This photo is courtesy of our friend Sue. Relayed by Frank & Linda (on She and her husband Gene (in red) are now in Panama, where it is a little warmer than the photo. Here the 6 Musketeers were all waiting for the Vatican Museum to open. It was free one day a month and since it was normally expensive, that was a popular day. Some said the line sometimes grows to 5 km long. Dave & Janet came 6 times for free, always very early to be at the front of the line, but there were always a few hundred people earlier. The line builds quickly. There is a VERY popular coffee shop across from the entrance, with hot drinks AND a toilet for customers. No fools they.
When Dave’s mom visited us in Rome, we all paid the full price as she was not there on the free day and to get up that early and wait in the cold was not a good idea for her. This museum always was a life changing treat and almost every time, some rooms that we’d seen before were closed for maintenance and new rooms were open. The museum was always packed, but well worth it.
We got mom a free wheelchair and given the many kilometers of halls, it would not be dumb to get a wheelchair and take turns pushing each other. But, the building is not very wheelchair friendly and a few places are hard to get into or out of with a chair.
It is such a complicated collection of buildings that we downloaded maps to be able to navigate and not miss whole areas. They have a good website. Some of the World’s best art is there.
Click on the photo and it will get bigger. Click on the photo a second time and it will get even bigger.
And, Patrick and Lindi suggest: “…and if you press and hold on the photo, you get to keep it on your iPad :)”
Alegria1976's Blog 
Hi You Guys,
HaHaHa. I forgot how cold it got in Roma! I remember that day and the coffees and I remember you and Janet going so often. You were right, it takes numerous visits to soak in the Museum, and St. Peter’s Basilica; all of Rome, really. When I saw the Sistine Chapel the first time, I remember thinking how squat and chunky the figures were in real life and how beautiful the colors were. While we were there, we read Irving Stone’s biography of Michelangelo,”The Agony and the Ecstasy”, (a gift from “Our Germans” :)) and couldn’t believe the misery he went through during his time painting the chapel. In the Basilica, his Pieta left me in awe not only because the incredible beauty of the sculpture itself, but because of the other-worldly light that seems to glow from within. He was very picky about his marbles, and it shows.
I also remember you and Janet arranging another 6 Musketeer outing–The Artichoke Festival! What a great time that was even if I had a bit of claustrophia of the homo-sapien kind. I really enjoyed the Italian, American country rock band. I thought their Italian accented country twang was so cute. We have their CD stowed somewhere. Ahh, Roma!
Sue and Gene
As I recall, the Cajun expression for ‘we had fun’ is ‘we pass a good time’. We have a gob of wonderful memories of Rome and the 6 Musketeers and several other nice folks that were there that Winter. Thanks for reminding us of the Artichoke Festival. It was not as nice as I’d hoped, but still was fun.
Not to fret a tiny bit about the Train ride. I have claustrophobia of the more common very small space kind. Most of the misery for me, is knowing that this is really dumb, but not being able to stop it. We met a guy that is very good at re-programing the brain and if he succeeds with ridding me of claustrophobia, I will certainly let you know. That is if he can get my memory working better.
I have some memory pills around here somewhere, but I can’t recall where I put them.
Dave & Janet (I want to say that as long as I possibly can)
P.S. I take a pretty good photo, even if it looks like there’s a fingerprint in the middle!
I think that we exchanged photos before we all went our separate ways. I will see if I can find them, otherwise, I may want you to send me some when you have time. But, don’t spend anytime on it now. I thinks that I have them.
Dave & Janet
I was lucky enough to visit there when I was on a cruise. Absolutely unbelievably beautiful. Love you both.
I lovelier bunch of people you couldn’t hope to meet.
“I lovelier…” Is that a pun or a typo? Hi Malcolm! Yes! You were also in Rome that Winter as were several other wonderful people. I did not mean to slight anyone. We had a very small contingent of live-aboards that we knew of, but we still had a lot of fun. Even strange Ostia was fun in many ways. Way more graffiti that I have ever seen before or since.
I am still quite busy, but someday I will write or Skype you all. It is one of the things that I look forward to. But,I may have to get back to Alegria first, before I can relax much.
Cheers,
Dave & Janet