My 3rd & 4th Visitors--My Parents

Towards the end of February, my parents came to visit me in Italy. It was my mother's first trip out of North America, so the trip contained many interesting moments of my mother taking in and adapting to the Italian environment. My parents first spent a day with me in Bologna, then traveled to Florence, Assisi, Rome, and then spent their last couple days again in Bologna. I accompanied them to Florence and, since it was the very beginning of the semester and missing a couple days of class wouldn't seal my academic doom, I spent 3 days in Rome with them.

Here are my parents in front of the Neptune statue in Bologna, which should be recognizable from previous posts:

On my parents' first day in Bologna, I treated them to a day-in-the-life of me--we walked to my school, made the long walk to my apartment from school, ate a very good meal at a great restaurant, etc. Just a typical Bolognese day....

Then on Sunday, we traveled to Florence, which did not seem to impress my parents too much. I think it is one of those things where sometimes you can visit a city and it completely impresses you and almost challenges you to comprehend its awesomeness. Then sometimes you visit a city and it is just, uh. Nothing too special. Unfortunately my parents and I (although I think this was my 4th or 5th trip to Florence) experienced the latter on this day....I don't even have any pictures....

Anyway, on Monday my parents went to Assisi, while I spent some time working in Bologna, before catching a train to meet them in Rome.

I feel like I have to detail the full meaning and impact of the Rome visit for my mother. Watching my mother see the Vatican and St. Peter's for the first time was like seeing a 7 year old catch their first glimpse of the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. I am not trying to suggest the Vatican is in any way similar to the house that Mickey Mouse built, but just trying to provide the best analogy possible. Either way, my mother was very excited. She was so excited and had so much of her and my father's Rome trip planned around the Vatican activities that our hotel was literally a stone's throw from the Vatican. This is the view of the entrance to the Vatican Musuem (where the Sistine Chapel is), as seen from the window of our hotel room:
So, our three days in Rome were pretty good. My mother met the Pope, or at least shook his hand, we took an excavation tour of St. Peter's, where we saw tombs from the necropolis that the original basilica was built atop of in the 3rd century, and walked around and saw many of the other major sites in Rome. Here are some pictures:

This is Trevi Fountain, where visitors throw coins over their shoulders to ensure their return to Rome, to ensure falling in love, or to ensure getting married. I just love this fountain. I don't know why, but I think it is the same reason I love aquariums and Sea World. I love to see the large pools of clear water and secretly desire the ability to jump into them. Not that I want to swim with Shamu, but the water always looks so refreshing....Here I am top the cupola of St. Peter's. My mother and I made the long journey up to the top. I was a little surprised that she wanted to do this, as she hates heights, but she made the journey. Plus, the sun was out in vibrant fashion, so that made it especially pleasant. Anyway, here I am:
Here is the view of Vatican City and the rest of Rome from the top:
Here is my mother, perched on a seat, trying to stay as far from the edge as possible:And here is St. Peter's as seen from the inside of the dome. I didn't expect to see this, so I was surprised when we walked through a door and I found myself perched atop the inside of the basilica:

And here is St. Peter's, as seen from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo:

After another day in Rome, my parents and I traveled back to Bologna in time for dinner at Al 15, which is a restaurant located directly behind my apartment and which was also written up in the New York Times. Natalie and Mark joined us for dinner, too. My parents commented how my blog usually contains pictures and stories of dinners out, so we took pictures of this dinner, too, for inclusion on my blog. So, here are my parents, Mark, and me at dinner:

Here are my parents:

And here are Natalie, me, and Mark:

After dinner, we all, minus my mother, went to the Celtic Druid. I think my dad wanted to check out the joint where we spend so much time....I don't have any pictures from that, though....

And that was pretty much my parents' trip to Italy. I think a good time was had by all....