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I’m once again sleepless in Paris due to the flat where I am staying.  It has a very busy street in front that has cars and motorbikes racing down it on Friday nights.  Lucky ME!!  It is once again about 3:30 am and this will be my last post from Paris as I am headed to Milan for quick plane change.  In approximately 12 hours I will be following Britain’s lead and will Texit.  That is short for Tess exiting the EU.

The past 9 weeks have been a wonderful once in a lifetime opportunity.  I have met many friends who I hope to stay in contact with once I’m back in the US.  I will travel again to Europe in the coming year with my son.  I want him to see the history and experience the culture of the countries I have visited on this trip.

I will land in New York on Saturday, June 25th, then fly home to Texas on June 26th.  After that I have one day to get my fingerprints done, an I-9 completed, dentist appointment, doctor appointment, manicure & pedicure before I start work again.  I’m pretty sure on my first day at the office I will be thinking “I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!”  Wish me luck because I haven’t been the newest employee in a company in 18 years and the markets just went bonkers over Brexit.  It should be an interesting first week!

For those of you following the number of miles I walked in Europe, the tally stands tonight at 515.79 miles with 1,171,811 steps taken and 1,430 flights of stairs.  That averages to be 7.815 miles per day; 17,754.71 steps per day and 21.67 flights of stairs per day.

It’s 3 am on Friday, June 24th and I’m wide awake.  I have now taken 3 showers in the last 24 hours and that does not count the fact that I have drenched 2 sets of pajamas with sweat in the last 3 hours.  I pulled a dumb blonde move and booked an Airbnb place in Paris in the month of June that DOES NOT HAVE AIR CONDITIONING!  I’m screaming at myself not at the readers.  The sun came out in Paris two days ago with a vengeance.  Paris in summer makes Houston look like a walk in the Colorado Rockies during summer.  It feels like 100 degrees with 90% humidity which in actuality it only reach 82 today.  Please take into account that the ground is still soaked with rain from the past month so its like walking around in a steam-sauna  room.

As I stated in an earlier blog I’ve been sick this week with the flu but I felt better yesterday and today – no make that day before yesterday and yesterday.  Too complicated, until I get out of this bed to take my 4th shower in 24hrs  and the sun is again shining in Paris it is still today for me.  Right now I’m afraid to move too much because I am sleeping naked with the window open listening to the construction trucks drive by every 15 minutes.  It’s a good thing I’m on the 5th floor because I would not wish the sight of me at this point on anyone.  Believe me, if I can see the neighbor one floor below me in the next building get up from his dinner table in his underwear I have a feeling that someone from the taller building across the street might be able to see into my apartment.  I do have the curtains closed but am truly hoping for that blast of wind to cool off the room.

So I’m laying here trying to put a positive spin on the fact that I have no air conditioning in Paris in JUNE!  Did I mention I am laying on a towel because I am sweating more than a hooker in the front row at church?  I’m 53 and have been experiencing hot flashes for about 9 years now but combined with NO AIR CONDITIONING (again I’m yelling at myself) I look like one of those Gatorade commercials where the athletes have been working out for hours and have the sweat beads on the forehead dripping down their throat.  I have a hand towel at the ready when it starts to get into my eyes however I don’t have the cold refreshing drink because I have drunk all of the water.  Which will present a problem of its own I’m sure in the fact that I am still not sleeping at now 3:30 am in the morning of my last full day in Paris.  So back to the positive fact that I am experiencing Paris Heat Flashes and combining them with 9 years of Hot Flashes.  Perhaps by the time I land in New York on Saturday night I will have sweated out all the alcohol I’ve drank while in Europe.  Perhaps I’ll drop a couple of pounds of water weight – don’t worry I’m not even going to try to guess how much food weight I’ve added.  I know when I wake up in the morning if I try to pull on the spanx I will get a workout in the 15 minutes it will take to try to pull elastic compression underwear up a sweaty body.  Don’t worry, I will take a shower before getting dressed again but the heat/hot flashes will have me sweating again as I towel ‘dry’.  At least I use deodorant on top of daily showers – yes I’m again talking about Mr. Nice Suit Needs Deodorant from the metro yesterday.  I encountered his brother and sisters on the metro today.

Did I mention I haven’t slept in two nights because it is hotter than a habanero pepper when the sun shines in Paris in JUNE after over a month of rain with the ground soaked?  Perhaps the best outcome is the fact that I may recover from jet lag faster since by the time I get to the airport on Saturday morning I’ll be functioning on less than probably a full night’s sleep in 96 hours.   Time to towel off the face again, I feel another hot flash building up.

 

 

After being stuck in the apartment with the flu for two days I decided to venture out today.  I started by walking to the metro per the directions that my Airbnb host left for me.  When I came to the apartment by a different route I wasn’t too thrilled with the neighborhood, there were a lot more homeless type of people on the street than I expected.  The apartment however is in an older building that has been updated which is normal for Paris.  So I walked to a different metro line to go to the Eiffel Tower and bought my ticket.  My first clue that it was not going to be pleasant should have been when I reached the platform and there were so many people waiting.  I looked at the sign and it said next train 4 minutes.  I looked around for a minute to find a place to wait and walked a little farther down the line hoping it would not be crowded on the car I got on.  So I get on the metro and of course it is crowded (we are talking 11 am – shouldn’t most of them already be at work?)  As soon as the doors closed I realized my next clue – body odor.  There is a guy standing with his arm higher than my nose in a nice suit and tie with armpits giving off enough smell to make a skunk jealous.  So I try to maneuver to face a different direction which is hard considering we just stopped for the first stop and now I feel like a sardine.  So I am no longer under Mr. Nice Suit-Needs Deodorant’s arm but I am plastered  to the bar that everyone has to get a hand on even though the only possible time and way to move is when the doors are opened.    So I try to get a fix on a new spot to stand however I can’t see anything because this young man is standing directly in front of me with the bar between us and all I can see is the buttons on his shirt.  The top of my head does not even reach his chin, he is literally as tall as the metro car, his hair is skimming the ceiling.  I wanted yell out ‘I’ll bet the air up there smells better than the armpits down here!’   I guess I could have most likely there was no one else on the train that spoke English and if they did they would only say “a leetle beet”.  It took four more stops for most of the people who do not know what deodorant is for to get off.  By this time my skin is crawling because I have been pushed, jostled and leaned on to the point that my stomach wants to hurl.

I finally reach my stop and get out to walk the last few blocks to the Eiffel Tower.   Since I am feeling a little drained and queasy I decide to stop for lunch first.  Although I had been to the Eiffel tower in April I wanted to take some pictures of the tower from the same perspective that I did before Paris had all of the rain in late May and early June…..not that it has stopped raining on a daily basis yet.  However, my route to the Eiffel Tower takes a few twists and turns because of the Eurocup Fan base they have set up by it.  They have closed off the parks to the tower and there are police everywhere at each block lining a certain perimeter to the fan base.  Around these blocks are restaurants filled with Eurocup fans.  Some of you may be aware of the problems that certain countries fans have had over the last couple of weeks.  There have been fights between the fans of England and Russia.  So today as I am walking around to get to the right viewpoint I pass by several fans in red and white shirts.  One restaurant in particular on the other side of the street was filled including the tables on the sidewalk with red and white shirts. I had previously passed by three English fans a block before the restaurant on my side of the street.  Just as I am half a block past the restaurant I hear a cheer go up and some shouting.  I turn around to watch the same three English fans parade through the tables in the restaurant of the fans in red and white shirts with no purpose other than to see if they could start something.  Luckily, it was only about 2 pm and the fans in red and white were not going to have their team disqualified because 3 immature English twenty-something year olds wanted to play with fire and get on camera.  The cheering and shouting was most likely the red and white fans national anthem.

I finally get to the Eiffel Tower and start to walk along the Seine for the same picture perspective from April.  However, before I get past the first bridge I get hit from the side by one of the illegal vendors running from the police.  Luckily it was not a hard hit but I almost toppled another couple as I caught my balance.  The gentlemen is the one who said its the police so they were nice about me knocking into them and he probably prevented me from falling.  I’m thinking the police are chasing these illegal vendors because they are scattering like roaches when a light hits them so I hurry over to the side so I won’t get hit a second time.  However, as I watch the illegal vendors jump a couple of bushes and casually start walking away, I see a lone police officer come around the corner strolling like he’s on a Sunday walk by the park.  There is no arrest, no detaining just a stroll through the crowd.  To be honest, I don’t think this particular dickie do policeman could have caught up to them anyway.  There was no way he could have hopped the bushes with the food baby he was carrying around.

I gave up for the day, I figured with surviving smelly armpits on the metro, a potential Eurocup fan clash, and illegal vendors running like jack rabbits for half a block I already hit a trifecta.   I went back to the apartment with no new pictures – except for the fan clash England idiots which I won’t post.

I’ve been in Paris for almost a week now and it has rained every single day with the biggest rains on Sunday and Monday.  As a result, I have come down with the flu and have spent the last couple of days in bed without going out other than to the pharmacist.

The Chateau de Scaeux parks were very beautiful and green.  Of course everything in and around Paris is green due to all the rain they have had.  It just continues to amaze me the numbers of acres that were maintained and continue to be maintained for the chateaus.  I traveled to Chartres on Saturday to view the cathedral there.  It had wonderful stained glass windows and is in the process of being restored.  Beautiful village that had a lot of wonderful small epicurean shops.  Of course if started to rain there as well and I traveled back to Paris.

Even though I added the extra week of travel onto my trip to see Provence, it appears as if it is not meant to be.  The unions are striking on Thursday so I won’t be able to travel by train tomorrow to Provence.  I don’t want to risk going there on Friday since my plane leaves on Saturday morning at 8:30.  The train ride from here to Provence is 3 hours and I would attempt it today if I had the energy.

I’m looking forward to being home in my own bed with medicine from a pharmacy that speaks English and I know for certain what I am taking.  Plus I really miss seeing my son.

 

I’ve been in Amalfi for 10 days now, 7 with the CDV group where we toured Pompeii, the Isle of Capri, Positano, Revello, a winery with grapevines that are 400 years old, the Blue Grotto, the Green Grotto, a Limoncello producer and had cooking classes where we made pasta, pizza and a number of side dishes.  The group of ladies that did most of the cooking at the villa where we were staying were some of the funniest women I have been around in a long time.  Three sisters, one niece and two friends.  The oldest was Philomena and she reminded me of the woman who posed first on Calendar Girls where her son walked in.  She had some of the best lines for the guys and was so quick with the retorts it was amazing.  Not only was she a great sport but one of the best cooks around.  Her daughter, Claudia and youngest sister, Lisa run Costa Tours in Minori which is the town right next to Amalfi so if you need to book an excursion look them up.  The wifi at the villa above the Hotel Luna was a bit spotty and I was unable to blog from there most of the time.  Rocky from CDV showed up on Thursday and gave us the trick to better wifi (keep the door to the closet where it is located on the bottom floor opened a crack).

As a follow up to my blog “The Court Jester”, I did go into town and bought a pair of baby bottle nipples, however, I decided to take the high road and did not use them during my toast.  That however did not stop the jerk from shouting out a remark which I made sure fell flat.  After I thanked our host for the week, Spartaco who was leaving us the next morning to host the Sicily tour he shouted out “If Spartaco told you you had a beautiful body would you hold it against him.?”  Please remember Spartaco speaks English but does not always understand the intended meaning behind such phrases.  I just kind of froze, stood there, whipped through all the retorts in my mind that I wanted to say and then yelled back “How ’bout those Red Soxs?”  This shut down the crickets and everyone started laughing.  Earlier in the week during dinner a lady in our group from South Africa brought up the US election and our candidates.  Bob, the husband of Kathy (another wonderful lady) would every minute or so try to change the subject by shouting out “How ’bout those Red Soxs?”  or “How about them Cowboys?”

Speaking of Bob and Kathy, the first cooking class really broke the ice for most of us.  There was a lady from San Antonio and her friend in our group, Vickie and Terry.  We were all in the kitchen putting our potatoes into the big pan of water and Vickie decided she wanted to take a picture so she puts her hands into what she thought was Terry’s pocket to grab her phone, instead it was Bob’s pocket.  His eyes about fell out of his head when he turned to see Vickie instead of his wife.  I thought poor Vickie was going to faint after she realized she had her hand in the wrong pants.  So Vickie punches Terry on the arm and blames him for moving away.  Terry is trying to defend himself when Kathy walks in and says “So that’s the way its going to be this week – is it?”  We laughed so hard we cried, then a few hours later some other woman grabs onto Bob by mistake.  It starts the laughing all over again when Kathy informs us that Bob is the shyest guy in the whole group.  The following night we are at dinner, the only seat available is next to Bob so I make a point of telling him I won’t stick my hand in his pocket.  Next thing I know we are having a group picture and I lean over and put my hand on his leg.  I removed it as quickly as I could but it was too late – he shouts “Hey that’s my leg you just grabbed!”  So now I’m as red as a beet and trying to make excuses.  The rest of the ladies and I decided that Bob may be the shyest guy in the group but he has pheromones that are attracting all the ladies.  Kathy then states “I was first blaming all of the ladies but now I’m not so sure that my Bob has been totally innocent in all of these happenings.”  So of course I pop off and state what B.O.B. stands for and that starts the laughing all over again.  I would go on vacation with everyone in the group again with the exception of her majesty and the court jester.  Overall, ignoring them, we all had a great time.

Saturday after everyone left I went to the promenade in Amalfi and did some serious people watching.  I loved seeing all of the older Amalfi gentlemen get together and talk, I could almost understand what they were saying just from their hand gestures alone.  The most important note from watching people for most of the day is the fact that from the youngest to the oldest of the people from Amalfi they all know one another not only by name but as friends and family.  It was like watching a huge family get together.  I checked into my Airbnb place which I already stated is 267 steps up from the main street.  Well, my large bag had to have weighed at least 70 pounds and the porter carried it up the steps on his back.  I didn’t feel so bad and out of shape when I saw that he had to also stop several times to catch his breath.  However, instead of paying him 7 euros a bag for his service I paid him 35 euros.  I carried my smaller bag more than halfway up and I figured it was worth every euro for his help.

Sunday I was fortunate enough to be invited back to the villa above the Hotel Luna to have lunch with the new group with CDV.  They are a reunion group having met 4 years ago this is their 3rd trip with CDV so they all know one another.  They are a great group of people and you can tell have had a lot of fun together over the past few years since they met.  They’ve held 3 parties in the US for the group and it sounds like they all stay in touch.  After lunch I headed back to my place to grab my cameras so I could take pictures of the Regatta Race.  This race is between crews from Amalfi, Genova, Venezia and Pisa.  It is preceded by a historical parade where each town has participants dressed in the era of when the ports of Italy were the most important in the world.   After having a shot of limoncello after lunch when I got back to my place I pretty much passed out so I overslept for a large part of the parade.  I was fortunate enough to be in the right place when new barriers were moved however and got to see the entire group parade from the church to the port.  I have some great pics that I hope to download onto the blog in the near future.  Then after that portion of the parade I headed up the street toward the hotel to see if I could meet up with the CDV group.  It started to rain pretty heavily and most people moved off the side of the cliff area that drops to the mediterranean so I took advantage with my umbrella and again was in the right place.  I had a great view of the finish line for the race and was able to get great pictures of the Amalfi team crossing the finish line first.

Yesterday, I decided to go up to Agerole (Bomerano) and walk the Path of the Gods.  However, I pulled a dumb blonde move and got off the bus too early.  Thinking the town cannot be that much farther up the mountain I began to walk up hill to the Bomerano square.  One and half hours later walking uphill on a winding road with no sidewalks trying not to get hit by the cars, scooters, trucks and buses going by I finally reached the town.  After I found the square I inquired where to buy a return bus ticket so I went to the bakery, bought a pastry, water and bus ticket and took the first bus back to Amalfi.  I may try again tomorrow since I now know where to get off for the trail to walk.  Today I recovered from my 4 mile walk uphill on the beach with a sunbed, umbrella and bottle of water.

Just another day and a half in Amalfi left, I leave early on Thursday morning to go back to France.  It’s hard to believe but I have less than two weeks before I will be in Texas again.  I am looking forward to seeing my son, I miss him most of all.

 

This blog is for all of those women who like me hired a personal trainer in the US to bully them into shape before going on vacation.  There is no personal trainer who can do what Amalfi does on a daily basis -Amalfi gives you no choice.  At any point in time with a personal trainer you can look them in the eye and say “I’ve had enough, I’m beat and we’re done here for today!”.  In fact my trainer Ian will attest to the fact that I said those exact words on more than one occasion usually about 3 times a week from January to April of this year.  However, in Amalfi there is no choice other than to sit down and not move.  Amalfi is full of steps, turns, corners, and curves that go up and down.  I have in my past blog complained about the steps I have had to climb to reach churches, one apartment and special tourist attractions.  Amalfi has the Stair Master beat, there is no choice but to walk the steps, there may be a lift in the hotels but the houses and apartments that make the scenic postcards wonderful have no way to reach them but to climb the steps.  My apartment is not the highest in the area of town where it is situated but it doesn’t fall short by much. Amalfi has these narrow walkways that wind through the houses and apartments.   From the main road in town I have figured out 4 different ways to reach my apartment, none of the ways include any motorized sort of vehicle, no cars, scooters, segways or hover boards.  The shortest number of steps I would need to climb to reach my apartment is 187 steps one way.  This does not sound like much however that way also adds another 0.25 miles onto the walk to the central district.  Additionally, all the steps are stone, uneven in size, height and width you can’t just run up them like a stair master that rolls the same size and height in your direction to step.  The best part of the steps is the people of Amalfi, they are all shapes, sizes and ages but one thing they have in common is their ability to smile and they always respond when greeted.  These are people who climb these steps everyday not just for a week while on vacation.  They carry their groceries, their babies, and help their elderly.  They leave their door’s open so they can see their neighbors pass by so they can greet them, give them a short break from the steps and catch up on the latest gossip.  The steps in Amalfi are hard to get used to for the tourists but for the people of Amalfi they give them the ability to stay in touch, know their neighbors and become family.

What is it about some men that they never grow up?  Last night I found out that one of the men on the opposite boat took a picture of me as I was getting back on my boat after swimming in the Mediterranean on Monday.  I could care less about a swimsuit picture as I was in a tankini and was covered in a respectable way and was not swimming topless.  However, this jerk zeroed in on my nipples and took a picture.  Naturally since the water was cold he evidently got a picture he thought I would pay him not to post on his Facebook.  Really?!!  As I said I could care less but evidently, he decided to show it around the rest of the tour group and brag about how he was going to finally show it to me at some point during the week.  As a friend, one of the women in the group told me about it.  My first reaction was really?!  For a man over the age of 60 isn’t that something that boys do around the age of 13?

I didn’t sleep well last night because now this a– has made me uncomfortable in a place where the motto is ‘we treat you like family’.  I come from a family of 5 sisters and 2 brothers, 16 nieces/nephews and 21 great nieces/nephews – none of which would threatened to post a picture they took of me in a swimsuit where you could see the outline of my nipples.  Obviously this guy has serious issues with his filter and is a hypocrite to top it off.  He made a big show on Saturday of finding out where the church was located so he and his wife of 40 years could go the next morning.  Additionally, of all the couples in the group they are the ones that consistently go overboard in the PDA department.  Evidently, one of the other women on his boat moved to the front after witnessing the tongue down the throat kiss he gave to his wife.

My thought is to go into town and buy two baby bottle nipples and when the timing is right and I have to give a toast at dinner present him with them so he won’t have to take any more pics.  To my friends and family – please send me a text with suggestions.  I have already decided to avoid/ignore the jerk as much as possible but I definitely want to say something to him in front of his wife and the rest of the group so he knows what an a– he is and how immature his actions were. Unfortunately now I am counting the days until I am in Amalfi on my own and not with the group. Saturday can not come soon enough for me.  As for the title court jester he calls his wife her majesty that must make him the court jester.

I’ve been 3 days on the Amalfi Coast and they have all been packed with activities and even more laughs.  I’m with the tour company Culture Discovery and we are staying in a private villa above the hotel Luna.  The view from the villa overlooking the Mediterranean is spectacular.  The group this time has 14 people all of which are great fun to be around.  One of the best things about the villa is the staff, they treat everyone like family and the oldest one in charge is a treasure. She has a great sense of humor and very quick wit.  We all arrived on Saturday and as best views go there were a lot of stairs to climb to get to the villa.  We had our first cooking class on Sunday and our second one tonight.  We went to the Isle of Capri on Monday, a paper mill on Sunday where they still make the paper by hand and the ruins in Pompeii today.  The road to the villa and along the coast is an adventure in itself.  The road is narrow and when we were driving from Naples to the villa on Saturday our bus driver had to back down the road twice in order for two larger buses to move past us.  The distance between our small bus and the larger city buses was less than 2 inches.  I was sitting on the side by the limestone mountain and was surprises we did not have scratches on the bus from the jagged rock edges.  The best part was listening to our driver speaking to the other bus drivers – I don’t know what he was saying but I’m pretty sure he was not telling them they were the best drivers on the road.

The wifi in Amalfi is not the best and when we visited the town for a few hours even the shop owners were complaining.  One girl was telling us that her brother will get on her wifi and surf with no issues but then her phone won’t work or her tablet.  The wifi in the villa has not been working very well but they are supposed to come take a look at it tomorrow.

There are lots of people to describe and I will provide an update on them before the end of the week.  Most everyone is from the US but there is one woman here from South Africa who has three sons in the US.  Our director for the week is Spartaco who works hard everyday to make sure we are on schedule and everyone is having a great time.  I’ve been posting pics to show the best of my adventure week so far and will continue as I can do those from my phone.

 

While in Rome – do as the Romans – they wander and meander.  They are in no hurry to get any where soon.  They live life to the fullest, enjoying friends, family, and fresh meals with fresh ingredients.  Meals are an important event in all of Italy – it is where the family comes together to sit down at a table not only to eat but to enjoy each other’s company.  They are not in a hurry, the restaurants do not rush you through your meal and the service is at your request.  If the restaurant is good, they don’t take reservations, if you want to eat there you stand in line and wait for a table to be free.  When you finish your meal the servants do not ask you if you want your bill, they allow you to linger and you must request the bill.  This is the opposite of a large portion of restaurants in America, it is all about speed and turnover for not only the restaurants but the servers.  Another big difference is there are no leftovers to heat up the next day.  For the most part the proportions are just the right size, this doesn’t mean they are considerably smaller than what you receive in America it just simply means that the Italians only eat at meal time.  This means no mid morning or afternoon snacks and there are no requests for ‘doggie bags’ if you can’t finish your meal.  Meal time in Italy can last any where from an hour to three hours on average.  They take the time to savor the meal this means courses are presented separately and only when you are ready will the next course be brought to you.  Additionally, meal time in the evening is 8 or later and not at 6 or 7 like in a large portion of America.  The restaurants that are open to serve between 5 and 8 do so for the tourists and if they have a person standing outside to entice you eat there it means that person is paid to bring in customers.  Good restaurants will not need a person standing outside to entice you to dinner – you’ll know by going by at 8 whether it has the stamp of approval of the locals you won’t have to wonder.  Additionally, as a tourist if you have been waiting to be seated and a local group jumps ahead of you in the line you need to realize these people frequent the place during the offseason and help to keep the restaurant going.  They are considered family by the restaurant and therefore are treated as such.  The most important part is the food is fresh, little to no preservatives and made as ordered or prepared that day.

So yesterday I wandered around Rome.  I visited the Borghese Museum which was very well organized and full of incredible paintings, sculptures and history.  I wandered around the gardens and parks which were extensive in the middle of such a large city.  I meandered around several areas in Rome including the Medici Villa, the Spanish Steps (which were closed due to restoration but you could see enough to get a feel for the overall effect when they are open.  I had no plan in mind for the day other than to walk around and enjoy.  I stopped by the Trevi Fountain for a little over an hour to people watch.  I enjoyed watching all of the people throw their coins into the fountain to wish for their return to Rome.  There was a lot of picture taking, kissing, laughing, acting silly and families by the fountain.  When I mention the word family I am referring to generations of families, grandparents, parents, and their kids.

There were several tour groups some of which were groups of teenagers.  Let me just say that the teenagers had better manners and behaved much better than several groups from the east I have come across in the last six weeks.  I understand that most of the people in those groups do not speak Italian, English or French and they bring their own tour guides to their destinations.  However, just because you do not speak the language of the country you are visiting there is a universal language that is expressed through courtesy of others.  Not speaking the language does not give any one the right to be rude, pushy, invasive and offensive. A large majority of the people in those groups do not even take the time to view the primary attraction, they are only interested in using their “selfie sticks” to get a picture of themselves with the attraction.  Selfie sticks are just another tool that is used which prevents a person from communicating with others.

I know what you are thinking – “What about all those selfie pics that you Tess have posted on this blog?”  Not a single one of those pics was done with a selfie stick, nor did I stick my arm in someone else’s face and move the phone camera up and down until I had just the right pose.  Additionally, I  did not push or shove my way to the front of any crowd to get the selfie, I have waited patiently until it was my turn.  Most importantly though, when I have noticed a couple taking pics of each other, I have offered to take a picture of the two of them together so they can have a joint memory.  This was done by hand signals, smiles, and disjointed conversations when we did not speak the same language.  My selfies are more for my family than for myself, it is a way of showing them on an almost daily basis that I am doing fine and they should not worry.  Personally, I hate having my picture taken and would much rather have a picture without me in it than a selfie. Sorry for the rant but I’m functioning on only a few hours of sleep from last night – which brings me to the next part.

Wonder – As a rule follower, have you ever wondered why some people just don’t feel the rules apply to them.  I had a very full day today with my tour guide Patricia.  She is an encyclopedia of information on Rome (for those of you in the younger generation that would be the equivalent to a google expert of Rome).  Today the major stop was the Vatican including the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.  Let me just state, there is no picture in existence that will project the emotion you feel when viewing such incredible artistry.  Truly, but visiting all three places over 4 hours was not enough time.  I would suggest anyone who enjoys religion, art, history, architecture and museums to plan to spend one day on the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel and Vatican Apartments and at least another 4 hours in St. Peter’s Basilica.

I am awed that I was able to visit this beautiful work done by artists who were given their talent by God to create exquisite paintings, sculptures, buildings, tapestries, and everything else displayed within the walls of that holy area.  At the request of the Vatican the rules posted before you enter the Sistine Chapel were very clear and simple, SILENCE, NO PICTURES, NO VIDEOS, NO HATS, TURN CELL PHONES OFF and DO NOT STAND ON THE ALTER AREA.  The Vatican has guards posted throughout the chapel which is not very large in comparison to the other portion of the museum.  You enter one door which is set level with the alter area and are asked to walk down the steps to the main area.  The guards constantly had to ask people to remove their hats, to please continue to move into the main area and off the ‘stage’ and to be silent.  I just wonder how many of these same people were brought up to walk into a church service wearing their ball caps, talking in their normal voice to the person next to them and ignoring the ushers or church leaders.  The guards actually had to use the loud speaker a minimum of 5 times during the 15-20 minutes I was inside the chapel.  I am standing there wondering why these people are not speechless, they are viewing something so incredible that was a collaboration of more than one artist.  The stories detailed in each panel along the walls, the final judgment wall and the incredible ceiling all of which were painted 500 years ago in a method that allowed for no mistakes.  Then as I continue to look around and study the panels, trying to soak in as much detail as possible I see some of these same people tilt their cameras, push the shutter buttons for pictures or record buttons for video and all I can think is “REALLY?!!” I wanted to say to these people “You are in the Sistine Chapel, a place of worship, that has been touched by the hand of God and you are asked to follow certain rules.   Do you REALLY feel that those rules do not apply to you?”  I just wonder if the people who took the pictures and videos felt REALLY embarrassed as they were singled out by the guards.  I wonder how well the pictures turned out for those who weren’t caught.  My guess is they missed out on the greatest feeling that the room provided which was a sense of awe, peace and serenity.

Lots more I could say about the day, so many incredible experiences almost to the point of overwhelming but the one piece that made me catch my breath and brought tears to my eyes was the Pieta in St. Peter’s Basilica.  Magnificent, priceless, breathtaking, beautiful……indescribable.  Then after viewing that sculpture I walked towards the center aisle and looked behind the alter and saw the Dove surrounded by Angels and felt at Peace.

I could wander the rest of the world taking pictures but I wonder if I will ever experience the same feelings as I did upon seeing the Vatican and all its splendor with theMuseum,  Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica for the first time.