Craig's blog

Everyone is getting tired so a bunch of the adults decided to go into town a little later.  Patty went in with the bus at 9:00, but Kelli, Katie and I took the hotel shuttle to the Metro station and then the Metro to Piazza de Popolo (where Patty and some others had been bussed).  The three of us checked out the beautiful Piazza and then walked to the Spanish steps (maybe ¾ of a mile).  There we caught up with Patty who had been window shopping slowly with others.

After viewing the Spanish steps (which aren’t too amazing, and the fountain at the base of them is being refurbished), we walked to Trevi fountain, which also is being refurbished.  It is clearly just an amazing sight when it is operating.  We saw pictures of it and were very sorry it was dry and being worked on.

Next we wondered our way toward St. Peter’s with the intent of meeting our good friends Diane and Jim Coward for lunch somewhere on the way – they were coming from the Vatican, and we will spending the rest of the trip (after the Cantabile part ends) with them.

We wondered slowly and got hungry and cranky, but eventually found a spot near the river where we met them and had lunch.  We were much better after eating.  It even rained for about 4 minutes while we were sitting outside.

Next we left Diane & Jim and walked to St. Peter’s where we met the Cantabile group again.  I changed into long pants in the middle of the gigantic square, much to the horror of my daughters, although I think they are the only ones who noticed.

We stood in the security line in the hot sun and baked, but eventually got in.  We met the choir inside the security check point and then we all went in to the amazing basilica.  The place is absolutely incredible – unimaginably huge and ornate.  We walked around for about 45 minutes with Katie as tour guide and then went to the front to be let in for the mass.  The mass was held at the main alter at the front of the basilica.  It was the real deal and Cantabile did the singing.  While the mass was impossible to understand, and the rituals are largely unknown to me, and the choir was hard to hear because they faced forward in massive building, it was still an extraordinary experience.  Diane & Jim managed to find a way to get past the guards to come up and be part of it to.

Next we took the bus to a big restaurant that we were told was going to be fancy so we had to wear our best clothes.  It didn’t seem to be very fancy to me, although it was a marathon dinner.  There was tons of food, lots of courses and lots of time between courses.  It was also very hot.  Although we left the basilica around 6:30, we didn’t get back to the hotel until 11:00.  We had planned to go to our strip mall gelato place, but we were too tired and went to bed instead.

This morning we got up early as usual, ate breakfast and then boarded the bus to drop the choir at a university where they are rehearsing with a couple of other choirs in preparation for the mass and gala.

Then the “adults” were bussed to Castle St. Angelo which was quite interesting.  We toured there and climbed to the top where you get a great view of the vast expanse of Rome and have a straight on view of the Vatican and St. Peter’s.  In fact, there is a raised walkway (ancient Roman aqueduct) that was used so the pope could get from the Vatican to the castle when under attack.

We then set out on foot following our guide, Francesca.  We weren’t sure where we were walking and eventually we all got tired and hungry.  We eventually went to a restaurant that Francesca had called and sat down.  It turned into quite the lunch, taking 2 hours and costing a lot because the other end of our table ordered lots of bottles of wine.  The food was good – salads and pasta.  I had eggplant parmesan.

We then walked to the Pantheon, where we met the choir.  The Pantheon was amazing, particularly the huge domed ceiling that is original from the second century and is one gigantic piece of concrete.  It looks perfect – like it was poured yesterday.  Amazing.

We walked some more, then were bussed to Castle Gandolfo which is the pope’s summer retreat.  It sits right above a pretty lake.  We walked to a dinner place where Elena insisted that the choir be very quiet to save their voices.  Quickly it was decided that they were to be completely silent, which they were.  Only the adults were talking – which I thought wasn’t quite fair, but at any rate, it was impressive and soothing to not have the roar of 75 people talking in a small, concrete room.

Finally, we walked out to the top of the hill where the outside concert was to take place at 9:15.  It was setup around the steps to a church.  However, there was a strong wind coming up the street which made it so that it would be very difficult to hear (and somewhat cold).  A few of us worked on moving to a slightly different location where the wind would be a little more blocked. The concert got started around 9:25.  The kids did well, under poor conditions (as did Cassie playing the electric piano with her husband holding the music).

We got back to the hotel at 11:30.  Another long day.

This morning we departed Montecatini and drove to Rome.  We stopped for lunch at a truck stop, which is unlike any truck stop I’ve been to in the US.  It had salads, a salad bar, pasta cooked to order, a person making custom paninis, a person making cappuccinos, etc.

We got to Rome and toured the ancient part, specifically the forum and the coliseum.  It was pretty hot (about 85) and sunny, but we did fine.  It was fun for the girls to see the coliseum after the stories they’ve heard of how Grandma and Grandpa went there on their first date.

After the tour we had dinner at a cute restaurant nearby.  These meals are clearly pre-planned as no restaurant can take 75 people just showing up.  This one sang Italian opera to us on occasion, so of course Cantabile had to sing for them.  Let’s just say it was much more pleasant listening to Cantabile. 

Tonight we’ve moved into our hotel for the next 3 nights in Rome.  Our family (minus Jessie) walked to a neighborhood Gelateria in a tiny strip mall nearby.  It was excellent (although it took us awhile to find it). The wifi connects, but still doesn’t seem fast enough (at least at 11:00 at night) to upload even one picture.  Sigh.  I’ll keep trying.

Today we went to Florence. It was a long day – 9 ½ miles of walking, but it was a good day.  When we got to Florence we took a guided tour of the Duomo cathedral and walked down to the river, over the famous Ponte Vecchio (bridge) and then eventually back to the Accademia to see the statue of David.  By the time we were done with all that, it was 1:00 and we were hungry.

We stopped at a restaurant and had our standard fair of salad and sandwiches.  Then we walked to the Uffizi gallery, which is huge, and moved through it very quickly.  Then we headed back up to the Duomo so we could climb the 463 steps to the top.  We waited in line for more than an hour and a half.  Eventually Patty gave up and went to the Cantabile concert while Kelli, Katie and I continued to wait. The climb and the view from the top were both excellent and we were very glad we did it - I think it will be a highlight for the girls – but we were sorry to miss the concert.  It was in a beautiful, outdoor venue and we arrived just as it ended.

After the concert, one of the priests asked the choir to sing Amazing Grace for a family that was grieving for their mother that had just died.  It was a very poignant moment that touched everyone.

After the concert, we walked about a mile and a half to our dinner spot, which was excellent. Kelli, Katie and I sat with Elena and got to hear about growing up in Russia, which was interesting.  After dinner, we stepped outside and the kids did an impromptu concert on the steps of the church that was outside the restaurant.  Then they were asked to sing happy birthday to a passerby, which was probably the best version of that song that I’ve heard. 

Finally we walked along the river to our bus before the drive home.

I’ve failed to mention that our hotel in Montecatini has been pretty unimpressive.  Besides wifi that doesn’t move any data, the hotel lost power (and water with that) for one day (which may not have been their fault), served crummy food, didn’t have enough rooms for all of our group, had some rooms that were just about unacceptable for various reasons, etc.  On the plus side, one of their employees went to the store on his way to work one day to buy me a roll of duct tape to fix my torn suitcase.  We tried to explain what kind of tape we wanted (I assumed they would call it duct tape too), but when it arrived (it was what we wanted) we found it is called “American tape” in Italy.  I found that pretty amusing.

This morning after breakfast we boarded our bus and headed to Pisa.  We were excited to see the leaning tower – I’ve never seen it.  Our bus pulled in to a large parking lot for buses where we loaded a shuttle that takes you to the historic part of town (well, about ½ a mile from the historic part of town).  Then you walk along a street that is covered in vendors sending all sorts of junk – sunglasses, umbrellas, Gucci bags, Rolex watches, etc.  I’ve never seen so many vendors preying on tourists. 

When you finally get to the area where the tower is (it’s called the Field of Miracles) it is incredibly striking.  The leaning tower is really amazing – both beautiful and incredibly odd.  But I was also really amazed by the Cathedral next to it.  It’s huge and it’s hard to imagine how they built these sorts of things in the 11^th century.

We also walked through the historic town and got rained on pretty good during our return walk.  Katie and I got particularly wet since we didn’t have umbrellas. 

We ate at a little sandwich shop where you could order whatever you wanted on focaccia bread (or other breads). 

It was good to see Pisa, but we all agreed that once we’d seen it, we wouldn’t go back as the intense touristy feeling and tons of people make it not much fun.

When we got back the choir rehearsed at the community performing venue where they were going to sing at 6:00.  We relaxed a little then walked over there to watch the concert.  They were excellent again although the audience was less in to it then the other night.  Still it was excellent.  We walked about 100 yards to our restaurant which was much better than the food at the hotel the night before.

I still haven’t found decent wifi so I can’t post pictures.  Hopefully I will soon.

Tomorrow we visit Florence.