We flew, friday the 29th Aug. at silly o'clock in the morning, from Liverpool john Lennon Airport. Ryanair to Ciampino, Rome.
The flight was uneventful, apart from a very dodgy cheese and ham "panini", with dubious expiry date...
Stepping out of the plane in Rome, was like entering a furnace.... The heat was fierce at first, but slowly you got used to it and didn't pay much attention to it.
Immigration for Jet was a doddle... "Is this lady your wife?" yes I said.... "Have a nice vacation" he replied....
The few polish people on the same plane did not have the same courtesy shown.... I noticed... I wonder why....
Picked up the hired Opel Corsa from Hertz in record time and within minutes I adjusted to driving on the right.
While I was driving along towards my hometown, Jet was shrieking with delight at all the various fruits being grown in the orchards and private house gardens.
Every few minutes she was asking me to stop and take photos..... Yeah... right....
After little over one hour of driving we arrive at the Hotel...
Penthouse room on the 4th floor with balcony.
The view was breath taking.
For six days we overdosed on fresh fish, shellfish, calamares, fruit, the best ice creams that you can find on earth and lots of sunshine and fresh air.
The Sunday after our arrival was more special than any other sunday, as I took Jet to see the Pope in the flesh... We left rather early to make sure that we could get inside the Papal cortyard in Castelgandolfo, near Rome. We queued for about an hour and a half, soaking up the sunshine, and then we went inside in the shade. After about 30 minutes He got on the balcony and welcomed all the pilgrims.
The unfortunate ones that were not able to make it inside, did watch it on large screen TVs outside.
Jet was overwhelmed, and prayed there and then for her younger sister's soul.
I must admit that I was a bit moved by it all myself....
I think that this was the highlight of her trip to Italy.
After the "Angelus", we made for the exits and being just after lunch I decided to let my wife try the local speciality.... Lechon.
Need less to say that she was really impressed now....
The rest of the holiday was spent driving her around to see the sights. But going to Rome itself was different, because for convenience we went by train, as driving in the city would have been suicidal.... There we did go and see the various landmarks like the vatican, Coliseum,The forum, Trevi fountain and also lesser tourist attracting places.
Obviously, the amount of photographs she took would have bankrupted me if they were taken on 35mm film....
One lazy afternoon we did go to the beach for a swim, the water was nice and clean and we spent two hours frolicking like teenagers in the sea.
The customary couple of meetings and meals with my relatives went extremely well and they were very pleased to meet Jet and remarked how beautiful she looked and always with a smile on her lips.
On wednesday we went to Terracina, lovely town by the sea, and visited....
http://translate.google.co.uk/transl...J_enGB247GB248
All in all the trip was very successful and the marvellous weather helped recharge the batteries for the next few months.
The flight back was a very sad occasion, and the cold on arrival in Liverpool heralded the shape of things to come....
I will post some photos as soon as possible for all to see.
Bye for now
Ps... I have posted some photos in my albums