If you’re anything like me, the first time I had to pack for a big European trip, I was like a deer staring into headlights.

I’m going to give you all the tips I’ve learned the hard way for packing light on an overseas trip.

Where do you even begin? What kind of luggage is best? How many outfits should I pack? Will I be able to wash clothes? What is the weather? Are clothing standards different there? What can be both comfortable and nice looking for all my photos?

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There are so many questions to consider! I’m going to do my best to answer all of these.

Let’s start with the why for packing lightly.

First off, it is $75 to check one bag per person on a U.S. to London flight. You also have to return home, so that is $150. Now times that by a family of five. Your total is $750, which you just saved by packing light!!

Any time you check luggage, you are risking your bag not making it to your destination when you do, especially if you have any connections whatsoever.

In the U.S. if your bag is late, no biggie. They will drive it to your hotel for you. Overseas, you may not be planning on even staying in the same country the next day. There may be a language barrier. Lost luggage is the last thing you want to deal with.

Also, chances are you are going to be using a mix of trains or taxis to get to your destinations multiple times during your European vacation. Toting a giant suitcase around is a giant pain. You want luggage that feels portable to you. It’s important for you to be able to handle all of your bags yourself at any given time or place on your vacation. You can load get it all on and off trains with ease, it fits into cab trunks, and it isn’t too heavy for you to manage.

Trains are bound to be a part of your European vacation. Walking will be too.

My favorite luggage to use:

A small carry-on size roller bag + a shoulder bag + a light crossbody purse tucked into your shoulder bag = travel perfection.

I’ve tried several different things over the years. For our Italy trip, I took nothing but a giant backpack and a purse. That worked, but I didn’t love my lack of clothing options. Also, the backpack was a little too heavy on my shoulders for long at a time. Plus, I was in Italy. In the big cities of Italy, where we were, pick-pockets are a concern. Backpacks are probably the least secure type of luggage you can use. Even a clumsy thief might successfully swipe something from bookbag without you noticing.

But mostly, I just hated carrying that backpack around. Sometimes my poor husband carried it for me. He’d have his on his back and mine strapped to his front, if we needed to get through a train station especially quickly.

So this is my absolute favorite way to travel. This works when you are going anywhere at all.

I especially like a roller bag with four wheels, but any carry-on size roller bag will do.

Then I choose a purse that is both lightweight and crossbody. My shoulders tire easily, so I put very little in my purse. In fact, for our last big trip I ordered a light weight wallet too. In my purse, I place only the little wallet, sunglasses, phone, hand sanitizer, and chapstick. Carrying a thermos around is too heavy, so unless I’m going somewhere like Pompeii, I buy drinks when I get thirsty and order free water with meals.

Every passenger on an airplane is entitled to two carry-on bags. This is important to remember.

You may place one under the seat in front of you and one in the overhead bins. (Many U.S. airlines now charge you extra for carry-on bags, so make sure you choose the right fare.)

To get around this “one personal bag and one suitcase” rule, I pack my purse into a larger shoulder bag that I will call my personal bag and place under the seat in front of me.

What kind of purse should you take?

I personally prefer a lightweight cross-body. It is harder to snatch your purse or anything in it if you wear it cross-body. You will probably be standing and walking more than usual, so keep it as light as you possibly can.

Now for What to Pack!

Most of us travel during the summer or at Christmas, and the weather does make it different. Either way, I try to limit myself to five basic outfits. You want a couple of pairs of your favorite pants/shorts/skirts that will go with all of the shirts you pack, or at least most of the shirts you pack.

Pick four or five casual tops and one top for dressing nice to go out at night. Or you can pack a dress to go out at night. Many dresses will work for day or night.

Don’t skimp on underwear! Pack five to seven pairs of those just in case. Summer vacations get sweaty, and you may want extra changes. When we were in Israel, I had to go to a store and buy more underwear because I was changing twice a day with the heat.

You want socks that will go with your outfits or at least to wear if your feet get cold at the hotel.

Even in the summer, I pack some kind of sweater or sweatshirt. The airplane ride across the ocean is always cold.

Please learn from my flip-flop lesson, unless you don’t care. Europeans do not approve of flip-flops for everyday wear. They are for the pool or the beach. Ha! Thankfully, I was too ignorant of the fashion rules to feel self-conscious.

They do dress better than us, in most of Europe.

I quickly felt out of place in Rome. It was obvious to me that I was under-dressed. Alan was fine, but I’d packed moisture wicking work out tops and flip-flops. Some of my shirts were okay, but I never felt well dressed when surrounded by so many pretty dresses!

For our UK trip, I was more experienced.

I packed two dresses, a blue shirt, a pink sweater, a teal shirt, a dark blue sleeveless shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of hiking capri-length pants. Plus, I wore a pink shirt and a pair of versatile breathable black pants on the plane. I also carried a warm pullover for the plane. For the hotel, I packed two t-shirts to sleep in with sleeping shorts and my cozy slides. Oh! And a hat!

I went light on make-up too, I packed the same basic stuff I wear everyday and no extras. Plus, I got travel sized toiletries.

How I make four or five outfits work for even a two-week trip:

This may sound weird, but we wash our clothes in the sink! Soap is soap. You can even buy a small container of laundry detergent if it’s important to you. I use whatever soap or shampoo I have on hand. I scrub the clothes in the sink wherever we are staying and then hang the clothes to dry.

On our England trip, we were lucky. Even though there were five of us (which is so much laundry), we had two nights where we stayed at a nice apartment. That meant there were plenty of places to hang our clothes to dry.

At the very least, do this hack for your underwear. It’s so easy to wash your underwear in the sink.

Your hotel might even have laundry facilities or service, in which case you can use that.

The most important thing about packing for a big trip like this is comfortable shoes.

I vividly remember having to shop for shoes in Atlanta when I was on vacation with Alan because I was around twenty-five and had not yet learned the comfortable shoe when traveling rule.

Now that I’m in my forties and fighting plantar fasciitis, this isn’t even negotiable. I must wear actual sneakers with everything, even dresses.

For our last trip, I wore one pair of tennis shoes on the plane, and I packed a pair of rehab slides and a backup pair of sneakers. I wasn’t sure yet which tennis shoes would be the most comfortable.

These are my favorite shoes for traveling:

Any Dr. Scholl’s tennis shoes are awesome!! Make sure you size up because they run small, but the padding in these is so perfect. They are up there with Asics and Brooks in my opinion, while looking more like an outfit shoe than just a gym shoe.

I put more tips in this video I made. In the video, I show you how to pack your roller bag in a way that you can see all of your clothes, and I show you some more handy tips.

Last but not least, this inflatable neck pillow was a lifesaver on the airplane!

I couldn’t find this exact one online. I’m not sure where Alan bought it, but they sell similar ones on Amazon. We had the overnight flight from D.C. to London, and this thing was a life saver for me!!

I hope you get to take your trip and have a wonderful time!

There are few things more exciting than embarking on a new adventure. I hope these tips will help you pack and make your time in Europe, or wherever you are going, even better.

The post How to Pack Light for Europe Using Only Carry-On Bags appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

On the last day before our flight out of Italy, Alan and I needed to get from halfway up the boot in Naples, down to the island boot tip of Sicily, to fly out of Naval Air Station Sigonella.

Our whole vacation was built around our military space available flights. To learn more about flying to Italy using military space A, if you are active duty or retired, click here.

All of the flights back to the U.S. were leaving out of Sigonella that Sunday. Meanwhile, we were still up in Naples.

Originally, we hoped to fly commercially from Naples to Sicily. Flights were not much more expensive than the train, so why not? After all, this was no speed train. It was going to take us a full eight hours to ride down the coast of Italy on a train.

But of course, as I mentioned before in my Italy Trip in a Nutshell post, there was an airline strike. The strike only lasted for the one day that we wanted to fly. You cannot make this stuff up. This is how we ended up on a train from Naples to Sigonella.

I guess other people had the same dilemma because by the time we bought our train tickets, there were no seats that were together. There were some nearby each other, just not together. We took what we could get and hoped for the best.

Important tip: If you are booking a train ticket to Sigonella, the stop you are looking for is the “Catania Centrale” stop.

Alan and I had completely different experiences on our journey down the boot to Sigonella.

My experience was pleasant enough. I had a window seat, by the air conditioner. The seat groups faced each other, with a table in the middle. All of the people in my group of four were always quiet. There were stops where the people would change out, but it was always low maintenance people with no drama.

I rested the day away, staring out my window at the Italian countryside and reading.

It was the opposite for Alan. First of all , Alan did not got to sit in his real seat until the last hour or so of the trip. An Italian mom traveling with her three children couldn’t get their seats together either, so she picked a group of seats and just asked other people to move. I don’t blame her a bit. Traveling with children is hard. Everyone was kind about it.

Every few stops, someone would board the train and find Alan sitting in their seat because of all the shuffling. Meanwhile, Alan did not have a window seat with the air conditioning like I did. He said he sweated the entire day.

Oh! And there was one Italian lady, at the beginning of the trip, who got upset about the snack bar not being open, or maybe it was the restrooms. I never knew. I do not speak Italian. Anyway, she protested loudly to the train conductor when he came around and made a bit of a scene. She, of course, was sitting across from Alan.

His day was hot, confusing, embarrassing, and interesting. I can safely say this was Alan’s most miserable day in Italy, and even it was not that bad.

I greatly preferred my quiet, uninteresting ride by the window. There were so many ancient Roman ruins to see! I’m genuinely sorry I did not take more photos.

Y’all are going to fire me as a travel blogger if I do not better remember to take good photos.

When the whole train boarded a ferry to Sicily, that was the coolest part of the day.

They take the entire train and drive it onto a boat! Then they move the train cars around how they want them, and it seemed like there was more than one floor of train cars, but I could be mistaken. It was so cool to me.

On the ferry stop, Alan and I had to switch trains! When they are finished transferring the trains onto the ferry, they open the doors. All the people pour out of the train cars and haul themselves upstairs to look around outside. You get a nice view of the Mediterranean Sea, between the island of Sicily and the mainland of Italy.

It did feel extra special to go up on deck, feel the wind in your hair, and look around at the open sea. This is something I have loved my whole life. Ever since my dad bought a ski boat when I was in middle school, I have enthusiastically been a boat person.

You also can use this time to use the restroom, buy a drink from the drink machine, stretch your legs, and find your new seats. Thankfully, on this last leg of our journey, we had seats together! Plus, these seats felt more private, as there was no table. It was more like traditional transportation. We weren’t facing anyone but the back of the seat in front of us.

This leg of the trip was rather short, and we were in Catania in no time. Before this trip, I had no idea there was a Navy base in Sicily.

Now we only had to figure out how to find our way from the train station to the base, where we booked our hotel for the night.

Alan used the Uber app to book our taxis the whole time we were in Italy, and it worked beautifully.

I have heard many stories of taxis taking advantage of tourists and price gouging. We did not have that experience at all, using the Uber app.

All of our taxi drivers were helpful. In fact, the cab drivers were a big part of what made our trip a success.

You know who else was wonderful? The gelato people at the train station. We had trouble finding the taxi stop, and there was a truck selling gelato right outside the train station. We bought gelato and asked them for directions, but they did not speak English and couldn’t understand us.

They did understand we were asking for directions to somewhere though, so they did the best thing they could think of to do. They handed us free bus tickets, trying to help us out! Can you believe that? I’d say the Sicilian hospitality was unbeatable.

We gave their tickets back, thanking them profusely. And we did figure out where to meet the taxi. It was nearby.

I will say our reliance upon American naval bases for lodging was both a blessing and a curse.

It was a blessing because we had a place to land where everyone spoke English and they changed dollars to Euros at a low rate. The downside was the we had to take way more buses and taxis to get to these out-of-the-way hotels.

Next time we go, because we are going to go again one day for sure, I think we will stay closer to the heart of things. It would be nice to spend less money on taxis and less time in bus lines and hot, sweaty buses.

One thing you may not know is there are two different naval base locations for Sigonella.

We had to catch a taxi to take us from the base with the lodging to the base with the airport. At that time of day, first thing in the morning on a Sunday, there was no bus.

We ordered our taxi and set out on foot to the gates of the base. We’d gotten used to hiking to post gates to find a ride to town. It felt like we did a lot of that in Naples.

Thankfully, the Navy Lodge did have hot coffee available. Actually, almost every single place we stayed also had cappuccino. I also learned that Italians strongly believe you can only drink cappuccino in the morning. I mean, with the effects of caffeine, they are not wrong.

Our ride across town to the Sigonella Air Station was pleasant and uneventful.

Our driver told us all about the crops we saw and the volcano, Mt. Etna. Because Mt. Etna does let off steam, it is considered safe. Scientists are not worried about a Pompeii incident occurring from this volcano. This was the very first active volcano I have ever seen in my life, so that was exciting.

Getting seats on the plane back to the U.S. was easy.

There were many seats available. Just know that if you ever fly space available with the military, you do have to spend hours longer than really seems necessary, waiting in the airport. It was worth it for the $80 plane ticket though!!

All in all, our Italy experience was one like no other I have ever had.

I still cannot even believe we got to do this. It was incredible.

Yes, I was anxious most of the time, mostly because we overbooked our summer. Plus, it made me uncomfortable not knowing the language. I hope next time we go overseas I take more time to study the language.

Italy is a beautiful country, rich with so much history. I’m going to leave you with a few resources below, in case you are planning an Italy trip too.

Resources:

Trainline is Europe’s biggest train and coach app. You can use it to book train and bus tickets.

Video on How to fly military space available to Italy and back

Form to sign up for Space A Travel

Touring Vatican City Museum (with Sistine Chapel)

Touring Pompeii Archaeological Site (with photos)

Things to do in Sigonella

The post Traveling by Train from Naples to Sigonella Navy Base (in Sicily) appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

If you are planning your trip to see the amazing city of Pompeii and the people frozen in time, I have a few helpful tips to share with you.

Here is a city, buried by a volcano almost two thousand years ago. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. The entire city was covered in pumice and ash from the volcanic eruption, and it laid buried, largely undisturbed until the 17o0s.

When people finally dug up the city, they found the remains of the Pompeii residents in all sorts of odd positions. These dust people of Pompeii are legendary. Everyone is intrigued by them, and we are no exception. That was the number one thing I wanted to see on our tour, the poor, intact cast people of Pompeii.

But first, there are a few things you need to know before touring Pompeii.

I can say this with authority because these are the exact things we did not know that caused no small amount of trouble for us. We planned our trip in a very last-minute fashion. Alan booked the train, and I booked the Pompeii site tickets. We had no power over the fact that it was probably the hottest day of 2023, but some of our other challenges can be avoided with these tips.

Today you get to learn from our mistakes. That’s the best way because it means this does not have to happen to you!

And if you aren’t going to Pompeii, and just want to see what we saw, come along. We’ve got you covered there too.

#1. Be careful to book your train to go to “Pompei Scavi”, not just “Pompeii”.

Pompeii Scavi is the excavation site. This is what you actually want to see. This stop puts you right in front of the “Porta Marina” entrance to the park. It is perfect.

Unfortunately, we took the regular Pompeii train because we didn’t know and because the Pompeii train tickets are easy to buy online.

That is not what you want. Here is a link to all the details about taking the correct train to Pompei Scavi. It is a regional train called the Circumvesuviana. It leaves from the underground level of Naples Central train station in Piazza Garibaldi.

You cannot buy the tickets in advance. They do not sell them online. Here is a link to the Naples to Pompei Scavi train schedule.

Let me tell you why this matters so much.

Alan and I took the nicer train to the “Pompeii” stop. Now, to be fair, there was a bus at this incorrect station that takes passengers to the correct Pompeii Scavi site. We might have been able to buy tickets on that bus. But there were aggressive salespeople all around, and rather than talk to any of them, we just headed out on foot, not knowing which direction to even walk.

I was starving, so first we stopped by a coffee shop where I bought the most delicious gluten free cornet. (A cornet is a croissant in Italian).

Then we headed off on foot in the direction that we saw other walkers going. We figured maybe they knew the way.

This was during the hottest week of the summer of 2023. It was one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, which I learned that week is forty degrees Celsius. The heat was hard for anyone not to talk about because it was so intense.

Also I should mention there was not a cloud in the sky that day.

Alan and I walked for a solid ten minutes, still felt no closer to the Pompeii excavation site, and we began to get concerned. We finally pulled out our phones and used our maps to discover we were still pretty far away.

In the hot sun, after a week of hot days, and jet lag to boot, I was struggling hard. Alan found a shortcut for us through a neighborhood and got there a little faster, but that brings me to tip number two.

#2. Be careful which gate entrance you buy your Pompeii Archeological Park tickets for. They won’t let you in if you show up at the wrong gate.

By the time we hiked through the sun to get to the park, I was already getting dehydrated, weak, and whiny. My delight to see that there was no long line to get into the park quickly turned to dismay when the guards told me I could not go inside.

The security guards told me my tickets were for the wrong entrance. We were standing at the Piazza Anfiteatro gate, but our tickets were for Porta Marina. If we had taken the correct train, this would have never happened.

#3. Try not to whine out loud.

Full disclosure, I can be a whiner. I do not handle the sweaty heat well at all. In fact, I rarely voluntarily sign up for any sport or activity where sweating profusely is a requirement.

So when the guards told me I needed to hike another twenty minutes around to another gate, I melted into a whiny puddle.

They made fun of me. No one likes a whiner.

Alan was a good sport about it. He knew I could not handle hiking another mile on what felt like the sun itself just to go into this archaeological site and hike around for hours more in the same heat. Our solution was to simply buy new tickets at this gate.

We did our part to support the Pompeii economy.

#4. There is a ticket kiosk right there at the gate, so you can buy tickets on site.

There was a long line of people waiting to buy tickets the old fashioned way. Thankfully, there was no line at all at the automated ticket kiosks. Isn’t that funny? We were in the gates in no time.

#5. You must have a hat.

Even if it isn’t one hundred degrees, I would still recommend a hat. It is an all day outdoor, sunny, dry place to go. I bartered for a hat right outside of the gates, and I was grateful that I did. I managed to get this lovely blue one, which turned out to be my most useful souvenir.

Buying the hat was my favorite part of the day. It was marked $20, and I got the lady to sell it to me for $12 or $15.

#6. You must pack water, and a snack would also be good.

By the time we got in the gates, we’d already walked probably seven thousand steps in the hot sun, and the heat was so brutal it actually felt dangerous. I was so demoralized from the heat, I had trouble digging up any enthusiasm for this place that I was genuinely excited to see. The sun took us down hard.

Our water was not cold anymore, so I turned it down when Alan kept offering it to me. That is how I became more and more dehydrated. By the time I hiked up a hill towards the back of the park, to get to what was labeled as a cafe on the map, my situation was bad. I could barely carry a thought in my head, and my body stopped producing sweat. That’s how dehydrated I was.

To my dismay, the cafe was still under construction. There was no food or drink for sale anywhere. All they had was bathrooms. Well, who would need a bathroom on a day like this? I finally sat down on a ledge and drank from Alan’s thermos of water. It was bath water temperature, but it was better than nothing.

#7. This was the only place we toured in Italy that did not feel like a fashion show. Here you dress for suffering outside.

Finally, everyone was dressed like American tourists! Ha! White t-shirts, shorts, tank tops, crop tops, hats of any kind, and comfortable shoes reigned supreme.

#8. Where are the dust people?

I had one burning quest. I was there to see the people they dug up in Pompeii, the people who were frozen in time, the ones we all read about. This famous phenomenon was haunting and intriguing, and I simply had to see it.

Alan seemed perfectly fascinated by the civil engineering of this town from two thousand years ago, but I wasn’t all that interested in the town part. Where are the people?

I got out our brochure and studied it until I could figure out what item on the key stood for actual people. We were so excited when we finally began to find them.

They are located in several spots throughout the park. Some of the people are even placed in the very area where their bodies were discovered.

#9. How are the people preserved this way?

You can read an extensive explanation of how the bodies are preserved here. The bodies that you see in casts are the people who died in the final wave of the volcano eruption. They died instantly of thermal shock when the pyroclastic flow hit them, and they remain in that position from when they were covered by calcified layers of ash.

When archaeologists originally found these people, they discovered if they touched them, the bodies would turn to dust. In order to reveal the position of each body, they poured plaster into the spaces, creating the casts of where each person who died in the pyroclastic flow was positioned.

I also read that though archaeologists are still digging up Pompeii and its deceased inhabitants, no new casts are being made. They say the casts harm the bones, but I think the casts are so interesting they should continue to do a few. Pour more casts, and leave a few as bones to study as well. But then I’m not an archaeologist, and I doubt they care what this American tourist thinks.

#10. Did any residents of Pompeii escape?

Yes, most of them did. The people of Pompeii had many warnings. The volcano grew more and more active. Most residents fled before it got so bad. Between fifteen and twenty thousand people lived in Pompeii and Herculenaum in 79AD, when the volcano erupted. Most of the people left town in time to survive.

To read more about the refugees, see this article. It has good videos too.

#11. Rain, shine, or heat wave, it is still worth it to visit Pompeii.

This ghost village, preserved in ash for seventeen hundred years, is beautiful. Plus, you learn so much when you visit Pompeii.

You will be amazed as we were about how advanced this society actually was. If there is anything Alan and I could definitely agree on, it was our desire to see Pompeii. We both thought this was the coolest opportunity ever. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see this historical display?

Painted walls were also common. Isn’t this impressive? It survives from at least 79 AD.

This is very close to the time that Jesus walked upon the earth. That means that the towns of Israel may have looked much like this one in Italy. Roman society was indeed advanced. This preserved town gives us a haunting peek into the past, into a world from two thousand years ago.

Here are a few more photos of this incredible archaeological site.

The place is so big, we weren’t even able to see it all. The outdoor areas of the vineyards were glorious.

Water fountains were available in ancient times. Unfortunately, they do not still work. I could have used a good water fountain!

Near the time of the destruction of Pompeii, this amphitheater was actually shut down by the Roman government. The Pompeiians got too rowdy and violent in one of their events here, people died, and the public cried to Rome about the brutality that happened in Pompeii. So the government shut down all use of the amphitheater for four years.

This was no holy society. The village boasted at least twenty-five brothels, staffed by sex slaves who could not escape.

I found it especially sad just how many toddler-sized casts there were, some of them attached to a mother.

This is the cast remains of a horse. Pompeii also has a dog cast in a terrible struggle for his life. I didn’t manage to get a photo of the dog.

For more information about the archaeological park of Pompeii, visit their website here.

For more photos and stories from our trip to Italy, see this one from the Vatican.

Even though it was an admittedly rough day, I am so thankful we got to go!

By the time we got out of the archaeological park, we were ready to pay any amount of money for a cold, icy beverage. There were plenty of street vendors ready to sell to all of the sweaty tourists. I had a delicious watermelon slushy.

Then we headed straight to the Pompei Scavi train station and bought new train tickets.

Yes, we had return tickets for the other train in Pompeii, but it was too far away to walk. We were so done.

We packed into the local train, standing room only, but at least we didn’t have to hike a couple of miles to catch the other train!

In fact, when Alan and I got back to Naples, we plopped ourselves down at the nearest restaurant to the Naples train station and ate pizza! Did you know Naples is the birthplace of pizza?

In conclusion, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask below, and I will answer to the best of my ability.

And most importantly, if you do go, pack plenty of ice water and a snack! Wear sunscreen and comfortable shoes. Go with a positive attitude, and have a great time!

The post What You Need to Know Before Going to Pompeii appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

On our bonus day in Rome, we happened upon this incredible church, in the center of the city. When we discovered that it is older than dirt and designed by Michelangelo, we absolutely had to go inside and check it out.

The name of this church in Italian is Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.

In English that translates to Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and of the Martyrs, according to Wikipedia.

It was right down the street from our hotel. We had to ask around a little bit to figure out that this is still an operating church, and it is open and free to walk in at certain times of day. Would you believe it? We happened to be standing outside when they opened the doors. I was so excited to go inside!

I love that Alan snapped this photo of me gawking at everything. There was so much to behold! This is the only Renaissance style church in Rome.

In fact, this building was originally the site of the Baths of Diocletian, built from 298-306 AD. Ten thousand Christian slaves constructed this monumental pool that was over five times larger than an Olympic pool. The church is just a small part of the original baths.

The baths were actually commissioned by Emperor Maximian in honor of Diocletian. They shared rule of the Roman Empire at the time. But Diocletian never visited his namesake baths himself. Instead, he actually forced Emperor Maximian to abdicate. Nice, huh?

When the Catholic church obtained this site a thousand years later, Pope Pius IV gave Michelangelo the project of turning the area into a church.

They designed the basilica in honor of all the Christian slaves who’d built the baths as well as other martyrs both known and unknown.

This is a view of the side of the church from the outside. You see this as you are walking through the city, and as foreigners who know next to nothing about Rome, you just think it is a ruin. But in fact, this church is a big deal.

According to this article, “Santa Maria degli Angeli was the official state church of the Kingdom of Italy (1870–1946).”

These days they still use the church for many national ceremonies.

When Michelangelo passed away in 1564, here in Rome, his student, Jacopo Del Duca took over the project.

It was so nice and peaceful in there too, and cool. It was a hundred degrees Fahrenheit outside, so entering a quiet, cool room dedicated to God was balm to the soul.

The beautiful Renaissance interior was nothing at all like the ancient-ruins-looking exterior.

That is John the Baptist, a happier version than the captivating and shocking one also located in this church:

When I saw that, all I could say at first was, “Whoa. Who is… Ohhhh” Then I went to work getting the best photo I could. This sculpture of John the Baptist, by Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj (1944-2014). of his famous beheading, is a recent addition to the church’s art collection.

It feels very real and haunting when you first see it. There’s something extra eerie about a chopped off head statue.

Something scary is happening in this painting, but I am not sure what it is. What do you think?

This organ is the largest I have ever seen, and it is even more impressive in person. It is still in use, too. I wish I could hear it.

Look how the light shines down into the chapel area.

This church is actually in a cross shape. The part with the organ is in one of the horizontal wings of the cross shape.

I am pretty sure this painting depicts the persecution of Christians.

If you go back behind the church, which you can walk straight back there easily, you come to these rough ancient looking walls again.

Some places we went in Rome, there were plaques explaining things in both Italian and English. Other places, there was only Italian. I was not able to learn quite as much about this magnificent place as I would have liked to.

I did learn that part of Michelangelo’s restoration project was to raise the floor of this whole place by 2 meters to bring it to the 1500s street level.

This whole back area feels like walking through an ancient ruin, but then they have added this tall statue of Galileo there. In fact, there is an underlying theme of astronomy running through one side of the church, as it houses a meridian line that runs diagonally across one side and the middle of the building.

I was surprised to see Galileo here. Though he was a Christian, the Roman Catholic church of his time (the 1600s) put him under house arrest for his teachings about the sun being the center of the universe. Galileo was a Christian who was persecuted by the church itself. Now it looks like they are back to honoring him, with this statue in the courtyard of a Roman church of national importance.

We walked through the church, into the courtyard out back that had all of this ancient brick, and then we went back inside to check out the other side of the church.

This was the central, main chapel area. I like how it is open to people to come, look around, and pray.

This painting above must be the crucifixion of the apostle Peter. He’s the only one I have heard of being crucified upside down. Wasn’t that Peter?

You can see General Diaz’s tomb in the photo. He was an Italian general in World War I.

Even the ceilings are ornate.

This is a photo of the meridian sundial that runs along the floor. The sun actually shines down this line, accurately indicating the time of day and year. Pope Clement XI commissioned  Francesco Bianchini to build this. It was finished in 1702. It was restored in 2002, still works, and can predict Easter accurately.

Isn’t that something? The twelve constellations of the western zodiac line the meridian line in the marble.

This is us, standing outside the front of the church. You can see the other arch-shaped buildings of the piazza across the street. This marks the other borders of the vast baths of Diocletian.

Of all the places we visited in Rome this was by far my favorite. I think the number one reason for that is that it was quiet and uncrowded. Plus, it was cool, not hot and stuffy. This is definitely worth a visit if you go to Rome.

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The morning of our last day in Rome was supposed to be very straight forward. We had tickets to take the speed train right back to the U.S. Navy base in Napoli. We were staying outside of Rome, so we hired a cab to take us to the train station.

We had a good breakfast at our Hampton Inn that morning, and a reasonable cab fare. All was going to according to plan.

Then our taxi driver started to ask us about our plan, and he realized we did know about the train strike. (Of course, there would be a train strike). He kindly told us about buses that also can take you to Napoli, and we decided that was our best option.

That is how we ended up on a bench at the bus station in Rome, with dozens of buses, none of which had empty seats available to Napoli.

Alan and I agreed we might as well find a new hotel inside Rome and change our plans.

You can find good deals these days just looking on Google, so that is what I did. I found an excellent looking, highly rated hotel in the very center of Rome called Hotel Impero.

We booked a reservation online, called a cab, and headed on over to the new hotel.

This was such a welcome change. Staying outside of town was an extra hassle, having to constantly hail a cab over to Hampton Inn. Even in Naples, we were staying on post, so we had to rely on the Alibus to get anywhere.

Here at Hotel Impero, we could just step out the front door of the hotel and walk to almost any tourist attraction in Rome!

Plus, we were a block away from the train. Everything was suddenly so much easier and more affordable.

My best travel tip for when you don’t have a car is to pick a hotel right in the middle of wherever you want to be, and stay there!

Plus, I loved the ambience of the Hotel Impero. Most of the buildings in Rome have been there forever, and this hotel was no exception. The man at the desk said that the hotel and all of the surrounding area belonged to Mussolini’s government a hundred years ago.

We arrived earlier than check-in, since our plans had been flipped upside down, but the staff was so kind and welcoming about it all. We sat in the small bar area while they made sure our room was ready. After a short wait, we went up the tiniest old school elevator with a bell hop. The hotel has many turns, so he guided us to our room.

The whole place had the vibe of the early 1900s, and I loved it. This place was perfect for me. Everything was decorated and plush, and it seems like there were antiques everywhere.

Plus, I finally felt like I was staying in a real Italian hotel. The Hampton Inn was nice and offered all the comforts of home, but it had less of the authentic Italian experience, you know?

This place even had these enormous weighted keys and multi-level maze-like hallways. I adored it; I really did.

Once we’d gotten our things all situated, we headed across the street for lunch. There were plenty of restaurants to choose from.

Everyone talks about the food in Italy. As a person with food allergies, I do not get the same level of enjoyment out of restaurants.

Having no choice but to be gluten free is such a bummer when you are traveling. Yes, Italy is health conscious and has many places with gluten free options. But still, we had to ask everywhere we went and choose based on that.

Thankfully, I did still manage to have many gluten free pizzas and even one gluten free pasta dish. Alan printed out this celiac statement to explain my problem in Italian, and he would show it to places. It was so sweet of Alan to do that. He really looked out for me.

On our third day in Italy, we covered so much ground on foot. Our favorite place was the The Basilica Of St. Mary Of The Angels And The Martyrs. That one was such a big deal, and we took so many photos that I have to save those pictures for my next post, which will be dedicated only to the basilica.

Here are a few other places we saw.

The photo above is an elaborately carved sarcophagus. True art connoisseurs would probably be baffled at our attitude, but we did not know much about what we were seeing. If you love sculptures, you would enjoy the museum, I’m sure.

We saw many unusual things that we did not know they were.

This was the view from outside the museum. So much of Rome was this cool.

This was outside the baths of Diocletian, but it cost extra to go in, so we passed on this one.

This was close to our hotel too. We had the perfect location.

After touring the museum and the basilica, we just started walking around Rome. We took off on foot headed towards the famous Trevi Fountain and took photos of a few cool things we saw along the way.

This was another one of those buildings that looked important, but we had no idea what it was.

Orange trees grew along the street.

The Trevi Fountain itself was lovely and in tact and definitely the most densely crowded place that we toured. People packed in there. That’s why the photo is a close up. I was trying to cut out the crowds.

In retrospect, I should have taken a distance shot so you can see how many people there were.

We enjoyed picking out a few souvenirs in the little alley shops near the fountain.

After all that touring, we went back to our hotel and napped. Alan woke up from the nap and went out and visited a few stores. I have no memory of what he was shopping for. He probably brought back some food. I said, “I know we are in Italy, but I don’t even need to eat tonight. All I want to do is sleep and rest my feet.”

So that was what I did. I never did go back out that night. It’s a good thing too, because the next day we headed to Pompeii. I love that we saw Pompeii, but it turned out to be our roughest day by far, and you can bet I will be blogging about it soon.

To read about Rome day 1, see this post, with the Colosseum.

For Rome Day 2: The Vatican, click here.

The post Rome Day 3: The Beautiful Hotel Impero Saves the Day appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Our second day in Rome dawned on us a little later than we meant for it to.

We knew we needed to get downtown early to stand in line for Vatican Museum tickets. You see, we did not plan far enough ahead to obtain tickets in advance.

In order to see the famous Sistine Chapel ceiling, you must have Vatican Museum tickets. We were not about to leave Rome without seeing the Sistine Chapel.

But did we see Vatican City?

No, not really. Sort of. We went all through the entire Vatican Museum, which takes up half of Vatican City, but we missed St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square, mostly because we did Rome with no plan. I explain why we took such a last minute trip in this post about our thrifty vacation in Italy.

That is how we ended up waiting in line for the Vatican Museum for three or so hours.

Thankfully, I have dragged us on two Disney World vacations in the past seven years, so waiting in excruciatingly long lines for hours is not something we are afraid to do.

Most Christians are familiar with King Nebuchadnezzar. He was a pretty famous Old Testament character. He destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and carried off the Jewish population to captivity in Babylon, where he came to appreciate Daniel.

For Bible scholars, Bible characters are like celebrities. Seeing these artifacts from the very people we have read about and studied is so exciting. This must be what Elvis fans feel when they visit Graceland.

Assyria is the country that destroyed Israel.

So many things happened with Israel, and King David, King Solomon, dividing into Judah and Israel, and then the devastation of the first temple. It used to be hard for me to keep it all straight. What finally helped me is this home school time line song that includes all of these events, along with other world events, all together in a format that is catchy and straightens all these historical events out in your head.
Here is a link to the timeline song I am talking about. You will like it. I know it sounds crazy, and it is made for kids, but it is so helpful and easy, without being all high pitched and annoying.

Here’s the lyrics to the part that helps me keep my Israel history straight. This goes from around 1000 BC to around 500 BC:

• (1000 BC) Early Native Americans
• Israel Divides into Two Kingdoms
• Homer and Hesiod
• Rome Founded by Romulus and Remus
• Israel Falls to Assyria
• Assyria Falls to Babylon
• Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Buddha

• Judah falls to Babylon
• Temple Destroyed
• Babylon Falls to Persia
• Jews Return and Rebuild the Temple

But before we ever got into the enormous Vatican Museum, we had a fun time waiting in line for three hours. I mean that, and I need to explain that before I go any further.

Behind us in line was a family of four. This family was from Portugal. The people in front of us were from Brazil, and the people behind the Portuguese family were also from Brazil.

I could communicate with them a little with my Spanish, but I did not have to much because the two Portuguese youngsters spoke such good English.

Thankfully, Alan had the presence of mind to take a photo of our two English-speaking Portuguese friends. I won’t post their photos here, though, since the youngest was only eleven, and I didn’t ask permission to share his picture.

The Portuguese family was a classic family of four. Their daughter was the oldest. She was a medical school student in her early twenties. Her little brother, who I literally talked to for hours, was eleven. He reminded me of my own twelve-year-old. Having four boys of my own, I am more comfortable than most people at talking with preteen boys.

This particular boy could have talked to anyone, though. I don’t remember his name, so we will call him Jose. Jose had so many thoughtful questions and stories. He talked all day and was not even boring. For a little while, he even got out his cell phone, and he and I played games on it. I beat him at tic-tac-toe, but he crushed me at these other games I had never heard of and did not understand.

Jose’s sister, we will call her Julia, had even better English than Jose. Together, Alan, Jose, Julia and I discussed the world’s view of former President Trump, President Biden, what it’s like to go to war, life in America, Lego, YouTube, Catholicism, you name it. We had such a surprisingly jolly time.

I know you want to know what they did say about Trump. We all agreed he has his strengths (in policy) and his weaknesses (in personality).

After spending hours in line, in the ninety-something degree heat, we would take turns going to pick up lunch. Alan managed to find us a large gluten free pizza to share, along with gelato and the most delicious sparkling water I have ever had in my life. When you are pouring sweat and dehydrated, cold sparkling water takes on a whole new meaning.

And then all of a sudden, the line started moving again. They would let in about thirty people at a time, and just like that we were in! We hugged our new line friends and said good-bye when we got inside. I figured we would run into them at some point that day, but we never did. The Vatican Museum is enormous and filled to the brim with people.

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The paintings covered the walls and ceilings of many of the rooms. It is hard to know where to look. There is so much to see.

I am sorry to tell you that we were clueless tourists going through most of the museum. We conducted zero research in preparation for this, so we usually did not know what we were seeing. Our eyes were overwhelmed.

However, most of the rooms were so ornate and incredible that even without knowing what we were looking at, it was fascinating.

If I had it to do over again, I would buy a book like this to give me some information first, https://amzn.to/3EjDxaH.

Of course, we went through all of these amazing exhibits with the goal of seeing the Sistine Chapel at the end, which we did see. No photographs are allowed in there, and of everything you see in Rome, I would say it is the most spiritually moving artwork that we saw.

I will include a stock image from Canva of the Sistine Chapel at the end of this. First, you must weave through the museum displays with us.

I do wish I knew more about these paintings to tell you. As we were going through I kept thinking, “I wish I knew who painted these and what they mean.”

The painting above and below were painted by Ludwig Seitz. I did look up the Latin writing on this one because everything means more when you understand it. It reads, “Dvininarum veritatum splendor animo exceptus ipsam iuvat intelligentiam,” which translates in English,

The splendor of divine truths received in the mind helps the intelligence itself.

Pope Leo XIII, 1879

I looked up the Latin on this one too. It was commissioned in the late 1800s by Pope Leo XIII and painted by Ludwig Seitz also.

The Latin on this one translates to, “The ancient arts have happily returned to life by the patronage of the Roman Pontiffs.”

I feel like this guy sometimes.

This was such an incredible ceiling.

There was this room that was all wall sized maps. As you can imagine, Alan loved it. The only map I remotely recognized was the Italy one.

The tapestry above illustrates the murder of the infant boys that Herod ordered when he heard about the newborn king. This was Herod’s attempt to kill Jesus off as a baby. It didn’t work because God sent Jesus and his family to Egypt to hide until that Herod passed away.

There is at least one whole room of Rafael frescos, and we could not find it. Either that, or we walked right through it and did not realize it, which is completely possible.

No matter how much art we make, God still outshines us with his beautiful green creation. Vatican City does a lovely job tending this green space.

Look how empty and ancient the doors to the Vatican Museum look at the end of the day.

I promised you the Sistine Chapel, though, didn’t I?

We did see that, and it is just as wonderful as we’d hoped. And it’s hundreds of years old! People come from all over the world to see it. You are supposed to be quiet in the Sistine Chapel and not take any pictures.

Also, you are allowed to stand still and gaze up at the ceiling from the middle of the room only. The perimeter is for people coming and going. Then all around the room are benches on the wall to. sit on, but it is difficult to get a spot on the bench.

Alan and I lost each other in there. I just stopped and looked up, but Alan did not rest until he found me. I felt badly about that. If I’d known he was focused on finding me, I would have helped more. This meant I got to look at it extra long because once Alan finally found me, he had not even looked at the ceiling yet, so then I stood and stared at it with him.

I could not find a free stock photo of my favorite part of the Sistine Chapel though. The entire front altar wall of the chapel is The Last Judgment fresco, also by Michelangelo. It is incredible and thought provoking. You can find images of it on Wikepedia.

By the time we left the Vatican Museum, we were exhausted. We went from there to a grocery store and picked up some gluten free snacks.

Alan was always on the lookout to make sure he could find me food that would not make me sick. Thank you, Alan!!!

Most of the restaurants were able to make me a gluten free pizza.

Between the airports, Italy, Outer Banks, and Alabama, I still managed to get gluten-ed several times though. My body still has not fully recovered. My nails are a disaster.

After our grocery shopping, we visited a street gift shop and had the best time. We bought all sorts of little things.

There is something purely invigorating about shopping that got me through the rest of the afternoon. I call it a shopping high.

Fresh off our shopping high, we boarded a train to a few stops away to do some more exploring. My legs were not used to walking in flip-flops. In fact, according to my reading, Italian people don’t usually wear flip-flops in the city. I should have just worn my tennis shoes.

We got off train. I had one goal. “Let’s find a green space with benches where we can just sit down and rest.”

After our little rest, we somehow managed to get to the Spanish steps for some sightseeing and and early dinner. In Italy, dinner is eight o’clock. I seriously doubt we waited that long for dinner.

See if you can find Alan in the above photo at the Spanish Steps.

This area also had the expensive designer clothing stores. We saw people who we were pretty sure were fashion models walking around. They were giant, thin, polished young people with slightly unusual clothes. Sorry. I didn’t take any photos of the fancy people.

Everywhere we went it was pretty crowded. I did get a photo of that:

And of course, the buildings themselves are beautiful.

Here’s both of us at the Spanish Steps. Note how much better women dress in Italy than people dress when touring America. Not a single person was wearing an “I Heart Rome” t-shirt. Can you believe it? I felt underdressed every single day, and yet I did nothing to fix the situation. My overall mood was “tired tourist with a little anxiety” every single day.

That particular day was a happy one though. We so enjoyed talking to our new friends in line at the Vatican. Then there was the shopping. The street vendor had excellent prices. Plus, we ended the day in a restaurant on a beautiful street, enjoying an Italian meal.

Looking back on it, I must say our Rome days went quite smoothly. Imagine if you actually prepare for your trip and know what you are doing. You could have a fun vacation in just Rome itself.

This was supposed to be our last day in Rome. That is why we crammed in so much. However, things changed when we set out for Naples the next morning. I will tell you all about that in my next post on Italy!

Ciao!

The post The Vatican Museum: A Day of Waiting, Making New Friends, & Pizza appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.