Sunday June 22
Sunday was a free day for most people, but there were four us us that decided to take a drive down to Anzio along the coast. Anzio was important to us (us being dad, Charles, Mac and I) for three reasons. First, it was the site of a major amphibious landing during the liberation of Italy during World War II. Secondly, dad and Charles are ex-military and I'm a military buff. Third, and most importantly, Mac's dad was in the Army division that landed at Anzio, and he fought in Italy during the war. So visiting Anzio had special meaning for all of us. Again, poor research on everyone's part left us kind of wandering around wondering where to go down there, but we had a nice lunch and got a nice view of the wharf there and of the Tyrrhenian Sea (aka the Mediterranean). Because of the difficulty of driving around there (in Italy in general and Anzio in particular), we weren't able to find any of the WWII stuff right around the beach or any of the Roman ruins that are in the area (Anzio was a favorite vacation spot of the Romans, and many of the well-to-do had villas there back in the day). Luckily, I had remembered seeing the big cemetary on Google Earth and knew that it was very near Nettuno, another town about 3km from Anzio - virtually adjacent. Another stroke of luck had our waiter at the restaurant speaking a little English, so we were able to determine where the cemetary was. The bad part was that the points of interest in TomTom's database didn't show it, so we kind of guessed after the waiter told us the cemetary was near the Nettuno train station. Once we got over there, after taking a wrong turn that led us to a dead end (and very crowded) parking lot for the beach, we started seeing signs for the cemetary, and finally found it.
The cemetary is officially known as the Sicily-Rome American Cemetary and Memorial, and 7,861 American war dead are buried there on the 77 acres of the cemetary compound. I knew it would be a moving experience, but I didn't know how moving. As soon as I walked through the main gates and saw the cross and Star of David headstones, I felt a lump in my throat and felt my eyes welling up. I couldn't talk for a few minutes after entering the facility. None of us knew or were related to anyone buried there, but having not ever seen a facility like that (I've never been to Washington, D.C. or seen Arlington National Cemetary) was moving, and awe and reverence inspiring. The rows of crosses and Stars of David laid out in perfect symmetry in gently curving semicircles was beautiful - definitely a fitting monument and resting place for those Americans killed there and in the area. The monument building was amazing as well. In the middle is a bronze statue of Brothers in Arms - a soldier and a sailor grasping each other at the shoulders. To the left of the bronze is the chapel room that contains, enscribed on the walls, the names of 3,095 Americans whose remains were either never recoverd or not identified during the campaigns in the area. To the right of the bronze is a room that contains maps and explanations of the Allied combat operations and military advances in the region and throughout Italy.
As mentioned, Mac's father Herbert actually participated in the landings and fighting in Italy. An interesting comment he made: "Dad said that he (and others in his unit) believed that we didn't really beat the Germans in Italy or take a single inch of ground from them. He said many thought that the territory was given to the Allies, not taken from the Germans, in such a fashion as to maximize Allied casualties." Some further research shows this to be probable, as Field Marshall Kesselring appeared to be engaged in delaying actions meant to simply slow the Allied advance through Italy. In doing so, a lot of Allied soldiers were killed during the advance through and liberation of Italy, and many of the Americans involved in that campaign are buried at this cemetary and memorial complex.
In short, if you're in the area, you should visit this facility. There is an American (and English-speaking) custodian available every day of the year except Christmas and New Year's Day. Also, there is another cemetary facility between Tavarnelle and Florence - we saw it as we were driving by on the bus going to Florence one day. From what little we could see of the facility, it looked to be as beautiful as this one in Nettuno. It would be worth a visit as well.
One final note on the cemetary visit. Back in January 2003, Colin Powell, then Secretary of State and speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, said, "We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years...and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in..." The generous Italians have been gracious enough to grant the use of that land in perpetuity (along with land at other facilities around the country, both American and mixed Allied cemeteries). It was good to see Old Glory flying high and proud in a foreign land standing guard over the complex, so thank you Italy for allowing us to honor our fallen.
Monday June 23
Monday was Pompeii day for several of the group (dad, Mac, Charles, Karl and Kathy). I was supposed to be part of that group as well. However, due to sleeping difficulties the previous night (heat with no fans to move the air, bugs, and the two lumber mills running full bore in mom and dad's room), I had not been asleep at all - just barely napping for about an hour and a half - when the 7:00 am wakeup call came. Needless to say I wasn't able to drag my butt out of bed to make the departure. I was extremely disappointed in not being able to go to Pompeii, as it was one of the major attractions I wanted to visit while in Italy. But c'est la vie...as if I needed one, it is a good excuse to visit Italy again (and there will be a next time, but not until the dollar is stronger against the Euro). So rather than traveling around with that group, I slept in a little bit and then hung around the villa and read all day. Unfortunately, nothing exciting to report about this day other than the W.E.B Griffin book I was reading (The Hostage, the second in the his Presidential Agent series of books) was very good!
Tuesday June 24
Tuesday was back into Rome day, and the day on which our Vatican tour was scheduled. At kind of last minute the evening before, it was decided that if we got into Rome early enough, there would be plenty of time to see the Colosseum and Palatine Hill - they were right next to each other right in front of a station off the Metro B line. So we left Rocca a little earlier and then hopped onto the B metro subway line and headed to the Colosseum. You can't go to Rome and not see the Colosseum. Even though earthquakes and building materials pillaging through the centuries has left the structure less than complete, it is still a magnificent feat of architecture, engineering and construction. And it is HUGE - the largest amphitheater built in the Roman Empire. And what history happened there! The complex could seat around 50,000 spectators to watch gladiators battle animals in mock hunts and (obviously) each other, naval and land battle reenactments, mythological dramas, and executions. Many Christians were martyered there over the years as well. Well, seeing the Collosseum was great, but the tour guide we had liked the sound of his voice, and he repeatedly used long strings of adjectives to over and over describe the spectacles held within the complex. Pretty soon I tuned him out (I'd already heard the story he was telling because he'd told it three times before) and went looking for some good Tigger shots (and got a few). Finally that tour was over, but I hadn't had breakfast that morning, and I was Starvin' Marvin. Several others in the group were getting hungry for lunch as well (and worried about finding where we needed to be for the Vatican tour), so most of us headed that direction. Charles, Karl, Jack and Linda decided to continue the tour over to Palatine Hill. I know, I know - I should have gone, but I was a little worried about finding where we needed to be for the Vatican tour, too - especially considering our navigation luck in recent days. But just think - I have another good excuse to go back to Rome and Italy - I still have a bunch of things to see there!
We found our group's meeting point and met our guide, and off we went into the Vatican. And...it...was...another...art...museum... Some priceless and beautiful things in there, no doubt, but it was more art nonetheless. Our guide for this tour wasn't nearly as good as Freya had been in Florence. She went to school at Baylor, so that probably had something to do with it. Sorry Baylor people - this Red Raider couldn't resist the dig. :-) Anyway, she knew her art, but didn't know much of the history about the Vatican and the like, so eventually I stopped asking questions, because she didn't know the answer. The tour was long (and at some points boring) until we got to the meat of the tour: The Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Square and Basilica.
A funny side story here. When we entered the Vatican Museum, Sara (the guide) went and retrieved our admission tickets. When she came back, she handed us our tickets and said something to the effect that we now had a souvenier because it had a picture of Michelangelo's God Creates Adam. Here's a picture of it (borrowed from Wikipedia) so you can see what I'm referring to.
When I saw the picture on the ticket, without thinking, I said, "Oh cool! It's the Pull My Finger picture!" I said it a little louder than I had intended, but the comment got raving reviews and laughs. Even Sara had to stifle a laugh as she said, "I don't think I've ever heard it referred to as that before." The (quick) story behind that statement: back in junior high school, mom had bought me a t-shirt in South Padre Island, and it had this very picture on it. Above the picture was the caption, "And on the eighth day, God created the winds." Below the picture, it said, "Pull my finger." Believe it or not, I still have that t-shirt in the back of my closet somewhere. So when I saw the picture on the ticket, it just kind of came out... :-)
Anywho...after what seemed like hours and miles of walking through the Vatican museum, we finally made it into the Cappella Sistina. I had been bracing myself for the hordes of people that were bound to be in there, and I had all of my valuables (money, camera, phone) secured in zipper pockets in my shorts because pickpockets are notorious for plying their trade in the Sistine Chapel (sad, isn't it, that people will pick your pockets in such an amazing - and sacred - place; I mean, they pick the Pope in that chapel, for crying out loud!). Turns out we were extremely fortunate. There were people in there, but not the throngs of people that would have made it very difficult to move in there. We were even able to sit down on some benches lining the wall and sit and gaze at Michelangelo's masterpiece on the ceiling. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed in the chapel because the group that cleaned it back in the late 80s/early 90s own the photo rights to the artwork. Anyway, I was so relieved there weren't many people in there - I don't like having my personal space bubble violated by people I don't know, and I had had plenty of that on the subway!
After marveling at the wonderful frescos contained in the Cappella Sistina, it was out of the chapel and, after a few short corridors, out into Saint Peter's Square. Of course I'd seen pictures - both stills and video - of it, but those cannot prepare you for how absolutely HUGE the piazza is. It is big, grandiose, and awe inspiring - and you can pack a whole bunch of people in there! Luckily (again for me) the square was not crowded when we reached it, and it gave us some pretty good views.
Then it was into Saint Peter's Basilica. Again, I'd seen some pictures of it, but nothing can prepare you for the experience of stepping into it. Never in my life had I seen or experienced such grandeur, magnititude of scale, or reverence. And I'm not even Catholic! While God has many homes on this planet, if he were to have a permanent mailing address, Saint Peter's Basilica would be it! I was completely overwhelmed. I tried to walk around and take pictures, but I couldn't stop just walking around aimlessly looking around and looking up. I ended up with some pretty good photos, but not near enough to do the entire building justice. It was an amazing experience. And it was breathtaking to see in person Michelangelo's Pietà (The Pity). If you couldn't tell before, I'm not an art or sculpture afficionado, but I knew this was an important piece of sculpture. It's hard to believe that he completed that magnificent piece in 1499 when he was just 24 years old! It is also sad to learn why the sculpture is behind bulletproof acrylic glass: that idiot that rushed it with a hammer (and actually knocked some pieces off) back in 1972. The damage has since been repaired.
The Vatican tour took us into early evening, so when we were finished with that (and folks had bought the requisite souveniers or mailed the requisite postcard from the Vatican), it was back to the subway and busses back to Rocca.
Wednesday June 25
Wednesday was a rest and recover day, just hanging around the villa. It was also dad's 67th birthday, so we had multiple reasons to celebrate. I hung around the villa and read most of the day (I finished The Hostage and got started on The Hunters, book 3 of Griffin's Presidental Agent series). Dad and Mac took most of the ladies over to Albano for some shopping. We also decided that one final trip to the grocery store was in order. We needed a few supplies (including more wine and beer...imagine that!), including ketchup! I know, it sounds crazy to be needing ketchup in Italy, but we had some hamburger meat and a sack of potatoes that we needed to use, and by this time most everyone was in the mood for a more American-style meal. So we had hamburger patties and french fries for supper that night. Obviously, you can't have that stuff without ketchup! And we also found Birra Moretti on sale, so we bought a case of 15 66cl (centiliter; roughly 2/3 of a liter) bottles. I was disappointed to find out that it is now nothing more than a brand of Heineken, but I still love that beer! It is one of my Italian favorites.
Thursday June 26
Wednesday evening during dinner, the idea was raised that we were kind of wasting our (rather expensive) rail tickets. We had all purchased 4-day rail passes that were good for any train in Italy for a period of several months. We'd only used two days of them on our trip to and from Florence, so why not try to use another day of them? Most folks decided they didn't want to ride the train, and rather decided to go back into Rome and do a hop-on/hop-off bus tour around Rome to see more of the sights there. Four of us (dad, Jack, Linda and I), however, decided to go to Orvieto, about halfway between Rome and Florence. Our rail tickets would get us on the Rome-Florence inter-city train for no extra cost, so we decided to go. We caught the bus and the metro subway to Termini, then hopped on the train. Luckily, our car was air conditioned on the outbound leg. We weren't so lucky on the return trip, and by this time, summer had definitely arrived in Italy. It was HOT!!! But Orvieto was a fun experience. After arriving at the train station, we had to ride a funicular to the top of the butte , where the actual city is located. I'd never ridden on a funicular before, and it was pretty cool. Again because of train schedules, we weren't able to spend as much time there as we would have liked. There were some later trains available, but we had to run Barry to the airport that evening, as his flight left relatively early the next morning. But the time we spent there was quite enjoyable. We had a nice lunch upon our arrival, then we walked back into the town looking for the Duomo (cathedral). Construction of the Duomo began in 1290, which is young in comparison to some of the other building there. Because the entire town is elevated from the surrounding countryside, it is a great natural fortress, and there was a castle fortress there. But some of the buildings are absolutely ancient - people have lived there since pre-Roman times! It was very cool to see the old buildings and feel a sense of ancient history there amongst a modern town.
A quick tour of the Duomo and it was time to (quickly) hike back to the funicular station so we could catch our train back to Rome. We did have time to stop and take some pictures of the surrounding countryside, though, which was absolutely beautiful and quintessential Tuscan - very similar to Tavarnelle and its surrounding area. We could see some areas where they grow some of the grapes for Orvieto wine, which is a sweet white wine and usually available in the States. We found a bottle (several, actually) at Spec's (a Houston liquor/beer/wine store), and bought a bottle of it when we returned home, and it was pretty good.
When we returned to the villa, it was time to take the first of our group for his departure. Barry's flight left early the next morning, so he had gotten a room at the Holiday Inn near the airport. Rather than sending him on the train, dad and I took him there. It was a good scouting mission for us as well, as we had a room in the same hotel on Saturday night.
Friday June 27
Friday was most everyone's final full day in Italy - I say most, because mom, dad and I weren't leaving until Sunday. Some decided to hang around the villa and relax, but a big group decided that the shopping in Albano on Wednesday was so good they wanted to go back. There were also some that were interested in going to Castel Gandolfo, which is adjacent to Albano. So we all loaded up and went shopping. I bought the only souvenier for myself of the whole trip in Albano: a very nice stainless steel beer bottle opener. :-)
Albano is a neat town with some pretty good shopping, and prices seemed to be better than they were in Rome and elsewhere. After shopping, most of the group returned to the villa to relax and, unfortunately, start packing. Jack, Linda, mom, dad and I decided we wanted to go and see Castel Gandolfo. We had great views of it from the top floor and balcony of the villa, but we couldn't see the lake from the villa. So off to Castel Gandolfo we went. We knew it had been used as a papal summer residence in the past, but something I didn't know was that two popes of the 20th century actually died there (Pius XII in 1958 and Paul VI in 1978). I'm not sure if John Paul II ever used it, and I'm not sure if Benedict XVI has used it since he became Pope, but regardless, it is still a neat place to visit. It is also the home of the Vatican Observatory, and the telescope domes are visible from quite a distance.
The church there is also quite impressive. It isn't very large, but it is ornate, functional and very beautiful. The views of Lake Albano are absolutely gorgeous as well. Lake Albano is actually a crater lake in a volcano caldera, formed after a volcano blew its top many eons ago (exact point in time is unknown to me). Looking across the lake gave us a great view of Rocca di Papa as well, and it was interesting to see how much higher Rocca is from the surrounding towns and landscape.
We had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant there, and then walked around some more sightseeing and shopping. After that, it was back to the villa. Jack and Linda were catching a ride from dad to their hotel that evening, as they had a 6:45 am Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt the following morning. Dad ran them to their hotel while the rest of us sat around the villa, ate cheese and salami and drank wine (and beer). And that was our final night in the villa. The next morning, dad loaded the Herzogs and some overflow luggage from the other rental car and followed Mac and the rest of the clan to the airport. Mom and I slept in a little.
The return trip story will come in the next post.