Good-bye Israel, Hello ROME! (Day 7, Sunday, October 27, 2013

Groan, we get up at 3 a.m., are all on the bus at 4 a.m., for a 3-hour trip to the airport at Tel Aviv. (Please note: we always took breaks on these long trips!) The whole group of us are sad to say 'good-bye' to our most wonderful guide and new friend, Rami.  We check in and go through customs and are on our way in the air.  The only delay was waiting one hour to make sure it was clear to fly over Syria.

Rami and Theresa say 'farewell' at the Tel Aviv airport.

We are flying Alitalia air line today, an uneventful flight of 3 hours, 50 minutes duration, 1,404 miles.  Getting through the Rome airport, however, was a drudge as many of the workers were on strike.  With only one or two Customs agents for several planeloads, the line challenged all our collective patience.  We met our new tour guide and reached our new hotel, Hotel dei Consoli Vaticano.  Ready to eat dinner and rest, we found we had a new option: go see the Church of Mary Major.  I went, happily.

Ten years ago, I had the wonderful experience of touring Rome, Florence, and Venice, with daughter #3, Cathy.  I was semi-worried I'd see all the same things but terribly wanted to go to Israel and came to Rome again.  With 400 Catholic churches in Rome, I should not have been concerned!  As it turned out, the only sites I visited for the second time in Rome were St. Peter's church and square, the Vatican Museum, the Coleseum, and the Trevi Fountain.

Mary Major Basilica Church was new to me.  And it was well worth the effort!  The church is huge, magnificent, rich in history, almost glowing in the evening light.

St. Mary Major Church, Rome, Italy.

The main altar at St. Mary Major.  Imagine churches in which every surface, floor to ceiling and walls, is decorated richly.  Every church we visited in Rome looked like that!  The whole of the Old City is a museum of antiquity, well-loved and well-maintained by the Romans.  You cannot imagine the many different colors of marble until you've been in the Roman churches.

Unsurpassed beauty!

It was good to leisurely travel through the city on the big tour bus.  Previously, Cathy and I walked or took city buses everywhere.  This was much safer!  I think many folks would agree that the traffic in Rome is among the worst in the world!  It is somewhat better than ten years ago when there were seemingly millions of mopeds insanely going where they pleased (even on the sidewalks, at times), and when they pleased.  Now there is a majority of 'smart' cars, cars so small they can park 'sideways' in the parking places.  Finally, we reached our hotel, small but quite elegant.  We particularly enjoyed the rooftop garden bar/dining room.  From there we had a good view of the city and could see the dome of St. Peter's.

 

 Rooftop garden dining room at Hotel dei Consoli Vaticano

 Special friends from Lexington, Margaret with brother, Archie.  This is at an Italian restaurant across the street from the hotel.  The food and wine was so wonderful we were all quite stuffed!

It would be impossible to determine who fell asleep first, Theresa or me.  We were tired, thrilled to be in Rome, and pleased with our new room, our new friends, and Life!