On Saturday December the 8th my plans were to explore the Buda side of the river and to wander in the largest outdoor Christmas market in Europe which is conveniently located across the street from my hotel.

My day started with an exploration of the promenade that runs along the river before I proceeded across to the Buda Castle. Along the river walk they have these great statues. At first I thought they were real people pretending to be statues like in Rome. But no, these were actual statues.

My plan is to proceed across the bridge and climb the hill to Buda Castle. Although there is an incline trolley like Pittsburg. I decided to walk.

Once at the top the views back across the river to Pest side are tremendous.

And once again, I tried my luck at video on my camera.

In addition to the great views, there are other sights on Buda hill itself including St. Mathias church. A neo-gothic church with a colorful tile rook.

Also on the Buda side is the Fisherman's Bastion. An old fortification which reflects the Turkish or Ottoman influence on Budapest.

And now it is time for lunch, two stuffed cabbage rolls later I am heading back to my hotel to warm up before heading back out to the market place.

On Friday December 7th I flew to Budapest Hungary looking for a new adventure. I had never been to Hungary before but I read so much about Budapest and its famous Christmas markets I decided to spend my last free weekend there. Budapest is about 1 hour 45 minute flight from Rome. I was somewhat shocked because the plane was totally filled and Alitalia has two flights every day to Budapest. As best as I could tell, the plane was predominantly Italian tourists heading to Budapest. In fact, I flew back with many familiar faces on Sunday. Many Italians had the same idea I had. A weekend holiday in Budapest.

Not sure how familiar everyone is with Budapest. It was formally two separate cities on the Danube River, Buda and Pest Hungary. Once a bridge was completed connecting the two cities, they decided to merge and become one city. There are large, expensive, and beautiful hotels on the river front: Four Seasons, Intercontinental, Sofitel, Marriot, ... etc. This is not where I stayed.

There are companies with regular or daily river boat dinner cruises on the Danube. The Danube is huge. I had never seen it before. The city is huge, but the city center like Rome is quite easy to see on foot. Budapest is also famous for its baths or spas. I did not get a chance to partake, another good reason to return. Besides the Christmas markets, I was there for the food, not the Turkish style baths.

The picture below are of the Budapest Opera house. One of the oldest great opera houses in Europe and only a 5 minute walk from my hotel.

I had checked online before I left regarding shows and tickets. All the performances for their Nutcracker were sold out, but they didn't have this scheduled the weekend I was there anyways. On Friday and Saturday evening they were going to have a performance of the opera La Boheme. I decided to check on tickets for the performance that evening. They had single seats open with obstructed views. And one seat open in the second row. I decided to buy the second row seat. Great decision.

Once I bought the ticket I decided to explore the area around the hotel more.Also within a five minute walk of the hotel was the Saint Stephen Basilica.

The most famous aspect of St. Stephen's is the the Holy Right Chapel. It contains the Holy Right (also known as the Holy Dexter), the mummified right hand of St Stephen and an object of great devotion. The area was cordoned off while I was there, so I didn't get a picture of the hand. Not sure if they would have let take one anyways. But I did get some great pictures from inside the church.

In the little square in front of the church there was a small Christmas market.

After St. Stephen's I decided to wander over by the river to get my bearings for my sight seeing on Saturday. The other side of the river is the city formerly known as Buda and it has some great old castles and views. These I planned to explore on Saturday. Here is a lttle preview.

Then back to the hotel to get dressed for the opera. Good thing I brought my suit with me. The only regret I have is that I forgot to take my camera to the opera. I have no pictures from the inside. You will have to take my word for it...it was GRAND.

On Thursday December 6th we visited Nettuno, Italy. Nettuno is a sleepy little town on the sea near Anzio. It is probably only 45 minutes from campus by car. However, transporting all 19 of us there and back will cost hundreds of euros. So, we decide to take the train into Rome and then take the train from Rome to Nettuno. Since we already have rail passes, this will cost us nothing. But it will take two hours to reach Nettuno this way.

In Nettuno we planned to visit the American military cemetery there. This is an Arlington Cemetery type place with white headstones. These were American service personnel who lost their lives in the invasion of Italy during WW II. The cemetery is officially considered American soil. The students find this fact fascinating. Ans we all are moved by the beauty and serenity of the cemetery.

There are 23 pairs of brothers buried side by side. Over 7000 graves in all. Some marked by crosses, others marked by the Star of David.

The cemetery includes a chapel which lists all the names of the missing in action veterans.

the chapel also includes a statue tribute to the 23 sets of brothers buried there.

The cemetery also has beautiful gardens.

Another interesting fact about Nettuno is that it is the home of the Italian Little League baseball champions. It is referred to as the "City of Baseball".

Also on Wednesday, Mike and I headed to Bar Raponi. My neighbor has been trying to get me to visit her sister-in-law's family bar in Castel Gandolfo. I failed the first time i visited Italy in 2010. but I did not fail this time.

Once we found the bar, trying to explain to someone who doesn't speak English how and why I am there was very difficult. Really, I was there to visit the family of my neighbor's former sister-in-law. I had a hard time explaining it to myself. Thankfully I brought a copy of Rosa's email to my neighbor. The family could read English. Once they figured out that I was there at the request of Rosa Raponi from America, they were beaming. They insisted we take pictures to send back to Rosa. They also insisted that we return again to meet more of the family. Here are the pictures of Mike and I with Rosa's cousin. I think that's who he was. Perhaps more pictures to come next week.

I think the video of the pope's entrance turned out ok. Just click on play. Should work.

On Tuesday December 4th we flipped activities with Wednesday. Normally we are busy on Tuesdays and have a free day on Wednesday. Because the papal audience was Wednesday, we didn't schedule anything on Tuesday. Which means it was laundry and cleaning day. Plus catching up on all my paperwork.

So Wednesday was papal audience day. Always an exciting day for everyone. We caught the 6A train to Rome. Hopped on the metro, without a coffee break I might add. And headed to the Vatican. We out-hustled everyone for some great seats and then settled in to await the pope's arrival. Thankfully, mike and Danilo did step out to grab us all a little breakfast, coroneti and orange juice. But still no espresso!

I did attempt to video the pope's entrance. Not sure if it will post here, or play here after posting. but here we go.

While at the audience I also snapped a few pictures of the pope in case the video didn't work.

 

On Sunday, December 2nd we returned to our 'Rome Home' as the students call it. We were able to return without incident. Quite a feat for us lately.

On Monday  December 3rd, we had a student led tour of Esquiline Hill. this are is famous for Santa Maria Maggiore, and St Peitro which houses Michaelangelo's famous statue of Moses. In addition we visited Santa Pudenze, famous because it is the only church named after an invalid saint. There is no Saint Pudenza.