Up early bags out. I want down for breakfast. Antonio gave me coffee right away. Maybe enjoying a relaxing evening at the hotel lobby bar does have some perks. Breakfast was good but quick. We had to be on the road by 8 am to get to Rome for the Vatican tour. I brought Tim up a croissant sandwich. He was less focused on a morning coffee than I. There were two tours leaving the hotel around the same time. Open seating on the bus to Mount Vesuvius, we chose near the front. It sprinkled most of the way there. A mist of rain is good on a driving day, but was glad we had the sun yesterday.
Casa Barone is an organic farm located in the Mount Vesuvius National Park. The volcanic ash and nutrients in the rich soil allow for growing of piennolo tomatoes. They have a thick skin and remain ripe for up to a year after harvest. The new plants are still small but there were fresh tomatoes from last season there. The two girls, nine and eleven, practiced their English with us. The whole family was sweet. She apologized so much for the rain. I am sure the farm needed it. It was only sprinkling when we were outside. The walk up the hill to the farm was refreshing. They had homemade snacks of lemonada, bread with tomatoes, and a cake with apricot jam. They were all so fresh and refreshing. Yum! I so loved seeing this farm in action. It was even lovely in the rain. Tim and I took a quick walk down to the facilities. Then I had to buy some tomatoes and Limoncello. We wandered a bit quicker down the hill back to the bus, the rain was getting a bit more persistent.
Pancrazio was diligent about keeping the bus clean for us throughout our trip. We came on the bus with our dirty shoes and wet jackets. He did not say a word but I felt for him. We were not helping with the soil from the farm tracked down the aisle. Almost as soon as we hopped back on the bus, the heavens opened and the rain really came down. We had a long drive so out came my knitting as we hung up our wet jackets.
The rain stopped long enough for us to take a break Cassino War Cemetery. There are a number of Canadian solders buried there. I talked to Mom. She thinks that Mickey was here during the war. The clouds parted long enough for me to get a picture of saint Benedict Abbey on top of Monte Cassino. I chatted with Mom. She thought Micky was there. We had our picnic lunch. It is what Italians do with leftover pasta for picnics, pasta a frittata (fried pasta). It was good, and very filling. I was hungry but could only eat one piece. Italians seem to like natural flavours, not much spice and a few fresh herbs.
I sent Karen pictures via text. Clair said that Mickey was not there but she thought Cletus Sharkey was buried there. By the time I got Karen’s message we were on the road again so I did not get to check for it. As you can see from the link on his name, the paperwork online says he is at the Argenta Gap War Cemetery. I was really moved by the quotes on the bottom of some of the gravestone inscriptions.
Back on the road. It took a few hours to get to Rome. We stopped at an Esso station for last rest stop before the Vatican. I got a caffe (espresso). It really helped to wake me up. Tim got some chips. Traffic around Rome was busy. Barbara said we would go right to dinner from the Vatican. She and Pancratizo would bring the bags to the Hotel Romanico Palace while we were with our local tour guides at the Vatican. It took them some time to get through the traffic to the hotel and back to pick us up after our tour.
Our Vatican tickets were for 3:30 pm on Monday. Traditionally a busy day there. Usually the Vatican is done on the first day of the tour, earlier in the day, but because of the May 1 holiday we got it the last day of our trip at 3:30 pm. Elana was back as our local tour guide for the Vatican, because our group was so large we had another guide as well. We got inside as we waited for the tickets. Wow the people! Elena said it was not so bad she could stretch her arms out, but I had my doubts. Barbara came back with the tickets. I was so glad that insight vacations dealt with the booking of tickets and tours of the sites. We went up the escalator to get our Vatican headsets. Tim had issues getting the set to stay on, but once that was settled our main problem was staying together and with the whole group. You could tell they were getting a bit too far away when our radios went to static. I just took pictures where I could. I tried just looking up and experiencing the art, but the crowds were so overwhelming to me.
Elana kept saying look up to experience the wonder. But being jostled around made it difficult to stay in the moment. All the tickets had been sold for that session. The art was amazing. I felt rushed by things that I might have stayed longer to admire. The mosaics blew me away, the floors and papal seals were particularly good. Tim and I came upon our group as we were shunted by the Sistine Chapel. There were too many people inside so we got a tour of some of the papal apartments and back rooms and some modern art sections that are not normally part of the guided tour. It did add more stairs though.
It was a marathon through there on the last day. I think we were all ready for a rest after it.
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