2002-2005 (c) GetJealous.com, All rights reserved. http://www.getjealous.com/robynls/rss.xml I set up this travel blog when my boy and I went adventuring in Europe together. I have now run out of relatives to travel with but not the desire to travel so it has been renamed and will continue to be a record of my own adventures. I hope that someone else finds it worth reading. You might even like to remind me of home by penning a comment or two. http://www.getjealous.com/robynls http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=632691&go=robynls The only way to approach something as vast as the Vatican Museums is to go in with a plan and, as far as humanly possible, to stick by it. My plan began back in Sydney when I booked my entry ticket via the Internet. This let me avoid the queue that stretched down the hill about 200 metres by the time I arrived at about 8:30, an hour before the doors open. AT most times of the year pre-booking for ... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=632691&go=robynls Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=627730&go=robynls When the sign at the station says Villa Borghese you would expect that just a short stroll away is the Villa Borghese. In Rome, however, what they mean by the Villa Borghese and what I mean by it is two very slightly different things.This slight misunderstanding led, this morning to a very long walk. As you come up out of the station tunnel there are signs that point to Perchegio Villa Borghese so... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=627730&go=robynls Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=627729&go=robynls We were all out of bed early this morning because Gina and Lizzie had to meet Robert at the Termini Station at 8:00 to catch the train out to the airport. They are going to London for a couple of days and then on th Amsterdam before leaving for home on Friday. It was really heart wrenching to watch my roomies disappear down on the little cage of an elevator, leaving me standing alone at the door o... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=627729&go=robynls Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626706&go=robynls I find it strange that of all of the accents that you here in a foreign country the one that you don't hear is your own. It took me about 20 minutes to realise that the priest I heard preaching today was an Australian. I will give it that his Australian was somewhat tinged with a touch of something else but it was a surprise none the less. There still some other Aussies left in Rome as we found wh... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626706&go=robynls Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626705&go=robynls No longer pilgrims, but just plain tourists along with the many, many more who are in Rome at the moment. Now that the parade of yellow scarves and backpacks have ceased to be the focus of my attention I am aware of what else is going on around me and the tourist numbers are something of a surprise. I am used to Europe in the winter when all sensible tourists are heading for the southern hemispher... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626705&go=robynls Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626704&go=robynls To mark the end of the official Pilgrimage part of the journey, we all attended Mass in two churches quite a bus ride out of town in amongst the embassy section. It was yet another case of 'follow that nun' to find the right way to go. Since we were going to morning tea at Tim Fisher's (Australian ambassador to the Vatican) residence afterwards, I had planned my outfit so that Janet would not thin... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626704&go=robynls Fri, 9 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626703&go=robynls The walking tour of May Ward's Rome that we chose at the symposium on Tuesday began, as it did on our first day, at Maria Maggiore. The guide was a charming Irish sister named Mary O'Farrell and the groups consisted of 13 somewhat elderly nuns ... and Gina and me. I have made a second amendment to my name tag (the first being "Kirribilli" above "Australia") which reads "No... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626703&go=robynls Thu, 8 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626702&go=robynls The weather in Rome could not be different to that which I have experience on all of my previous trips to the northern hemisphere. A matter of 3 months makes so much difference. The skies have been bright blue since we arrived and the temperatures have been in the mid twenties. Even the nights are one sheet weather and not even that at times. The humidity is consistently high so that constant walk... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626702&go=robynls Wed, 7 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626701&go=robynls The Mary Ward Symposium was the main feature of the program today. One of the good things about being on a journey with religious women is that they are very easy to spot in a crowd, or at least some of them are. Our trip to the Vatican and finding the Augustinianum where the symposium was conducted was made all the easier by the phrase 'follow that nun!'.True to form, the Kirribilli crowd gathere... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626701&go=robynls Tue, 6 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626700&go=robynls Yes, I know that that is a strange title for the second day of a two weeks stay in Rome but it does describe what occurred today. A group of pilgrims have actually walked the Mary Wade trail to Rome and today the arrived in the Piazza del Popolo and we were there to see it happen.Mary Ward had always seemed to me to be my own person property that I share with those who are interested among our own... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=626700&go=robynls Mon, 5 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT