The Scavi Tour

Karen the Good/Middle Sister had us at the gate waiting to be admitted into the offices of  excavations at the Vatican well in advance of the appointed hour.
She had requested three spots on the Scavi Tour, granted only by special request to a certain few, soon after she learned about the trip. She was beside herself when she learned we were granted a tour.
 The Swiss guards at the gate turned out to be friendly and one of them quite chatty. We conversed with them until the clock struck three and we were allowed into an area normally closed to tourists.
When we entered the Scavi office (to which we had gotten careful directions earlier in the day pursuant to our to do list for the day) we were told we were too late. I thought Karen the Good was going to cry just then. Perhaps it was the stricken look on her face or maybe it was the Baby Sister's explanation that we made haste as soon as we given leave to enter the area by the guards. In any event, the tour was just starting  and the assembled group was peering into small models of the Basilica when we were taken beyond the immediate office area. 
Other scale models nearby showed the progression of the site through the ages. At first, our guide told us, since theApostle  Peter was a criminal when he was buried (after being crucified upside down) his grave was unmarked and known only to his closest followers. Later, those who would make pilgrimage to his place of interment marked it carefully with "grafitti" markings of Christian symbols that would preserve but also protect the site.
Thus the grave of the apostle was protected during many invasions of Rome and the "sacking" of objects d'art, relics, etc. was not exacted upon Peter's  burial place. Once Constantine declared Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, an altar was placed at the site. Later, as Christianity gained more of a foothold, a more elaborate altar was erected and ultimately, a church built round about the altar.
Over time the Church grew from the place of a simple grave until today, it is considered to have the largest interior of any Christian church in the world
Now, all of this we could have read in a guide book or on Wikipedia. , though listening to our young guide explain in her broken accent was charming. And to tell the truth, I kind of wondered why we needed to see any of the excavation sites in the bowels of Vatican City. Having seen the Basilica from ground floor, I was satisfied. But my sister wanted to tour the underside and so I was in. After all, this really was her trip.
And so we enbarked on a part of our trip that was certainly one of the most memorable.

In and Around St. Peter's Square

We spent the time immediately after  our tour of the Vatican museums hanging around Vatican city.
Our tour of the area  under the Vatican buildings and the Basilica, called the Scavi tour, was so close in time that we opted to stay close by.
Our first order of business was finding a place where I could purchase blister packs. My new shoes did a number on my heels through the museums and there were miles to go before I slept.
We decided to eat lunch from one of the kiosks outside St. Mark's Square. It was a mistake. The Little Sister opted for a hot dog that looked and tasted unlike any hot dog any of us had ever known.  The Panini I got was edible but just barely.
After contending with the Italian version of a hotdog, the Little Sister elected to sit near the entrqance to the Basilica, where the preparations for Palm Sunday were ongoing. She rolled up her sleeves and pants legs and got some sun in the square and I expect did some fantastic people watching. It was interesting to watch the nuns and priests come and go in their official  regalia.  Many languages could be heard spoken.
The Middle Sister and I decided to wander through some of the gift shops around the square as we had not gotten the opportunity to stop at any of the shops inside the Vatican museums. I had my heart set on a cherub ornament for my Christmas tree. Cherubs abounded at the Vatican, etched and carved and drawn over doors and in corners. They were everywhere...except in the gift shops... or at least the kind I was looking for. We did find a lovely creche, much like the one set up every year at New York City's  Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the window of one of the shops. The set had many persons and animals attending the newborn King but no angels, which was just as well, as the pieces  were sold only as a set and was well beyond my price range.
I had predecided what sorts of things I wanted to bring back with me and my imaginings did not not match the shop wares.
 We did find some interesting books in the Vatican's bookstore, where those who come from around the world to study various disciplines purchase their text books. Volumes on the history of the Catholic church, sacraments and exorcism, among others, were available in many languages.
I did find a small trinket box for each of my sisters to commemorate the trip.

My role in our Italian adventure was something akin to what  girl scouts call a tagalong. Feeling somewhat guilty for my lack of contribution, I made myself the official scribe. When Karen the Good said, "write this down" I jumped to attention. She had a list each night for the next day. Below is the summary of a list made for:

 Saturday a.m.

By 6:30 a.m. be downstairs for breakfast

At 7 am leave hotel for Vatican Tour/Bring tickets

At  the Vatican:

Find out where excavations office is

Look for souvenirs at Vatican gift shops

(specifically putti/cherub ornaments, souvenir books)

Mail post cards from Vatican Post office

Ask about a good place for lunch close to the Vatican

Find out:

where in the Vatican the smoke comes from when a Pope is elected.

Who all lives in Vatican buildings

 Saturday p.m.

Leave for excavations office at 2:30

Scavi Tour at 3 p.m./Bring tickets

Day two spent touring Rome...

...started earlier as most days on the trip did. Our tour of the Vatican museum would be over before the museums opened to the public.
From the Galleries of the candelabra, maps and tapestries to the Laocoon, the room of Greek and Roman busts...the Vatican collections were almost too much to take in. The mosaics were especially impressive. (I am considering a post on those alone!)
I loved the Cortile Della Pilgna, a huge bronze pine cone in a niche between two peacocks that was once part of an ancient Roman fountain.
My neck and eyes were as tired as my feet by the time we'd finished. I wasn't sure just where to look. In every direction and on every surface there was something remarkable. I probably looked as if I was doing the hokey pokey as I walked along those long corridors. I would look up, down, all around. Here there was jewelry and vestments worn by the Popes through the Centuries in ornately painting wardrobes and cabinets. Frescoes, carvings, sculpture. Ancient works by famous artists were everywhere.
In and out, up and down, we went. Our guide was determined to get us to the Sistine Chapel before it grew go crowded with groups and individuals that we could not enjoy it as we ought.
My sister observed how odd it was that we would rush through galleries containing works by such artists as Matisse.
I seemed to be forever lagging behind taking pictures.

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When in Rome...

One of the things that most surprised us about Italy is that many of the business shut down for several hours every afternoon for the Italian equivalent of nap time.
By the end of our tour of ancient Rome we were seeing the benefit of just that kind of time out. Karen the Good allowed us several hours rest, yea sleep, this day once we promised to go back out exploring once nap time was over. We took full advantage this.
We had dinner that evening at a sidewalk cafe, climbed the Spanish Steps, wandered around its environs a bit.

We ended the day where we'd begun it...back at the Trevi Fountain. We found it as beautiful at night as it had been with the early morning sun reflecting off its waters. A very full day this one was. We talked of what we had seen and heard only briefly upon our return to our hotel and then we all went (back)fast asleep.

Vatican City

From the Piazza Navona we were taken, vis autobus, to St. Peter's Square. Along the way, the ancient walls of Rome were pointed out to us. I tried to take it all in but without success. I was on information overload, or so I thought. Once we arrived in Vatican City, there was even more to take in.
Our first stop was an "official" Vatican Gift shop where we were shown jewelry and various souvenirs with  rather exorbitant  prices. At the urging of the shop girls we each selected a trinket.

I bought a small sterling silver cross that I wear around my neck even as I write this. I paid too much for it but as it is one of the only souvenirs of our trip, I cannot be too sorry!

St. Peter's Square was a bustling place. Our first visit there occurred on the Friday before Palm Sunday so preparations for the upcoming celebration were already underway. Chairs were being set into rows, speakers and television monitors unloaded, etc.
We had a bit of time to watch the preparations as we were queued up to enter the Basilica. From the time we walked through the outer doors, it was quiet considering all the people inside.  I was unprepared for the size and scale of everything inside. Pictures I had seen did not do justice to the building or its adornaments.
One of my favorite moments of the trip was when the tour guide motioned us right and as I turned my eyes fell upon the Pieta.  The image of the crucified Christ in the arms of his mother, carved from a single piece of marble by Michaelangelo when he was just in his twenties was something to behold.

Likewise Bernini's canopy over the tomb of the Apostle Peter, the Petra upon which Christ said He would build His church. The building is full of amazing sites but my favorite of all, the stained glass image of the Dove depicting the Holy Spirit. Something about it moved me in a way unlike anything else I saw that day, even more than seeing the Pieta.
We opted out of the remainder of the tour and stayed in Vatican City a while and then moved back through some of our earlier destinations, this time at a slower pace.
Karen the Good did a fine job of navigating with the help of an App on her Iphone.
I should say here that we felt safe wherever we walked in Rome. We took a cab only when the distance was inordinately long or our feet especially tired.

Touring ancient Rome

Our first full day in Rome, we hit the ground running once again. We were picked up at our hotel early for a tour of ancient Rome. We were in a group of about a dozen other English speaking folks. We threw coins into the Trevi Fountain, which, according to a Roman custom made famous in modern times, in part, by Audrey Hepburn's character in "Roman Holiday"  means we will return to Rome someday.
From the fountain we walked on through narrow streets past a spot in which some of the remaining pillars from Nero's golden  palace could be viewed.

Not much else is left of what the Emperor built in the areas which burned while he "fiddled."  His memory was cleared by his successors who built the Coloseum on the site of the lake and gardens where there once stood an enormous statue of Nero. If I understood our Italian guide correctly, these pillars we passed on the way to the Pantheon were salvaged for use only because of their economic and constructive value and not out of homage to the Emperor Nero.
The Pantheon is a wonder. It boggles the mind how such a thing could have been constructed without the modern methods or equipment we take for granted. That is survives in such amazing condition is also incredible. Built as a "temple to all the gods" of the pagan world, it is now a Christian church. The oculus remains open and our guide was careful to tell us "when it rains in Rome, it rains in the Pantheon." She pointed out the drainage holes in the center of the floor as proof.
The artist Raphael is buried in the Pantheon. He died very young, said our guide, because "he knew too many women."
I could have lingered there, marveling at the the rotunda, the dome, the carvings and frescos for long minutes we were not afforded. All too soon it was time to move on.
From the Pantheon we walked to Piazza Navona. The Fountain of the Rour Rivers in the middle of the square was something to behold. I did not know much about the artist Bernini until I realized how many magnificient works in Rome are attributed to him. In the short breaks we had, I read excerpts from our guide books about him with great fascination. His work on both the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi and the Fontana Trevi were impressive and there was more to come...though later in that day and then the next.
The Piazza, home to one of the most famous of European Christmas markets during the holiday season each year,  is built upon the site of ancient arena. It is also the site where Saint'Agnes is said to have been burned at the stake for refusing to marry the nobleman her family had betrothed her to.
Again, I longed to stop a while and watch the artists painting portraits and landscapes there and to people watch for a bit but such was not to be.

We did indeed hit the ground running!

 We dropped our bags off at our hotel and headed out to find the Termini and then make our way south from Rome to Anzio. It was the only free time we had on the first leg of our Italian adventure and we intended to spend it purposefully.
Soon after I learned I was going to Italy, an attorney I work with told me that the one place he hoped to go someday was near Rome, an American cemetery where members of the 45th Infantry Batallion of Oklahoma were buried. The story of the battle of Anzio was a very moving one by his telling. Between his words and the subsequent reading about the World War II battle there convinced us that could not come so close to the the cemetery without visiting.
Not long before our departure date, medallions were delivered to my office by the same attorney. We were to be emissaries on behalf of the 45th to the keeper of the cemetery and their designates. In hindsight, we probably should have made prior arrangements so we would be expected.
As it happened, we ventured out without a clue, really, excited about seeing the Italian countryside from the train with no idea that the cemetery is actually located in Nettuno, some distance from Anzio. Our stop in Anzio was not wasted, It is a charming seaside town and a scenic harbor that is home to some of the biggest boats I have ever seen.
The trek to Nettuno didn't take long but I was walked on the sides of my feet by the time we got there. (My sisters called it "shuffling.") The cemetery is very peaceful and very beautiful, even with construction going on in several sections.
We went to the building at the entrance and told our story rather breathessly. The two men we spoke to initially struggled with our English as we did with their Italian. Just as we were ready to full out our language helps, a gentleman came from an office and began to explain to us the amazing connection between our place in the world and this one./He was able to tell us exactly how many Oklahomans are buried in the cemetery. I knew immediately that he was the person who was to receive the medallions we carried in our bags.

The whole trip was as moving to us as the story we'd heard and read about. Later we all agreed it was well worth the time and effort. It is a part of the trip we won't be forgetting.

Across the pond we go



This is Karen the Good's carry on with the
 tag I made her for the trip hanging from it.

The flight over was long but uneventful. I sat with the Baby Sister and watched movies, which helped pass the time. I did not sleep at all nor did she. Middle Sister, Karen the Good, slept a few hours. She was seated directly in front of us. She peeked through the seats a time or two to remind us we would be hitting the ground running so we should sleep while we could. We didn't. I am going to blame it on excitement.

Marching Orders

Just in case anyone would doubt how explicit my preparatory instructions were, I am providing excerpts.
This is certainly not intended to show my beloved middle sister, Karen the Good, a trip tyrant (though we did call her one at certain points on the trip.)
This is to show how hard she worked to make sure we were safe, comfortable and able to see and do absolutely as much as our time there would allow.
I want to point out that I followed her directives ...

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Some of my trip prep:

Little gems along the way

The trip prep, including the passport renewal, turned out to be fairly uneventful.
It just fell into place. Of course, I had detailed instructions (written and placed into
a folder) from the sisters whose gift the trip was. My fabulous co-workers made sure my
schedule stayed clear. My fabulous fam all pitched in to get us where we needed to be. One sister studied Italian. Another downloaded and app on her phone to interpret. They read travel guides and listened to Rick Steve's Podcasts. I bought new walking shoes.
We all ate dinner together the night before our departure to celebrate a nephew's birthday. After dinner I let my baby sister talk me into a spray tan for the trip... my first.
The trip bestowing brother-in-law drove us to the airport with my hub riding shotgun.
Again, things were uneventful. No real issues at check-in... no bags oversized, even. We had nothing confiscated or disallowed thanks to the aforemention instructions regarding what to pack.
We switched planes in Atlanta, the lay over was just long enough to facilitate a short visit with the cousin of a cousin of my husband. It had been years since I'd seen her but we recognized each other on sight. It was one more little gem in our treasure of a trip.

To Italy with the coolest women on the planet

My sisters and I could have fun in a bar ditch. Actually, we have had fun in bar ditches. Wading, after Spring rains, catching tad poles among other things.
We used to sit in my Grandma's porch swing and as the cars went by called out "yours!" or "mine!" for hours.
So the idea of the three of us flying across the pond to explore Italy together was pretty overwhelming!
First order of business: getting my passport renewed.

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Introducing my beautiful travel companions:

Karen the Good

This is Karen the Good, the middle sister, at Will Rogers World Airport, immediately before our departure to Italy. The trip was her Christmas present.

Johnna with Fun (with a friend)

This is Johnna the Fun (my baby sister.) She is pictured with a Delta arrival steward who became her fast friend in the short minutes required for our check in at the airport in Oklahoma City.

And so the answer

Italy! As travel companion to my sisters courtesy of a particularly generous brother-in-law!

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The Query

12/23/11
I am hosting a staff Christmas luncheon at home when my baby sister calls.
I take the call as it is the day before ChristmasEve and the final plans for the holiday are ongoing.
"do you have a passport?"she asks.

"yes," I answer, "but it is expired. Why? Am I going somewhere?"

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