Benvenuto a Roma!

May 15th We flew from Dallas to London to Rome on British Airways. It was a great flight, albeit long, we had individual video screens with new releases where I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Last Chance Harvey, and Yes Man. Then the flight was over...but we had to sit for 4 exhausted hours in Heathrow awaiting our next flight. We arrived right on time in Rome, and flew through customs without even a stamp of our passports, which I was a little upset about.

We were so exhausted we just came to the family's house, relaxed, and then ate our first wonderful dinner, and crashed!!! For dinner we had Buccatini alla Carbonara, followed by Tuna Stuffed Zucchini with Tomatoes, and homemade bread.

The itroductions...

Guilia is Richard's 16 year old cousin... (the purple shirt she has on in the picture is the gift I got her for those of you I discussed this with, she loved it)

Zio Luca is his only uncle

Rosa (Rosella) is his aunt

We are staying at their house while in Rome.

Today, May 16th....

We started our tour by visiting the Catacombe di San Calisto, which was very interesting. Over 500,000 Christians from AD 80's to AD 300's. There were 4 levels of catacombs that were built from top to bottom. I learned the meaning of the word cemetary, it comes from the Greek word meaning dormitory to indicate that it is just a sleep, that we will be ressurected. The pagan term for cemetary was necropolis "city of death". The one thing that the tour guide mentioned that stuck with me was that we are all Christians albeit from different denominations, she said "We are a mosaic making up the body of Christ"

We then walked around the old city, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, looking for food. We ended up eating at a traditional Roman restaurant, I had Tortelloni con Funghi e Proscuitto (with mushrooms and proscuitto) and Richard had Maccaroni all'Arribiata (spicy tomatoe sauce).

We then trekked back to the Castel Sant'Angelo a fortress in early Rome down the street from the Vatican, or San Pietro's Basilica. The highlight of the castel were the stunning views of Rome as you rose higher and higher up the balconies. It was absolutely breathtaking. We missed it last time we visited, so let me reccThen on the way home we had to stop for the obligatory gelato!

Then back home to blog and eat dinner...but first Carlo and Mariolena stopped by to say hello and welcome us. Mariolena is Mariagrazia (Rich's mom) and Luca's first cousin and Carlo is her husband, so Richard's second cousin. So the best thing about dinner the past two nights has been conversing uning lots of hand gestures, Guilia's broken English and Richard's broken Italian, but I feel like I have learned so much about Italy, it has been wonderful so far...Tomorrow is another day and will hopefully bring another entry!ommend if you are planning on visiting Rome anytime it is not to be missed!