Rome Part 2

We visited Vatican City and saw St. Peter's Square. We were there a few days before Easter so it was very busy. At first we stood in a long line of people waiting to go into St. Peter's Basilica. I decided to go to the head of the line and ask someone if we were in the correct line to go in. The man told me that it was indeed the line to go in but that the Pope was giving a special mass and you had to have tickets to get in. You had to get them 2 months prior. Needless to say we weren't trying to get into the mass so we left and went to see the Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel was a workout like no other. Once we got in the building we saw a sign that said, Sistine Chapel this way. You expected to go into the room and see it. Once you went into that room you would see sculptures and art work and then another flight of stairs and then another arrow pointing to the chapel. I'm not exaggerating when I say we climbed stairs and went through a maze of rooms and after about 45 minutes we finally reached the room. It was very dark and very crowded. We were all disappointed expecting something more. It was good but maybe it was because we were so exhausted from all the climbing and long wait, that we expected it to be different.

Next we walked through the city to the Spanish Steps. The top two pictures are of the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountains are the bottom two pictures. They are two of the famous landmarks in Rome. The cool thing is that just before we left, my class read a Time For Kids magazine about Italy. One of the pictures and articles was about Trevi Fountain and three days after we read about it in school I got to actually be there in person.

Because of the huge crowds of people being at St. Peter's Basilica the day before we left Rome, we couldn't get in to see inside. We didn't want to be that close and not see it so we woke up early the next morning and took the subway to Vatican City again and got there at 6:30 in the morning. Our train was leaving at 10:00 for Florence so we had to see it before we left. The great thing is that when you're there that early you practically have the whole place to yourself. We walked right up and went through a little security, and then went into the Basilica. There were just a few people there so it was great. It is very beautiful. The bottom right corner picture shows some Swiss guards.

Rome Part 1

When we arrived we got off the train and walked about 3 blocks to our hotel. It was called Hotel Rex. After settling in we went to dinner and had pizza, of course! I will have to admit that I like American pizza far better and Italian pizza. I'm sure it's what you are used to but it seems that ours has more flavor. We went to bed because we were very tired but got up the next morning ready to go. We took an underground subway to the colosseum. When we stepped out of the station this was what we saw. It was so beautiful and green.

Right across the street from the subway station was the colosseum. We all gasp when we saw it. It was simply amazing. It was much larger than I had expected. We signed up with a tour guide so we could hear all about it. We had a great guide and she made it come alive for us. To think that this structure is 2,000 years old and still in as good of shape as it is, is simply amazing. We heard all about the gladiators and their life. The maze of walls that you see at the bottom of the colosseum was where they kept the animals and also the people. They actually built a floor on top of this so none of this was visible to the crowd.

If you look at the size of the people compared to the structure you might get some idea of the size of it all. There is so much that could be said about it but I don't think you'd want me to tell it all.

After visiting the colosseum, we rode up this street to Palatine Hill. This is where Rome began. We saw many ruins and heard stories of how the people lived and partied in the day. It was an amazing site. Knowing that you were there where Rome began and could hear about all the historical things that took place was so interesting.

Europe Trip - Part 2

Once we landed in Milan, we went to the train station and boarded a train to go to Rome. I figured that since we would be really tired that a long train ride might be best in case we wanted to sleep. I must say that trains are the way to travel in Europe. They are so much easier and comfortable than planes. Once your train arrives, you hop on and find your reserved seat and put your luggage overhead. You can easily watch them so you feel secure and the seats are so much wider and more comfortable than airplane seats. Most of the time the seats face each other with a table inbetween so you can read, play games, write, or whatever. You have large windows to look out at the beautiful countryside passing by. Trains were our favorite way to travel.

As you can see it's also a comfortable way to sleep.

I was surprised at how beautiful the countryside was. It was so green and looked like someone had planted a beautiful green lawn throughout the whole countryside.

I didn't sleep much because I was afraid I would miss seeing something beautiful. I didn't come all this way to miss seeing this part of God's beautiful green earth.

Our travels to Europe-Part 1

On March 27, 2010 we took a trip to Italy, Switzerland, and France. Since we took over 4,000 pictures and I'm quite certain that you don't want to see them all, I will do our trip in several parts. We left our house at 3:30 AM to leave for the airport. We decided to park our car at Connie McDuffie's house, my dear friend in Vegas that I've known for 38 years, so we wouldn't have to pay for parking for 16 days. She was so kind to allow us to pick her up so early so she could drive us to the airport and then take our car back to her house to stay while we were gone. We picked her up and then she let us off and left for home. After we checked in, we headed for our gate. We had decided to only take carry on luggage so as to make our trip simpler. Hopping on and off trains and walking with luggage is a lot easier if you have less. We never regretted that decision for one minute. We were excited and anxious to board the plane. As you can see, Heidi took her little mini computer and that proved very useful. She wrote and lot and passed the time away riding on the trains, plus it kept us connected with Skype to our family.

Duane took a book so when he had a few free minutes he could read. We didn't have a lot of down time but some as we were traveling from place to place.

I was rather exhausted even starting out the trip because of all the things I had to do to get ready plus we didn't even go to bed the night we left, so I was pretty tired and was definately planning on sleeping on the flight.

While we were sitting at our gate waiting to board we saw Jeff and Jolynn Keel, from Overton. They were boarding at the next gate to go see their daughter during spring break. She lives somewhere in the south. At 7:00 AM we left for JFK in New York. We flew on Delta to New York and then switched to Alitalia Airlines, which is an Italian airline, and then on to Milan, Italy. Once we were on Alitalia, we each took a litle melatonin to help us sleep and we were all out. The flight seemed pretty short since we all slept pretty soundly. The time difference is 9 hours ahead. When we landed, it was 9:00AM in Italy so we were off. We boarded a train and headed for Rome.

What A DAY!!!!! Part 2

Well as you can see we now have half of a wood floor and half cement.

It will be drying for a couple of weeks and then I'll be picking out flooring. It would be great if I didn't have a deductible but I guess we'll be eating the cost and hopefully someday we'll get paid back.

We have to be careful when we come in the door since the floor is now 2 heights. Hopefully no one will sprain their ankle.

Oh my poor little floor! However, on the other hand we'll be getting a brand new floor.

What A DAY!!!!! Part 1

On March 6th we had a new water softener installed. Ours broke a couple of years ago and we just haven't replaced it. Our water where we live is so hard and has so many impurities in it that we've been noticing for a while now the bad signs that come with hard water. We decided that we should do something about it before it caused more damage so we got a new water system and a reverse osmosis system too, so we will have pure and clean water to drink. Well a week later on March 13th, Duane woke up and went into the kitchen to get his daily glass of orange juice and when he stepped on the rug in front of the kitchen sink it was sopping wet. He came in to ask me if I had spilled any water on the floor. I told him that I hadn't and we started our investigation. We suspected that it might be coming from under the sink but it was dry as a bone. We searched and searched and couldn't see the source of the water. My wood floor was all buckling and cracking and then I went over to the kitchen table. Under the table the wood looked bad too. Then I went into the laundry and it had been wet and was still damp. It was also ruined. Then I went out into the garage. Around the water softner in the garage was a pond of water. I immediately called the water softner man. He came over and he was stumped as well. Then we finally found the problem.

When he looked behind the washing machine we saw the problem. His men had installed this red line but had forgotten to put the drain line for the water softner into the drain. In this picture it is fixed, but at the time the red line was just laying by the blue handle and so when it recycled, all the water just drained onto my wood floor. He very quickly had his man put the white line onto the red one and then stick it way down into the drain. He immediately tried to tell me it wasn't his fault nor mine so I should just call my insurance and file a claim. Later when I told him that clearly it was his fault and I wanted him to fix it with his insurance he told me his brother could fix my floor.

I did some checking and found out that his brother really didn't know much about wood floors and so I could see that we would have a fight on our hands. I decided to call my insurance and inform them of the damage and they immediately said to file a claim and then they would replace my floor first and then go after his insurance company.

Well as you can see, they sent a company out to check underneath the floor for moisture. They found some areas very wet and so in order to avoid a mold problem, they had to tear up half my floor. The adjustor came out last Friday and said that they would be replacing the whole floor but they would only pay the company that checks for water damage the amount to tear up the wet part. The rest of it will be torn up by the flooring company when they actually replace it.

Stitched In Love

Heidi was very excited when she finally got a darling little niece. Alexis Paige Bartle is unique because she is a first in the Bartle family. The first girl, and that makes her pretty special. Aunt Heidi wanted to use her creative talents and make Lexi a quilt. It was designed by Aunt Heidi and all hand sewn. It's kind of hard to see the plethora of intricate stitches, but there are many. She finally had it finished and Lexi received it last week in the mail.

Not only is it pretty, it is sooooooooooooooo soft. It makes even an adult want to cuddle up and wrap it around you.

Lexi looks like a pretty little petal in the middle of all the flowers.

What do you think? Do you think she's pleased with her gift? My guess it a great big YES!!!