April 1st

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April 1/09
We explored the Papal Palace that was home to 9 Popes when Rome was not safe for them for a period of about 150 years in the 15th and 16th century. I haven’t seen anything quite so grand in my life (haven’t been to Paris yet - Notre Dame and the Louvre still to come). Very spectacular! We had the afternoon to shop (and find an Internet Café). Unfortunately I didn’t buy the beautiful glass blown wine stoppers in the gift shop at the Palace. I figured I’d see them someplace else on my travels. I didn’t.

There was a bridge tour after the Palace. The bridge was only partial and was originally built in the 15th century by a guy that said “God told me to build it.” How many times have we heard that! I guess the people thought he was crazy but they built it anyway and was a good thing for a time, but it got wrecked by some thugs then it was re-built but the water was fierce and kept on steeling the piles and eroding it away.

For those of you hoping for a historically accurate depiction of the sights and relics it isn’t going to happen in my blog. I do apologize for this, but I think it would be boring if I told you all the stuff you can find out through more accurate and reliable sources.

Later, we found a café that had 3 laptops - free internet access - if you buy a drink. It could have been just a coffee too but we had beer. The keyboard was all screwy - “A” where the “Q” is supposed to be, “M” where the “’” is and “Z” where the “W” is supposed to be - or where our Canadian keyboards have them. To figure out how to get the “@” symbol we enlisted the help of some cute young Italian guys. Funny thing was though, they were lost for a moment too because the French keyboard was different than their’s, but in a flash, they figured it out. It was taking me too long to type my day 1 and day 2 so I posted the quickie that was posted previously.

After a couple of Heinie’s, the three of us doing what we needed to do (or could do) with our email’s, we rushed off to return to our hotel in time for the 6:30 role call. Thinking it was straight, then left, then down the street (the strip), we found ourselves conveniently lost! It was overcast and began to drizzle. Thankfully, we had time to be lost, so enjoyed the adventure more than worried about where we were. Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long as the beers were working through our system and we realized we were getting very close to head count time. If we weren’t there on time, surely there would be hell to pay! Usually I had very good navigational skills but they failed me on this day. We finally found an intersection where we could identify the street names and with the help of a gracious French passerby, we - or should I say, the two lovely ladies I was with, found our way back to the hotel with enough time for a pee and a breather before our group head count. I certainly had NO HAND in getting us “unlost”!

Our meal on this night was more dismal than the night before, but I didn’t mind it at all. I was just thankful I didn’t have to cook or clean up. It was a nice break. It was a better meal for Braydon too - only needing to avoid the ham with Dijon sauce. The salad was simple, fresh and tasty. Green beans and medallion fries with ymmy chocolate cake rounded out that meal. The wine was great! I don’t recall what it was, but I know it was only about 11 Euros which was very reasonable.

With an early night, we retired anticipating an early wake up to board the train back to Paris for the most anticipated part of our journey. I again relied on ½ of my little blue pill to help me sleep and a good thing too because everyone I talked to really struggled sleeping that night.

By the way, they do have fun on April 1st by sticking a paper fish to people’s backs as a trick. I even found chocolate fish to commemorate the tradition.

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