So lastly we visited Rome. Our first stop was the Vatican. People line up at 5am to enter at 10. We had tickets and walked right in. Here is a part of the line. Vatican City is surrounded by a large brick wall and sits up on a hill. You enter through the wall into a visitors center and travel through several court yards into several museums before visiting The Sistine Chapel or St Peters. The Octagonal Courtyard is full of Greek statues like Apollo and Laocoon who tried to warn the Trojans to "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts" when they brought the Trojan horse into the gates of Troy. The Gods attempted to silence his warning by sending snakes to kill him and his sons. First you pass through the Cortile della Pigna(grass) with the Roman Pine Cone (and the Death Star which is a recent gift). Once you enter the museums, you pass through the Hall of Animals, then into The Round Room which includes Roman statues such as Hercules made from bronze. The tile floor(amazing) came from a Roman bath, and the solid marble vase found in Nero's palace was made from a single block of purple stone from Egypt. Next comes The Long March through the hall of sculptures, papal palaces. Pictured is The Hall of Tapestries(designed in Florence) and The Map Gallery. The ceiling in the tapestry room is painted in 3D. Next is the Sistine Chapel, but no photos. Michelangelo painted the ceiling much against his will. He was actually quite rude to the pope at the time and he was actually fired. But no one else would touch the project, so the pope had to beg him to come back and finish. The whole ceiling is full of panels that tells the story of the old Testament as well as lots of paintings of prophets and saints(of course the famous painting of The Creation of Adam. The back of the chapel has The Last Judgement where the good souls go to heaven and the bad souls go down below(more bad than good!). This is the private chapel for the pope and where they choose the new pope. Afterwards you walk outdoors and enter St Peter's Basilica. Also has 5 bronze doors and 1 door is only opened every 25 years by the pope with a special silver hammer that the pope uses to knock on the door(2024 next door opening). The church is huge-two football fields long to the altar. The lettering in the dome is 7 feet high. "Tu es Petrus" or You are Peter. The bronze canopy over the altar is 7 stories high. Pope John XXIII is mummified  and has his own altar. He initiated Vatican II and switched us from the Latin to English spoken mass. The paintings in the Basilica are actually made of tiles in order to take photos so they don't fade. Michelangelo's Pieta Statue AKA "Pity"(Holy Mother and Son) sits behind a bullet proof glass wall in the back of the church. In 1972, some crazy guy attacked the statue with a hammer so now it is protected.  Michelangelo was only 24 yrs old when he sculpted this piece.  Outside you will see the Swedish Guard(real military soldiers) in crazy outfits as you enter St Peter's Square. No we did not climb this dome either. The obelisk is 2000 yrs old from Egypt. They placed a cross on top to make it christian. You can just make out the chimney on the Sistine Chapel where they announce a new pope with white smoke. There was more to see, but we had other tours on our schedule. Our hotel in Rome was up in the mountains near a volcanic lake. The white building is the pope's summer house where Pope Benedict now resides. We had a great time with our group each night, enjoying dinner together which included brushcetta, pasta(lasagna as an appetizer) and pork and french fries along with the hotels own line of wine. Afterwards, we enjoyed Salsa lessons outside on the patio. More to come!

This past week found Tom in Chicago. The kids stayed busy with jobs. Allison got herself a babysitting job on top of the Rollerblade position. Friends of our neighbors needed a replacement for their nanny who did not work out. It is a young couple who recently moved to Baltimore with their mother. They all speak Romanian, French and Spanish. They have a 3 yr old boy and a 3 month old infant. Grandma primarily takes care of the baby and Allison has the young boy to watch. It is quite challenging for Allison to communicate, but they seem to be getting along well. Except the boy is quite jealous of the baby. And no tv or cable as a distractor. They want Allison to return though after our vacation-they really like her. She has been acclamating them to life in Maryland. She also finished her assigned reading and an online drug and alcohol webinar for college. She finally heard from her new roommate who plans on studying Marketing. Scott also had a job this week house sitting and cat sitting. We borrowed the neighbor's swimming pool last weekend while they were out of town since it was so very hot.  Scott and I also spent all day Friday doing yardwork. Scott cut the grass and I hacked down overgrown bushes and edged the curb around the house.

Today was packing and shopping day. Allison and I went out and picked up a rug for her dorm room. She and her roommate decided to rent a small fridge and microwave from the school. We also reserved our hotel room when we drop her off at the end of August and paid for her 1st semester of school. Boy how time flies!

Speaking of time flying, we want to wish Nicholas Bozyk a big Happy 18th Birthday!

So we are heading out to Michigan tomorrow and we'll talk to all of you when we get back! First stop is CAstaway Bay and Cedar Point. We are taking the Girl SCout troop as a last fling. I also thought it would be nice to visit the Charlevoix house as Mom and Dad Bozyk will be putting it up for sale soon. We will be visiting Mackinac island while we are there, and try to get in a sailing trip as well. Talk to you soon!
Kathleen

So we boarded our night train for Florence, Italy from Paris. Our tour guide apologized in advance. He said the trains are run by the Italians who don't really worry about how well their system runs or how clean it is or if anything is broken, etc. We sure found out that they don't worry too much about the bathrooms since only one worked and there was no toilet paper! BYOTP to Europe! Anyhow, 6 of us were assigned in each coach along with our luggage. We ate dinner on the train(pannini sandwhiches) that we bought at the station. The seats turned into sleeping cots-3 on each side with a ladder in the middle. We put the younger girls up top-I slept on the bottom. You never know who you might be sharing a coach with! It is a little like sleeping in the car or on the couch. Apparently we traveled through the Alps. Allison woke up at night and saw the mountains and a castle at the top when she peeked out the window. It was warm in the train, so we tried to keep our window open but it was loud and the windows slammed shut as you traveled through a tunnel. Needless to say, I don't think I will run out to get tickets on another overnight train like this. When we arrived in Florence we took our luggage and a bus to  a local restaurant for breakfast. We all felt like we had been on a boat for ages and had trouble getting our balance again. At least breakfast was good-especially the orange flavored breakfast rolls. Afterwards we headed into Florence. We spent the morning at a leather shop and then toured the outside of the Uffizi museum and the Duomo marble covered church. Tom's brother has been to Florence on several business trips and enjoyed climbing the 400+ steps to the top of the dome. We passed. It was very hot and we were still very tired from our long train ride. We toured several amazing statues in the Piazza Della Signoria including  Michelangelo's David, along with statues of GAlileo, Dante(of Dante's Inferno), Amerigo Vespucci, and all the original Ninja turtles! Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and Donatello. All the museums and churches charge admission. Half of our group headed out to Pisa for the afternoon near the ocean. Allison was not interested in the tipped over building, so we stayed back in Florence for free time. We had a great afternoon eating incredible pizza and Allison had her first taste of wine(drinking age is 18 in Europe) along with some incredible Gelato. Nutella flavored gelato seems to be the favorite.  It was very hot though so we decided to tour the Santa Croce church to visit the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo. We also sat under the portico of the piazza while a thunderstorm passed. It was fun watching everyone run for cover. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing a little shopping. We had to buy shawls to cover our arms in order to visit the church. Allison had to wrap one around her legs since she was wearing shorts. We also window shopped along the Ponte Vecchio  Bridge at all the gold and silver jewelry shops that have been there since the year 1354.

In the evening, our group returned and we had dinner and headed to our hotel. The Italians stay up late and everyone was out shopping, walking their dogs or pushing baby carriages on our street so we decided to join them. Of course we had to sample the gelato store, the bakery and a clothing store. The next day we were on the road to Assisi, home of St Francis. First we stopped at a ceramic factory to see how they make and paint the traditional Italian ceramics, as well as getting a taste of local chocolates, salami and cheese, flavored olive oils, wine and lemoncello(lemon flavored alcohol) . I would have loved a tour of the local wineries in Chianti, but I guess that is for another trip. Florence is in the Tuscany region with lots of olive and lemon tree groves. The countryside is beautiful, lots of hills and the freeways were great. We drove up to the hills of the Basilica of St Francis. It actually was built after his death and consists of two chapels-one on top of the other. St Francis is buried under the altar in the lower chapel. We had a great tour from one of the monks who spoke broken english. It was a nice tour except no photos. We learned that most basilica's painted a blue sky on the ceiling with stars. They also usually place their large stain glass windows facing East towards the rising sun to capture the Light of God, but this basilica was built facing the West and the sunset to represent a  New Life in the After World. And Basilica's all have 3 Main doors to represent the Holy Trinity. After lunch and souvenir shopping we were headed to Rome!

We had a very busy schedule in Rome. Our first stop was the Vatican. Thank goodness for tour groups and pre purchased tickets! The line for the Vatican usually starts around 4am to enter around 10am. We were able to walk right in. The VAtican is built on a hill surrounded by a large brick wall. It is it's own city within a city with a subway and post office, banks, shops, etc. We entered through the visitors center and started through the VAtican museum(I did not know there was a museum). There are several different rooms, The Hall of Animals, The Hall of Statues, The Hall of Tapestries and The Map Room, The Papal Palaces, all leading to the Sistine Chapel(no photos and no talking). The ceiling Michaelangelo painted was amazing including the famous painting of God giving life to Man. On the back wall behind the altar is the Last Judgement of Man covering the entire wall and also by Michelangelo. Next you walk into St Peter's Basilica and the Courtyard. We stopped and visited Michelangelo's Pieta(now behind glass for protection). The church and all the statues and lettering inside is huge, but you really don't know it. The canopy over the altar is 7 stories high and made of bronze. They even have a mummified pope! Outside we spotted the smokestack over the Sistine chapel where they announce the decision for a new pope and spotted the pope's office and apartment, along with the balcony he usually stands on to wave to the crowds. But no pope. There is an egyptian obolisk over 2000 yrs old in the center of the square marked with a christian cross and a statue of St Peter. The place is overwhelming. After our tour we had time for lunch and souvenir shopping. It was a nice connection visiting Assisi and then the Vatican as Pope Francis is a Franciscan monk. His cross looks like the letter T. The souvenirs we bought were actually blessed at the VAtican before they returned them to us.

Next it was off to the collosseum. What an amazing place! Allison said she did not feel very impressed at first because it felt just like being in the Orioles stadium, or any other sports arena. I told her that was the point. This was the first stadium! And what an amazing piece of architecture, with bricks, marble and the Romans even invented concrete. The crowds used to come see the gladiators fight. The floor was made of wood and covered with sand(arena is latin for sand) to soak up all the blood and guts. Down below they kept all the props and exotic animals to set the stage for different fights. They said the people were usually more amazed at all the elaborate stage sets than the actual fighting. Events were free and all were welcome from the very rich to very poor(of course we all know where the poor people's seats were!). And they sold souvenirs for your favorite gladiators like cups, and even had food vendors. Sounds familiar?

Next door is the Roman Forum-the main hub of Rome 2000 yrs ago. It was full of temples and markets, open courtyards for gathering places and Halls for the Roman Senate to meet. The history lesson was overwhelming. Most of the buildings are just piles of stone with a few intact columns and a couple of intact temples. It was the site of the cremation of Julius Caesar. And the roads they used are still intact and very hard to walk on. We know why the Italians are so skinny even though they eat all that pasta, bread and pizza and drink all that wine. It is the walking and the killer stair steps! Our tour guide in the Collosseum said she never has to attend a Zumba class-she just climbs the steps to the second level of the stadium each day! Even the Roman road was difficult to walk on! We spent the rest of the day walking through Rome. We picked up a few small watercolor paintings from the street vendors. Most importantly we stopped at the famous Trevi Fountain and threw in our coins! (See the old Movie: 3 Coins in a Fountain)1 coin to return to Italy, 2 for love and 3 for Romance! We also toured the Pantheon. The dome is the same as the Washington Capitol, although the one in DC is fully enclosed. The Romans did not know how to close up their dome, or it would collapse, so instead it is open to the sky. And it lets in all the rain, so the marble floor beneath is angled so the water can run off. And it is the only light source in the building. It now holds tombs of famous people.

At night we took a bus ride of Rome After Dark. Unfortunately, it was a bit too dark and hard to see the Roman baths or the place where the chariot races took place. We also had dinner back at our hotel. The Italian's serve their pasta as an appetizer(and really big servings) before the main course which was pork. And the hotel bottles their own wine. After dinner we joined in on a Salsa Dancing lesson outside in the courtyard. Our hotel was up in the hills overlooking Rome near a volcanic lake. Our hotel was near the same lake where Pope Benedict resides(the pope's summer house).

Sadly our trip came to an end and it was time to fly home. We flew from the Rome airport to Brussels Belgium near France. A great place to pick up chocolates! I would have brought Tom back some beer, but the bottles were too big and heavy! Instead he was treated to sausage made from wild boar which I bought in Assisi. Tasted just like dry pepperoni. Plus I had to carry back all my Starbucks mugs-1 from France and 4 from Belgium!(Even though I did not visit the Belgium cities, now I have an excuse to go back!). No Starbucks in Italy. The Italians do not allow it! We had a very long flight home from Belgium to DC and then a long drive home. I found out the next morning that I had driven home on a flat tire! My brand new tires that Tom had just gotten the week before! I had a huge chunk of metal stuck in the back tire. Fortunately, Costco replaced it at no charge! And I did not crash trying to drive home!

This past week was SCott's turn to stay home after returning from Boy SCout camp. I kept him busy working on a few more scout merit badges as well as is summer reading assignment. He also had a Patrol Leader meeting and a regular Boy Scout meeting in which he received his 5 merit badges he earned at summer camp. And he had a scoutmaster review for his rank advancement. Allison was busy teaching archery at the girl scout summer day camp. She had a great time even though it rained all week. They could not teach one class on Friday since it rained steady all day. But she did advance to Adult status and they had a small ceremony on Friday.

Saturday was Allison's official 18th Birthday! Unfortunately, Tom and I weren't around to celebrate the day with her. We were invited up to the Shenendoah Mountains in Virginia with several of our neighbors. We did not leave until Saturday morning though since Tom was in LA all last week. At least he had the chance to visit with my brother Mike this time. So we celebrated Allison's birthday last weekend with dinner and a movie(Monsters University). We all liked the movie and dinner and Allison got free dessert. She also got some important school items as gifts including a new printer to go along with her new computer, and a GPS as well as some video games. So on her birthday, she very nicely volunteered to take SCott to the Boy Scout fishing derby for me on Saturday morning even! Turns out Scott and 1 other boy in his troop took 1st place for most fish caught! Even Allison had fun catching a few fish, until she realized she locked the keys in the car and had to get a ride home for the spare key! Afterwards she took Scott to see Despicable Me and bought herself a lottery ticket(and won $9 bucks!). Meanwhile, Tom and I were touring the backroads of Virginia with our neighbors and stopped into a Whiskey Brewing facility and a winery. We spent the evening cooking dinner together and then I entertained the troops with a Vacation Video of Europe that Allison and I put together(complete with music and subtitles)! It was rather rainy that weekend, and very humid, so we did not get much done outside. But on Sunday we headed home so Tom could help Allison attach her bird models on the nature trail for her Girl SCout Gold Award project. Yeah! Finally! While he was doing that, I was busy with yard work. Now Allison just has to teach a class and she will practically be done.

I forgot how many photos we took! I will have to send more photos later. This is a collection of shots from Florence, Italy. Did you realize Pinocchio was Italian? Who knew. Also shots of our favorite tasty treats including gelato, pizza and Allison trying some wine.
The Piazza Della Signoria with the statue of Michelangelo's David(David and Goliath). This is a copy because someone threw a table out the window behind him and smashed off his arm. So the original  has been repaired and is in a museum. Outside the Uffizi museum with many statues of famous Italians including those of Galileo and Amerigo Vespucci. The famous Duomo(church) covered in marble. Tom's brother Mark climbed the dome during a business trip(see the people on the top!). Next time you will have to take on  the bell tower Mark! Santo Croce church and inside the church with tombs in the floor. Also the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Leonardo Da Vinci. A restored painting in the church. The cemetery(all tombs in the floor and along the wall-no cemetery outside). Ponte Vecchio-the bridge over the Tiber river with all the jewelry stores. From the balcony of our hotel in Florence and the street below. Tour of the ceramic factory. Ciao, Bella!