Visitors!

Since our arrival in Rome we have been looking forward to sharing our life in Italy with folks from back home. We got the chance in February to host Michelle (she came in mid-Feb) followed by Elizabeth and David.



Unfortunately for Mich the weather stunk while she was here. While Rome is spectacular in any weather, you do a lot of walking to see the sites. Michelle was a trooper though and to avoid the curse of jet-lag we kept her up the first day she arrived and marched her clear across the city in the rain!



A highlight of her visit was our day trip to Villa d'Este in the hills just to the east of Rome. The villa was built in the 16th century by a depressed cardinal (he was bummed out about being passed over to be pope). It is in a beautiful location on a hillside overlooking the valley below, but its most spectacular feature is the gardens with all kinds of amazing fountains. Unfortunately pictures nor video do it justice, so you'll have to visit it in person one day. (This also happened to be Michelle's only sunshiney day in Italy - so we were lucky).




Elizabeth and David arrived at the end of the week, and though the weather wasn't much better at least they did not have to brave the rain their first day. Instead we all went on an open-air bus tour of the city. This is a great way to orient one's self to the city and a good strategy for keeping jet-lag at bay.



On Sunday we all took Mich to the airport for her flight home and then rented a car from there to make a whirlwind trip of the Amalfi coast and Pompeii. Still plagued by poor weather, the drive was yet impressive and we managed an incredible sunset in Sorrento. The next day we took the wildly windy road along the coast to Amalfi and then over the hills back down to Pompeii.





When we got to the ruins the rain was pouring, but mid-way through our visit the sun came out and the light was gorgeous. The ruins were fascinating - and it was the fulfillment of a dream to see them (I recall watching the PBS specials when I was a kid at the time that they'd made a major discovery at the site).




(The items in the glass case at the bottom left are casts of the victim's bodies from Vesuvius.)

The remainder of Elizabeth and David's trip was spent in Rome where they made a grand tour of the city - seeing the colosseum, Palatine, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and a lot more. On their last night we went to the restaurant next door and had our fill of pizza, pasta and plenty of vino.