Arrivederci Roma...

Well, today was our last day in Rome.  It was a slow start to the day for most of us.  Ang got up early (I know, shock horror hehehe) and headed down to breakfast.  She and Trace were doing the Vatican tour again as I mentioned in yesterday’s post.  The Taggs and I had organised to meet for breakfast at 8am, so Meriana and I make our way downstairs for breakfast and find Ian and Jazz waiting.  Was only the dad’s and the kids this morning, Devika was having a wee lie in (green with envy at this stage hehehe).

So off we went for breakfast, after which we decided to take the kids for a walk.  We walked for a good hour around the streets of San Pietro and stumbled across a market.  Fresh fruit and veges, meats stalls, cheese stalls and clothes and shoes.  Bought Meriana a pair of Italian made shoes and then headed back to the hotel.

It was about 9:40 by the time we got back to the hotel so I spent the next hour or so packing our luggage.  After the luggage was all packed, Meriana and I went for another walk around the neighbourhood.  My goal of course was to find an I LOVE ROMA sticker.  I searched all the shops in the area, but to no avail.  So a bought a couple of other stickers instead.

We got back to the hotel where Devika and Jazz were at reception checking out and Ian was at our room waiting for us.  I took the luggage cart upstairs and loaded it up to check out.  Just as we got the cart out into the hallway, Ang arrived back at the hotel, so we got ourselves sorted, checked out and, yip, you guessed it, it was time for lunch hehehe.

We made our way to the hop on, hop off bus and stopped off at one of the little pizza/ pasta places on the way.  After lunch we made our way to St Peter’s Square where we caught our bus.  We had decided to stay on the bus until it got back to our starting point.  It was such a relaxing ride and we got to see a lot of the city that way.  Once we made it back to our starting point we decided to get off at the Spanish Steps.

We got to the Spanish Steps and OMG there were a million people there, I’m sure of it.  The funny thing was it didn’t look that impressive and none of us knew why it was a special feature.  The only thing was, we were among a film crew who was shooting a movie.

So we took a couple of photos and from here we said goodbye to Trace as she had another 5 days left in Rome.  We then SQUASHED into a SMALL taxi (or was it only small because we ate so much over the last week?) and made our way back to the hotel to wait for our taxi to the airport. 

We got back to our hotel at 5:15 and the taxi was due at 6pm.  The kids had a little run around and were playing games with one another in the lobby, Ian was doing his assignment and the rest of us were just veging on the couches.

The taxi arrived and took us to the airport.  We weren’t expecting the trip to the airport to be so short, because our flight wasn’t due to leave until 11:40 (according to our e-ticket).  So of course we’re at the airport at 6:30, what else do we do?  Well go and have something to eat of course hehehe, the golden arches it was.  The thing I’ve noticed about the airports in both parts of Europe we’ve been in is that while you’re eating you are on watching the planes departing, seems quite close too.

It was about 7:30ish by the time we finished eating so we thought we’d find the Qatar airways check in counter to see what time we were able to check in.  Lucky we went early, because it turned out, that the time on our e-ticket had us leaving an hour later than the actual departure time.  So we checked our luggage in  and made our way through customs and onto the other side.  We had enough time for a drink and the kids had a little play (and I mean little, because the play area was over taken by big kids.  We made our way to the departure gate (which we had to catch a train to) and had about a 20 min wait.  Boarded the plane and as the saying goes, the rest is history.

When we left Dubai, we left in a light shower, we had great weather throughout the 8 days we were away and when we left Rome for our journey back to the UAE, we left in a light shower.  What a great way to start and end our holidays.

It has been awesome to share this experience with Ian, Devika, Jazzmyn, Geeta and Tracey.  We’ve had some fantastic, memorable moments which we will never forget. 

Like all good things they must come to an end and so ends our journey of a thousand miles.

We’ve just arrived home, a load of washing is in the machine, Meriana is having a bath, Ang is on Skype back to NZ and I am posting the post which was due last night.

This may have inspired me to keep up a blog of our time here in the UAE.

Our next trip is with the Taggs and the Rouvis which will be to Hong Kong before heading back to the land of the long white cloud.

This post has been kept photoless as we've only took photos of the bus trip, which are also included in the Day 7 album.

There may be a highlights and filling in the gaps post after this one, Insha Allah, but for now its Asalam wa alykum from the Middle East, I hope you’ve enjoyed taking the journey with us, it’s been a pleasure sharing these special moments with you all.

Palm Sunday...

(This prayer is designed to be said within the family before a Crucifix on Palm Sunday and during Holy Week.)

Mother or a child:
(Taken from the words of Pope Pius XII On the Sacred Liturgy. )
Dearly beloved, in Holy Week, when the most bitter sufferings of Jesus Christ are put before us by the liturgy, the Church invites us to come to Calvary and follow in the blood-stained footsteps of the Divine Redeemer, to carry the Cross willingly with Him, to reproduce in our hearts His spirit of expiation and atonement, and to die together with Him.
Father: We ought to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
Family: in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection.
Father: Let us pray.
All-powerful, eternal God, You have chosen to give mankind a model of humility; our Savior took on our flesh, and subjected Himself to the Cross. Grant us the grace to preserve faithfully the lessons He has given us in his Passion and to have a share in His resurrection. This we ask of You through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
Family: Amen.
Favour this dwelling, Lord, with Your presence. Far from it repulse all the wiles of Satan. Your holy angels, let them live here, to keep us in peace. And may your blessing remain always upon us. This we ask of You through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
Father: Let us bless the Lord.
Family: Thanks be to God.
Father: May the almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless and keep us.
Family: Amen.

Today, is known in the christian world as Palm Sunday.

On Palm Sunday Christians celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the week before his death and resurrection. For many Christian churches, Palm Sunday, often referred to as "Passion Sunday," marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday.

The Bible reveals that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted him by waving palm branches and covering his path with palm branches. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the ministry of Jesus, he begins his journey to the cross.

We were greeted this morning by the chiming of the bells of the Vatican which, if you've been following the blog will know is located about 5 mins from our hotel.  It is quite an amazing sound to hear on a quiet morning.  We made our way to breakfast as we were going at a leisurely pace today, for the tours we had booked were all concluded.

Our friend Tracey, arrived in Rome last night so we were also trying to organise a meeting point for us all during breakfast. In the end it was decided Trace would make her way to our hotel and we would all leave from there.

Tracey in Rome

After breakfast and before Trace arrived, we went for a walk to the information post (which are located on almost every corner) to purchase tickets for the hop on, hop off bus, a double decker opened top bus which travels through the center of Rome stopping at all the historical places.  The pass we bought allowed us to hop on and hop off at any point and lasts for 2 days.

On our way to purchase the tickets, I noticed people carrying olive branches and palm branches, of  course none of us knew what the significance of these were until we got back to our hotel at the end of the day, hence why I started the blog with a bit of info about Palm Sunday.

So we got back to our hotel after getting the tickets to await Tracey's arrival, she rang us from reception where we all went downstairs, almost had a full on pōwhiri before we headed out the door for our bus tour.

We had to catch the bus outside San Pietro or St Peters Square and to our surprise, as we walk around the corner we see a sea of people listening to the Pope who was leading Palm Sunday Mass. What an experience that was to be in such close proximity to the head of the Catholic Church. 

Pope Benedict leading Palm Sunday Mass

Finally after a few diversions we caught our bus and headed into Central Rome.  We got off at what we thought was our stop as we were wanting the find Fontana di Trevi (the Trevi Fountain, which we found in the end after asking a few people).  Among the detours and getting lost, some of us were starving because at this stage it was almost 1pm in the afternoon.  So after walking for about 20 mins we found, wait for it, you never going to guess McDonalds hehehe (I knew you were waiting for the food part of the story hehehe)

Lunch

After filling our shriveled stomachs (NOT) we attempted to find our way to the Trevi Fountain, after asking a few more people we were finally on the right track. 

Now the route to the Trevi fountain was absolutely amazing, picturesque in fact.  I thought the neighbourhood we were in had eateries on narrow little streets, but right in Rome were the ones you see on movies.  Little pizza and pasta places down these narrow alley ways no longer than 3 meters wide based at the bottom of at least 7 story buildings, which had window shutters on each set of windows, had a very Mediterranean feel.

Now, we were told by both tour guides we had in previous days that this was not peak season, but you could of fooled me, the little narrow allies were choker with people.

Before we got to the fountain, we stopped off in the little shops which lined both sides of the ally, we also came across an artist who was painting some of the historical  places of Rome.  Of course we bought a piece off him of the Trevi fountain which he signed and wrote a message at the back.

Our latest art purchase - with the artist

Finally we made it to Fontana di Trevi. AMAZING is all I have to say.  Now, legend has it you will return to Rome if you throw a coin into the water. You should toss the coin over your left shoulder with your back to the fountain. 1 coin you will return to Rome, 2 coins will fall in love and 3 coins you will marry a Roman. If you want to read a bit more about the fountain look here. Fontana di Trevi.

Fontana di Trevi

Yesterday on our tour of the Colosseum, our guide told us that on Sundays they close the streets off around the Colosseum and hold a market,  so we decided to take a trip to the Colosseum.  Much to our disappointment there was no market.  Only souvenir stalls and horse and cart rides oh and not to mention this old, decrepit structure that looked like it was falling apart hehehe.

So we decided to catch the bus back to San Pietro Square and head home for the night.  Of course none of our nights end with us retiring to our hotel rooms, we stopped off at a restaurant along the way and had dinner with Trace.  I even enjoyed a glass of Merlot with my lamb chops.

Lamb chops with artichoke and spinach and a Merlot

This is final night in Rome, which means that I only have 1, maybe even 2 more posts to add to this blog before it comes to an end.

Tomorrow Ang and Trace have decided to do the Vatican tour again and for those of you who know Ang well, that should come as no surprise to you, while the rest if us will go and check out our local neighbourhood and see what other little treasures we can find.

We leave Rome and head back to Dubai tomorrow night at around 11pm, so my last post in Europe will probably be from the airport.

but for now, it's buona notte from Rome, Italy.  I hope you've enjoyed the journey!