All Roads Lead to Rome

When we first approached Geoffrey about the possibility of coming to Albania to pick him up, he said that if we wanted to come, that would be fine, but it made sense to him to stop in Italy on the way home if we were coming all that way. His reasoning made perfect sense to us :) especially after we checked airline fares and found that booking a round trip to Rome and then another to Albania was actually cheaper than booking a flight to Albania alone. Geoffrey specifically mentioned wanting to see the Vatican and the site where the newly announced Rome LDS Temple would be built.

Since Steve and I had never really considered traveling to Rome, this was a new adventure for us. As luck would have it, some of our good friends traveled to Rome during the summer and were able to give us all kinds of good tips, not to mention letting us use their electrical converters. But the very best tip that they gave us was to stay in a rented apartment within the city itself. They had rented a large apartment from a man in Rome who spoke English and with whom they had had a very good experience. We got in contact with him and found out that he had a small studio apartment for three persons that was only 85 euro a night. Compared to a hotel (most of which are way outside the city) this was a bargain.

We arrived in Rome earlier than expected because of a change in our airline flight. We took a shuttle from the airport which was a bit of an adventure in and of itself. Maurizio (our landlord) had told us that a taxi from the airport should not be any more than 40 euros. Well, all of the drivers we could find wanted 60-80 euros. Finally, a man approached us and told us he had a small shuttle that would take us where we wanted to go. There were two other couples coming which kept the price down. It was 45 euro but we were just glad to finally find someone reasonable. One of the couples was from Mexico, but were American born. I think both they and we were happy to speak to someone in English.

It was pouring rain when we arrived and we were too early to get into our apartment because the previous people were not out until 10. There we were in the rain with six suitcases and nowhere to go. Thankfully our landlord lived in the same building as our flat and he let us put our luggage in his home until we could get in our own place. Our little apartment was in the Testaccio section of Rome, right across the street from the Tiber River. It is a quiet little neighborhood with mostly apartment buildings built around inner courtyards. There was a park, restaurants, a few shops, and an outdoor market. We left our bags and found a little pizza place where we had a potato pizza. It was delicious. When we went back to check into our little place, we found out why this was definitely the way to go. Maurizio sat down with us, gave us a map, and showed us the best way to get anywhere we would want to go. He told us the bus numbers, when was the best time to go to certain places, showed us some little walking trips that could be done in an afternoon, and also pointed out some of the sites that we would not have known anything about. His information was invaluable and made our trip even more amazing.

The first place that we visited was the Victor Emanuel Monument. Victor Emanuel was the first king of United Italy. To say that this building is big, just doesn't quite tell the story. It is huge. We then headed down the street toward the Colosseum. Along the way we got our first taste of the very pushy vendors in Rome. The man was dressed in Roman garb and came and posed in photos with us. When we didn't want to pay him as much as he wanted, he actually got kind of nasty. As a result, he got nothing....and we learned a valuable lesson. Just say "no" to anyone who approaches you with any kind of ware or service.

The walk to the Colosseum was amazing. As you walked down the street it was right in front of you. On both sides of the street is the Roman Forum. It covers a large area and is about 8 feet below the modern city. It is mostly in ruins but it was so interesting to see and imagine what it must have looked like all those years ago.

A glimpse of the Roman Forum

In front of the amazing Colusseum

The Colosseum tour was interesting. But although the guide was quite knowledgeable, he also threw in quite a few suggestive jokes that neither we, nor most of our other tourists, really appreciated.

Inside the Colosseum

Thankfully, after the Colosseum, the tour continued with a different guide who took us to Palatine Hill. That tour was wonderful!!! The American guide told us all about the ruins there and the parts of the Forum that the hill overlooks. We learned about the

Arch of Constantine......

and the Temple of the Vestal Virgins...

to name a few. He also gave us a great tip about water in Rome....any of the little water spouts around the city have very potable water and can be used to fill water bottles, etc. We were a little leery about that at first, but it turned out to be great advice. In fact, we found out later that if you stop up the end of the spout, the water will shoot out a hole in the top of the spout creating a little drinking fountain.

Thanks for the demonstration, Geoffrey. Very cool.

It was twilight when we headed back to our hotel. We were exhausted when we reached our little home and crashed a few hours before heading out to one of the great little restaurants that Maurizio had suggested. A fabulous first day!!

The next morning we boarded a bus early to head to the Vatican Museum for a tour. We had booked this ahead of time online. On the bus a young English speaker from Canada spoke to us. He was living in Rome and was actually on his way to the Vatican where he gave tours. He said that the bus we were on was definitely the best way to get there (thank you Maurizio) and that he would be happy to walk us up to the right door when we got there. He was so nice and helpful. I had to laugh when, as we walked toward the entrance, he reached his water bottle down and filled up at a little fountain. We figured if the tour guides thought it was safe, we would be fine. Our guide at the museum, though English speaking, also had a difficult to understand accent. She tended to give us information that, although interesting, was way above our level of understanding. We just wanted to know the basics. We were wishing we were with our American tour guide from the day before. But in spite of not being able to understand everything, the museum was amazing. So many articles from so long ago. The sculpting, the tapestries, the paintings, and especially the mosaics were so intricate and beautiful.

Geoffrey and Steve on the Vatican Museum tour

This mosaic flooring was amazing to me. Look how three dimensional it looks.

One of the many Vatican paintings. This one is by Raphael.

The amazing Sistine Chapel ceiling

Our last stop on the Vatican tour was the Sistine Chapel. What a magnificent sight. We were lucky enough to actually find a few seats along the wall and were able to stay in the room for a while. There is a special guard in the room that at regular intervals reminds the gathered tourists that they are in a chapel and that quiet is expected. We all tried, as we sat there, to determine which parts of the ceiling and walls were actually structural elements and which ones were painted to look like they were structural elements. We did not have much success. It was a very humbling experience to witness such amazing detail.

After exiting the Vatican, we toured St. Peter's Basilica. It is huge and there were more shrines to saints and popes than I have ever seen in my life. Supposedly the basilica is built upon the final resting place of St. Peter. The hours of time put into it's building must have been an enormous number.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

Outside the basilica we saw some of the famous Swiss Guard who serve the Pope.

The area outside of the basilica is known as St. Peter's Square and is the location of most audiences with the Pope.

After our tour of the museums, we went back to our flat for a little siesta. This is a European custom I could easily get used to. After napping and just relaxing for a few hours, we were ready to go again.

We got on the Metro and took it to the Spanish Steps.

We never really learned a lot about the steps but they are beautiful, HUGE, and have a lot of buildings around them with Spanish architecture. From there we walked to the Trevi Fountain. I had always pictured this fountain as a traditional round fountain in the middle of a square. It is nothing like that. It is actually coming out of the side of a building and is incredibly intricate. At both the steps and the fountain there were a TON of people so it was hard to get a good photo, but we gave it our best shot.

Steve and I at the Trevi fountain

From the fountain we headed down a narrow little alley/street lined with souvenir shops and little cafes. This brought us out to the Pantheon. What an impressive building. It has columns on the outside but is a huge domed building with a hole in the top. The floor had little drains in it so if it rains, the water just comes in the top of the building and goes out the drains. In spite of the hole in the top, all of the outside walls of the circular building are lined with shrines and final resting places for poets, saints, and artists etc.

The Pantheon exterior

Inside the Pantheon looking up at the hole in the roof

Geoffrey inside the Pantheon

It was dark by the time we left the Pantheon and headed to Piazza Navona. This is the largest of the many piazzas or squares in the city. We chose to eat our dinner at one of the outdoor cafes. It was really a magical evening.

Check out the fountain behind Geoffrey in these shots

Before traveling to Rome, I had heard that the Pope has his audiences on Wednesdays. I figured it would be a cool thing to be able to say we had been to a papal audience, so I wrote in for some free tickets. They got back to us and let us know that we just had to come to the Bronze Door in the Papal Palace and pick up our free tickets. So we headed out Wednesday morning back to the Vatican. As we got closer to St. Peters we realized we had made a mistake in not picking up our tickets the day before. SOOO many people there. We made our way through the crowd and I eventually was escorted by the Swiss Guard back to the ticket office. Whew!!!

It is hard to give an accurate description of what a papal audience is like. It wasn't at all what any of us were expecting. I had imagined that it would be reverent and solemn....and some of it was.....but there was an amazing amount of energy, too. We got pretty close to the front and sat in a very hot sun waiting for the meeting to start. There were many youth and church groups sitting around us. Some of the youth groups would do little chants, cheers, and songs back and forth while we waited. Lots of different languages were represented and it was actually fascinating to just listen and watch. Eventually the Pope entered in his little golf cart thing and drove around through the audience before sitting in his chair on the covered stage area. He then proceeded to listen as a cardinal came out and introduced, one by one, the different languages represented in the crowd. If there were any big groups there from that language, they would stand up when he read their group name and some would cheer, some would sing, some would play musical instruments, and one group even had a guy perform tricks on his bike. The pope would acknowledge each group with a little wave of appreciation and then would read a prepared message in that language. This was repeated for about 8 languages, I think. So fascinating...kind of a combination of a variety show and a lecture. I was so glad that we decided to go.

Geoffrey in front of St. Peter's before the Papal Audience

Looking back from our seats at the audience

A cheering youth group seated (actually standing) near us

The Pope making the rounds before the audience

Arriving at the stand

Seated before the audience

After the papal audience, we went to a fun little restaurant near Vatican City and then headed home to take a break from the sun. It was not necessarily hot..just bright.

We talked about whether we should try to go to the Rome Temple site during our visit to Rome. We found out that the site was gated and closed and that there were no guides or missionaries there. We also knew that getting to the site would not be easy. Our metro pass would take us to the end of the line, but then we would have to take a taxi and were not sure how much it would cost to do. We finally decided to go for it. We got on the metro and headed out. There is a big "beltway-like" road that surrounds Rome. If this were a clock face, the temple site is located just inside the beltway at about 2 o'clock. When we got off at the last stop we went to the taxi area and there was one taxi there. We did our best to communicate with him and showed him the address and map we had printed at home. He estimated that he could take us there and back for about 30 euros. It was a lot of money, but we knew we would be glad we did it. Our driver was actually really great. He got us there pretty quick and we were able to take some photos and look around a little. Even when we got stuck in traffic on our way home, he found a way around it and got us back right at his estimated amount. We tried to explain to him what was going to be built on that property and encouraged him to check it out on the Internet so that he could attend the open house when the temple is completed. I am sure he thought we were a little crazy to pay 30 euros to drive to a random, gated piece of ground, but maybe someday he will remember that trip and see what happened to that vacant lot. It is kind of a fun thing to think about. President Monson was at that sight 10 days later for the temple ground breaking. There was something very telling about starting off the day in a grand, beautiful, crowded audience with the Pope, and concluding the day with a visit to a quiet, simple, beautiful, future site of a House of the Lord. We are so glad we went.

Steve and I at the LDS temple site

Some of the beautiful umbrella pines and olive trees at the site

Geoffrey and Steve at the site

When we got off the metro near the neighborhood where our flat was, we decided to find a good restaurant and then get back home at a good time. We ate at many wonderful restaurants in Rome, but this place was so funny. The owner of the place, who didn't speak any English was trying his best to make suggestions to these strange Americans. It was just comical and he was a ham to start with. Thankfully, the guy at the table next to us spoke English so he acted as our interpreter. It was a riot of a night...a fun memory. Almost the instant we left the restaurant, the skies opened up and it just poured. We were grateful that we had decided to eat close to home. We made a dash for it and got home very wet, but safely.

Thursday was our last day in Rome. We felt like we had seen most of the big tourist things we knew about when we came there, so we took Thursday to see some of the sites that had been suggested to us by Maurizio or other people in Rome. We went to La Bocca della Verita first. Translated this is "the mouth of truth". It was featured in the movie "Roman Holiday". Supposedly, if you put your hand in the mouth and you are not an honest person, you could lose your hand. Kind of a fun thing to see in real life.

We then went to Circus Maximus which today is just a big flat area in which events took place anciently.

We then made our way to the Church of the Gesu. This, along with many other churches we went in, was amazing. The gilding and the intricate mosaic tile work and sculpting is just breathtaking. We tried to get some photos, but they just don't do it justice. We wanted to just take a walk through some of the areas that Maurizio had suggested to us. Such amazing buildings, apartments, cafes, churches, markets etc. It was a lovely walk. We crossed over the Tiber River which flows through the center of Rome and explored the Trastevere section of the city as well. What a cool way to see the city and get a feel for what it is really like living there.

Some of the beautiful mosaic work on the floor of one of the churches we toured

Steve and Geoffrey overlooking the Tiber

A typical Roman street

After a little break at our flat, we decided to try one more of Maurizio's suggested destinations....The Roman Baths. Steve was actually the one that wanted to go there but they were kind of off the beaten path so we weren't sure we wanted to bother. Let me just say....we were totally blown away by the size and scope of this place. It, like most things in Ancient Rome, was in ruins, but there is enough of the original building with it's domes and arches to paint a clear picture of what these baths must have been like. It was definitely one of our favorite sites of all. Just absolutely amazing.

Looking through an arched window

Original mosaic flooring....do you know how old this is?

One of the huge arches

Some of the remaining artistic detail

A look from outside the baths

Look how small we are in comparison.....AMAZING!!

When we arrived back to our flat that night, we ate some soup that we warmed up on our little stove and tried to finish up some of the other treats we had bought during our stay. Then we packed the best we could without a scale and went to bed. We had to leave very early in the morning so thankfully our new best friend, Maurizio, was able to arrange a taxi to pick us up around 3 am. We zoomed to the airport and despite a little mix up with not checking our bags through to Philadelphia, we made it out of Rome without any additional luggage fees and with so many memories. What a blessing to be able to visit such an incredible city.

Albania or Bust!!

On the evening of October 5th, 2010, Steve and I started off on a wonderful adventure. We left Philadelphia around 6pm on our way to Rome, Italy, and then on to Tirana, Albania to pick up our missionary son, Geoffrey. (Elder Foulk)

The mission president and his wife, Pres. and Sis. Neil, met us at the airport since there was a new batch of five missionaries coming in just shortly after us. It was so wonderful to be able to see Geoffrey and give him a great big hug. It was also way fun to meet the Neils, the assistants to the president - Elders Swenson and Elder Griffin, and to see the new missionaries come in.

We rented a car then Geoffrey took us to the monument where they take all new missionaries when they get to Albania. Then we checked into our little hotel that we had rented online. It was kind of a funny little place, but it was clean and had three beds, so that worked.

We drove around Tirana a little and then went to the mission home to get Geoffrey's things. These photos were taken in the office. We were excited to see this place where Geoff spent six months as an office elder and another three as an assistant.

After seeing a few more Tirana sites we enjoyed a delicious dinner of two kinds of crepes....one was a main dish with meat and vegetables and the other was a dessert kind...DELICIOUS!! Then we headed home to our humble hotel room for a good night's sleep. ( Steve and I were awake at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep for quite a while....ahh jet lag.)

I think that we will all remember that little hotel room if only for one reason. When we woke up in the morning, Steve checked the computer to see what had happened the night before back in Philadelphia. The first round of post season play had started and we were curious to know how the Phillies had done. Imagine our amazement when Steve said, "Here's the headline....... " Doctober"". Our pitcher, Roy (Doc) Halladay had pitched a no-hitter in the game. We read and watched everything we could about the event from that little room. I bet Geoffrey said, fifty times over the next week, "I can't believe Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter!"

Later that morning we got some delicious pilaf for breakfast (yes, they eat rice pilaf for breakfast there) and headed toward Mt. Dajti. This mountain is right next to Tirana and the summit can be reached by tramcar.

At the top of the mountain there was a restaurant where we had a little treat of tres leche, cacao, and salep.....all were DELICIOUS!!

Then we headed to the Tirana Museum where we took this photo of Geoffrey and I by a statue of Skënderbeu. He is like the national hero of Albania.

Here we are in the center of Tirana, called the qendër. It was heavily under construction at the time but you can still see the mosque (Albania is primarily a Muslim country), the Albanian flag, and a statue of Skenderbeu on horse back.

After some tie shopping (I think that Geoffrey may have a slight obsession with ties), we left Tirana and headed west to Durrës. Durrës is a coastal town where Geoffrey served for a short time. We got into town after dark, parked our car and walked out along the equivalent of our NJ boardwalks and took in the night life. We lucked out and found a very nice hotel and then found a pizza place for dinner. The hotel breakfast the next morning was wonderful and we could see the sea from our table. Here is a photo out of our window toward the Adriatic Sea.

Next we toured an ancient amphitheater which was recently discovered right in the middle of the city. It was fascinating.

We also checked out the mosque here...

..and then drove past the place where Elder Foulk lived in Durres on our way to meet Zef. We had really looked forward to meeting this young man. Zef was one of the investigators that Geoffrey taught in Durres. He was not yet baptized when Geoffrey was transferred into Tirana to serve in the office. Zef was eventually baptized and then served as Geoffrey's companion as a mini missionary in Elbasan. I think he was 18 years old and a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. He was too busy working at a car wash to allow us to take him to lunch, but we went to the place he was working and had him wash our car for us. The car wash (lavazh) was, coincidentally right across the street from the Durres chapel. That is where this photo was taken. It was one of my favorite moments in Albania when we got to meet this fine young man.

After our visit with Zef, we headed south to the village of Berat. Part of the city is built on a hillside. All of the houses are built from white stone or are whitewashed. Even the narrow roads through the village are white. At the top of the hill is an ancient castle. There more village homes inside the castle, too. We hiked up to the top and were able to see the whole surrounding area. Just amazing views. In the town, we also ate some fasule. This is a traditional bean soup and became one of Geoffrey's favorites while he was serving on his mission.

After our visit to Berat, we traveled Vlorë. Geoffrey began his mission in this beautiful coastal town. We were happy to see some of the sites that were in some of his first photos home. We also were able meet some great missionaries there and also some of the members. We ate sufllaqes (kind of a hamburger and fries minus the bun inside a pita) for dinner at one of the places that Geoffrey had frequented when he served there. The next morning we headed to the sea so that Steve and I could put our feet in the Adriatic. Steve was actually a little sick on that day but was a good sport as we got on the road again on our way to Elbasan.

After a short stop in Fier for some tie shopping (imagine that), we arrived in Elbasan. This is where Geoffrey spent his time in between his first office assignment and his last three months as an AP. He was able to really get to know the members and branch there well because he also served in the branch presidency. We got to meet so many amazing people. Here are a few of them.

This is Nena. Geoffrey was able to help teach her and baptize her. We visited her home and she welcomed us so warmly. What a sweet lady.

This is a group that came to the Saturday night FHE that they had at the chapel. I can't remember all of the names, but I am pretty sure I will not forgot their faces and their spirits.

Some of the great missionaries in Elbasan...

Elder Holmes (came into the Tirana airport a few minutes after us), Elder Foulk, Elder Fredrickson (Fredi), Geoffrey's companion in Elbasan, Sister and Elder Preston

We were able to witness the baptism of Zhani on Sunday. Her son, standing next to her, was baptized the next Sunday. She sat in on Nena's lessons, and after losing her job, she was able to start coming to church and was baptized.

Us with the old branch presidency of the Elbasan Branch

Some of the beautiful, plentiful olive trees found throughout Albania...so beautiful and peaceful.

After church and the baptism on Sunday, we took the road back to Tirana. It is a very windy mountain road with some absolutely beautiful views. I am imagining that during the winter, the road must be rather treacherous, though.

Upon arriving back at the mission home we repacked and weighed our bags in preparation for our trip to Rome the next day. As we went in to do some last minute things in the office, it was interesting to watch Geoffrey. He kept finding things that needed to be done. We could tell that he didn't really want to go. He knew he would soon be leaving this place that he loved so much and I know it was hard for him. Here is a photo of us with Beni. He was a less active member that Geoffrey had worked with before leaving the office.

Our trip to Albania ended with a night in another interesting little hotel by the airport. We got up early the next morning and boarded a plane to Rome where the rest of our adventure would continue. I am so glad we were able to see a little bit of this wonderful country and meet some of the amazing people that have touched our son's life forever.