Pasta, Wine, Churches, and Ruins

We spent the last week vacationing in Rome.  We decided that instead of trying to visit lots of different towns that we would spend the entire week in Rome.  It was very interesting to see what had changed since we last visited over 20 years ago - back when Italy stilled used the lira - which included several new museums and a lot of restoration to various ruins around the city.  But, to summarize our trip for those that don't enjoy these long missives and don't want to spend four hours looking at hundreds of photos it was: ruin, ruin, ruin, church, pasta, wine, ruin, church, ruin, ruin, pasta, wine, ruin, ruin, ruin, church, church, ruin.

Now for those liking a bit more information - we tried hard to only go to sites we hadn't visited before.  Fortunately, with a city like Rome with all their different sites from antiquity along with various museums it wasn't very hard to fill our days.  We had also set up a few guided tours - to see some of the rooms at the Vatican that aren't on the usual tour, Tivoli gardens, and a few of the underground ruins beneath churches.  We had almost perfect weather for the entire week, with only one day threatening rain that never came. 

The highlight of the trip was probably attending a church service in the Pantheon where Jo got to do the responsorial reading - we were just sitting there waiting for the service to start and we were asked if we would be willing to do the reading (fortunately in English).  Since I didn't want to be personally responsible for lightening bolts striking the Pantheon, Jo volunteered to do it.  The other cool thing was that they exit all the tourists from the Pantheon for the service so that after it was finished we had the Pantheon to ourselves for about ten minutes before the crowds all came rushing back in.  We also tried to go into every church we passed which in Rome is a really nutty goal since there seems to be two or three on every block.  Either way, there are an amazing number of absolutely spectacular churches in Rome and we did manage to hit the big four so Jo should have piled up a few indulgences (although I'm not sure if you talk about them you don't get them - like birthday wishes - we Lutherans don't get schooled in indulgence protocols).

We also braved the Italian train system and took a train out to Castel Gandolfo for the day.  After an interesting visit to the Castel which included a tour of the pope's apartment we spent the day picnicking by the shores of Lake Albano.  I learned a lot about the popes from about the 16th century onward, including the few that lasted only a few days or months in office.  Also, got a good appreciation for why Lutheranism came about - not all the popes were that focused on the religious side of their job.  But they did build some wonderful palaces and accumulate a lot of really nice artwork and sculptures.

There was also a fair amount of time spent reading and looking at the ancient Roman ruins/buildings.  I'm always amazed at the beautiful sculptures and buildings that were built 2,000 years ago without the aid of power tools or hydraulic equipment.  I could go on and on, but just suffice it to say we had a great week off, ate some really phenomenal spaghetti and pizza dinners, had way too much delicious gellato, and came back rested, but heavier.  Oh yeah, also with over 400 pictures which we'll make you watch next time you visit.

Well that was a bit Soggy

You know how there aren't too many things more enjoyable that sitting outside on a cool, crisp fall day with a beautiful, crystal blue sky watching your college football team - well last Saturday wasn't that.  The forecast was for rain starting just about at kickoff and then for it to intensify as the afternoon and game wore on.  With the possible fun of lightening.  Fortunately, most of that didn't occur.  We had gray skies throughout, but the rain held off for most of the game only really getting serious late in the 4th quarter and then the walk home.  Fortunately for all, the lightening was a no-show.  But we were prepared with our ponchos and since we didn't chicken out based on the forecast, we got to see our team win against Purdue - not the cleanest of games, but they did win.

This was Jo's birthday weekend - I won't say how many years ago it all started, but the cake might be an indicator.  We had tickets for Friday to see the UW women's volleyball team win against Indiana so it was another all sports weekend.  Kathy joined us for Jo's birthday dinner beforehand and the game.  After the volleyball game we all enjoyed the chocolate cake, although very small slices, and did our best rendition of Happy Birthday to wish Jo into another fun, filled year. 

For the rest of the weekend we did some shopping and poked around our condo getting it ready for the upcoming renovation which is starting in a few weeks - yeah.  We got our final number on the reno on Friday and we are all set to go.  Also, finalized the last selections on Friday as well - laid out our outdoor grilling area.  Now we have to get mentally prepared to start seeing holes punched in our walls and for all the dust.  We are hoping everything we picked will go together and looks like the mental pictures we are carrying around in our heads.

We came home early Sunday morning to get in a little exercising and to catch up the things around the house before the start of another week.

Lobster Rolls - yum

Jo had a business trip in Boston so we decided to visit our old friends and haunts in Connecticut and make a long weekend of it.  While she slaved away inside a cold, windowless conference room I traipsed around Boston visiting some new sites.  We stayed in the Seaport to the south of downtown Boston so I visited Fort Independence and Dorchester Heights.  I had never been to either before and it was fun learning about some new aspects of our American history.  Unfortunately, neither we open to tours but I did find a very helpful person at Fort Independence who took the time to explain about the fort and answer my questions. 

Then it was off on I-95 through Rhode Island to see Southeastern Connecticut again.  It has been a few years since our last visit and we were pleased to see not too much had changed.  Our friends, Sheri and Bruno graciously put us up for our stay and planned a perfect itinerary with time with friends, some hiking, playing with their new Golden Doodle, Zeeland, and naturally a stop at the Granite Theater.

We toured our old neighborhood and were happy to see our old house was still standing and the woods pretty much unchanged.  We then tried to visitt all of our favorite places to eat food that really isn't all that good for you, but sure is fun to eat.  We started with hitting Fred's Shanty on the Thames river for fried clam strips and milk shakes.  We enjoyed looking across the river at the Pfizer site where we spent a lot of time.  The next stop in our dining tour was Clyde's for freshly made cider donuts along with fresh pressed apple cider.  Certainly hit the spot, even if the bees were a bit annoying.  We followed that up with a visit to Captain Scott's which, in our humble opinion, has the best lobster rolls in the area (and yes we ate three of them between the two of us - we did opt not to get onion rings so we should get some credit for thinking about our waistlines).

On Saturday, after our morning hike with Sheri and Bruno we met up for lunch with many of our good friends from our CT days.  It was fun finding out about all the changes in people's lives, including retirements, grandchildren, new jobs and new hobbies.  Always amazing how fast it can feel like you never left.  Later that day after touring the murals in Westerly we hit the Granite Theater (we were actually on time for once, bit unusual for the four of us) to see Arsenic and Old Lace.  A great production and reminded us how much community theater is fun to watch.

All too soon, it was time to head to the Providence airport for our trip home - full of good food, new memories, birthday cake, and missing our time and friends from CT.

Rain in New Mexico and Heat in Wisconsin

Goofy weather around the country seemed to be the theme for last week.  I visited my folks in Albuquerque for a couple of days and the weather was lovely in the 70's most days except for a last day where it decided to pour.  Meanwhile back home, the temps soared into the 90's for several days and we haven't had any significant rain for weeks.  I was kind of expecting those temperatures in New Mexico and the rain in Wisconsin not the other way around.  Anyway, I had a great visit with my parents and enjoyed touring the Unser Museum - that is the racing Unser's in case you aren't a Indy car fan.  Interesting when to see a family in which multiple generations all pursued the same passion.  We are still in discussions on what the theme for our family museum will be and where we should locate it.

I came home just in time to do some laundry and pack up for a visit to Madison for another Badger football game.  The heat had finally left and we got to enjoy watching the Badger's win in picture perfect college football weather - sunny, temperatures in the high 60's, almost a cloudless sky.  To fill up the rest of the day we did a bit more selecting for our condo and a bit of shopping for some sports gear - we found we are bit short in red shirts sporting a badger.  We then picked up a Rocky's sausage pizza (one of our favorite in Madison) and joined Kathy and John for dinner and a walk.  Then it was time to head back to home so we could wake up in our comfy beds and not the air mattresses we have in Madison.

On Sunday, we caught up with some old friends from our days in Pennsylvania.  Patte and John were neighbors at our second PA house and she is now doing a short assignment down in Chicago.  They stopped by on their way back from Door County and we spent a couple of hours on our porch finding out was happened in the
16 years since we last lived close by.  Also, since it was John's birthday we had whipped up an apple cake to celebrate.