Josh Bernstein, DDS, Cosmetic Dentist

After nearly getting on the wrong train leaving Rome, we sailed down the tracks to Florence on the gorgeous Eurostar train. In 100 minutes we were there! Our bed and breakfast is just 3 blocks from Florence's signature building, the Duomo, and on the same street as the old bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, which is a bridge covered with very old jewlery stores.

Today we walked a couple kilometers up to Michelangelo's square for a fabulous view of the entire city! Firenze is forever influenced by the now extinct Medici family who commissioned Michelangelo, Botacelli, and many other artists to create world famous masterpieces which we have seen here...including Michelangelo's David and Botacelli's Birth of Venus.

Firenze is very popular with shoppers, and merchants have obliged them with high end stores throughout the city. The food is just as delicious as Romes and it is a good thing we are walking so many miles every day! After all the walking, the kids nearly fell asleep sitting up at dinner tonight! Our stay in Florence is brief...did not get a chance for an excursion to Pisa...maybe next visit...but had a wonderful time here and saw so many beautiful sights. Florence is beautiful and we would love to come back!

Tomorrow, we are on to Venzia!

Ciao!

Ah, a day to relax without a tour guide! A leisurely breakfast, then an early morning visit to the Pantheon, where we had the entire temple, including Raphael's tomb, all to ourselves. Well, so much for this leisure!

We "strolled" over to the Piazza Navona to see Bernini's magnificent Four Rivers Fountain, which was under renovation. Then we strolled over to the Trevi Fountain, which was practically deserted in the early morning as it opened. We threw coins over our shoulders into the fountain to ensure a return trip to The Eternal City!

We continued our "stroll" back to the Spanish Steps and by all the fancy designer shops, wishing that Mavra were with us to guide us around her favorite designer stores — Gucci, Prada, Burberry — all the stores she can't possibly afford on her paycheck! We meandered around the narrow, cobblestone streets all the way back to Michelangelo's square in front of City Hall, the center of Roma, adorned with Marcus Aurelius on horseback, and a fountain with Romulus (and his brother), the namesake of Rome, raised by a she-wolf on the site of the Forum.

We revisited the Roman Forum and took classic photos of the Forum and the Coliseum, reviewing the history that Francesca taught us a few short days ago. We remembered, looking at the Arch of Titus that the destruction of the second temple of Israel is depicted on the arch. 50,000 Jewish slaves brought from Israel helped build the arch.

We also remembered that the Catholic Church built the Vatican with materials salvaged from the destruction of ancient Rome. The gorgeous colorful marble adorning St. Peter's Basilica was taken from the Coliseum, reminding us that the Coliseum was much more colorful than most people imagine. There was a time that to be a Roman, you could not be a Christian. Later, there was a time that to be a Roman, you had to be a Christian. It made us once again understand the importance of religious freedomÂ…and the importance of not imposing our own belief system on others. So many world problems have come from violent religious conflict, including today's problems. The Vatican was only too happy to plunder Rome similar to the way that Rome destroyed the second temple of Israel. As we continued our last walk through the forum, we paid special attention to the Palatine Hill, where Julius CaesarÂ’s enormous palace once stood. We bid farewell to the Coliseum and the Forum and wandered through (got lost in ...) the back alleys of Rome in time for an outstanding Roman lunch (fried olives for antipasto!) at a quaint little trattoria near our hotel.

After a 10-minute nap that lasted 3 hours, we woke up disoriented, and sleepily left for an afternoon visit by taxi to the fancy Via Veneto hotel district with its expensive cafes and shops. We stopped in at the Hotel Excelsior where I had stayed in 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon! We walked back to our hotel and got ready for dinner, miraculously connecting with Jack's friend, Jack Ziegler, who is on a pilgrimage to Israel for his Bar Mitzvah at Masada. The kids had a blast at dinner together and walked up to the Trevi Fountain for some memorable photos.

After the kids went to bed, Allison and I enjoyed a late night cappuccino at an outdoor cafe, facing our old friend and neighbor, The Pantheon, splendidly lit at night, wondering when we would return to Roma and looking forward to our brief train ride to Firenze tomorrow!

Arividerci, Roma!

Buongiorno!

Mama Mia, what a day! Our faithful guide, Claudio picked us up early and in his heavy Italian accent guided us through parts of Roma a little out of walking distance. We saw the Church of the Monks of Cappucini, where the walls, unbelievably, are literally decorated with the bones of the monks!

As we drove around and saw Bernini’s fountains and the obelisk over Marcus Aurelius’s tomb, we found our way past the Coliseum and up to the Church of St. Peter in chains. There we saw the actual relic chains that held Peter in captivity. Right next to this amazing relic we saw Michaelangelo’s masterpiece, Moses, whose horns were confused linguistically for light. We continued around Roma and saw Circus Maximus, the Roman Baths, Nero’s palace, the mouth of truth (of “Roman Holiday” fame!), the original city wall and aquaduct. We talked about the Cloaca Maxima, but decided against doing the tour of the sewer! As we ventured out of Roma along the Appian Way with its 2,000 year old cobblestones we stopped at the catacombs but we all got a little freaked out, cold and claustrophic so we got the heck out of there! We took a pleasant drive to the countryside winding our way up to Villa d’Este and Tivoli Gardens with its vast display of gorgeous fountains.

Returning to Roma after a delicious pizza lunch in charming Tivoli, we bid farewell to Claudio and arrived in time for a short line at the Vatican Museum. We wound our way through an abundance of incredible sculpture, frescoes, mosaics and paintings, culminating in the incomparable Sistine Chapel. Michaelangelo’s ceiling is absolutely breathtaking in person! To add frosting on the cake, we concluded our day in awe inspiring St. Peter’s Basilica, which rightly deserves the title of greatest church in the world.

It positively must be seen to be believed as no words can describe the sheer size, the artwork and the popularity of the seat of the Vatican—especially in these few days before Easter. Michaelangelo’s Pieta, now protected behind glass after being vandalized a few years ago, is nevertheless spectacular.

After all this touring, our day became a little like “The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Sightseeing,” but the kids were troopers, in spite of the jet lag! While the kids rested, Allison and I went out for a fabulous granita and one of our numerous daily peeks at our next door neighbor, the ever impressive Pantheon, this time to see how the ancient drains handle the rain sprinkling through the oculus! Tomorrow we rest and sip on cappuccino!

Ciao!