Roman Holiday - Part I

Roman Holiday – Part I

Most birthdays come and go and we mark them with the traditional singing of “Happy Birthday”; friends and family give cards and gifts; we remember fondly the day we were born and the “lore” surrounding the day. In my case, my mother has many wonderful stories about my day. One of my favorite is of me being born on my exact due-date! Normally it wouldn’t be that unusual, except for the fact that in her naiveté, my Mother (to-be) informed my (soon-to-be) Daddy that since it was so far from their house to the hospital (practically all the way across the Mohave Desert to Edwards AFB), and that since “the baby” (me) would be born today (after all, it was her due-date), she had better drive into work with him (even though she wasn’t even in labor yet!) Ha! And . . . what do you know - I was born that very day! Right on time! Amazing!


Well, fast forward to this year, and we were looking forward to making my 55th birthday something special. After all, I was turning 55 and I was born in 55 – 1955 that is! (A shared birthday with the original Disneyland, by the way). So, guess what we did? We just took a simple day-trip to ROME – that’s all! Now, how cool is that! I’ve wanted to see the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, for as long as I can remember. Not to mention the many, many other famous sites in the city. We knew that we could only go for the day, but it would be worth it for our first peek at the famous city. There is plenty of time for travel to this magnificent city while we’re stationed here in Naples over the next few years, to see the myriad of other places on our list. It’s only an hour away if you take the fast train and two if you have a little more time and want to save some money.

Our trip started very early the morning of November 12th. Friday shouldn’t be as crowded as the coming weekend, we thought, and it was still close enough to my birthday that it felt like a celebration. Phil took care of purchasing the train tickets, as well as the bus tickets needed to get to the train station beforehand, so all we had to do was get a few things together the evening before and drive our car to the same place Phil goes to work every day. We commented that it seemed strange not having to pack *anything* at all for a trip to Rome, and even more strange that we’d be returning that very evening to our own house! It all still seems so very surreal. After driving to the base, which is next to the airport and the bus station, and then taking the bus to the train station; and then enjoying our leisurely, very fast trip from Naples to Rome on the train, we arrived at the Rome train station by 11:00 AM. Not really sure of what to do exactly, other than wanting to see the Colosseum, we set out on foot to get our bearings.


We quickly realized that we needed a map! So, we bought a map (Can you believe we didn’t have one yet? Silly, Mimi!) But, it’s not like a person couldn’t buy one on EVERY corner! As we were looking at our map and deciding what to do and what to see, a guy came up to us who spoke perfect English (of course) and asked if we would like to go on a tour. After listening to his spiel, we thought it was actually a pretty good deal and a great way to spend the next few hours. This way we would see many of the major sites (Monuments of Rome) in the city, and be

able to use the tour bus all the rest of the day.

We would go back to the Colosseum after the tour and take that tour then as well, which is what we did! It all worked out quite nicely, actually, and we enjoyed our day immensely!

. . . to be continued

Fair-weather Blogger

"A *fair-weather friend* is the type who is always there when times are good but forgets about
you when things get difficult or problems crop up."

On the 12th of November, the day before my last blog entry,
Papa and I travelled for the day - and for my birthday - to Rome! It's less than
an hour by train and it was the perfect way to mark my 55th birthday -
unforgettable! On the way home, however, as we were waiting for the train in
Rome at the train station for our return train, my throat began to hurt more
and more by the minute! I found myself unable to swallow very well, and in dire
need of a throat lozenge (a bit problematic with the language barrier). By the
time we reached our home in Pozzuolli, I was genuinely sick! Fever and all! For
the next two weeks I was rarely out of the house, doing my best to kick the bad
cold! Every-once-in-awhile I would say to myself, “Since I’m just lying around
the house doing *nothing* but coughing and sneezing and feeling yukky - I
should work on my blog” . . . still I couldn’t bring myself to write anything
feeling the way I did! But . . . once I did start to feel a little better,
well, you can imagine, wa-haayyy too much catching up to do!

"Stuart was frightened, but he was a brave mouse, even when he had a sore throat." (from Stuart Little by E.B. White)

The good news, I am 90% better and able to engage in all the
activities going on over here for the Holidays. Not to mention finishing up the
*un*packing and the putting away of our household goods!! “Almost there . . .
almost there . . .”

I’ll blog soon about our trip to Rome and finally getting our
second car and me *driving* in Italy for the first time! Just wanted to check
in though, especially for those who’ve been asking, “Where are you?” . . . with
not a little concern in their *voices*!

Ciao, Bella! Mimi