Rome, Part 1...

Getting to Rome on Thursday afternoon, we couldn't wait to go out and hit some of the sites we had heard so much about.  We got a map from the hotel, and decided to head toward the Spanish Steps.  Now, why these are famous, I really don't know, but many "famous" people have come here, so of course we had to too!  Here we are in front of them:

The view from the top.  Seriously, this city was PACKED with tourists everywhere!!!

We walked up to the top of the steps, and wandered a little farther to a huge park, where we found this cool sculpture of a clock by Salvador Dali.  

Lane was hot, tired, and rather miserable.  We decided to try some Segways for the first time.  That was a great way to see this huge park with all the statues, ponds, people, etc.  It was really fun!

After the park, we walked down to the Piazza Popodopoli.  Wow, this place was huge and cool!

Here is a statue of an American on his cell phone.  No, wait, it is Lane conducting business from the piazza!  No rest for business owners, right?  He needed the break, and that was OK, because while he was sitting there, I discovered that Michael Jackson really isn't dead!  He is performing nightly in the Piazza Popodopoli!!!

Then, we went to one of my favorite places in Rome.  The Trevi Fountain.  WOW, WOW, WOW.  It is so crazy that you are walking down this little narrow street, and all of a sudden there is this huge amazing fountain against some building at this little plaza.  It wasn't at all what I was expecting, but it was so beautiful, amazing, and CROWDED!!!  We of course threw a coin in the fountain, guaranteeing our return to Rome and this beautiful place.  Keep your fingers crossed that it comes true.

Later, after pizza and gelato (of course) we walked up a street and found this cool fountain of Triton in the middle of a glorietta.  There are statues and fountains everywhere!!

The next morning, we got up and headed to the Vatican where we took an amazing tour of the offices, apartments, museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basillica.  Words really can't describe what an amazing and awesome place it all is.  Wow, wow, wow again!!

A global monument gifted to the Vatican by a famous person that I can't remember!

In front of St. Peter's square

Michaelangelo's Pieta
(a huge no no to take the picture, but I think we got sick of everyone else taking pictures of everything you shouldn't, so Lane finally took one!)

St. Peter's Basilica

The amount of information you receive about Michaelangelo, Raphael, the Popes, the Vatican City, the Basilica, etc. is really overwhelming. I am going to list for myself a few of my favorites that stick out from the tour:

• Michaelangelo was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel totally against his will. He considered himself a sculptor, not a painter, and didn't want to paint it.  However, the Pope prevailed, and he spent 3 years standing on a scaffolding with his head tilted back, painting the ceiling.  He had neck problems the rest of his life from that.
• Michaelangelo was given about the equivalent of $500,000 for painting the ceiling.  Not too shabby eh?
• Michaelangelo didn't paint again until 20 years later, when he was commissioned again to paint The Last Judgement on the wall of the Sistine Chapel.  He again didn't want to do it, but was coerced into it.  He was told by one of the cardinals that he needed to cover the people up - as most of them are naked in the painting.
• The Vatican City brings in about $1.2 BILLION dollars a year from tourism.
• There are 800 people who live in the Vatican City.  That makes them the highest earning per-capita in the world.  
• The Pope's apartments on the lower floors were never occupied again after Pope Alexander the Naughty.  He was a naughty pope who did naughty things.  One of which was father 6 children. (oops!)  After he died, no one wanted to live in his rooms, so they built new apartments upstairs and commissioned Raphael to paint all of those rooms.  They are amazingly painted, and almost every square inch is painted in such rich color with people and history, it is cool.
• St. Peter's Basilica is one of the biggest in the world.  And it is very big, and every square inch is covered in marble, statue, or painting.  Words can't describe.  But someone sure had a LOT of money!!   

That afternoon, we hopped on a train for Civitivechia which is the port where we would get on the Royal Caribbean Grand Mariner of the Seas! :)  We were so very excited!!

We Interrupt these Italy posts to inform you of some very important news....

Today was kind of a landmark day in the Cook household.  For the first time in 4 years, since being diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma, Lane got a clear CT scan!!!! :)

What does that mean?  It means that all the lymphnodes that were enlarged and swollen with cancer have shrunk down to normal size, and are not showing up on the scans!!! Wow, what a miraculous and happy day.

Why miraculous?  Because in May we got a scan after 4 rounds of our 3rd type of chemotherapy.  It showed the lymphnodes weren't really shrinking enough to make continuing the treatment worth it.  So we stopped.  The doctors started pushing very hard for the horrible stem-cell transplant.  Really, we were afraid it was our only option.

The doctors said there isn't a big rush.  So, we planned our big trip, and started getting our "affairs in order" to be ready for the big transplant.  Lane hasn't had a drop of medicine in 3 months.

Last week he got a scan, and this afternoon we met with the doctor to get the results.  He seemed more than a little surprised when he read the report and found that there was no activity to report.  All nodes had shrunk down to normal size!!!  We have NEVER had a clear scan like that!  Even after the horrific R-CHOP chemo he did in 2009.

He tried to say maybe it was just a late reaction to the medicine he was given earlier.  We know different.  So many family and friends have been praying for us, recently even more than ever.  We know God heard those prayers, and has answered them for us.  We are so very thankful, and still a little shocked at the little miracle that he has granted us.

So we have our first complete remission, and here's to a hopefully permanent reprieve from the tiring battle with cancer!! :)

Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Venice

We took a train to Pisa, about an hour from Florence.  Thought we should maybe see this little thing called the Leaning tower of Pisa.  The funny thing is we hopped on a little city bus to take us from the train station to the sight.  It was maybe 10 mins on the bus, and we pull up to this big, tall, brick wall, with vendors and tons of people in front of it.  We walked through the arch, and there it is!  So bizarre that you are in some city, and right there behind a wall is this major monument that is known the world over!

Anyway, I had no idea that the tower had other beautiful buildings around with it as well.  We first went to the tower, which is pretty darn funky to see in person.  They say it is only leaning 15 feet over from straight, but it looks like a whole lot more than that!!!  It was bloody hot that day (as it was every day) and unfortunately, we weren't able to get a reservation to climb the tower.  You have to get tickets, and they only allow 40 people in every 30 mins.  So, we settled for walking around the outside.

We had to take the customary "Look at me holding up the Leaning Tower" picture. :)

There was a beautiful chapel/cathedral next door.

The amount of money these people spent building these things is staggering and mind boggling considering how little they had in those days.  Apparently there were rich people somewhere!  Wow!!

 
We were lucky enough to find some gelato that was only $2 each!  :)  That dark chocolate one was so rich and creamy.  Very, very good.


Then we hopped on the train to Venice.  It was a very nice train, and we arrived around 9 that night.  We were told the easiest way to our hotel was to just walk.  I love how everything is just "down the road a few minutes".  Yeah, that is all relative, I tell ya!!

We had HUGE, heavy suitcases (with wheels of course) and we got off the train, walked out to the grand canal, and walked down to a bridge that we had to cross.  That would have been nice except all the bridges are stepped with stairs, not smooth to walk over.  So we lugged our cases up one side and down the other, then over the rickety cobblestone sidewalks to another bridge that we crossed over, and down a small canal and around to the front of our hotel, which was on a canal waterway.  We stayed at the Hotel Popodopoli.  It was actually very nice, and more antique and authentic.

Lane in front of our hotel

Us on the main bridge from the train terminal.  You can see the water taxis behind us.  We rode that all day and took in the sights.  It was awesome!

Real, authentic, gondoliers.  If you want to rent one, they will give you a ride for about $100 for an hour or so.  We decided we really didn't need to do our own personal ride that bad.  But it was fun to see them all around!

Here we are in St. Mark's square, with the basilica, museums, clock tower and piazza.  It was beautiful and amazing.  Full of people, and pigeons all around.  They would actually land on people and let you take pictures with them on you.  I passed on that. :) 

St. Mark's cathedral was absolutely breathtaking.  Really truly over the top ornate, with every square inch covered with paintings, gold, marble, adornments, etc. 

Couldn't resist this picture.  This is a real, true pizza in the window of one of the shops.

Gondola traffic jam.

Teatro Venice

On one of the bridges with the Grand Canal in the background.

Lane in front of the only bridge made of wood.  It was supposed to be temporary while another one was built, but the residents petitioned to keep it, so the government let them.

The main crossing bridge of the canal.

Classic Venice picture.

Lane and I at St. Mark's Square at night.  It really is magical with all the lights, musicians, people and excitement.  Don't think the picture quite captures the magic, darnit!

I just want to jot a few facts we learned about Venice.  From about 1100 - 1400 AD it was one of the richest cities in the world.  You can tell by the amazing buildings everywhere!  Holy Cow!  All the homes along the grand canal were mansions built by very rich people.  It was the place to be and be seen.  

Today, most of the homes on the canal are empty.  The bottom floors are uninhabitable because of the flooding.  People can't really fix up the buildings because the cost is so expensive, and the city controls what you can and can't do to the homes.  They are very strict about keeping it the way it was, so no one is coming in and restoring the beautiful homes on the canal.  

We learned that there are about 60,000 residents in Venice, but they are losing people every year.  Most of the residents are elderly.  It is very, very expensive to live there because everything has to be brought in by boat.  They fear that in 20 or 30 years it will be a ghost town, or only like a "European Disneyland" that no one lives in, but people just come to see.  Kinda sad. 

I know I certainly wouldn't want to try to live there and push a stroller around over bridges,  and take boats, etc. all the time.  It will be interesting to see what happens there.  I will say, we got so lost so many times because the passages are so narrow, and there are waterways everywhere, and you get so turned around it is like you are in a building maze!  But, as Rick Steves says, you can't get totally lost because it is an island, so eventually you'll find your way somewhere!

Two nights and one full day was enough there.  We slept in a bit, packed up, and headed down to Rome where we would leave on our cruise the next night.  We were excited! :)

Ciao Italia!!!

A little Italian Math:

2 flights + 8 train rides + 3 different hotels + one amazing cruise ship + too many $5 Coca Cola Lights + 2 $15 gelatos + almost daily pizza = a great time, which was > (greater than) the frustration of 2 dead turtles + 1 green pool + 2 cars scraped against each other when we got home!! :)

At the top of Lane's bucket list was a trip to Italy.  It was our 20th anniversary, and my birthday, so we decided why not go big and do a dream trip to Italy and a cruise as well.  You only live once, right? :)

We flew through Detroit into Rome.  We left Saturday the 13th in the morning, and got into Rome Sunday morning, the 14th.  We dragged our luggage over to the train station and  immediately hopped on a train to Florence, where we stayed at the Una Vittoria Hotel.  It was very nice, though the rooms were small - as most hotels in Europe are!

We checked in and were raring to go see all the sights.  Florence was an amazingly charming and beautiful city.  It is where Michaelangelo's David is housed in the Accademia Museum, and also has the Ufizzi Gallery which held tons of paintings from Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Boticelli, etc.  

We headed to see the David first.  You wind through narrow streets looking for random buildings that house amazing things.  It was kinda strange.  We honestly felt like we were walking in the Venitian in Las Vegas!  Weird!

We got to the Accademia Museum, and ran into the Illinois State (?) basketball team going in to the museum.  How cool was that?  They had a kid there who was 7 ft. 1 in.  Anyway, we went into the museum, and walked around and quickly found the David.  Wow, Michaelangelo was a true master.  The detail of muscles and bones and even veins was amazing!  The David is truly spectacular, even though we quickly found ourselves in a severe jet-lag fog and desperately needed sleep.  We dragged through the museum, and headed to our hotel for a little rest.  I have to say, there were tons of signs and people saying "NO PHOTOS!"  We obeyed, but about 50% of the people just sat there and took pictures!  It was crazy!  So, I have no picture of the David, but I'm sure you all know what he looks like, and this is a family friendly blog, so not sure I need that porn on here! ha!!!

Four hours later, we woke ourselves up and went out for dinner, and had what was probably one of the best dinners we had the whole time there!  Gnocchi and pizza that really was to DIE for!  And it only cost like $60! (A little sticker shock there!)  Here is where we were introduced to our first $5 Cokes.

Anyway, the city was a great kick off to a great week of Italian sight seeing.   

The first church we saw in the first of many, many piazzas we came upon.

El Duomo - an amazing chapel and building that was built in the 1700s - before they knew how to build a dome that big.  They designed the building with a huge dome, and started building it, and made someone figure out how to build a huge dome!  It worked!

Some seriously good Gnocchi.

Excellent pizza too!

Some random church in yet another piazza.

Another piazza  - I think this is the huge one with the Ufizzi Gallery.

On top of the Ufizzi Gallery

Our first, and LAST $15 ice cream cones!!! They did taste good.

Backside of Ufizzi Gallery, and the Arno river.

Some weird statue outside of this amazing house and gardens we visited.

At the top of the gardens

The city FULL of tourists!!!

Up Next: Venice!

Gearing up for the Italy posts

For my own records, and maybe mom and my sisters who suffer through my blog, I am going to put some pics and outline our trip so I can remember it all!  It was very fun and packed full of cool stuff.  It kinda makes my head hurt to think about trying to blog it all, yet I won't write it in a journal, so this will have to be it!

I have sorted through all the pictures, and will start soon ...  until then, this picture deserves a blog post all on its own:  (I can't get it to turn!  sorry!)

Could star on "What Not To Wear".... you should have seen the front view!  On second thought, maybe you shouldn't! :)

A Real, True Surprise Birthday Party!

We were going to a "finger foods" mixer with chefs cooking on these amazing appliances at a showroom in Phoenix.  I was going to meet lots of designers, architects and builders with Lane and help him network and meet more people for more jobs, etc.

At least that's what Lane told me...

We got in the car and left our kids eating taquitos in the kitchen.  We stopped at Staples and Office Max to drop off a project to be printed off.  Then, we stopped by the office to pick up some tile samples Lane needed to take to show to a lady who was going to be at the thing in Phoenix.

Without a clue, I went in Lane's office to look at some pictures of an amazing house they've done, and grab the samples.  He unlocks the office and we go in, he says go in the warehouse and grab the samples on the table in there.

I open the door and reach for the light.
Someone beats me to the light, turns it on, and everyone yells "Surprise!!"  and I scream and jump about 5 feet in the air.

I was very surprised.  I really had no idea at all.  And it was the best 40th birthday party I could have had!  (Well, except for the fact that Lane forgot to invite some very good friends that I would have invited! :( )

Also, standing there in front of me were my 4 kids that I had just left at home in the kitchen!  Wow Kayla drove fast!

Cake, sandwiches, a chocolate fountain, a "How well do you know Kathryn?" quiz, and karaoke (which they forced me to sing, and then me and Warren sang a duet and we could have sang all night!  It was fun! :)

I love parties and I love friends, and I love love love surprises, so it was the perfect mix and a great night!  Lane outdid himself on that one!  He is pretty awesome.  Course I am a little concerned at how well he kept it quiet, because I really had not even the slightest clue!

So, I have officially crossed over to 40, although I will just keep telling everyone I'm 39. ;)  I sure don't feel 40, and actually still feel about 25, so I figure age is all relative, and you're only as old as you act.  I'll never be old I guess! :)

A little birthday catch-up

It's been crazy and busy around here, so I haven't been able to post the few birthday pics I have from Kayla and Lane's birthday.  Here's a hint of the fun we had! :)

Window art on our freshly cleaned windows.  Thanks guys! :)

 One very, very happy 16 year old with her license.  One very, very happy mom to have a girl to drive herself and the kids to some stuff! :)  (Time for that 3rd car!)

Besides a cure for cancer, what do you give a man who has everything?  Seriously, Lane is sooooo hard to shop for because he has everything he needs/wants, and just buys something if he wants it!  So, I decided to make his very favorite cake for him.  Coconut cake.  Yuck.  Seriously an act of love to make something not chocolate! :) ha!  Actually, I did make this little puppy from scratch, and until you put the toenails - er coconut - into the cake and on top, it is super good.  The batter was sooo yummy, and the frosting is too, just without the flakes.  Next time I will make the whole thing with no flakes except on top - on Lane's side! :)

Apparently I did a good job.  He was very happy.  Let me tell you though, the ultimate gift was our sweet Kayla bringing down her guitar and playing and singing a Taylor Swift song she wrote her own words to for her dad.  I was balling, he was crying, it was so beautiful.  I'm trying to find a way to get it on here!  I was able to upload it to FB, but can't get it to the blog!  What the heck??

Birthday kids at their Birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Their rolls - yum!!

Me and the little devil/angel.

Me and the birthday boy.

Kayla got to go out to eat with her Grandma and Grandpa too.  

Now we start getting ready for our trip to Italy.  7 days in Italy, then 8 days on a cruise to Italy, Spain and France.  Wow, how fun is that?!!!  So excited!!! :)