Wednesday May 21. We saw the Pope today. It was raining so they moved the papal audience inside St. Peter's, which was good and bad. On the one hand, we were there so early we were in the fourth row, much closer than we would have been in the square, plus the setting of the basilica is much better. But, instead of having a seat to wait for 2.5 hours, we had to stand in a crowd of pushy, rude (sometimes smelly) people. By hour 2.25, I was doubting whether it was really worth it - then the pope came out, dressed all in white (including brilliant white hair) with red shoes, and blessed the crowd. He walked along the front row shaking hands with people putting us about 10 feet from him. Jeff's dad got a close up of his shoes, which I was disappointed to discover were not doc martens.

In high school, I was campaigning for a pair of black Dr. Marten boots. My parents thought they were too expensive (and hideous) and wouldn't give in. Then I was reading my mom's catholic digest and found a tidbit that said that 300 pairs of doc marten boots were delivered to the Vatican every year. The author jokingly concluded this must mean that the pope wears doc martens so I put the article on the fridge and incessantly reminded my parents that the pope wears doc martens. They finally gave in and bought me the boots for Christmas my junior year and I continued to wear them for the next 5 years until they died. (BTW, the boots were for the Swiss guard that polices the Vatican. Another FYI, the British army also wears doc martens, at least they did in 1995.)

After seeing the pope, Tony, Brenda and I went back to the Forum to see more ruins. We have a history of seeing ruins together because the rest of the family is fairly uninterested. We just can't understand why everyone else isn't fascinated by these ancient leftovers. It was still raining but luckily we found some yellow poncho's near the Vatican because we thought we'd be sitting in the rain all morning. Next time we travel in such a large group, I might make everyone wear bright yellow poncho's, rain or shine, so its easier to keep track of the group.

Thursday May 21. The Menniti's (except me) catch the early train to Florence while the Stallard's head south to Sorrento.

Monday May 19. We took a guided tour through the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica on Monday morning. After the Louvre, I decided that I wouldn't wander around a museum without the self-guided audio tour but now I know a guided tour is even better - at least in a small group. For us analytic thinkers with no background, the art, sculpture and architecture is much more interesting when given historical context. The Sistine Chapel was amazing but the rude, pushy crowds took alot away from the experience. Somehow the common courtesy we come to expect in the United States just isn't that same in Rome (at the major tourist attractions anyway). Is it so wrong to expect people not to cut in line, not to push the person in front of them when traveling in a crowd, to apologize if they hit you in the head with their giant backpack, maybe even to yield a seat to a 70 year old lady instead of knocking her over getting to it?

Tuesday May 20. This is a good time to point out that I didn't force anyone (including Jeff) to scale hundreds of steps to get a city view on this trip. We even skipped the 630 steps to the top of the dome in St. Peter's....but I can't resist the lure of picturesque views from high vantage points so the early crowd (me, jeff, my dad, and Scott) went to Castel Sant'Angelo to get a view of Rome. For the minimal effort involved, it was a pretty good view of St. Peter's even though it was rainy, overcast and very windy - our fourth day of drizzly rain. We also went shopping that afternoon and found the Ferrari shop for Tony.

Scott and Jeff decided to cook dinner at the apartment that night using fresh pasta from the supermarket. So we stayed in, avoiding the rain, and let Chef Scott and Sous-chef Jeff (or was it the other way around?) serve us ravioli di carne, spaghetti di pollo and inslata caprese. They use Bertolli tomato sauce which is authentic in this case considering is was purchased in Italy.

Tony's vacation ritual consisted of sleeping most of the day when not sightseeing and staying up all night. We locked him in one night - you needed a key to leave once the door was locked - so he couldn't go wandering. It wasn't on purpose but it was funny when he complained the next day.

Italy 2008 from Adrienne's point of view. When traveling with a group of 11, there are bound to be 11 different versions of the trip - like the four Gospels that made it into the New Testament. Hopefully everyone agrees it was a great, once-in-a-lifetime vacation. The chaos of traveling with 11 family members just added to the experience.

Saturday, May 17. Get your asses out of bed and get going - there's a ton of stuff to see in Rome. First stop, Palatine Hill and the Colosseum. Lots of ruins to visit in this part of the world. Jeff and I have an arrangement when we go on trips like this, he gets us to our destination (hotels, flights, train travel, etc) and I plan our sight seeing activities and navigate us around the city. This works great when its just the two of us but not so well when trying to negotiate 11 people. First, I prefer to start early because crowds of tourists annoy me. Second, I don't respond well to comments when I'm trying to get us to the destinations packed with tourists in a strange city with no straight roads, where the streets change names block to block, and with buses that have no time tables. Third, I'm a control freak and I prefer to be in charge of my own vacation activities. I must admit my stubbornness caused our first day to be a bit grueling as we walked in the sun around Palatine Hill and the Colosseum with out lunch from 11:00 until 4:00. I bickered with my brother and my parents and I was grouchy with everyone. Take me or leave me but I can be uptight and I do have temper. We went on night walk to see the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, and the Spanish Steps sometime in the first few days. I was appointed group leader but my plan to catch the bus was changed, my map reading ability was questioned (even though no one else seemed to do any better or would take control), it annoyed me and I was a bitch so I'll leave it at that. I didn't take any pictures to document it anyway.

Sunday May 18. Okay, my attitude is adjusted and I have a much better time from here on out. I spent a relaxing moring at the Porta Portese Flea Market with Jeff and my dad while everyone else slept in. We wandered in the rain searching for my vintage postcards among the junk. After lunch, I guided the group to the Pantheon (where the self portaits are taken). I have to keep reminding myself how old the things I'm seeing are - the Pantheon is 2,000 years old, which just doesn't compute considering its roughly the same age as the Colosseum but in remarkable shape since it has been in continuous use throughout history. We also went to the Capuchin Crypt, decorated with the bones of 4,000 Capuchin monks, including complete skeletons, some with dessicated skin. It was morbid but fascinating. The skulls with wings made from shoulder blades were my favorites and I was struck by how short these monks were.

That evening we had gelato in the Campo de' Fiori (see the group pic above) around the corner from our apartment. Campo de' Fiori must be the center of nightlife in Rome. We spent alot of time watching the people migrate between Campo de' Fiori and Piazza Navona from our balcony. Some of us stayed out for a few drinks in the square for even better people watching. Unlike my other two European vacations, I didn't step in any dog crap on this trip...but I deserved to after we watched a dachshund leave a landmine in the square then waited for a poor soul to step in it for entertainment.

I've been a grouchy old graduate student recently while trying to finish in the lab. All of the sudden, every one around me are idiots - poor Rachel has listened to some pretty in depth rants about everything from people stealing my calculator to young grad students wasting my time and expecting to be spoon fed. But, I'm going to Italy tomorrow and I managed to collect all the data I needed despite the worm infested reactors. I want to put down a quick record the fun things that have happened recently now that I'm in a good mood.

(1) I got my jiu jitsu purple belt.

(2) Cathy came into town for graduation (see picture above)

(3) Elizabeth finally had her baby

Now, I just need to finish packing.......

Aquatic earthworms? I've finally found a lab pet I don't like. These guys took over in one of my reactors and changed the whole dynamic of the system. It seems filamentous organisms are earthworm caviar as they munched away most of my prolific population of filaments in about 2 days. Or maybe its some form of ethnic cleansing. I need to find the worm leader and give him (invariably men are responsible for these things) an ultimatum. Call off your foot soldiers or I'll send you back to the treatment plant.....people flush all kinds of toxic substances down the drain. No more cushy lab life with synthetic substrate. Bizarre. My reactor has become a compost pile and its not even fun to look at under the microscope. Except I sometimes enjoy smashing them under the coverslip and watching their guts spill out.

Check out this video to see what it looks like under the microscope:
http://www.microscopeforums.com/f16/aelosoma-hemprichi-12.html

another picture of my worms