ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROMA

We lept the Alps once again (thank you Easy Jet) and found ourselves in Rome with every tourist in the world there too. We had decided to go in February (16th to 21st) because everyone indicated it would be low season for tourists. Never believe those words that sound as if they are music to your ears.


Overlooking the throngs of "friends" wanting to see the same history we were there to see, one just goes by the old adage, if you can't fight 'em, join 'em. So off we went along with our good friend Anna, who is so incredibly knowledgeable in Roman/Italian history, Christian history, and the vast world of art/architectural history. Anna solved the problem of where does one begin historically and where does one end in hopes that you have covered the multitudes of years of Roman history and its impact on our western civilization. We were so happy to follow Anna's lead and as we witnessed in southern Italy, she steered us right.

A little overwhelmed we were!

Day one was spent covering ancient history/ art/ and architecture. The pictures and text books that have served as my learning tools for my entire life surely gave me the short end of the stick. Seeing the real thing, no matter how large or how small, was breathtaking and truly unimaginably beautiful! We all soaked up the day like a sponge ~ being totally amazed at every twist and turn.

Roman Forum after all these years!

Ancient Colosseum and Youthful Gladiator

Beautiful Roman Vista

Having covered ancient Rome, we hopped on a train the next day and rode 2 hours north to Assisi. Assisi is located in Umbria and oh what gorgeous pastoral scenery abounding with olive trees. The medieval town of Assisi is home to the church and monastery of St. Francis. Proto-Renaissance frescoes are found everywhere within the church , and each fresco is telling the story of St. Francis. An amazingly peaceful and wonderful place.



Our next day was spent seeing Renaissance and Baroque Rome with art and architectural visits all around the city. Thank goodness we had our GO shoes on, because we covered a lot of terrritory. These long intense days seem to be just what the doctor ordered for Walker. He used to claim he did not care for art / museums/ etc. but throw in some history and my guy is one happy clam. I think he doesn't want to admit that the art and museum visits are quickly becoming a new love in his life.

Raphael Painting

Caravaggio's St. Matthew and The Angel

Michaelangelo's Moses

Our last full day in Rome was spent at the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's. Words could never describe either place ... so just put it on your list of places you "must see". The amount of art, treasures, etc. that have been "collected" by the popes through the many years of the church's history is just beyond comprehension. One thing is for sure, one should never worry about a recession affecting the church. The Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's were of course amazing and even sharing the experience with all the other tourist was not too bad either.




This Vatican visit was particularly interesting to Walker, because our place of lodging while in Rome was Istituto Immancolata Concezione N.S. Lourdes CONVENT. Yes, no hotel for us!!! We moved right in with the nuns and it was a wild and wonderful experience. Walker ADORED the sisters both young and old. His favorites were Sister Wanda (the chief in charge) and Sister Mebiola - 27 years old from Romania. Both these sisters spoke French so Walker would stay downstairs at night and "do desk duty" with the sisters. I think he would have liked to stay on permanently with the sisters if they would have let him. It would not be such a bad place to reside. They have a nice simple routine going. Our days at the convent were delightfully entertaining and educational. It was a great way to sense and see the "power of the church" that exists in Rome. Even the breakfast roll we had each morning was in the shape of a cardinals hat!!!

Walker and His Sisters

Then it was back to France and home from Rome. Within the next 24 hours Walker left for a week of skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland and Cervinia, Italy. These two places are connected making for one huge ski station. So one can ski back and forth from country to country. He traveled with French friends of ours who have boys close to Walker's age.

Valtorenche, Italy

We got Walker off on his adventure, and the next day it was time for Dick to do his commute back to the US for three weeks. So, your math is correct - 3 minus 2 = me on the hill top all alone. I had projects up my sleeve and jumped right into those. Catharina, my friend from Grenoble came for a day visit and we cooked for the dinner party she was having that night. It was a fun day. The next day, my friend Martine and I went SOUTH on the train to Montpellier, France for two days. This lovely city is not far from the Mediterranean coast, has ancient trading history, one of Europe's oldest medical schools (dates from 1259 to the present), the Fabre Musee of Art and wonderful ancient meandering streets to wander along. A nice, fun get away.

Then it has been back to school for Walker which was an adjustment after a wonderful week of skiing, sun and fresh snow. He loved having a two week vacation in February, and then in April the schools will close for another two week Spring vacation. Of course they will not get out of school until July 1.

There's lots of ground to cover between now and July, so stayed tuned for the ongoing adventures.

February Catch Up

We are back in blogging action and of course have too much to cover! November took us back to the US where it was so wonderful to catch up with family and friends for the holidays! It was so nice to be on home turf and seeing Kate was just what I needed. Dick had seen Kate during her fall break in October. It had been since early September for me ~ just too darn long! The holidays included a whirlwind trip to Atlanta to get our French visas and a trip for Dick and Walker to Philadelphia / NY to visit family there. So we covered a lot of ground in a few quick 6 weeks, and then we departed on January 11th for our return to France. Of course this included the world traveling 4 legged Zydeco in toe. We left Charlotte with a balmy 70 degrees to arrive in Lyon to 30 degrees. Thank goodness our faithful friend, Carlos, was there to meet us.

All the January weather fears that I had, proved unfounded. We have had a lot of lovely sunshine and several days that we opened doors and windows for the wonderful mid day southern sun. We had two nights of "blow the roof off" kind of wind. With the first round of window shaking wind, we none could sleep. The dog even hid under the bed!!! I think it was that hurricane Katrina trauma re-appearing.

Upon our return Walker went back to his Apex courses on line, and we noticed he really was not getting into the groove. We mentioned the possibility of his going down the hill to the local French high school and there he has been for 3 weeks. He is so happy, of course meeting lots and lots of friends. There are 7 exchange students in the school - California, Mexico, Norway, Germany, Pennsylvania, and ... Asheville, NC. Such a small small world!! This change to the French school was the proper "next step" for his year. His classes are of course in French, so his language skills are having to grow a bunch. He is back playing with his rugby team. We went to last week's match to see him play and watch his 2 teammates get injured. The gash in one boys head dictated a dousing of water poured onto his wound in the 35 degree weather. Back in the game he went. Amazing!


Our friends, Michael and Amy Helton came to France to visit us and the wine fair in Ampuis. We met them at the fair and they returned to St. Marcellin with us for a quick visit. They then moved south for a stay at a lovely farm house. We loved having them here and visiting with them in their neighborhood near Crest.

Such hard work!

What tongues!

Last week Dick came down with the flu and I swung over into full time nursing care. Poor guy, really felt tough BUT we had reservations to go to Paris! We had to hit the road. So we wrapped him up for the journey and made our way on the train to the BIG city.

We had a wonderful weekend full of action and adventure. Friday night we did a quick walk around the exterior of the Louvre which is magnificant to see at night. Then onward to an ever so quaint wine bar for dinner.



We did a new and fun thing for our lodging ~ rather than a hotel - we rented an apartment that belongs to a woman in Atlanta, Ga. It was a great neighborhood, quiet place, and much more spacious than any hotel room would be for we 3. It was wonderful to explore the neighborhood shops and Sunday food market.





On Saturday we rode the train to Chartres which is an hour outside of the city. It is a beautiful town with a gothic cathedral that is considered one of the most remarkable ones found any where. So we did a lot of history, art and architectural history study, and it was just incredible. Dick and I had visited here several times before, but it continues to be simply breathtaking with each and every visit.

Saturday afternoon we took a 30 minute cab ride way out in the countryside to visit a family friend, Jacquie. She is now 90 years old and incredible. She is a most lovely and charming French lady that in WWII ran the small hotel that the Army assigned my dad to while he was stationed in Paris for two years. We have visited with her through the years, and it was ever so special to spend a beautiful afternoon in her quaint little village (thatch roofed cottages and all!). We all loved hearing the incredible stories of her life during the war. What an education we received. Our return to the train station was arranged by Jacquie ... her doctor drove us to the train station!!! She told us during our visit, that the way she gets her medicines delivered way out to her little village, is the post woman brings the prescriptions from town as she delivers the mail. Hard to imagine eh?


Sunday it was off to the Louvre. Yes, it was us and 10 million other art eager individuals. Being the first Sunday of the month and no admission fee, the entire world was there!!! Walker did squeeze his way to the front of the crowd to see Mona Lisa. If only we could have a private tour. Even with the crowds it is such an amazing place.







During our quick weekend visit our main means of transport was the metro. Fast and efficient but ... I kept complaining that I was seeing nothing below ground!!! Dick finally got tired of that comment and he decided above ground it would be. So we grabbed 3 of the new "rent a bikes" placed throughout the city and off we went. Well, did I ever see Paris!!! And the traffic and the horns and the near death experiences ... yep, did it all!!! It was a beautiful afternoon though a bit nippy! Trying to preserve one's life makes you soon forget the weather. We rode and we rode and happily, I saw a lot!! The bikes did become like a piece of chewing gum on our shoes. You have to return them to a special lock up station. The first ten we stopped at were full! We finally did locate empty slots, dispensed with the bikes and made our train with about 3 minutes to spare. What an experience!

If you close your eyes they can't hit you!

We're now back on the hill resting up for our next travels. We leave for Rome Feb. 16th and hope you'll tune in for that report. Until then - hope all is well with each of you.

Paestum, Antiquity Part 2

Our next stop was probably the most magnificent and magical of our trip to southern Italy.

We left Sorrento in our rental tin can with Anna, our guide, under beautiful blue skies. We headed back towards the mainland to turn south to Paestum. Founded in the 7th century BC, this city was originally Greek, but after many years was assimilated into the Roman empire. Today, the ruins of the three Greek temples at Paestum rival those found anywhere in the world.



We toured the archaeological site, marveling at the remnants of this ancient city, abandonded in th 6th or 7th century AD, and rediscovered in the 18th century about the time the ruins of Pompei were discovered.



We broke for a delicious lunch at a restaurant recommended by Libby Lubin, our tour planner extrordinaire, and we were delighted at the meal. Paestum is in the area that mozzarella is from. To eat it correctly it needs to be consumed the same day it is made. We did it justice, along with the ravioli, and other fresh regional dishes, and of course local wine. This was our best meal in Italy, thank you Libby.





We finished up our time at Paestum at the museum. It is full of statues, tools, frescoes, and mosaics from the digs which are still in process. We watched several teams carefully sifting through the dirt on location. It is a fascinating look at life as lived at Paestum.



Our time at Paestum was a mystical experience. The weather, Anna's knowledge, and the fact that we almost had the site to ourselves allowed us to revel in a perfect day, and marvel at such a rich life lived so very long ago on this spot. Words really cannot describe the beauty we found at this remote location. Very few tourists visit Paestum but we feel it is a spot that should not be missed. It was extraordinary for us all.

We have a friend in Winston who does Italian travel guide arrangements (which is something we have never done in all our years of travel!) But, what a way to travel. Our guide, Anna, is an American living in Sorrento and with her Phd in Art History teaching in Rome with Temple University (Philadelphia, Pa).

Walker with new found friend and teacher, Anna

Anna met us at the hotel at 7:30 and we quickly headed to the jet boat for our trip across the bay to Naples. Naples is a crowded city, with cars, scooters and people flying in all directions. Without Anna we would have lasted for a couple of hours and then fled for our lives. With Anna, we hopped in a cab and headed off to see the most important artifacts this 3000 year old city had to offer. We started in the oldest part of the city, Spaccanapoli, and visited churches, chapels and museums for the day.

Commemorative Tower

Lunch was at Pizzeria Sorbillo, mentioned in the Guiness Book of Records for the largest pizza. It was wonderful! Of course eating would always be a highlight for us ---wherever we are!
With full stomachs we happily keep moving throughout Naples.

The sights are incredible and the list of masterpieces too long to mention. The highlight for us all was the sculpture, "Veiled Christ" by Giuseppe SanMartino. A remarkable feat in marble that must be seen to be appreciated.

The Forbidden Room in the Archaeological Museum was a hit also. It presented a collection of erotica from Pompei. Quite the education for us.

Abbey w/ painted tile garden

The amount of artwork we saw in such a short time was incredible. Without Anna to quickly and efficiently move us from one spot to another it would not have been possible to see all we did, and having her to impart her historical and artistic knowledge was as the ads say, "priceless".

Two views of Hercules

Sculpture and pose that marked change from ancient to modern period in art

Antiquity, Naples, Paestum, Pompei, part 1

It seemed like no sooner had we returned from Martigny/Chamonix that we were packing and heading back to the Lyon airport to fly to Italy. We left the dog in the good care of Carlos and Aurore and off we went to Naples, and the environs of southern Italy. While waiting to take off we were able to see a new Airbus 380 plane that makes a 747 look small. It is not yet in full service, it is just on trial flights around Europe. It is one huge flying machine!


Thanks to the relatively new airline, Easy Jet, we quickly hopped over the Alps into another world.

Mt. Blanc

Our flight dropped us at Rome's Ciampino Airport where we picked up a rental car to drive 2 1/2 hours south to Sorrento.


Upon arrival at Ciampino (it is not the main airport for Rome) we thought it strange to see that a Saudi Airlines 747 was parked there. We noticed a significant amount of police and military presence, more than normal for a European airport. We drove one block in our tin can of a rental car and we were whistled to a stop as a motorcycle cop blocked the road in front of us.


Several police cars whizzed by followed by a procession of 15 or 20 black Mercedes. Obviously something big was up. Inside each car were several turbaned men. We guessed it was possibly Saudi royalty in town for a Roman holiday of shopping etc. Two days later we read it was King Abdullah who had come to Rome for a visit with the Pope. This was the first time a saudi king had ever met with a pope. You know, no need to visit with extremely differing views on the religious front., but they were able to come up with 2 days worth of visiting this time. Finally, given the go ahead by the police and after a bit of driving in circles we headed towards Naples and Sorrento with Marge, our trusty gps leading the way. Along the way we even trusted Marge to pick a lunch spot and she did marvelously well with her recommendation.

We need to discuss Italian driving habits a minute. Their cars must not have turn signals, or if they do, they only use them to conceal their real intentions. The white lines painted on the road are a mere distraction, or they are to be straddled. The natives never stay between the lines. They move about like wet spaghetti noodles. One of their roadway mission is when approached from behind by a car in the other lane, cheat over to make passing as hazardous as possible. Next mission is driving up the tail pipe of the car leading the way. Whenever possible weave in and out of traffic at great speed to inflict as much angst as you can on other drivers. Oh, and do all this with a cell phone to your ear. It seems no motor rules really exist, one just does whatever their nerves can endure. Several of our nerves were totally shot by the time we arrived back in our quiet little corner of France.

Driving by Mt. Vesuvius

After exiting the autostrada south of Naples we inched our way around the Sorrentine peninsula to Sorrento. Every scooter known to man must have passed us as we sat in traffic. They pull out between the two lines of traffic, and merrily scoot between the cars, stopped or not. Many historic accounts of trips from Naples to Sorrento have been chronicled by famous authors through the years. Most of them were written prior to the acceptance of the automobile as preferred transportation. Their accounts would be different now.

Sorrento

The scenery is still breathtaking, cliffs falling hundreds of feet into the Bay of Naples. The views of Vesuvius and the lights of Naples in the distance are magical.

Vesuvius by Night

The constant buzz of scooters, and the trash piled up on the side of the road, extreme population density (the highest in Europe) bring a sharp reality to the problems this area now has. After inching the last 10 miles at a snails pace we arrived in Sorrento and Marge pinpointed our hotel, the Mignon Meuble. It was mignon, clean, roomy, and full of Americans on holiday. We enjoyed a restful evening and a good nights sleep.



Bright but not too early Thursday morning found us on the jet boat bound for Capri. Capri is a small island which was once connected to the Sorrentine peninsula. Now as in antiquity it is a prime tourist destination. Loaded with a bottle of local wine and a picnic we landed at the grand marina and took the funicular from the harbor to the town of Capri.

Capri

This wonderful town is perched on the cliffs overlooking the sea and Bay of Naples. Its beauty of course means swarms of tourists. To make it even more enticing they were filming a movie for Italian television. Walker loved this excitement, and of course tracked down one of the stars for a photo session.


Our destination that afternoon was the Villa Jovis, the home of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. It was the seat of the Roman empire during the last years of his reign.

It is about an hours hike up from the town of Capri. The hike was through the narrow streets of the village for the most part.


We quickly left the tourists below, and by the time we arrived at the top we were one of three small groups visiting the ancient castle ruins. We had our picnic with just the views of the mainland and the sea beyond to keep us company.


We later learned that Tiberius made his unwilling consorts leap to their death from these heights. A chilling afterthought.



We headed back to Sorrento for an early dinner and early to bed. Friday would be the start of our educational adventure on Greek and Roman antiquity.

Hit the Ground Running

Dick returned to France this afternoon and we had told him to "wear his go shoes" back from the states. Thank goodness he listened because he landed in Lyon, we threw him in the car and headed to Switzerland. (Of course we were thrilled to see him!) Our destination for the night was Chamonix, France home of majestic Mont Blanc (mountain) and Mont Blanc tunnel (10 miles + long beneath the mountain connecting France and Italy!) We arrived just before sunset and what spectacular scenery. It is truly gorgeous and as long as I keep my feet at the bottom of the mountain, all is well. Those altitudes are not for me. But the two men in my life seem to thrive on the taller the better. They have plans to return during ski season! I say bon voyage!!

We were last in Chamonix 8 years ago when there was a terrible accident in the tunnel where 40 people (mostly firefighters from the town) were killed. We had just been through the tunnel less than 24 hours before the accident and those memories certainly made the return to this Alpine town a moving experience.




After a quick night's rest and an attempt for Dick to overcome his jet lag, we jumped in the car and headed across the majestic Alps to Switzerland. Our destination was Martigny, Switzerland which is a small city that rests at the foot of the Alps in the valley. It was a spectacular drive with the deciduous conifers at their peak of golden color and bright sunshine making the scenery even more amazing.





Martigny really has very little to draw one there, EXCEPT Roman ruins, and a JEWEL of an artifact, art, automobile museum and sculpture garden (yes all in one spot!). The exhibit we went to see had 200 Marc Chagall paintings and it was truly incredible.







The other parts of the museum were unbelievable too and its diversity of information and exhibits was spellbinding for us all. Of course pictures are included for you to see. After a delicious lunch stop, it was back on the road to cross the Alps before dark, and head back to St. Marcellin. It was a whirlwind trip, but so worthwhile. The museum is one of those little known spots that all of you should have on your "must see" list. A delight!!!
Visit www.foundationpierregianadda.com.

Walker's Swiss Girl Friend

Dick's Swiss Girl Friend

Next stop - Naples and southern environs of Italy. Hope you'll travel along! (Departure Nov. 7)