Back to Italy, Part One

The trip started on Labor Day. Joe and Blackberry had spent part of the weekend camping with a large and varied group of family members, but came home on Sunday and right away started pulling things together.

We knew Star Flyer would be waiting for us in Rome on Wednesday, but decided to go a day early to begin to adjust our timing.

Our hotel had a nice rooftop bar and deck where we met a nice couple from Argentina. I was able to use my very bare-bones Spanish to offer to take a picture of the two of them without sparking an international incident. I also took these pictures before we went out to Piazza Navona for our dinner.

The plaza is a busy place and is great for people watching. It is also great for food. Joe never chooses calamari for himself but is always agreeable when I suggest we get an order to share. This particular batch was crispy, tasty, and just right. Back home it was Gene's Birthday, and I thought of Honna, Judy, and Helen and how often we'd observed this date with calamari!

I have a major passion for risotto and always order it if it's on the menu. Especially in Italy. It's more of a northern Italian dish than a southern one, and in the area where we were it was hard to find risotto other than a shellfish type (I have a shellfish allergy). We found this fantastic mushroom version for dinner that night and I was happy as the proverbial clam!

After breakfast on Tuesday, we went directly to the Pantheon. This was my third time there and it was early enough that there was hardly anyone inside! What a treat. I think the reason that this building moves me so much is because it is a reminder that long before Christianity, people knew there was god.

This is the third time I've taken a picture of the oculus. If I were to return, I would undoubtedly take another.

In the small piazza outside the Pantheon were gathered interesting people, including what seemed to be a drawing class. The weather was lovely and we just enjoyed being in Rome.

We stopped in at a nearby church and on the way out, Joe was inspired to comment, "That must be a REALLY important church. It has TWO beggars!"

And then it was time for lunch, a couple of errands, and the ride out to Civitavecchia, the port where Star Flyer was waiting for us.