Rome...return to Dallas safe. Mission accomplished!

We are back. Arrived DFW Sunday evening around 8:30PM. Thank you are for your prayers and going along with us on our journey to Rome. In a few weeks, I will have open house and would love to share with you all our trip with pictures and stories. This is the Trevie Fountain...and Shirley and I did put our coin in fountain...that means we will return to Rome. Y'al have a blessed day. nola

Saturday...last evening in Rome

Little Italian girl feeding the pigeons in front of our convent.



Piazza in Travestere



San Giovanni of Lateran Church



View from near the Colloseum



Gas station right on the curb!




Nola & Shirley at the Trevi Fountain..



Trevi Fountain

View of Rome from the bridge over the Tiber River.



Nola and Shirley ... just us again . Today it was just the best...I think we have said this about each day we have been blessed to be in Rome. I hope y'al have had a good journey with us and we are so pleased that you have been reading along. Our journey in Rome is almost to a close. We leave for the airport 6:15AM for a 10AM flight to New York and then to Big D. We get into Dallas around 8:45PM Dallas time on Sunday evening. And yes, Shirley and I do have to go to work on Monday...but it was all worth it. Our hearts are full and energy is high...and it will take us at lest a year to process all what we have seen and experience. We are now going to put in several pictures with just a few words to describe it. In a few weeks or so, when we get back and have rested up, we will have our friends over to my house, with all of the pictures on the lap top and the stories will be flowing. Shirely is going to write a personal analysis of what her trip to Rome was to her. As for me...each moment I had on trip is my analysis. I could not have planned it any better than what it has just been. Enjoy the pictures. Shirely has done some great photos.

Friday 9am Rome pics from Thurs

This is the Santa Maria of Travestere...which I have already mention in the blog on Thursday evening.

Cats of Rome kitty litter box. This is full of cats...cannot remember who brought them here, but they have been here for years. They are living among the Roman runins...not far from Pantheon.


Dinner on Thursday evening. Tiramisu was the best. Shirley had chicken and potatoes and wine and Nola had meat balls, potatoes and beer.


One of the best pizza places on the planet!


The dogs have their own parking place.
They take their dogs everywhere...inside shops and eating places.



Breakfast in the plaza in front of the convent


Aquaduct 1609


Villa Doria Pamphliji

Estate at Villa Doria Pamphilji

Apartments in Travestere

Emmanuel building ,

Pantheon interior

Pantheon at night

We are off again in the city of Rome. This is Friday.... we have a full day ahead of us. Will blog again tonight. The weather is fine and perfect for us today.

Thursday March Madness Rome

Hi to you all...it is 10PM Rome time. Today we started out very early. Went to the Southwest part of Rome. It would be considered upper middle class of living and business. Trastevere is the area. We had Gelato around 10:30AM and walked through Villa Doria..which is located in a public park .... also, running along the paramaters is a aquaduct built in the 1609. We are having problems loading pictures to night...but what we took are fabulous. Then we went back toward the township of Trastevere and had the best pizza, of course, again. Have been very blessed with college students studying over here from America... and they have helped us to get directions. A nice young girl took us to the Church of Trastevere, one of the oldest Chrisitan churches , which was built in the 13th century. It was built on a site when the first Christians worship when it was not legal. This plaza is used alot when Hollywood comes to shoot. Then were off to the Roman Cats...this where they live among some ancient ruins. Off again to the Panthon...the only that is in exitistance and was saved from being burned down by a Christians and they built their church around it. We had a great day....more tomorrow...

Wed March 12 Rome 9pm

This is where we ate dinner just outside of the Vatican.




Courtyard inside of the Vatican museum




Inside of th Vatican courtyard



One of many fine quality sculpturs ; detail of anatomy is wonderful!





2 fine looking Texas women

Bronze of Hercules in the Vatican Musuem

One of the many different altars at St Peters

This is the fountain outside St Peters...just as we were leaving in late afternoon....The day ended just wonderful. Shirley and I ate spaghetti and had panna cotta with berries. We had been at the Vatician museum since 2PM on a guided tour which included the Sistine Chapel. MY only words would be, you all gotta come and see it for your self. We slept in late and left the convent around 12 noon and as we walked out of the door, Sister told us our luggage would come today. And sure enough, it was there when we came home tonight. We were like two children opening presents on Christmas. The next 2 days we will be doing check list of sights we want to see...Shirley worked very hard with the Rick Steves book, making a plan for us. The book was in the luggage, so we got lots to do before we come back. Our luggage has been all over the world without us. Finally we are all together and now do not have to wash out clothes by hand.

So, stay tuned for up comming attractions. So, we are very tired and Shirey and Nola say God Bless to you all .... happy dreams!

P.S When we went through security at DFW (our 2nd or 3rd time, we lost track!) Shirley kept setting off the alarm...I had already been through and she asked me to hand her the boarding pass and the security lady didnt like that at all...they made me go back through again...they used the wand on Shirley and ended up frisking her!!! That was just one more experience in our airport escapades.

Tuesday March 11 Rome

As we were walking back from the Vatican this little puppy was parked on the side walk. I told Shirely if we deflated the air out of the tires we could bring it home. We see alot of this all of the place.




Us at the Spanish Steps. If you know why we visited the Spanish Steps...please let us know. Shirely said we needed to go..so, I asked why... and she stated " because I said so"... and I always do what she says... now... in addition she had not eaten for several hours... and I do believe she was acting out of charcter due to hypo glycema...so, for now on, I make sure she has someting to eat evey 4.5 hours. Do I hear an "AMEN"




Bon apetite ! Shirely and I ate at a little restaraunt after our SCAVI of the vatican. I had canneloni and Shirely had lasagna and we both had bruschetta. I saw all of this food and asked to take a picture...the owners were very proud and wanted the picture taken. We invited them to Dallas for BBQ and they said they would come. Can you all guess what the dish in the center with the twiggs sticking out is?


Swiss guards at the Vatican.



The Vatican around 8AM on Tuesday. Took the 40 exprss bus and got there within 20 min. The view will take your breath away...and it does look just like on the TV and movies. Every Wed. there is a public mass. May I also, say Shirley and I were very emotional spiritually. Prayers were said for each of you ...and you know who you are at the grave site of St. Peter. We saw where the tomb is under the bascilica.




Colloseum at night Tues Mar 11



This is looking down the street from the convent at night...at the end of the street is the Colloseum...


It is 10:05pm and we just got back from walking to the collesuem...it is very impressive...will go back in the morning for more photos and tour...went on the SCAVI tour this morning and it was historically impressive of St. Peter having the church built on the rock as Jesus said. We went back 2000 years...

The excavations are perfectly perserved. Will tell the story when we get back. We are going to try and download some photos...finally!!!

Today it was great out weather wise...sun and no rain. We have laughed, and grown together and also prayed for our family, friends, and perhaps future enemies... tonight, I am going to give Shirely a foot spa...the rocks on the road are very hard on the feet. Say good night Shirley good night Nola...........................

nola and shirley monday10.... 9.45PM Rome time

sunday: left DFW on time to new york. Good flight. A nice Italian man sat next to shirely on the plane and he gave us some good suggestions. Also, he too..

Our flight was 3 hours delay leaving new york ... as we were waiting... I notice a nice looking young man, with a great profile of his face.... Shirely nicknamed him THE CHIN. We got on the plane and then they said, the plane was taken out of service. So, we got a new one and sat on the driveway for over 1 hour and then took off. We sat next to an Italian family with two older children...very nice...the flight was very short, only 7 hours, they took a route over New Founland....flight was very rough...lots of bouncing around...

We landed and took the bus from the plane to the terminal which was very different...we got inside to check on our lost luggage and found THE LINE again! >Our bags are still lost.... may show up while we are here...turned out to be a blessing though because the trip from Termini to our hotel was very hard...lots of stairs, etc....<

When we bought our train ticket the guy short changed us and

The train from Termini to Rome looks just like our "hood" in Oak Cliff....not well maintained, graffiti, run down, etc.

Got our Roma Pass and took the metro to our stop near our convent. Several stops to ask directions, we got a personal guide, a young college student, who took us straight to our convent. We got checked in and everyone is very nice.

We rested for about 3 hours after being up for about 32 hours...Shirley slept on the plane.-..

Found this internet cafe right down from the convent...also a

nola again.. shirely and

We just had gelato...

The elevator at the convent is only big enough to turn around in with 1 piece of luggage. So we have been taking the stairs.

More tomorrow...we will try to blog every evening if we can...love to all...

Nolarae: Mircle of Friendship..God's precious gift

God is good and I am blessed to have the gift of friendship of Shirley. I hope to all who read this, that if you ever need a friend on a road trip.. you will be blessed as I have had on the "Road to Rome" with my friend Shirley. Special Note: Will post pictures later from our 36 hours in DFW. I do not know how to do it on this blog.
March 6: Arrived at DFW 2PM. The rain and light snow had started. 3:30PM our flight had been changed to 5:45PM departure. 4PM flight had been canceled.
BE HAPPY ANYWAY: Shirley began calling the number for re-scheduling @ one end of the main lobby and I got in line which was very , very, long and longer. Earlier in the day we had met 2 ladies traveling from Amarillo and Fort Worth going to London. We all were going on the same flight to London. They got in line behind me and I began conversation and we all were laughing and sharing. Come to find out, they were celebrating their 60thB/D and one who had been 20 years CA /breast survivor. Shirley signal that she had finally got a person after holding for 1 hour and I sent one of the Texas ladies to Shirley so, she could see if they could get help too. Well, after all the talk on the phone Shirley and our new found friend gets in THE LINE, and the news is not good. So, we continue to stand in THE LINE . It is now 7:45 PM and nearly 4 hours later, we are up to the counter. Kevin , is the ticket agent and he spends nearly 1 hour getting our next flight out. Kevin has been very kind to us and patient. And of course, we are very grateful to him . At 9:05PM we have a flight out on Friday: 10:10AM to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Rome. I gave Kevin our blog to log on / we gave him a hug and also, took picture. Our Texas ladies came up to us, and said they had gotten their new flight, we hugged and wished them well. It is now 5 hours later. We agreed to stay at the airport . We had dinner and then settled down around 10:30PM in a row of chairs in D36 gateway with several other people. They had run out of sleeping cot; did give us a blanket. May I say at this time: the chairs and floor are very challenging to me at 58 years old. However, @ 3AM I had enough. Got up and started walking around. Notice our flight was still on schedule and by this time , Shirley was up and we got coffee . When we checked our flight schedule @ 4.. still on; 4:20AM flight had been canceled. So back to THE LINE. This time, it was only a little over an hour. We recognized several of the people in line, from Thursday. As we moved along THE LINE, Shirley and I shared what might be some alternatives to our situation. In the meantime, a French group, about 30..decided they did not want to wait in THE LINE and the police were called in to help. By this time, people had no more patience. Also, a young man from Germany, was in front of us. I noticed he had his ticket and I shared with him.. he did not have to stay in this line, that he could go to the machine and get his passport and ticket scanned and they would call him to check in his luggage. He went, and came back and said thanks. About a few min. later, he tapped me on the shoulder and asked if he could get us a coffee...he was very grateful. We just smiled and gave him our blessings to have a safe trip. We believe him to be in his middle 20's and thought that it was very sweet for him to come and thank us again. Also, Shirley said he was a "hottie". HAHA
We are now in line for another hour and the agent Patricia tried to get us on a flight. However, ever thing was book on Friday. Saturday was standby only. As we were waiting, I notice to my left, a young girl in a wheel chair dealing with a nose bleed. He husband was standing over her with paper towel. They were with the French group . I reached in my bag for a packet of traveling wet towels I had and walked over to her and handed them to her husband . I did not speak French nor did he speak English, but the look in his eyes were thankful. ... as I have learned with several years serving in medicine...The eyes are the gateway to what is in our souls and heart. Back to the ticket agent... Shirley and I agreed we could spend the whole weekend of stand by and not get out. So, we made the choice to stop and just re-group and go home. It is now around 6:30AM and we go to the baggage area to inquire what we would need to do to get our luggage ... we are told that our luggage may go to Rome and then come back. The look on our faces and what we felt in our hearts could not be expressed. Our heads are hanging very low as we walk out of the airport to get a shuttle home. The air is crisp and wintry smelling... snow from the day before scatted around the parking lot and small drifts on the parked cars; the sun is just breaking out a new day.

BE HONEST AND FRANK : Once we got to my house the tears and pity party was on.
Shirley said it best" she felt like we had been cheated". We were 2 souls who had just had our asses kicked ... been rode hard and put up wet to dry. 9AM we drove to the bank to exchange our Euro money. We took a hit on exchange of money and went to breakfast. We had been up almost 39 hours and our heads were killing us. The only place we had been was DFW and back! Bob came and pick up Shirley around 12:30 and I went to bed. More tears and struggles of "why". Friends called to say they were sorry . Finally...I am blessed with the gift of sleep.
I am up within a few hours. Billy Graham special is on : What is Happiness ..... several different people gave their testimony on this subject. The one that caught my eye is a young cowboy who is the 2007 champion bull rider. His testimony and how he gave his life and dedicated his bull riding career to Jesus Christ ... he gives the glory to God when he rides the full 8 seconds or if he is buck off in the 1st second. My thoughts were...somedays the journey is smooth...other days you get buck off the road and have to experience the unknown. The final analysis, it is between you and God.

Saturday Morning: March 8 ... ROAD TRIP
Up early / the world is looking better . My good friend Dr. G has called me several times .... she had asked if we thought to upgrade our tickets to Rome. I am on the phone to American Airlines...and during my call, Shirley calls me and she is thinking the same way. Cell phone in the left and home phone in the right, we are having conference call and book our trip to Rome. And it did not cost us anything extra. Shirley calls to see if we still have our rooms at the convent; answer is no; Sister Martha suggest Santasofia. Shirley calls and they do not speak English. Shirley call me back and I get Dianna , my neighbor out of bed ...and it is only 7:30AM to speak Spanish to them and its works. We make the connection and we have rooms. Shirley calls again, and says we are going to DFW to check on the luggage. Again, we are told probably our luggage is in Rome. As we are walking out of the airport to the parking garage.... we cannot find her car. We are freezing and laughing and pressing the panic button on the key. Finally, after I am walking down 3 levels and she goes up 2 levels... Shirley finds the car/ drops me off at my house/ fixes the travel blog...( I broke it ) and leaves to go home. I am updating the blog...when Shirley calls and says our (seats) departing flight to DFW to New York may have a problem getting on. I call ...Ms. Margaret Foster @American and she explained very nicely we have tickets...but our seats are not confirmed. Our seats are in a hold block of the airport... which are for people who may need special needs;it is the law to have a number of seats for special needs. Ms. Foster also, e mail me our conf. for our flight. We will check in 4 hours before our flight leaves in the morning for assigned seats.

March 9: Depart DFW 12:10 NY ; Depart NY to Rome. Arrive March 10th.. early AM

March 16th: Depart Rome to NY; Depart NY to Dallas.


HUMOR ALWAYS GIVES A SPECIAL LIFT: I want you all to know...we did not loose all of our sense of humor during this adventure. Shirley said if we could not get our picture made in Rome, Italy...we were driving to Rome, Texas and take a picture. I mentioned to Shirley that I might get my hair colored in Rome next week... she has already found the place to go!
Will keep y'all posted as we continue this Rome, Italy adventure. God is good and so is the MIRCLE OF FRIENDSHIP. nola rae

Saturday March 8th

Well....this is Shirley again....after much disappointment and anger over our flights being cancelled we got up this morning and re-grouped...and.....we are still going!!!!!

We now leave tomorrow, Sunday Mar 9th and arrive in Rome around 8am on Monday....we return on Sunday 16th...

Still can't find our luggage...but we think it beat us to Rome...we will find out when we get there...we are going to pack very light with only a carryon and start our trip again tomorrow....

Nola is going to add much more to the blog this afternoon and we will add what we can after we get to Rome...one thing we both agree on is the God is in charge...we are just along for the ride...

March 7 8am

Well...our flight this morning to Atlanta was cancelled at 4:30am...sooooo....we are not going to Rome...We have taken the Super Shuttle to Nola's house to regroup...will post our pics and adventures at the airport this afternoon...

friday 3/7 3:40 am

Fri 3/7 DFW airport...we are still here! Who would'a thought...hope to fly out at 10am this morning...everyone should spend the night at the airport....still in good spirits..will post more lter when it's not 1.00 a min...what a deal huh????

Shirley///March 4, 2008///Test Pack Info...no joke!!!

Did a "test pack" on Saturday...Nola thought this was hilarious!!...but I had to find out if my stuff would fit in my small suitcase or not...big surprise...it didn't...Now I will pack in my larger suitcase and what doesn't fit will get left behind...

2 days and counting...can you tell I'm looking forward to GELATO!!!!!!