Planes, Trains and Automobiles....

And taxis and water buses.

Matter of fact, we used every mode of transportation in Italy except motor scooters.

First of all, let me issue a sincere apology to all the New York City cab drivers I have ever maligned. They got nothin' on the Italians. Male, female, car, motorbike, no matter. They all drive 100 miles an hour and the Rules of the Road do not apply to the two-wheeled vehicles. We had motor scooters flying out from around corners, going the wrong direction, and driving up the middle to get to the head of the line.

Bizarre!

And scary.

I got the bejeebers scared out of me more than once. As a non-Italian driver I also got some dirty looks and less than kind gestures. But, at least no one let know I was number 1 in their books.....

Also, with all due respect to my friends and family in Texas, if you think things are bigger in Texas, you've not been to Rome.

Jiminy Christmas!

Massive is the only word I have for some of what I saw and that word is woefully inadequate.

History literally rose up out of the ground everywhere you turned. I think the history part of the trip is the one thing that moved me so much. The preservation of it all. Living in Natchez, the oldest continually settled area on the Mississippi, I know something about historic preservation, but nothing like these people.

The Catacombs in Rome run for 11 miles. 150,000 tombs and 2,000 still have bodies in them. But you can go down and see them and the tour starts in an underground church that still looks like it could have services. We toured the Duomo in Florence. It is enormous! I think the Statue of Liberty can stand upright on the inside. But we saw a staircase and went down. Underneath was an earlier Basilica. It was like they razed it at ground level and then just built on top. The original Mosaic floor was still there. There were stone steps leading up to, now nowhere. The crypts of the early clergy was still down there as were the altar where they worshipped.

Touring Pompeii. Knowing that the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was 1,930 years ago yet from certain angles you had no idea it was 2009. The vineyards were replanted and Mt. Vesuvius loomed in the background, same as that day so long ago. Gardens have been replanted with period-specific plants and the excavation continues. We saw both restoration work and new digging.

And the streets. Still stones or bricks. I was very profoundly moved by some of this in Rome. Looking at the Coliseum; knowing the early Christians were fed to the lions there. And having it be real. It wasn't just a story in a book. I was seeing where it happened. I was walking the exact same streets that they walked. Walking where Jesus walked (potentially, anyway). One of the guides was telling the stories of the deaths of Peter and Paul - punishment for being Christian. Since Paul was a Roman citizen he was given the honor of being beheaded. Beheading at this time was considered an honorable death since the death was immediate. Peter was not a Roman so he was crucified. Non-citizens had to suffer.

I just got chills being there and seeing all that I read and heard about for so many years. Sure, the food was fantastic. The weather mostly glorious (did I mention that two or three nights we actually slept with the windows open - in November). And the people incredibly kind, although Billy wasn't impressed with their manners sometimes. Of course, he also thought if he spoke English just a little louder that they might miraculously understand him. I learned, quickly, that while I could certainly ask my questions in Italian I couldn't always understand the answers. But everyone I spoke to was patient and we gestured a lot to get the messages across.

I think I could write for days about the trip, but I won't bore everyone. Suffice it to say that we think we could live in Florence. I think being an English-speaking tour guide there could just about be the ultimate dream job.

We enjoyed our trip, our time together. We learned what we won't do if we get the opportunity to go back someday (DON'T rent a car - take the trains. There are numerous blog postings just in the disaster of having an automobile).

But I'll leave you with a few pictures. They are all on my Facebook page if you want to see the rest.