Mom and Dad's Trip!

Well it's hard to even know where to start...having my parents here was so much fun!!  So I guess I will just start from the beginning :)

We were supposed to meet in Rome on Friday evening around 5 or so, but with both of our flights being late and my parents having to re-schedule theirs, we actually didn't see each other until 9PM!  The hotel has a strict policy not to let me into the room since my name wasn't actually on the reservation.  SO I sat in the lobby for about 3 hours waiting for them to get there.  With no communication between me and my parents, I really had no choice but to sit there..ha!  But I eventually made friends with the staff and they were all so nice ( they were kind of treating me like a lost child) :)

The View from our room

Anyway...we finally were all there together and ended up staying close to the hotel and ate at a pizzeria.  But I have to say the hotel we stayed out was AMAZING!  It was up on the hill behind Rome and had a complete view of the city.  It was one of the most breath taking views...and we enjoyed it as much as we could!  So if you are looking for a fabulous hotel check out the Rome Cavalieri.

So Saturday we hit the ground running, or I should say driving, my parents rented a car and my Dad was our master driver for the trip!   Most people would NEVER even attempt to drive in Rome, but my Dad actually wanted to and in no time he was whipping around that place like he was a veteran taxi driver :)  We started off with tour of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill.  The tour guides were pretty good and we learned a lot!  The weather was beautiful and we really took it all in.

Coliseum

Palatine Hill

Then we were off for our real excursion!  We headed off to Scafati to see Tony's game.  Scafati is not known for being the nicest town (it is about 10mins from Pompeii) and we had heard so many people tell us to be careful and lock our doors...so we didn't know what to expect! Well when we arrived we went straight to Pompeii and realized it was closed.  We couldn't believe it...all that way, and it was closed.  SO we were driving along and my Dad happened to pull into a different entrance and we asked if we could take just one picture because we drove all the way from ROME!  And so then one of the guys guarding the gate took us on a private tour of the place!  It was awesome!  Pompeii was truly amazing, and even though we didn't see everything, what we did see gave us a real sense for what happened there almost 2000 years ago.  So sad to see the bodies that are still fully in tact that couldn't get away from the gas, and ash from Mt. Vesuvius.  When the ash and gas mixed it created a sort of seal on everything it covered.  SO the things you see have been preserved since the explosion!  

Pompeii

Our personal tour guide :)

SO SAD

Then it was off to the game...which took us about an hour and asking 5 different Italians to finally found the gym that was out in the middle of a long lost field.  :)  And not really too much to share on the game, except that we lost bad and it was a horrible game.  The highlight was seeing our friends Erica and Phil from a past team...they came down to the game, so it was great to see them :)

Scafati Game

After a late night driving back to Rome, we were up early and in line for the Vatican Museum, who offers free entry on the last Sunday every month.  So we made it in and sat in the Sistine Chapel for almost an hour, trying to see and take everything in.  Then we were off to St. Basilica to once again try to see everything!  And then we listened to some advice from Tony and climbed up to the very top of the church...such amazing views up there...and highly recommend it for people that are NOT claustrophobic or really like climbing stairs :) 

The view from the top of St. Peter's Basilica

Another amazing day was summed up with a walk to the Trevi Fountain and dinner in front of the Pantheon!  SO much fun :)

Trevi Fountain

The last day in Rome was Monday and we hit up the Spanish steps before heading to the airport to head to Sassari!  

Top of the Spanish Steps

Sassari was really a whirlwind with lots of stops and great dinners :)  We toured Sassari, went to Alghero, Castelsardo, Porto Cervo and Stintino!  Oh and we went to Tony's game on Thursday and saw another bad game...so we are now in 2nd place :(  I think one of our favorite things was a secret beach we found in Porto Cervo.  We all pretty much concluded it was the most beautiful beach we had ever seen.  But really every place we went was fun :)

Alghero

Castelsardo

The best view 

Porto Cervo

Porto Cervo

The Italian Countryside

MMMM....Gelato :)

It was so wonderful to have my parents here and show them around our island.  The weather was fabulous and we enjoyed every minute of their visit.  The time with them here flew by...I wish they were still here!

My Cute Parents :)

Well now it's back to normal life for a few days before my friend Michelle comes this Friday!  I am hoping that the weather gets nice and toasty so we can hit the beach!!

Till next time....CIAO TUTTI :)

P.S.  It looks like we won't be winning the league, as of now, so we will probably be here longer then we hoped.  But that's OK because we can still move up a league if we win the play-offs :)