From Jenni and her mom, Cindy:
(Sorry for the change of format, but we are on a Kindle now)
On Sunday, July 8, Jenni's mom, Cindy, came to join Jenni and Amy and embark on her own short Italian adventure! After a well-deserved nap and shower, all three of us went out for a fancy dinner at a wine bar (...called "Wine Bar"). It was a dinner to jointly celebrate the end of an exciting summer for Amy (who was scheduled to leave soon) and the arrival of Cindy. After dinner we walked up the Spanish Steps and enjoyed a beautiful stroll home along a path that has gorgeous views of the city.
On Monday we jumped an early train to the city of Pisa. After finding the correct bus to the famous basilica and campanile (aka, the leaning tower) we had some lunch and entered the grounds of the church. Although the tower is at the far end of the grounds behind a large baptistery building and the beautiful basilica, it is the very first thing you notice because it looks as though it is about to go over at any moment! After some tourist photos (of course, we HAD to take them!) we toured the basilica and found that it appears that many pieces of it (inside and out) had been "borrowed" (maybe without permission) from other churches... None of the columns matched, the stained glass windows had no real theme, some of the stones even had parts of words carved on them from their original site! The baptistery (we guess that's where they baptise people) looked like a pretty normal (by Italian church standards) churchy place, until they gave an echo demonstration. One guy came in and started singing various notes. His voice perfectly echoed within the round, domed room until he sounded like a whole choir! It was as beautiful as it was amazing!
Bright and early on Tuesday morning Amy had to leave for the US. Jenni helped her get to the train station where she started the rest of her looooong journey home. (She made it safe and hopefully posts an update soon!)
Tuesday Jenni and Cindy spent the day at the Vatican. After a walk through the Vatican Museums we saw the amazing Sistine Chapel and St. Peters Basilica. Cindy was impressed by the grandeur of it all: the size of the basilica, the amount of gold leaf, the number of art pieces, etc. We took a quick (and HOT) ride home and then got ready for a night at the opera. We saw a nice performance of famous Italian pieces then enjoyed a delicious gelato on the way home while watching the crowd from on the Spanish Steps.
On Wednesday, Jenni wanted to walk Cindy around some of the nearby sites. First stop, the Trevi Fountain. Cindy was impressed by the beauty and size of the fountain and both took a moment to throw in a coin to ensure their safe return to Rome in the future. The second stop was the Pantheon. Cindy said it was "awesome" and thought it was an architectural wonder. The third stop was Piazza Navona. After people watching for awhile we headed home for the night. It was a long day of walking!
Today, Thursday, we decided to catch a hop-on-hop-off tour of the city. We drove by the Roman Forum and the Colosseum (which got us excited for our tour tomorrow!) then "hopped off" near the Mouth of Truth. The legend is that the jaws of the mouth will snap shut and bite off the hand of a liar. We have both survived having our hand in the mouth... whew! Next we stopped by the capitoline area to check out a great view of the forum and to see a super old church before jumping back on our bus. On the way home we enjoyed a sunset over the Vatican.
Tomorrow we get to see another amazing part of Roman history, but other than that, the sad time has come to start preparing to leave Rome... doing laundry, washing dishes, eating all the left over food... It is sad (but still exciting and fun) time for Jenni. Next stop for Cindy, America. Next stops for Jenni, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
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