Nakissa Rome

... records of the burials lost. It was common during the centuries, as it is today, to unearth spectacular intact Greek and Roman artifacts, like the Laocoon sculpture, commissioned and transported to Rome from Rhodes in the 1st century BC, but lost for centuries under Nero’s Golden House. Its discovery in 1506 became a sensation involving Pope Julius II ("Il Papa Terrible" for his bad temperament), Michaelangelo, Raphael ...

... find snacks for our flight to Dublin, and I happened upon some Kracker crackers! This is the first time that I’ve ever seen "cracker" spelled so closely to my last name! Although it was exciting, when I tried the crackers, they were not very good, probably because they were gluten free.

We had an early night that night, because we had a flight to Dublin the next morning. Ciao, Italy!

... all. I understand more Italian on TV with no formal study and less than two weeks in-country, at least equal to Portuguese, thanks to my prior knowledge of Spanish. Portuguese pronunciation deviates from the spelling almost as much as French, and if it indeed sounds like a drunk Frenchman trying to speak Spanish, which it does, then French must be like a drunk Portuguese trying to speak English. The Maghreb is interesting from a linguistic point of ...

... For us it will also be remembered as the place where, after waiting in line for ages in the sun, we nearly got into fisty cuffs with a Swiss guard who was adamant Caroline was inappropriately dressed to enter the church (despite the fact she specifically wore a long skirt and a top covering her shoulders predicting this very situation). After trying unsuccessfully to sneak in, we gave up, headed to a nearby tourist shop ...

... I missed him because we left the place and went to look for a nearby hotel where we can sleep for awhile to refreshen ourselves from the long trip. We checked in at Atlante Hotel just a few blocks from St. Peter Basilica, we got the junior suite and it was a nice place with a free buffet breakfast. At night, we called the Filipino driver Ric which was referred to us by my cousin, and we roam around Rome. He took us to a ...

... today. Yep, 32 years ago today the world became a much brighter place. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me. For 6 weeks or so I'll be 6 numeric years older than Meg. She's mentioned that to me on more than one occasion. I think she thinks it bothers me. She doesn't believe me when I say it doesn't. · Rome Subway We have a few observations on the Rome subway, a strange sort of system...... first, it only has two lines (still two more than Dublin has ...

... of the Italian culture. We have often found lovely places to sit and have a warm drink, however the notion of a 'hot chocolate' seems quite foreign here. Thyra asked for one a couple of days ago and she received a cup of 'melted chocolate, gluggy and thick in her cup, mixed with a little hot water. Today I took a risk, ordered a 'hot chocolate' and received massive lumps of cocoa mixed with some hot water. It was so chocolate that it looked like dark mud, and tasted ...

... and have some beers. We meet this older gentleman who as it turns out owned a jewelry store just up the road. So he took us to his shop to show us some of his stuff. Amazing jewelry - he designed this opal shaped necklace, with a huge ruby surrounded by an opal shape of diamonds - it was hard to give back. Jillaine broke down and brought this beautiful sapphire ring which they made for her. I was definitely tempted but alas no jewelry for me.

... it. If you're in Rome, watch your wallet...put it where they can't get it! We got on the Metro to Ottaviano stop. Next task was finding Hotel Joli (www.hoteljoliroma.com). We had a map or two, but we got a little turned around...we finally found it, but it was inside a locked gate, and we couldn't figure out how to get in. There were call buttons, but none said Hotel Joli. I called the hotel with the cell phone, and found out that "Pensione Jolly" meant Hotel Joli. So ...

... Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Here we saw several small Cosmati "Paschal Candlesticks". Only about two meters tall, compared with the smashed one which must have been three or so meters tall. They really are beautiful. This church is undergoing a major renovation. The mosaic floors were stunning, but most of the frescoes are too faded to be clearly visible. The ceiling is really plain compared with almost every other church we visited. Brown with a simple single motif ...