Geo: 41.8966, 12.477The alarm went off at 6, got up and got ready to go! did a little cleaning, left quite a bit of food. Went upstairs and gave the keys to Jacobo's mother, Gisella, very nice lady!RomeCabs came 15 minutes early so we were able to leave a few minutes early which was good since we still had to check in. A 35 min drive with no traffic as it was Sunday morning. a lady was stationed at the kiosk in front of USAirways check in desks. We were checked in by 9, went through security fairly easily, went to the customs office and had mom and dad's paperwork stamped for the mailbox which is in the actual terminal. We hopped on the shuttle to Gate G and looked for the postal (RED) box and ... read more

Geo: 41.8966, 12.477Well, we've finished our last day here, will write all about it when I get home as it's now 12 midnight and we are leaving the apartment in 8 hours. A car will be picking us up at 8 in the morning, we, unfortunately, will have to check in at the airport as the USAirways website would NOT let me do so today even though I spent quite a bit of time trying to!!! very frustrating as it will be another line, hopefully, we can find a kiosk and check in there... anyway we had a great last day, slow start as yesterday was exhausting, a day trip to Florence really doesn't do the city any sort of justice. It is a beautiful city and we basically saw a couple of major sites and ... read more

Geo: 41.8966, 12.477Today we got up between 7-7:30 and then caught the #84 to via Nomentana and Villa Torlonia (Mussolini's home) there was only a small bit of information about B. Mussolini there as it was mostly a history of the house and the Torlonia family that owned it. the villa was beautiful but there were other buildings on the grounds that we weren't allowed into. One that we were allowed to tour was called "The Owl House" or Casa Civette, this reminded me of Dumas' Monte Cristo and Chateau d'If. Very fanciful, lots of stained glass, miniature turrets, and balconies, etc.. the grounds/park seem to be used by the public for jogging and walking, picnics and general enjoyment. I was hoping we could visit at least one of the bunkers B. Mussolini had built for ... read more

Geo: 41.8966, 12.477Hello, thanks for the replies everyone! I'll start with today, we slept in today and had a very slow start as we all were needing to catch up on some sleep. Got up at 8 but could have kept sleeping... we hopped on a bus and had a bit of a tour of Roma as it did eventually go where we were wanting it to, just in a round about way! this was our second journey this way but it was shorter this time ;-)Got off at Piazza Venezia and slowly made our way to the Mamertino- this is the prison where Paul and perhaps Peter were kept when imprisoned in Rome. The last time we were here it was a donation only situation and it was very simple, you got to go into ... read more

Geo: 46.3282, -119.3229:31 pm and we are all packed (I think so...) I will be getting up at 3 am (the boys at 3:30), driving to a friends house by 4:10, they are making us breakfast burritos to eat at 4:30 AM !!! that's friendship ;-) then we'll be off to the airport at 5 to meet up with my parents. We are then whisked off in the seat of luxury (courtesy of sardine class) to Denver, CO -> Charlotte, NC -> then Roma.So off to bed.... hopefully we'll talk in a couple of days!Wendy... read more