated the Alps. Our stroll continued through the narrow streets of the old town to another overlook, this one giving us a view of Monaco and Italy in addition to the French coast.No police stop this time as we headed back to Juan les Pins. After our late and large lunch we spent some time resting at the Ambassadeur. By the time we headed out for dinner La Crêperie was open featuring flavors of Brittany and giving us a chance for a light meal. We headed back to the hotel well after sundown. We stopped at a grocery store but they had closed for the night; not much other than the bars and restaurants were still going.

Sunday, September 25
We left Juan les Pins via Antibe to the A8 heading east past Nice and Monaco and into Italy. Northern Italy was a succession of tunnels and bridges, the latter giving us beautiful views of the Italian Riviera. Our route took us around Genoa. Bound by the mountains, Genoa stretches for miles along the shore. As we made our way south we saw the white gash in the mountains where Carrara marble is quarried. Carrara has been used for everything from the Pantheon in Rome to Michelangelo’s David to London’s Marble Arch.Our next stop was Pisa. Upon disembarking from the bus we were inundated with African migrants trying to sell their counterfeit products. We took a road train from the bus parking lot to the Piazza del Duomo to see the leaning tower. The sidewalk leading to the tower was a sea of people posing as if holding the tower up. Although something of a cliché, the tower is a remarkable sight when seen in person. We walked around to a side of the tower so we could get a picture of it looking like it was straight.Pisa was very hot. We found a table at a cafe on the shady side of the street with a view of the tower and ate a light lunch. The cafe’s receipt had a barcode we had to scan to unlock their restroom, a first for us. We made our way back through the heat to catch the road train and ran the gamut of migrants at the bus park so we could head down to Florence.

In Florence as in Monaco we had to stop to purchase a pass for the bus so we got to see a part of town not normally on the tourist route. We went to the Galleria dell’Accademia where, even with a reservation, we had to wait because they limit the number of people in the gallery. Several paintings from the Renaissance up to the 16th century are on display along with a couple of Michelangelo’s unfinished pieces. The centerpiece is his David, moved here from the Piazza della Signoria in 1873. Although familiar from photographs and copies, seeing David in person instilled us with a feeling of awe.After the gallery we headed to the Grand Hotel Mediterraneo. The hotel is very popular with tour groups because it’s as close to the city center as buses are allowed. The reception desk and restaurant were in the north tower. To get to our room in the south tower we had to cross the lobby, ascend to the first floor, cross a bridge and take a lift to the fourth floor. From the enclosed bridge we had a view of apartments, several of them having washing machines on their balconies. Dinner was at the hotel, a buffet with surprisingly tasty Italian dishes (and curried chicken to boot).

Monday, September 26
Drove up to the Piazza Michelangelo for an overlook of Florence with excellent views of the Ponte Vecchio, Bardini and Boboli gardens, and the domes and spires of the cathedral and basilica. The piazza has a bronze copy of David on display. As we were getting ready to leave a Ferrari pulled up and stopped to wait for a parking space but the car backing out crashed into the Ferrari’s front fender. A full-blown Italian argument followed with both drivers waving their arms and gesturing wildly.Back down in the city we had a somewhat more sedate time of it. After hopping off the bus near the Accademia we took the narrow cobblestone streets past the duomo, the Medici Palace, City Hall with its square full of statuary (including another copy of David, this one situated where the original sat for centuries) finishing up at the Piazza di St. Croce. Our guide gave us a history of the Medici family, Michelangelo and other things Florentine as we walked. The duomo and adjacent baptistry are finished in red, green and white marble but the interiors are nowhere near as ornate as the exteriors. The Basilica of Santa Croce is adorned with a star of David because the facade was designed by Jewish architect Niccolo Matas. The crypt includes the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Rossini and Machiavelli among others but Matas, not being a Christian, is buried beneath the church’s porch.

After returning to the hotel we had some gelato and rested. Late in the afternoon our group boarded the bus for a rush hour drive along the Arno River (“What kind of fish live in that river? They’re Arno fish!”) heading out of the city into the Tuscan hills to Ristorante Montebuoni. The road was narrow and winding and the driveway to the restaurant was on the wrong side of the road so we drove past and turned around at the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial. Dedicated in 1960, it is the final resting place of over 4,000 American military who died in 1944 and 1945. Our bus could not manage the steep twisting driveway up to the restaurant so our group was ferried up from the road by a pair of vans. Once up at the top we were treated to glasses of prosecco and a gorgeous view of Tuscany with its villas.Chef Emilio Marchitti began our evening with a cooking demonstration preparing risotto and a grape-based cake in the dining room. We shared a table with Gary and Linda from Pennsylvand and Angie and Dave from Alberta enjoying conversation during our meal. An antipasta of assorted sliced meats and salami was followed by the risotto, a pasta course, salad and a meat course, and the grape cake for dessert. By the time the meal finished the moon was shining over the valley of the Greve. Our group, well sated with food and wine, adopted the party bus atmosphere for the drive back to Florence, fortunately without the disco music accompaniment we’d had on our Italian Lakes tour.

Tuesday, September 27
We left Florence for Rome in the morning. On the way south we were passed by a couple of the Italo high speed trains like the one we had planned on taking before our trips were reordered. In Rome we met our local guide for a walking tour. Our first stop was the Trevi Fountain. We had coupons for gelato from a shop by the fountain and took advantage of them before throwing our coins in. Based on the distribution of people it appears 99% throw their coins in from the front and 1% throw them in from the side. We went with the 1%. It gave us an opportunity to shed our one and two cent coins.Next up was the Piazza Colonna and the Column of Marcus Aurelius commemorating and telling the story via a spiral relief of his conquest of the Germanic tribes. We proceeded to the Piazza di Pietra where a row of columns from the Temple of Hadrian still stand. Excavation in front of the columns reach down to the street level of ancient Rome.The Pantheon was next. Its concrete dome, built without reinforcement, is intact after almost 2,000 years. Many of the Roman structures still standing have suffered from looting and vandalism but the Pantheon was made into a church in the 7th century. As a result most of the Roman statuary was removed but the building has been continuously maintained. Raphael is among the notables buried within. Our final stop was the Piazza Navona. Its oval shape comes from the Roman Stadium of Domitian used for horse races back in the days of the empire. The Fountain of Four Rivers topped with an Egyptian obelisk sits in the center of the square.

Dinner tonight was at the Hostaria al Gladiatore on the Piazza del Colosseo. We were seated outside and watched as a truck backing up on the Via dei Santi Quattro ripped up the side of a parked car. We were serenaded while we ate. The two-man band was taking requests; apparently the only songs anyone at the restaurant knew were Volare and That’s Amore. Our entree was pizza rather than pasta which made for a nice change.After dinner we took a walk around the Colosseum to see it lit up at night. On the way to the hotel we passed other Roman and Italian landmarks also lit up. Our hotel in Rome was the Cardinal Hotel St. Peter. In Italy women with bare shoulders, tank tops or tops with spaghetti straps must cover their shoulders before entering a church. Our hotel, named for St. Peter, was close to the Vatican. Our room had two Gustav Klimt prints of women with their breasts exposed.

Wednesday, September 28
This morning we had an early start so we could visit the Vatican Museum before it opened to the general public (one of the perks of being on a group tour). From the dropoff point we walked around the walls of the Vatican to the museum entrance. Our guide first took us outside for a brief “what to look for” talk and pointed out some of the buildings in the Vatican. She timed things so when we got in the museum the other tour groups were already on their way and we had most of the galleries we visited to ourselves. We saw ancient statues (nude figures were pagan gods, clothed figures were historical people), the hall of maps, the hall of tapestries, the old library and a collection of gifts bestowed on popes over the centuries including a Vatican City flag that had been carried to the moon and back by the Apollo 11 astronauts as well as a moon rock. (President Nixon allegedly told Pope Paul VI, “I’ve given you the moon, please don’t ask for more”.)The highlight of the museum was the opportunity to see the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo resisted the pope’s request to paint the ceiling both because he felt he was a sculptor, not a painter, and because he felt the ceiling was less prestigious than painting the walls since most people give the ceiling little more than a cursory glance. The pope eventually made him a offer he couldn’t refuse ala the Godfather. Michelangelo managed a bit of revenge painting the angels on the ceiling giving obscene gestures too small to be seen from the floor without magnification so they would give Pope Julius II the bird every time he entered the room.

Years later Popes Clement VII and Paul III commissioned Michelangelo to paint The Last Judgement on the altar wall. Biagio da Cesena, Master of Ceremonies for the pontiffs, complained about the nudity in the work saying it was unfit for the papal palace. Michelangelo commemorated him by putting him in the lower right corner leading the damned to the inferno with a snake covering his nudity. The artist also put his own face on the flayed skin of Saint Bartholomew because he maintained the pope was paying him so little for his work he was being skinned alive.From the museum we left Vatican City walking through Italy to the entrance to St. Peter’s Square. On Wednesday mornings the pope holds a general audience, outdoors in the better weather to accommodate the crowds. After passing through security our guide found us a spot near the obelisk in the center of the square for a good albeit distant view so we were able to see Pope Francis and hear him speak.

After exiting the square we shopped at Savelli where Lynne bought a rosary for Ruth Ann and had it sent off to be blessed at the Vatican then ate lunch with Linda and Gary at Il Colonnato. After lunch it was off to the Colosseum for a tour of the inside. Although damaged by centuries of looting and earthquakes the structure still inspires awe. We were surprised by the steepness of the steps. Lynne and Linda opted to stay on the ground floor while Jim and Gary explored the next level up. This provided views down into the hypogeum which sat beneath the arena floor. A portion has been restored showing how the elevators would deliver animals and gladiators into the arena through trapdoors. The upper level also afforded a better view of the forum next door. On the way to and from we also saw the Circus Maximus, Hadrian’s column, the temples of Venus and Hercules and the spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated.The routes our coach took from our hotel to the city center and back always seemed to take us past the Piazza Venezia with the imposing Altare della Patria (also known as the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument) and the Castel Sant’Angelo but we never stopped at either location.

Back at the hotel we had a brief siesta. The Basilica in the Vatican was closed in the morning because of the pope’s audience so we swung by on our way to dinner. We and a half dozen or so others opted to wait on the bus because we were worn out. At the bus park we saw something none of us expected, a cow grazing in a lot just a few blocks from Vatican City in the heart of Rome. Our farewell dinner was at Sapore. At dinner we learned from our fellow travelers that they had tried to bypass the long line and sneak through the pilgrim’s entrance at St. Peter’s Basilica but some had been shopping and were busted when a guard noticed one person’s Armani jeans. “You’re-ah no pilgrims!” Because of the papal audience a whole day’s crowd only had a half day to see the basilica so our group only had ten minutes inside before they had to return to the bus. Dinner was very good (Gary even found the risotto passable). The restaurant had perhaps the most ornate restrooms we’d encountered on the trip, located at the base of a marble spiral staircase, everything in gleaming black marble. Unfortunately for some of our party the restrooms weren’t clearly marked leading to a bit of confusion and some embarrassment.

Thursday, September 29
The early bus to the airport would have gotten us there almost five hours before our flight so we opted for the 8:20 departure from the hotel. Our bus left promptly at 8:30 immediately getting into rush hour traffic. Terminal 5 at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport was very utilitarian looking. We first went through preliminary screening, checked in via kiosk (passengers for our flight and another to Chicago were called to the front of the line) and passed through security before boarding a bus to the boarding area. In contrast to the first building, the boarding area was a bit more glitzy with Gucci, Prada,Dolce and Gabbana, Hermes and other high-end labels all having their own shops. American 721 departed from gate G12. Lynne had the dreaded SSSS code on her boarding pass so she received a pat down and her hand luggage was all searched at the gate. Our Airbus 330 departed about a half hour behind schedule.We had an uneventful flight and were quite happy to have more legroom on the newer Airbus than we get on the older Boeings we usually end up flying. The passenger in front of Jim reclined her seat all the way back for the duration of the ten hour flight but it was not that big of an issue. Descent into Charlotte was painful for Jim; he’d come down with a cold in Florence and his ears were plugged. We used our Global Entry once on the ground and cleared customs in less than two minutes then had to wait for our bags so they could be rechecked.

Lynne didn’t have PreCheck so she had to go through the regular security line so we had to hustle to Concourse E at the other end of the airport to catch our flight for Cincinnati. Of course that flight left late because it was waiting for a large group of passengers – high schoolers who had been on our flight from Rome. Eventually 5281, a CRJ 900, took off and got us to Cincinnati a bit after 7:00. Once we collected our luggage we had a rainy drive home. This time we skipped the construction on I-75 and took I-275 through Indiana to I-74 and had no delays.

Milestones and highlights:
Lynne and Jim’s first trip to Spain, Monaco and Vatican City.

States and countries we visited:
Italy, Spain, France, Monaco, Vatican City, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana.

Capital cities we visited:
Madrid, Monaco, Rome, Vatican City.