Sunday in Rome

This is the Chalet where Erick and Tera and family stayed in Roma Camping Village.  They were like small fabricated mobile homes without wheels.  On the left side of the covered porch you can see the door that enters the kitchen area.  The part that comes forward next to the porch is where the kids bedroom is and the large window right of the door is to Tera's and Erick's bed room.  Both bed rooms has it's own bathroom with shower.  Mine and Viv's accommodation was a smaller version, a Bungalow.  One bed room and bathroom with a shower.  Our bungalow was warm and comfortable, but Tera's and Erick's Chalet had problems with it's heater so it was cold a lot of the time.  But they said they would recommend the facility to others at the price (Bungalow $25/night, Chalet $70/night).

This is the building where we went to church somewhere in the middle of Rome, and we didn't understand a word of the services.  But it felt like home in the middle of a strange country.

After church we had a day of naps and otherwise resting.  That evening Viv and the girls went to a pizzeria associated with where we were staying and brought back some real Italian pizza.  We ate it in Erick's and Tera's kitchen.  It was good but I still prefer American pizza.

We went to bed anticipating a fun day of touring tomorrow.

Our Drive to Rome

I'm adding photos of our drive to Rome.  I will add photos of the other portions of our our experience there in later posts.  I'm having too much fun to stop and add them all at once.  Tera's kids are amazing travelers, especially baby David.  He never fussed at all except when he needed attention for changing or feeding.  The three older ones don't watch much TV so they were enthralled with videos the whole time we were driving.  If you can see out the back window of the car, you will see the snowy tree lined highway.  It was that way most of the time we are in Europe.  We get some sun in Italy for a while going down.

The army has base and resort in Garmisch, Germany where we stopped to see the colorful ornate homes and other buildings.  This is a typical street there.

The Alps surrounded Garmisch and we drove through them most of the way to Italy.   These are two of so many beautiful mountains we enjoyed.

In Austria we were fascinated by how the snow settled on the boughs of the all the trees not just evergreens.

There were may castles and interesting churches.  Several in each community.

Miles and miles of, I assume, grape vines along the country sides of Italy.  In Germany there were hops as well.

As we continued to drive closer to Rome it became dark, cloudy and snowy.  The traffic crawled at a snail's pace for miles.  On the other side of the freeway we counted 8 sets of snow plows with three and four plows in each set.  That was after we started counting.  The drive took us 6 hours more than the GPS said it would when were first entered Rome as our destination.  So we were tired and frazzled when we arrived at our accommodations.  We had started at 6:00 am and it was 10:45 pm when we arrived instead of 4:30 pm when we were supposed to.

Rome

Thursday, December 22nd we are back in Weiden, at Tera's home. We arrived last night at around 11:00pm.

Monday, December 19th we caught the bus at our Camp and were fortunate that an Australian couple, that had scouted out the route to the Vatican before, told us where to get off.

We walked around the enormous wall of the Vatican to the very impressive, pillared entrance to the plaza in front of the Basilicas which we toured. After getting through security we went to the Tombs of the Popes. It was very interesting to see all the sarcophagi but one in particular got my attention. It was a little larger than the others, and the sign next to it indicated several members of a royal family and others associated with them were interred there.

When we got back up to the top we went into the Basilicas. It is a Huge church with many side chapels or grottos. They each contain beautiful sculptures, altars, candles and even sarcophagi. One of these grottos had been curtained off and a very elaborate nativity diorama was being constructed. Our attention was drawn to it when we saw some men opening a wooden crate that looked to be about a four-foot cube. It proved to contain a kneeling statue of a man, perhaps a magi, that was, no doubt, to be added to the developing scene.

Viv and I approached the fence or solid wall that kept the public out of the way, along with Joey and Bailey. As we watched, one of the workmen smiled and waved at the girls. Then he walked over and pushed apart two sections of the wall and waved the girls, Viv and me into the construction area. There were many observers there but we were the only ones invited inside. The man took us over to a large curtain behind which the diorama was actually being assembled. He parted the curtain where we could see the almost life-size nativity scene. He then picked up a little lamb and handed it to Joey. After we took a photo of her holding it with the scene behind, he then handed it to Bailey and we did the same. We then left the construction area to the gaze of many people who could have been from anywhere in the world. I hope the girls will some day realize the significance of the experience. That out of all those international peoples, they were the ones chosen, in such a world famous place at the most special time of the year, for such an unusual opportunity. I'm sure their Wright grandparents won't soon forget it.

From the Vatican we took two separate Metros to the Roman Colosseum where we spent the rest of our daylight hours. To describe such a massive, complex structure is beyond my journalistic ability.

We took the metros back to our bus where we met up with our Australian friends who helped us get back to our lodgings.

The next morning which, if I am correct, was Tuesday, December 21st, we went directly back to the Colosseum, but we did not go inside. Instead, we walked to the Forum, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, by way of the narrow fascinating streets of Rome. We spent most of the day just walking, and although our feet, legs, and backs were sore, it was a very enjoyable day. We stopped at one of the little Bistro Cafes and each had a Panini as we were walking around. The Sun was dropping and light was fading as we headed back to the metro to go to our lodgings.

On Wednesday we traveled back to Weiden. We went out of our way to visit some castles on our way home but when we arrived at their location, access to them were closed for the day and there was not sufficient light to take photos. We arrived at Tera's home at about 11:00pm.

Thursday we visited the outlet for the local leaded crystal and made some minor purchases then spent the rest of the day traveling to Nuremberg to see the Christmas market. I think the old city there was as impressive as anything else we have seen on this trip.

To have traveled from Bavaria, through Austria, and in Italy, and see the marvelous things we have seen is beyond anything I ever dreamed I would experience.

Christmas in Germany

We are in Tera's and Erick's cabin in a "camp" in Rome. It is Sunday at 4:30pm and we went to church here in Rome earlier. We left Weiden, Germany early Saturday morning and drove through Austria to Italy. We arrived at 10:45pm, almost 6 hours later than we thought we would.

Viv and I left home in Arlington Sunday, December 12, 2010,having had to drive through flood water to get across the bridge into Arlington. Meledie picked us up and drove us to a Motel near the Sea-Tac Airport where we spent the night so we could get to the airport early Monday morning.We flew to Philadelphia and had to sit on our plane for four hours for repair of landing gear before we got to leave for Munich, Germany.

Viv saw Santa at the Philadelphia airport.

Tera met us at the Munich airport with her two little boys.

It was snowy and very cold in Munich. It was a two hour drive to Weiden where we slept most of the rest of the day.

Wednesday (we lost Tuesday) morning Tera took us to a wonderful Bavarian breakfast. Although the meat, cheese, bread and fresh sqeezed orange juice was good, the hot chocolate was the most memorable part of the meal.

Weiden is a picturesque town in Bavaria near the Czech border. Tera took us shopping and we were able to see the narrow streets and the unique buildings. It was like seeing a story book town. It is a good thing we have cameras because it would be difficult to describe the wonderful scenes we saw.

At the open market we bought some caps, gloves, and mufflers. At a nearby store, we bought me a leather coat and Viv some long johns, all at great discounts.

Thursday, Tera was busy all day and we drove around with her. That evening Viv and I babysat while Erick and Tera went to a military ball.

Friday we rode around with Tera again to the post office, and then she and Viv went to Bailey's class party at the elementary school. I sat in the car and watched a movie on my new IPad.

Now here we are in Rome. Tomorrow we will do some serious site seeing.