Getting ready to go

We are going to Rome for our 35^th wedding anniversary. WOW!! We are going to Rome! Pinch me now.

We’ve been planning this trip for quite a while.  We had big plans to have studied our travel books early on, lined up a fabulous daily schedule, stocked up on amazing travel clothes, learned at least a little Italian, and recorded it in this blog all along the way.  The good news is that studying the books, making a schedule, and finding travel clothes have gotten much further along than this blog.  Learning a little Italian is coming right along, too – “teeny, tiny bit” is another way too say a little, right?

What’s been done, and what’s not been done yet, doesn’t really matter so much.  It’s Friday night and we are leaving early Tuesday morning.  A few more things to do and away we’ll go.  (Flying first class thanks to Don’s millions of frequent flyer miles.)

So what you should have been reading about - for months - is how we bought maps and books and gave them a permanent home on our kitchen bar.  And about how we decided to rent an apartment instead of a hotel room.  Soooooo…we searched the internet and found a beautiful place with a balcony five floors above the streets.  Grazie, Daniela.

And how we decided that we would refrain from scheduling ourselves to exhaustion on this vacation.  (Mary knows that Don really is right about that.)  Actually that’s a good decision because all we have managed to do is buy tickets for one tour at the Vatican.  And line up a whole bunch of churches, cathedrals, and basilicas to visit.  And plan to see the Pope on Sunday at the Angelus.  We still have to pick a day to go to Assisi and decide if we’re going to Florence or not.

Threaded in between the churches will be vino, gelato, market-fresh picnic food, and yummy late dinners.