Friday, March 18, 2011How blessed I am! I am returning to Italy for another visit, and we are on our way. We (me, Katherine and Dad) all started out from different cities this morning, and we all experienced delays. It was particularly stressful for my Dad, who had a 5 hour delay in Sarasota and then had his flight there cancelled entirely. Happily, he was able to get on another flight, and he made his connecting flight to Rome in Atlanta. He is now in the air!
Meanwhile, Katherine flew from Raleigh-Durham and I flew from Pittsburgh, and we met in Newark. We are now sitting together
on our plane to Rome, and it is 15 minutes to take-off.
I had a lot of plans for getting ready for this trip. Most of them fell through. I was going to listen to Italian language CDs in the car and try to improve on my Italian speaking skills. I got through one CD. I was going to listen to and watch the Rosetta Stone Italian language DVDs. The DVD drive on my computer broke. [How convenient.] I was going to listen to a 48-CD lecture series on Ancient Rome. And I did! At least that, I was able to do -- although I only got up to lecture 40 That's ok. I learned a great deal, and I'll finish them up when I get home. I am enjoying them alot.
And so, now it is time to settle in for our long flight. We are, of course, flying through the night. Unfortunately, I do not sleep well on planes. So we shall see what kind of flight this turns out to be.
Included here is a miscellaneous set of photos -- just to get started. The first one is a picture of me and Katherine standing in front of the Fountain of the Four Rivers in the center of the Piazza Navona. The second photo is in front of another fountain, this time in the Piazza della Rotunda which is where the Pantheon is located. The Pantheon was closed for a religious service when we first stopped by, so we returned there the next day. The third picture here was taken inside the church Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. It shows a beautiful fresco by Filippino Lippo depicting scenes in the life of St. Thomas Aquinas. This church has a lot of wonderful art work, including a Michaelangelo statue of Christ Bearing the Cross.
Buona notte.
Thank you so much, Carol! I was hoping you would be sharing your trip to Italy on your blog site. You are all looking happy and ready for a chock-full week of adventures. I can't wait to read the next installment. (And I want to hear your account of hiking at Cinque Terra; Dad told a funny story over the phone.)
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