Advertisement
Published: April 30th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Montecassion Abbey
From the train station Okay this day was eventful....we set the alarm for 6am (12am our time) so that we could get to the train station for a 7:54 train to Cassino...I thought the train was 6:54 and we were going to be late so we ran to the subway off the subway to the train station and tried to figure out how to buy a ticket....Of all the people in Rome (2 mil) who does Larry see in the crowd...Till (short for something) the manager of our bed & breakfast...he helped us buy our tickets and off we went to wait 45 minutes for the train. Larry and I found our first McDonalds..he had cheese toast and mom & I had coffee.
We had an interesting train ride through the countryside south of Rome. There was lots of land but little farming...we saw a few horses and a few milk cows. There was one small herd of sheep, a field or two of wheat and alfafa but no big time farms. There were vineyards and olive trees...lots of them.
We met with our tour guide, Danila, and her driver. They took us to Montecassino Abbey first. It was destroyed during WWII and
Montecassino 2
The crypt the survived. The celing fell and was restored along with the rest of the Abbey Uncle Jim talked about it alot. When you see the mountains there all around you know why so many lives were lost on this one campaign. We tried to imagine what is was like to try to take over a mountain with guns and bombs all around you because they have the vantage point - the top of the mountain. Eventually the Americans and the Italians broke through and captured the mountains. The Germans did save all the artifacts in the Abbey and everything was returned and reuilt. The only thing that was saved was the crypt (except for the celing). That Abbey was originally built by St.Benedict in 530AD. You can't imagine the beautiful carvings, inlaid stones, mosiacs, etc....unbelievable. Of course I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the organ and pipes. Check out our pics.
We had lunch in Cassino at a bakery and deli. It was wonderful. Our favorite food was a potato cake made from mashed potatoes & cheese rolled in flour & meal then deep fried....Ibought a loaf of wonderful bread which we ate for dinner in our hotel room with meat and cheese.
We visited a museum near Mt. Lungo. Once they
talked to mom (through Danila) they asked for a copy of one of Uncle Jim's letters to display in their museum. They were quite interested in what were had to say about Uncle Jim's adventures in Italy.
I think Mom's favorite thing was to visit the Rapido River where Uncle Jim crossed and so many lives were lost. There is a memorial to the 36th Infantry (Uncle Jim's unit). It was very touching. By that time we were worn out and returned to the train station for our ride home. We spent the evening in our room trying to watch tv, Larry's Ipod, and transfering pics....Tomorrow is a more relaxed day which is also a National Holiday in Rome....should be interesting. We are going to try to go to Mussolinni's castle for which Uncle Jim has a key. Hopefully everything won't be closed because of the holiday.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0282s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Linda Hoover
non-member comment
WOW!
Your pics are beautiful and I really enjoyed reading about your day. I bet your mom is having the time of her life...so glad you're getting to do this with her. I'll be out of town until Sunday...catch up with things then. Love you