Fernandez Switzerland : Escapade

I left the video at the top this time for one reason. I was going to title it "Holiday," but the music video to that Madonna song is just horrid. I mean truly. If you don't believe me, check out this link: https://youtu.be/5Rswx2Z7SDw

See? horrid to the max! So yes, we took a Holiday, some time to get away. We went on an escapade. Did we save our troubles for another day? Well yes. After we got to Rome that is. The Swiss have this thing about being on time. That is most, except for our train conductor. He did not have a sense of urgency at all. There could be a few reasons for this. 1. He was not Swiss; 2. There was Footie on the Tellie and he had to watch the game winning goal so he stopped the train in one city, for 20 minutes. 3. He was not wearing a Swiss watch, or he was and just forgot to forward the time from the time change the week prior. Whatever. We were 45 minutes late getting into Milan which made us miss our Rome train by 5 minutes, thereby having us rebook on the next train where we did not have assigned seats and had to play musical chairs for the next 3 hours at the different stops as people got on and off. Phew! Nice long sentence! You might ask why I am using the pronoun he for the conductor. It could very well be a woman. Well not in Switzerland. They have very archaic 1950s June Cleaver views of women. So the conductor had to be a man. So it was a man's fault, and I am sticking to it! Did we get to Rome? Yes. Did we have a good time? Yes. Did we leave our troubles behind? Yes.

Five days in Rome allows you to see everything. Even though we walked like 50 miles in that timeframe, we still gained like 2 pounds each. Why? Well our three favorite P's of course, pizza and pasta and panini. So delicious! Another factor was also probably our favorite "g" spot, the Gelateria. What did you think I would say? Come on this is a family friendly blog about the Catholic Mecca! There is gelato everywhere and we sampled it. Why not? It was $2 euro a scoop! Now I cannot eat ice cream. I know a crime. But I can eat gelato. Yes, I am weird that way. I need to research the difference, note to self.

So five days. Our first was a tour throughout the city lead by our youngest. Ian found out that a basilica is a church. He did not correlate this prior. However, we saw some of the coolest churches that we would otherwise have skipped. Favorites? Well all, but really cool sites were Aventine Hill with San Sabina Basilica and the Knights Keyhole.

Totally cool. The floor was covered in crypts from the whenever, looked Medieval and Renaissance times. The keyhole picture is an enlargement. You can just make out the Vatican Dome. Other cool places if you are going to go? Basilica San Giovanni e Paolo (first picture below) and Basilica San Giovanni Laterano (second through fourth pictures). The second has the original church structure which was the first basilica in the world and dedicated in 324 AD. Cool right?

I probably should start with our walk to get to Ian's list. See My wonderful husband has never steered us wrong. Even if we go out of our way a bit. Which is what we did the first day. See, we took a turn too early and got on a road that had no sidewalk on part of it. No worries right? Should only be a 100 yards or so. Well it was about a half mile of this:

We hugged the wall needless to say. But we did get up to Gianicolo hill, which was our first stop. Another must see. Just make sure you do not take the turn too early. Okay, what else did we see? Yes, we got to the forum, the Colosseum, the usuals. If you want a great view of the forum, take the elevator to the top of the National Museum (the white building with the angels in chariots on top) and you get a bird's eye view. Very lovely. The creepiest thing we saw? The Cappuchin Crypts made out of bones.

We did say, "Sup?" to the Pope, just about everyday. Our hotel was on a quiet street in a quiet neighborhood. The easiest way to get to the heart of Rome was through Vatican City. So that is how we went. One thing I have to say about Rome? There are more nuns per capita than Starbucks in Seattle. These little ladies were everywhere. Now if you have ever been to Rome, you will know that traffic is crazy, and you take your life in your hands crossing the street. That is unless you are a nun. Everyone stops for nuns, even speeding buses. So every time we crossed a street? I looked for a nun. Now don't go thinking I am disparaging nuns. Like a good Catholic girl, they have my upmost respect these ladies. And I am not breaking any Seinfeld laws (episode 19, season 8 - Anti-Dentite https://youtu.be/ythrdCsOFJU) by making sure a nun was around when I crossed the street. I have little kiddies to look after! Okay, so they are almost as tall as I am, but they are still my Schmoopies!

We got to the top of St. Peter's dome, another must! We saw the inside of the Sistine Chapel. That my friends was an experience. Get skip the line tickets of you go. If not, 3 hour line! Yes we took an illegal shot of the ceiling. Not an example of a good Catholic.

The tight walk up to the dome.