Italy Trip/Cruise Summer 2019

It's becoming more of a distant memory now. But, we had a wonderful trip to Italy and the Adriatic/Ionian coast/Greek Isles this summer. This was essentially a follow up to my short trip in February. In retrospect I'm glad I made that "advance" trip also for reacquainting and scouting ahead of time sort of. I think even the family felt a little more comfortable since I had been in Italy only 4 months prior.

We left on 26 May in the evening and returned on 11 June in the afternoon. Our departure was delayed a couple of hours because of an engine oil leak. They had to wait for another plane to arrive. I cut in a little on our plans in London. I'm just glad we made it. But, we wouldn't have wanted to see oil streaming out of the engine mid flight.

We had made plans for the cruise some time ago. But, we waited on committing on airfare and tickets. The prices were always in the $1400 range. Then we finally saw a direct flight from SLC to London that was $750. We went for that and although we spent less than a day sightseeing in London, at least we got to see and experience some of the town. After long layovers on my Feb trip, the direct flight was much appreciated. It was an overnight flight so I used a sleeping pill and Lenore made sure I didn’t do anything weird.

I had pretty much everything planned out as much as I could stand. That was helpful. But, there can still be hiccups. We took the tube from Heathrow into right near the British Museum and then left our bags at a bag deposit for a reasonable fee. Rather than just dedicated bag deposits, you now see shops that offer it as a service. They put tags on our luggage and had us take a picture of them with our phones.

Riding around the tube and the buses they had PA announcements to be aware of pickpockets. I thought the announcer's voice sounded like PC Penhale from Doc Martin. It might not have been an accident.

We only got maybe a couple of hours? at the museum before it was shutting down. So, we only got to scratch the surface. But, it’s pretty neat. Then we went to Piccadilly. We had to buy something at Lillywhites so I could present the saleslady with my credit card. We also took the mandatory picture outside.

From there we made our way to Trafalgar then back to pick up our bags and find our apartment.

We had found online a small AirBnB place on Brick Lane in White Chapel. It was near the intersection of Brick Lane and Chicksands Street in a slightly sketchy part of town I would call little Bangladesh. I had all sorts of info and maps and stuff. Still it was difficult to find because once we got off the bus we had no idea which way to go or which way we were facing. We asked a couple of people and then Ailsa found she did have data on her phone and was able to use Maps, thank goodness. We walked close to a half mile, schlepping our bags. But, found the Bell Boi rental office at the intersection of Sclater Street and Brick Lane, and dealt with the nice clerk. Then walked another half mile to the apartment, passing along the way such sites as the Jack the Clipper Barber shop.

Our apartment was one of these along the top floor:

We had one of Jensen's friends, Jaycie McLeary (a companion from her mission) come with us on this trip. At one point Ameer was considering being our #6. But, he decided to spend his money on other things and Jaycie was great company. We probably would have had local ethnic food this first evening. But, Jaycie wasn't up for spicy. And anyway, there was a very nice pizza by the slice right across from our apartment.

In many touristy places there will be "stringers" who stand in the street and try to sell you on their restaurant. I found it somewhat amusing there was one near our apartment, only one. I got the impression he was also keeping track of activity on the street, and he assured us we were safe, despite that, I was on a raised level of alertness just because of the mild sketchyness of the street.

The pizza at this place was quite good. We couldn't get the internet working in our apartment. But, had to get to bed anyway because of the early morning.

The rental office arranged for a cab to pick us up barely after 5am. As I fell off to sleep, I was just slighty concerned, "what if the taxi wasn't there in the morning? Or we sleep in too much?"

It was, prompt and early. And,.. the sun was up. London is pretty far north (further than Calgary, Canada). I've only been further north when I was in Dublin.

The cabbie took us to Victoria Station where we boarded a bus for Gatwick. All of these major bus and train tickets were booked and reserved ahead of time. They weren't terribly expensive and were pretty convenient.

So, we used London as our main ouvre into Europe and then paid $180 total each for flights into Rome and out of Venice. So, we got our open jaw "round trip" airplane tickets for $930 total.

Security and check in at Salt Lake were pretty slick and easy. (Except, we all had our boarding passes on our phones, Laney was at the back of our group, and her battery died just as she got to the checkpoint. And, she hasn't done this before, ever??...

We got through security and looked around and said, "where's Laney?' We are daft. Good thing the airport wasn't very busy and the people were very nice and helpful with Her.

When we got to Gatwick, though, the security was quite a bit more of a pain and the people were not nearly as helpful. Granted we got Lenore's bag of liquids mixed in with my bag and I had a clandestine container of Apple Juice from the previous flight I had forgotten about and we had stuff everywhere trying to show them everything. But, do we fit the profile?

Once again, on most occasions we were able to check in online and use etickets and stuff. That aspect was pretty slick and convenient.

In Rome, we took a taxi to the apartment. It was more than we were expecting because of the six of us, about $100. But, that's only slightly more than each of us buying a train ticket.

The apartment in Rome was booked through Booking.com and it was the nicest place on our trip. The street view is here:

The hostess walked up to us as we descended from the taxi. She was super nice and accommodating. The locale was convenient and quite nice. Not necessarily upscale but, nice. it was near to the Ponte Lungo Metro stop on the A line of the Metro. It's called All in Rome and the address is Piazza Dell'Alberone 10.

We settled in and then got ready to go visit the Temple and the Visitors Center. We decided to take the metro and the bus. We weren't exactly sure on everything and got very confused transferring from metro to bus. Mainly, it's hard to know which way to go if you can't get oriented. It made things a little tense on occasion with the whole group. But, we survived. We had family file names to be able to do an endowment session. But, in the end, Lane did baptisms and confirmations and I went with her and got to officiate, also for another girl who arrived at the Temple the same time as us.

The adults took a little time and did some initiatory. Lane and I met a nice couple named Gundry from Idaho and basically had a very nice spiritual time for our visit. We spent a good amount of time at the Visitors Center, especially talking to Sisters Bressan and Hatch. I had met Sister Bressan back in February.

I had done nothing but rave about the Carbonara they served at the Domus Urbis, so we took the bus there and walked into the restaurant. It was slightly awkward because we weren't guests at the hotel and I guess that's a thing in Italy. It could also have to do with the Rome City tax they have to charge at Hotels. But, they asked if we were with the Mormons and they got special permission to serve us. I think the problem stems from how to settle the bill. It wasn't the same nice waitress as back in February. But, this one did sweeten up a bit when I left her a nice tip for accommodating us.

The Carbonara was just as good as I remembered and in retrospect, after four other offerings at other restaurants, it was the best. The family thoroughly enjoyed this restaurant.

It was late now and we took the bus and metro back to our apartment. We had gotten little sleep and walked a lot and were a bit bedraggled from schlepping from London and then all over Rome. Poor Ailsa is carrying a bit more weight than fits her frame. Her feet were terribly swollen and a nice young couple on the metro, who we are sure thought she was pregnant, graciously gave up their seat on the train for her. So, we have that to tease her with for a while.

The next day we saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona, pretty much following the same route that I took with Michelle Young in February. We then headed for the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini (the "Bone Church"). After we boarded the bus at Piazza Navona, one of the passengers on the bus told me to be aware of pick pockets. (I often wonder in these cases if the person is just trying to deflect attention away from themselves.) There was a fellow who I thought looked a little suspicious. Duly noted.

The Bone Church is right near the metro stop at Piazza Barberini. So, we got on the metro and headed there. The train went past the piazza without stopping. We got back on the other way. Same thing. I think we did this three times. We figured it was not stopping there because of the crowds. We ended up ?walking? or taking a bus from a nearby metro stop. I think it turned out that there was construction going on at Barberini and that stop was just closed.

At any rate, we enjoyed the Bone Church. Lenore was completely thrilled. We walked around a lot and saw the Altar of the Fatherland and then made our way to the Colosseum. We decided not to do any paid tour. We just walked around and saw some of the other things nearby from a distance. We ran into the Gundrys from the day before at the Temple. We were tired so we went back to our apartment earlyish and bought groceries and take out dinner at a very nice shop nearby, and of course gelato at the shop just a block to the south. The take out place I thought was quite good considering, and had very tasty food. They were also very cordial and accommodating.

The next morning we had made arrangements with our AirBnB hostess to leave our bags at the apartment until we came back after the morning sightseeing. We went down to the Vatican to see Saint Peters. We didn't do the tour, mainly because the line is very long. We walked over to Castel Sant' Angelo and then across the Tiber. But, then we made our way back toward Castel Sant' Angelo to eat lunch at a restaurant we had noticed. We had their Carbonara, not as good (ranked fourth or fifth).

We then had to retrieve our bags and get back to Termini for the train to Florence.

High speed trains have been gaining more ground in Italy since the late 70's. Although I had never ridden one. We did use the InterCity trains when we visited in 2002. But, for the most part, our train experiences were only slighty more modern than WWII trains.

We had booked train travel ahead of time between Rome and Florence and then from Florence to Venice. It was very easy and convenient and inexpensive to do this online ahead of time. The tickets were about $26 each. I didn't realize they were high speed trains and quite nice. Our trip to Florence was quite fast reaching speeds of 155mph. Ailsa was seated next to a young woman who had her pet cat in a carrier. His name was Klimt and he was sedated.

Even though our apartment in Florence was pretty close to the train station (and very close to the main square), it was still about a half mile schlep to our lodgings. It was in Via dei Tosinghi 40. Here is a street view:  When we got there we had to wait about 5 minutes, while also trying to get in touch with the host, before he showed up and let us in. The apartment was nice enough and the building itself was about 600 years old. If you craned out of the windows, you could see Giotto's bell tower over the roof line.

We got settled and then we went to scope out the locale. We found a gelato shop that we quite liked, La Strega Nocciola. It had Lavender as one of its signature flavors. We loaded up on some groceries at the shop nearby and then went back to our apartment to rest, and watch Ryan Hamilton (Happy Face) on YouTube.

In the morning we scouted out the environs and then started making our way to the Ponte Vecchio. Along the way we stopped and looked around the Piazza della Signoria, bought tickets for the Uffizi Gallery for the next day. We found a really yummy sandwich shop at the Signoria called Vinaino. I think we went back there two other times.

We made our way back to the Piazza Duomo and had a relaxing lunch at an "Irish Pub" located on the south side of the plaza. We had wanted to eat at a pub in London. But, didn't get the chance. So, this had to do. It was our third sample of Carbonara which was probably the second best of the five samples we had during our trip. We bought tickets for the bell tower and the baptistery and the cathedral. We toured the baptistery (very lovely) and walked up the bell tower. We planned to see the cathedral in the morning before the crowds.

I thought the walk up the bell tower would be more taxing than it was. I'm glad I wasn't huffing too much. Lenore stayed at the first opportunity to stop and relax. The height was freaking her a little. We proceeded on and right when we arrived at the bell level the bells started sounding. It was pretty cool. But, very loud.

That evening Lenore and I spent a good couple of hours on the internet using mostly Ancestry debunking a guy who claims to know of the lost 116 pages or have them in his possession and also to be the rightful heir of one of Joseph Smith's brothers. But, it's pretty obvious the dates and math and the connections don't work out. Another one of the “fun” people she occasionally interacts with on her message board. But, we had fun.

After the Cathedral the next morning, we went to the Uffizi Gallery and toured that for a while. It really is best to spend a lot of time at this place. But, it's also tiring. Maybe best to break it up between a couple of days. We had a late lunch at the Osteria dell Olio near our left luggage place where we had our fourth sampling of Carbonara (pretty good also, maybe the third best) and then got on the train for Venice.

Nearly everywhere we went we were almost assaulted with people vying for your business as soon as you debark the ship or, in the case of Venice, step out of the train station. We almost got persuaded to hire a porter to take our bags to our apartment. On second thought, it probably would have been a good idea. A side note: I know I don't look Italian. But, is it so obvious that I am American? or at least an English speaker? I would think someone on occasion might assume I was Scandinavian. But, 99% of the time they would just automatically start talking to me in English even before I opened my mouth. Perhaps I should make a habit of hiding my Italian language until I know they aren't talking about me behind my back in Italian.

Also, Lenore says that I would often have a whole conversation with someone in Italian and not realize that the rest of the family were completely oblivious to the content of the conversation. It's a little hard to realize that for me sometimes. She says I would finish speaking with someone and then just turn to the family and say, "Okay?" expecting that they had followed the gist of the conversation at least.

We had an AirBnB in Venice before the cruise and also one for the couple of days after. I was pretty well organized with everything. But, when we got to Venice I was mixed up on which one was the first one. And, of course I had Ailsa lead us there first when we were already very tired and frazzled. Fortunately, they were both in the same area of Venice, the north part called Cannaregio. We were sort of in the "Ghetto" of Venice, in that it was one of the predominantly Jewish sections. We walked right by a Bris celebration and saw a man wearing a Shtreimel.

Our first apartment near Ponte Tre Archi was very nice. The address was Calle del Forner 2978. Street view is here:  We always had a hard time organizing wall plugs and adapters and chargers. But, it usually worked out. We settled in and Ailsa and I went for pizza at a shop nearby, "Very Good Pizza" and it was.

The shop had asked if I wanted the pizza cut. I told them yes but they forgot. Back at the apartment we searched all over trying to find utensils. We couldn't find them anywhere. We did find a spatula and hacked away at the pizza. Later someone noticed that the dining table had drawers that held the utensils. We felt pretty dumb.

We did Church at home in the morning because it would have been a lengthy and somewhat costly trip out to the chapel and then back to pick up our bags. And it would have been difficult to make the noon deadline to pick up our bags and vacate the apartment. We left before checkout and then made our way to the cruise port. Gondola prices are ridiculously high. But, the vaporetti are fairly cheap and quite convenient. We took one to Piazzale Roma and then walked to the cruise port, which was a mistake. It was quite a bit longer (about a mile) than we expected and there is a very inexpensive "people mover" system that cuts out most of that walk from Piazzale Roma to the port. We used that on the way back after the cruise.

As we were walking we fell in with a couple from England who had just disembarked from a river cruise and were transferring to our cruise. They told us their river cruise boat "River Countess" had been struck by an MSC Cruise ship "Opera" as they were disembarking. It was quite a news item and sparked anew the debates about tourism and cruise ships in Venice.

It's pretty ironic that any place that thrives on tourism would be so negative against it. Their standard of living would drop precipitously without tourism and then what would happen? Richer people would move in and the old inhabitants wouldn't be able to afford it. On our last day in Venice, after we left our apartment we took a vaporetto to Piazzale Roma to drop off our bags. The craft was quite crowded. There is a special place in the middle of the boat for baggage. It was filled with bags AND people. So we went down the aisle as far as we could and kept our bags with us. An Italian lady started to complain loudly to the conductor. I'm not quite sure if she was complaining about us with our bags or the people who were seated in the baggage area. At any rate I rebutted her twice quite forcefully that there was no room for us to put our bags where they were supposed to go.

In the cruise port we stopped into a pharmacy to get some Tylenol. I asked for Tylenol and Acetaminophen to no avail and then said the magic word “Paracetamol” which they recognized. It's a good thing we watch British shows on TV. We negotiated the cruise port without problem, got on the Norwegian Star fairly quickly and easily and checked in to our staterooms. One note: in the past we have usually gotten our embarkation photo. This time as we passed that checkpoint, I asked Lenore and she said don’t bother. So I kept going. But, then all of the rest of them went ahead and had their picture taken. They say they tried to get my attention to no avail. So, we have a nice picture with just the five girls.

This was our first time on any boat other than Carnival. We've had people tell us they liked Carnival the best. We liked Norwegian as well. They are just different. Norwegian might cater to a slightly nicer clientele. One of the nice things, especially for this cruise, was there are no formal nights in the restaurants. So, we didn't have to concern ourselves with bringing “elegant” clothes that might not do well in a backpack or carry on. On Norwegian you don't have any set dining place or schedule. But, we were pretty much always able to eat when and where we wanted. The food on this cruise was probably a little nicer. Although, there was no Guy Fieri's burgers. We also didn't have to endure a Carnival crew singing and dancing for us at dinner time.

Walking around Italy we had gotten used to hawkers and businessmen soliciting our patronage. Our first cruise stop, Kotor Montenegro, was a whole different level. We mananged to make it through the gaunlet unscathed and quickly found one of the most charming destinations you could hope to visit. The main attraction we visited was the surprisingly interesting Cathedral of Saint Tryphon. The guys selling entrance tickets were particularly enthused about the Utah Jazz basketball team.

The museum and reliquary were interesting and not too involved. We bought gelato on the main square for about 70% of what we paid anywhere else and saw the first of many local cats. The rest of our time there we mainly just walked around the small (very small) streets and footpaths and were greeted with quaintness everywhere. Near the end we saw a museum dedicated to the cats of the town. But, we didn't enter. At that point we were about done with our adventure for the day.

The next day in Corfu, we had considered finding a beach to hang out at. But, once we got into town and talked to some locals about it, we were persuaded not to. The nice beach was about a 45 minute one way ride away on a not very dependable and crowded bus. We were told it is very common to wait a long time for a bus and then when one arrives it would be too full for more occupants. We didn't want to hire a taxi. So, we walked around the town center and enjoyed a very nice day.

I bought some candied kumquats and now I think about trying to find them here at home every once in a while. Very similar to candied citron or orange peel. We got a light drizzle of rain here and there, just a little.

Our third day was spent in Argostoli. We definitely wanted to go to a beach. It was really the best opportunity. It took a little while to find our bus and for it to come. We almost hired a taxi. But, since there were 6 of us, it was a little more difficult and costly than normal. Most of the taxis are for 4 passengers only. Anyway, we got to Lassi beach and had a great time. It was nearly as nice as a Caribbean beach. We hung out near the Costa Beach Club. We did a little swimming/snorkeling (with only a mask) and walked the length of the beach. At the far northwest end I happened upon some nude sunbathers. So, we made a u-turn at that point.

When we debarked in Santorini the next day we took a “fast” boat to Oia in the north end rather than go up the cliffs to Thera. This way we were to avoid some crowds by going against the flow of tourists. The boat wasn’t really fast. But, that’s alright. Oia (still don’t know how to pronounce it) was of course spectacular. It was a clear sunny day. We mainly just walked around. At times the little vicolos were very crowded with people. I could see that there are some amazing “hotels” and apartments to rent there with spectacular views of the caldera.

During the bus ride back to Thera we encountered some tight curves with lots of traffic and witnessed a couple of women on a scooter who it appeared were going to get sideswiped by our bus. They screamed in terror as the bus narrowly missed them. We bought quite a few things in Thera, mostly clothes. And we were open to the idea of riding the donkeys down to the port. But, they were long in coming. So, we took the cable car down and enjoyed that a lot.

Our last destination on the cruise was Dubrovnik (our taxi driver pronounced it with very little of the “V” sound, so more like Dubronik). The driver first took us on a bit of a tour of the city before dropping us off in the old part of town. This was a very nice, clean, and neat city. I know war is terrible. But, I can’t help but think the town wouldn’t be so nice if they didn’t have to rebuild after the destruction of war. There was no graffiti and no decrepit buildings or slums.

The old town was very quaint a picturesque. It’s not hard to see why it was used for King’s Landing in Game of Thrones.

When we all returned to Venice we planned some sightseeing for the last day and a half. We ran into one problem though. Traffic on the canals was closed for most of the first day because they were holding races for all sorts of watercraft on the canals. So, we wandered our way to the Ponte Rialto and did some shopping.

At the left luggage place I asked about the leaving our bags later the next day, the fellow there asked about my plans getting to the airport. He offered to get us a taxi (I think it was actually an Uber black) for 50 Euro which was only slightly more than taking the pullman and way more convenient.

When we went to our AirBnB we didn’t have instructions for checking in and no way to communicate with the host. So, I eventually went to the bar nearby and pleaded my case with the barkeep. He lent me his cell phone to call the host. But, he seemed a little annoyed. Or, I was having trouble picking up on his sense of humor.

This last apartment was the least accommodating of all of our apartments. It was old and a bit rundown and we got eaten alive by the mosquitoes. But, it was right off the canal and it wasn’t horrible. Here is the Google street view:

Lenore saw a newspaper flyer for a market nearby. So, we set out to buy groceries. The store was called Prix and wasn’t far. But, finding it was VERY difficult. We walked up and down looking for it. We even asked a couple of people and we just always seemed to be missing it. Finally one nice man walked with us and showed us how to get there. It was down at the very dead end of the tiniest vicolo off the canal walkway with no signage at all until you got right to it. And a very small sign. The path was maybe a meter wide, easy to disregard. So, you have to know EXACTLY where it is, or your probably not going to find it.

At any rate it was a good find because we bought food for three meals for six people for 30 Euros.

The last day in Venice the vaporetti were in service so we took one to Piazzale Roma to leave our luggage again. I was in dire need of a bathroom and luckily one of the few public toilets was nearby. We made our way to Piazza San Marco by way of a vaporetto.

We loved Piazza San Marco. The Cathedral there was my favorite. We went out on the balcony and took some fun pictures. We had a very nice lunch at Tratoria Canonica just to the side of the square and then strolled and purchased trinkets and fripperies.

We had a long wait in the Venice airport, a bus ride from Gatwick to Heathrow and then another long wait for our departing flight.

Rome Temple Open House Trip

As soon as the temple in Rome, Italy was announced by President Monson in the April 2008 General Conference we started thinking about trying to go to Italy for the dedication or the open house. And, every time I ran into another Italian missionary or the topic came up we always asked each other if we were going. The answer was always a strong yes.

As the events approached and the timing of the open house and dedication were announced though, I became less sure. We expected Lane to be in school in March and we really wanted her to come to Italy with us. So, we have planned our family vacation for the summer. Plus, I didn't want to horn in on the dedication and probably take a dedication ticket away from an Italian member.

Last November Michelle Young let me know that she was going for the open house along with Michelle Weaver. Initially, I didn't give it much thought. I had made my plans. But, then it started to ruminate in me and once or twice I mentioned to Lenore that it would be pretty cool to go. I also checked the sign up list for volunteers at the open house and there were quite a few slots still available.

Then Lenore said I ought to look into it more. One thing that changed at work last year was the adoption of an open leave policy. I had been taking about 33-35 days off each year for the last several years or so. But, my pool of collected PTO was diminishing and it looked like I might only have about 25 days in 2019. Still, it is enough. But, might make things a little tight for all of our plans. Thus, the change in policy really helped out for my trip.

So, not 'really' having to worry about time off, one day I decided to do a little internet searching and tentative planning. This was on 3 December. I found a pretty good deal on an airline ticket and it seemed that the prices might not change much before the time I would need to go. The ticket was $700 and Lenore said I ought to take the opportunity. I planned on just being in Rome for 3 days. The travel time was more than that. But, I was only taking 4 days off work and that felt like it wasn't too excessive.

Funny thing, the day after I booked my flight there was a fare available for about $460. Oh well.

The carriers for the flights were Jet Blue and Aer Lingus with layovers in NYC and Dublin. It was a short layover in New York. But, a 7 hour layover in Dublin. I figured that wasn't really enough time to do anything in Dublin or make it worth leaving the airport and then returning. I probably could have anyway. I was bored out of my mind. That was too much. So, it was a total of 21.5 hours to Rome.

The return trip was a total of 35 hours traveling with layovers of more than 12 hours in Dublin and about 6 in NYC. I think I learned a good lesson and we will be taking quicker, more direct flights this summer. I always fret a little about the travel. But, it really went about as smoothly as I could have wanted.

Our winter had not been much up until the end of January. We might have had one or two good sized snowstorms to that point. The morning of my flight we woke up to 13 inches of snow to shovel, and not just ours but a couple of our neighbors as well. That was kinda tough. I’m glad I didn’t mess up my back.

I arrived in Rome about 7:30pm. The passport control line was quite large and took about 30 minutes. I knew I was going to be tired and had to get up early and work all day. So, even though it was expensive (75 euros, about $85) I opted to take a taxi to my hotel. I could have taken the time to figure out the train, the metro and the buses and would probably have only spent 20 euros. But, it probably would have taken an hour longer.

When I made my plans, I searched for an Airbnb near the Temple. I settled on a hotel, Domus Urbis which was about a mile away. In the end I was thoroughly pleased with my choice. If I had people to share a room with, a BnB would likely have worked out less expensive. But, this place fit the bill quite well.

I traveled light. Just one carry on bag. I did not want to be lugging suitcases and waiting for baggage.

As I entered the lobby of the hotel there was a woman at the counter with her husband. He had turned and was walking roughly in my direction. I knew instantly that they were LDS and there to see the Temple. I introduced myself and we struck up a fast easy friendship. We talked long enough that it sort of interrupted the check in process for both of us. The two guys manning the front desk (one Russian and one Ukrainian, both spoke Italian well) were a little bewildered.

Ken and Stella Bake are from Oceano, California. It's a second marriage for her (widowed) and third for him (widowered). Stella is from Italy and is only a little older than me. I probably would have run into her during my mission if it weren't for the fact that she was already married and moved to the states by then. Both are very friendly and personable. They were volunteering for a good while at the Temple and had just flown in from Frankfurt.

I learned later from Michelle (she had spoken to Stella) that Stella's first husband was struck with an odd illness where he could not sleep and eventually it wore him down to the point he took his life. It was truly sad.

After checking into our rooms we met in the hotel restaurant and had dinner. The restaurant wasn't trying to be fancy. But, it was nice and warm and the food was quite good. Their continental breakfast was ample. For dinner I ordered Carbonara. This is my signature dish. But, I admittedly don't make it right. I have adapted over the years and I put cream (oh horror) in mine. I was excited to try real Roman Carbonara. It was very good. Different enough that it doesn't really compete with mine. I'm going to have to try making it at home. The pancetta which would be used instead of bacon, is a little hard to find. They use two whole eggs and the yolks of 3-4 more. I did not see curdled egg in the dish. The "sauce" relied mainly on the grease of the pancetta or olive oil or both rather than cream. After having this dish I kept thinking about it and couldn't wait to have it again.

The Michelles and Dayna showed up about halfway through the dinner after a day of sightseeing.

I didn't have any bus tickets yet and had to be at the temple early enough that I figured I would probably just walk there the first morning. Although I was planning on buying bus tickets on the way. I thought it would be best to try to buy a three day pass. In retrospect, that was not needed I probably only spent about 10 Euros on tickets for the whole stay. And I gave a couple of tickets away to people who needed them.

Michelle warned me not to miss the turn at Settebagni for the Temple in the morning. She said, "Don't go under the freeway! If you go under the freeway you are going the wrong way."

Well, I went the wrong way. I was concentrating on finding the tobacco shop where I could buy a bus pass. It was on the West side of Via della Bufalotta. I was sure from the description that it would be before Settebagni. I saw the tabacchi and made a beeline for it, not realizing it was AFTER Settebagni. I walked under the freeway and thought, "well, that can't be the freeway." So, I ended up walking at least two miles instead of one. I had dress shoes on and my feet were already killing me before even getting to the Temple.

Later that day I ran into at least two different parties of Temple volunteers who told me they had seen me walking and said to themselves, "He's going the wrong way."

Note to future self and anyone else walking to the Temple from Domus Urbis: don't go the wrong way! Evidently, MANY people have done the same thing.

When I first arrived at the Temple complex, I'm not sure they knew what to do with me. They had me go down to the north guard house to man that because someone was late. I was only there for about 5 minutes when that person arrived. Then they sent me to the security control point/metal detector for all the visitors. Same thing, I was filling in for someone who hadn't arrived yet and they showed up within 10 minutes.

Next stop they sent me down to the parking lot to help direct traffic. This was actually sort of fun. It wasn't terribly busy yet.

The normal official Temple parking lot was closed during the open house. In order to direct everyone through the security control point/metal detectors they had borrowed the parking lot from the sports complex right next door to the southeast. I stood at the entrance and just sort of welcomed people and made sure they followed the traffic pattern they had set up. It was quite fun to greet people and welcome them to the Temple. Many people were quite concerned about being on time for their "appointment" time. I told them not to worry. The reservation system is mainly there to just get an idea of the crowds to expect.

I would often guess if people were Italian speaking or English or,... Many English speakers would express marked relief when I spoke English to them. My overall impression is that possibly as many as half of the visitors were not Italian and then perhaps half of the Italians were possibly not members of the Church. There were obviously a lot of people who came from all over the world and made substantial arrangements to come to the Rome Temple open house.

Originally, the volunteer schedule was set up with three four hour shifts throughout the day. Before I arrived they changed it to six two hour shifts. I'm glad they did. Four hours in any one spot would have been very tiring.

The next shift I was assigned to be "trail sweep" for tours going through the Temple. The Italian term they used was "chiudilinea" (line closer) to make sure no one lags behind or gets lost in the building.

Let me give you some back story: The best "experience" of my mission was finding the family of Roberto Enrico and Angela Giuliano. In our mission it seemed to be a common theme that the most fruitful contact of someone's mission came early on. (That, and the fact that members almost always lived on the top floor of an apartment building without an elevator.) It was about the 11th day into my stay in Italy (20 June 1977) that we knocked on the door of the Giuliano family. The children in the family were Eva, Claudia, and Tito. Angela, Eva, and Claudia remained strong in the Church and their families as well. Claudia had married a man named Enrico Prandini who joined the Church. Claudia passed away several years ago.

Initially, they weren't a standout contact. It took about a month for much to happen. But, then, at that time, during that lesson, I knew that Sister Giuliano had felt the Spirit deeply. I was transferred only a month later. So, I wasn't in Torino when Angela and her three children joined the Church. I didn't get the payoff of seeing them baptized. But, I had the experience of that one lesson, when the Spirit was so strong, to hold onto when I needed strength.

I did get to see Angela, a daughter Eva, and a granddaughter, Erica in 2002 when we visited Italy. Since then I have maintained contact with the family through Facebook and occasional letters and gifts in the mail.

When I made plans to be at the Rome Temple Open House for a couple of days, I contacted Eva and let her know I was coming. Angela is elderly and wouldn't be making the trip down to Rome. But, it just happened to be that most of the rest of the family were planning on attending the Open House during my two days volunteering at the open house. So, I made a mental note to connect with them once I got to Italy.

Things were hectic enough that first day, I had not yet connected with the Giuliano gang. On my first tour as chiudilinea, while waiting for the video presentation and the welcome from the two sister missionaries to begin, I was enjoying looking around the room, taking in the Spirit, and trying to connect with the patrons. It was my first time entering the Temple as well, even as a visitor.

I overheard the tour guide I was paired with introducing herself to the sister missionaries. All I caught of her first name was ?Amy? So I asked her and she corrected me. "No, my name is Noemi." I asked her where she was from, "Como." With anticipation I asked her what her family name was, "Prandini."

I knew who she was by name. I had never met her. She was a grand daughter of my dear Sister Angela Giuliano!

I explained who I was and we rejoiced as we got to know each other. So, my big payoff was being with one of the progeny of my Sister Giuliano as I toured the Temple for the first time. What a thrill!

I saw the rest of the family the next day and we had a great time visiting and taking group pictures. Missionary work in Italy is hard. I spent literally 60 hours a week every week knocking doors with seemingly little to show. It was hard in the 70's. It's hard now. This experience made it all worthwhile. What a tender mercy from the Lord!

The Temple is marvelous. I would have liked it to be a little larger. But, it's essentially the same size as the Draper and Newport Beach Temples. I was particularly interested to see how they managed melding the oval shape with rectangular rooms and doorways. I noted that they did not often take the easy way out with the workmanship. Mostly, they had to make custom moldings and trim to fit the curved with the straight.

I did a couple of other tours during my shift as trail sweep and then they had me ushering inside the Temple. Brother Umberto Simoncini was the director of all things going on inside the Temple. I noticed one tour guide who had a very good manner about him, Ettore Boschi. He was very reverent and mild, especially in the Celestial room. He gave a brief explanation and then invited the patrons to contemplate in silence for a few moments. At that time he bowed he head reverently and set the example. It was very powerful and I am sure that many of the patrons who went through with him felt a very strong spirit.

When I got a break I wanted to get some food and try to buy some bus tickets. I found that it was going to be easiest just to get individual tickets (widely available) as opposed to a three day pass. By now though my feet were killing me from all the walking and standing. I didn't want to walk far. I especially didn't want to get lost and go out of my way. The guard (Giulio) at the north guard shack tried to give me directions to a place nearby. But, I wasn't seeing the place. I think it was inside an office building. I had been instructed how to get to the mall next door. But, it was confusing. Finally, a family from Switzerland (non Italian speaking, father was named Wolfgang) came along and wanted to go the the mall as well. With their encouragement together we figured out how to get to the mall. It was a little strange because at one point it seemed you were going to walk into traffic. The rest of the way was like walking back allies.

The guard, Giulio and I interacted a couple of times and had a couple of nice chats. He was super nice and personable. I didn’t realize till later that he was one of the grounds staff that was contracted and that he was not a member of the Church.

The volunteer gathering area was in the FHC at the visitor's center. I was often there when I wasn't on shift. Lots of people were coming in to see if they could get anywhere with their Family History. So, I found myself filling in and helping out there quite a bit during my off time. I felt bad that we were mainly only able to get them started without really finding anything new about their families that they didn't already know. Sister Vanna Parisi was a big help here.

There was at least one full time missionary couple I was told to look out for while there. On Friday afternoon while busying myself in the FHC. Sister Balzotti approached me and said her good friend Tom Grassley told her to seek me out and call me Q-tip. Actually, I was supposed to divine who her friend was by her using that special moniker. He’s really the only one who called me that much. I found out later that it was Fritz Tessers who had told me to keep an eye out for them. It was Mark Balzotti in the early days of the Italian Mission who had given a Book of Mormon to Cecelia Panebianco (sister of Emma Panebianco from our mission) which led to her family joining the Church. Cecelia is the mother in law of Elder Dini Ciacci who currently is Area Seventy over Italy.

The main visitors center was also a big hang out. I saw Franco Lepore there briefly. But, hardly had a chance to talk. The Rome Mission sister missionaries were “sistering” the premises and made themselves available to answer questions and such. I/we spoke to several of them. I chatted with one girl (Georgia Baielli) who eventually told me enough for me to realize she was the daughter of April Westergaard who I knew in Maryland. That was fun to meet her and make that connection.

The area that included all of the statues was very popular and often crowded. We learned that just a couple of days before we arrived, a rambunctious youth had broken James’ staff and they had to arrange and figure out how to repair it overnight. The repair went well enough. The crack was really only visible if you knew to look for it. They have probably done more since the open houses to make it completely invisible.

I don't remember what my official last shift of the day was supposed to be. But, I decided I needed to take things in my own hands and get off my feet. I knew that Michelle et al were going to be placing shoe covers. So, I went to that station because you sit on a chair while working. I like this activity because you get to purely serve and be in a servile humble attitude toward the patrons the entire time. You could tell some of the people weren't exactly comfortable with having someone put shoe covers on for them, for various reasons. It can be interpreted as a somewhat intimate act. I think that is one of the reasons the Savior washed the feet of his apostles. One of the couples we worked with was from Uruguay and only spoke "Spanish". I finally had to tell myself that the Spanish I was used to was mostly Central American/Mexico filtered. The people at the Temple who spoke Spanish were European or South American and were a lot harder to understand or try to speak with. These guys were not speaking my "Spanish."

Near the end of the shift the leader needed to leave so he mistakenly put me in charge. We were anxious to get out of there and enjoy some rest time. At about 8:15 we started asking the tour guides as they came through if they were the last or if they knew of other groups still gathering in the chapel. I even went and asked people in the chapel a couple of times. At least twice we thought we had finished with the last tour group and starting putting things away and getting ready to leave only to be presented with another group. And then we had to scramble back to operational mode. Thankfully, it was not big disaster.

Michelle had run into sister Pacini (Temple President) earlier in the day and She told Michelle to come by their apartment at the end of the day. I felt kinda like I was imposing and a fifth wheel. But, I couldn't very well just skip out on them either. I had wanted to get that Carbonara again at the hotel. Mind you this was close to 9pm. I think the Pacinis were a little surprised that we all came by en masse. She graciously offered me some of her dinner. But, I didn't want to put them out and I just had some of a hamburger that Michelle Jordan had gotten earlier in the day and not finished.

President and Sister Pacini told us a handful of spiritual experiences people attending the open house had related to them. I guess I was not meant to pass them on because I can only remember a couple with spare details. Suffice it to say that there was an outpouring of the Spirit at these events. Their apartment is quite nice and is sort of the penthouse of the on site housing, corner top floor with a great view of the Temple. It was very nice.

One of the pieces of advice he passed on to us, that somebody had told him, was "let the Temple speak for itself." It was best to allow the reverence and silence to weigh on the visitors. That was good advice and I had already seen it employed well.

President Pacini carries around a temple card to help illustrate the need for Temple proxy work when people ask him. It bears the name of a man from China who lived 1000 years before Christ. Someone like that would never have a chance to hear or receive the Gospel.

Sister Pacini drove us home and I was glad. It was late and I was tired.

I didn't have cell phone service overseas even though I thought I might. Ting tried to fix it for me. But, that didn't work. I was able to call home often anyway whenever I had a wifi connection.

Paul Scherbel had suggested that I wear more comfortable shoes on day two. I only had two pairs. The casual ones are tennis shoes with black canvas upper. I wore them and was glad. My feet were a lot better the second day. I didn't do nearly as much walking and they didn't look too strange with my suit.

On day two they just had me signed up for three shifts. In the morning I greeted people as they finished the stairs coming up from the metal detectors. Sort of their first point of contact on the Temple grounds. Similar to the parking lot the day before, it was very enjoyable to try to be nice and friendly and help people out. I felt like I should engage in some way with each group and each person if possible. It was easy for the patrons to assume they were to enter the Visitor's Center. But, that's where the tour ended. They were supposed to walk to the Stake Center first.

I ran into Eva Giuliano nearly the first thing that morning, when I was actually looking out for Warren Benincosa, one of our JRHIMM missionaries who was back in Rome with his wife teaching the Self Reliance classes.

I took a couple of pictures with Eva and Erica. But, then just a couple of minutes later they all showed up in front of the visitor’s center and we took some nice pictures with the whole group.

It was really fun to see them and greet them all. I later touched base with Eva again on FB and asked her to give my regards to her mother and told how fun/rewarding it was for me to see them all. She replied, “Bellissimo anche per noi e tutto grazie a un giovane coraggioso missionario che è venuto in Italia tanti anni fa!” (Beautiful also for us and all thanks to a brave young missionary who came to Italy many years ago!”

Left to right Samuele Leoni, Noemi Prandini, Enrico Prandini, Me, Renzo Cabras, Eva Giuliano, Erica Bruera.

The Schwen family who used to live in our ward came by while I was at this post. Lena served in the Rome Mission.

I also saw Emma Panebianco Urban, who is married to Mark Urban. They were both in our mission. She and her family are some early Italy pioneers. She is the aunt of Elder Dini Ciacci.

I also encountered a large group of tourists who belong to a group that studies other religions. There were at least two groups of priests that I saw, including a group of three very good looking young priests. I later saw them as they were making their way back to their bus to leave. They were all three from the US (Wisconsin, I think) and studying in Rome.

From there I moved to being usher at the front doors of the Temple. The doors are quite large over 1000 lbs each. They don't have a way of keeping them open. That wasn't really the idea anyway. We were just supposed to be there to greet and hold them open for groups as they entered and exited. Sometimes this meant non-stop holding the doors though.

More back story to help you understand this experience: One of my biggest challenges in life is seeing all of my fellow men as Heavenly Father sees them. I wonder at the love the Savior and Our Father have for everyone. It is obvious to me that I need to make great strides in this area. Even in crucial callings I have struggled at times to feel this Love for others.

The symbolism of welcoming people into a sphere of greater glory through the Temple doors was not lost on me. I tried to look into their faces and make eye contact with as many patrons as possible while maintaining reverence. I felt a smiling, greeting "buon giorno" or a "benvenuti", "buona sera" or other friendly words would help convey the Love of our Savior. It was obvious that many non members were there and feeling a Spirit they had never felt. For two hours I was filled with a greater than normal level of Love for my fellow men. It was almost overwhelming. And I was able to glimpse how God feels about his children. Another great gift.

I ran into Ugo Perego while manning the doors. He was leading a tour, I think.

Just a quarter mile down the street from the Temple on Settibagni is a little "Bar" called the Break. I had seen it on my initial walk there and then some of the Volunteers recommended it to me. On Saturday for lunch I walked down there to check it out. I got a slab of pizza and a drink for 4 Euros and sat outside on the patio for lunch. It was very good pizza and I had a nice chat with an older gentleman who somewhat typically proceeded to tell me all of the reasons he is not religious.

I filled in more at the FHC in between shifts on the second day. They really could have used more people able to help out. It seemed there were a lot of Italians wanting to get info on their Ancestry.

My last shift of my whole adventure was to spell one of our IMM Elders, William Lawler down at the main entrance to the Temple grounds parking lot. He told me it was wild. He was covering it with his wife. I was doing it alone. Mind you this was 6:30-8:30pm on Saturday evening. Via dei Settebagni is a fairly important road. Although it is only two lanes. And this was a busy Saturday evening. There was a lot of confusion because some people just naturally thought they would enter the main gate and park in the normal parking lot. Not for the open house. The Church had rented part of a sporting complex right next door to use as a temporary parking lot. This was larger to accommodate the crowds and then they could funnel everyone through the security checkpoint.

Many, many people would attempt to come into the normal parking lot and then be blocking traffic, sometimes both directions while I explained to them that they had to go about 100 yards further down the road. Many many people made u-turns in the middle of the street. I was actually amazed that we didn’t have more yelling and honking. I finally decided that Italians are used to a lower level of order in their community. It was utter mayhem and very laughable. Several people also stopped in the middle of traffic to ask what this was and what was going on. I encouraged them to come to the open house. When this shift was over, I was not sad. One embarrassing note. It was sometime during this shift that I realized my whole time there I had been using the word for sidewalks (pedonali) to refer to pedestrians (pedoni). Oh well. They figured it out despite the kooky American.

Afterward, I told Bill Lawler that he owes me one big time. That was probably a job for at least one native speaker and two non-natives. When I ran into Eric Anderson later at the reunion, he was quite amused when we talked about it. He had done that job with two others.

I found out later that we had about 6300 visitors that Saturday. The entire open house was a total of 19 days. At the All Italian Mission at April Conference after the open house, they told us the total number of visitors was about 55,000.

We made our way by bus back to the hotel where we had dinner and I had my second taste of their Carbonara. Still yummy. There were a couple of other choices that I don’t ever have to have again. Their crostata was a nothing burger and the chicory was bleh.

We took the opportunity during dinner to talk about the great experiences we were having. We also talked a little while about Mel Mascherino. Sort of a tender memorial. He would have so loved to be here for this event. He died four years too early.

We had been told that the local wards were inundated on Sundays with all of the out of town visitors, we were encouraged to attend one of the wards meeting later in the day because they normally had fewer visitors. On Saturday evening they let us know that, to remedy the problem, they had authorized the use of the chapel in the Temple complex to hold a Sacrament meeting especially for all of the volunteers. We were admonished not to spread the word. They wanted it limited to the volunteers.

This worked out very well for us. It was a fairly nice sized meeting and they simply asked a couple of the volunteers to bear their testimonies. Elder Dini Ciacci also spoke.

Immediately afterward they had a private tour for a group of hearing/speaking impaired people.

We took some pictures in the plaza of the whole group and some of the smaller groups of friends. Then we went back inside to change into street clothes and then we walked to the bus stop to go downtown to see a few sights before I had to get to the airport.

When I stopped in New York on the way over to Italy, I forgot my coat in a restroom at JKF airport. I went back to try to find it. But, it was gone. Oh well, I figured I would take some time to buy a replacement in Rome, a keepsake replacement. I had never gotten the time to do any shopping. And while waiting at the bus stop it was a bit chilly. We were joined at the bus stop by a young recently returned missionary sister who helped us some with directions. Then another older gentleman who was one of the volunteers. He introduced himself as Vittorio Salemmi.

I had seen him several times during the two days I was there. The first time, I asked him something in English expecting that IF he was Italian he might still know English. He just stared at me blankly. I knew from then to speak to him in Italian. He was actually on his way home to San Remo, headed to the Termini station to get on his train. So, he had all of his stuff, including a warm sweater and a shell jacket that he was wearing. Seeing me under dressed he offered me his coat. I figured I could borrow it until we parted ways. It was clear pretty quickly that he was not going to allow me to give it back to him.

He was probably in his 80’s and seemed to be in pretty good health. He reminded me of Poppa. It was a struggle for him to manage both his bags. So, I took one bag and we helped him for about an hour as we negotiated the buses and metro to get to Termini and onto the right platform where we said our goodbyes. I was very glad for the coat.

I found the baggage drop at Termini and got rid of my own bag for the afternoon. This is very convenient and only cost 6 Euros. I’m so glad I didn’t have to carry my bag around while sightseeing.

Michelle led the way and armed with a map from Domus Urbis we headed first to the Spanish steps. Very nice, very crowded. Then to the column of the Immaculate Conception, Trevi Fountain (also quite crowded), Piazza Colonna Marcus Aurelius, the Church of Saint Ignatius (quite by accident), the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and finally the Colosseum all in about 3.5 hours.

We were making our way to the Pantheon when we happened upon St. Ignatius. It has an interesting enough facade. So, I stepped back to the other side of the piazza to take a photo. Michelle was reading a placard outside. There was a concert right then in the church. So, we stole inside to get a better view. This is an amazing building. The sound of the choir and orchestra was amazing. I too late turned on my video and only captured a few seconds of the sound before they had a very long break. Will definitely have to show this to the kids.

As we were making our way down one of the little vicolos, I suddenly stopped and looked up at the people walking in the opposite direction. A man in the crowd also stopped and looked at me as if prompted. Our eyes caught each other and I recognized him right away. I pointed at him and said, “you're doing a great job (for Conservatism).” It was Jason Chaffetz. So, we had to stop and briefly chat and take pictures. He was there with his wife and Steven Lund of the YM General Board and his wife. That was pretty fun to have that happen.

The Pantheon is very impressive and piazza Navona is charming. We stepped off the piazza to find some trinkets for gifts and also FINALLY get some gelato!

The one instruction I had from Jensen was, if at all possible, get to the Colosseum and get a picture. I wasn’t sure we were going to have time before my flight out. When we were walking around we passed a building that had a large photo of the Colosseum on the front doors. I had Michelle take a picture of me in front of it in case we didn’t get there. I’m not sure Jensen would have been fooled. But, it was good for a laugh.

I stopped to buy a bus ticket and ask to make sure we knew how to get to the Colosseum. The Venditore indicated which bus to take. We crossed the street and walked quite a ways to get to a bus stop. Shortly, one of the buses came by. It was too crowded to get on. So, we waited for another. That one was crowded too. But, we just stuffed in. I was standing right in front of the validation machine. So, it became my job to validate tickets for those who couldn’t reach.

Michelle had mentioned that the Vittorio Emanuele II monument the “Altare della Patria” was a very impressive sight. We passed by it on this route and yes it is very neat. Going to have to take the family there.

At one point we caught a glimpse of the Colosseum. But, it soon became clear we were not going to stop there. The Bus continued to the end of the line at Termini Station. So we figured out where to go and popped back down into the metro, went a couple of stops and then popped back up out of the ground right in front of the Colosseum. I got a couple of pictures, we went up on top of the nearby cliff to get a better view, and then we said our goodbyes, and I started making my way back to Termini. On the way I bought a very nice watercolor quadro from a street vendor.

I didn’t really have to wait long for the train to Fiumicino airport. Knowing what I know now, I have no qualms about using the public transport rather than taxis when we return in the summer.

One note about the airports: Rome Fiumicino is very elegant. They do have a large duty free area that they funnel you through like arriving at a cruise port. But, the facilities and everything are very nice. JFK isn’t horrible but closer to the other end of the scale in elegance. I especially noticed a big difference in the PA system announcements. At JFK they seemed to be reading from a script and had a hard time pronouncing several names. The PA stuff was definitely amateur hour. The restrooms were just adequate. In Rome the PA system voices were very appealing and had great accents. The restrooms were straight from a design magazine.

Since I had a 12 hour layover in Dublin through the night, I had reserved a room at the Clayton Hotel near the airport. They have a free shuttle to and from the airport. But, it was late and I didn’t want to wait. So, I took a taxi. The Hotel was very nice.

Just a couple of weeks prior to my trip I had read an article online about David and Heather Evertsen who live in Florence. I looked them up on Facebook and we had quite a number of friends in common. So, I friended him. That last day in Italy he sent me a message asking if we had ever met. I wasn’t really in a position to reply most of the day until I got to Dublin. So, I took some time to respond. We started texting back and forth and finally he just called me on the phone. He was presently in Kabul. I think he is a contractor of some kind. We had a very nice conversation for about 45 minutes. So, now I have at least one more new friend from my trip.

His wife had started taking tours to the Carrara marble quarry. His son is learning sculpture. And the whole family had arranged for about 5-6 busloads of non members to go to the Temple open house.

Flying home I know it goes slower because the plane is going against the jet stream. But, it just seemed super slow, perhaps because there is less anticipation about returning home.

When I got back to JFK I first got the lay of the land. I made sure I knew where my gate was. I wanted to see about the cost and availability of the lounge since I had so long to wait. It wasn’t an option. Then I scouted out restaurants because I was going to have a birthday dinner and no one was going to stop me. I selected an Italian themed restaurant and settled in. They had an Osso Buco special that day so I had to get it. In the end it wasn’t as good as it should have been. The Burrata would have been a better choice. I saw it on someone else’s plate and it looked heavenly. I also later got myself a white chocolate Toblerone bar to make up for the last couple of times I have seen them and not gotten one. It was a very common snack for me while at BYU.

I settled at an electronic device charging bar and entertained myself. At one point the guy across from me and down just a ways had a coughing fit. I knew I was going to come down with a cold and sure enough I did. And it was the cold from hell. Also, later in the airport I saw a guy davening and saying his evening prayers roughly about 6pm. It seemed he was trying to be a little subtle about it. But, he had been on the phone and seemed anxious to end the call as if it was getting late for him to start.
All in all with the long flights and time zone change and busy days, I really had no trouble sleeping at night or adjusting from the one schedule to the other and then back again. I relied judiciously on sleeping pills and I’m pretty sure the timing of my evening arrivals both in Rome and Salt Lake helped. It literally was not a problem as it had been in 2002. I was, however awake for a couple of long periods of time. Like more than 25 hours on the way home.

Many of my experiences and the people I ran into during this short and eventful trip seemed familiar, even the lady at the hotel restaurant. I’m pretty sure it was all meant to be and even foreordained. It was quite inspirational and miraculous hearing the stories of the other volunteers. All of them with no prompting (other than the Spirit) stopped everything and made their way to Rome. Some for three months others (like me) just for a day or two. There were Herculean efforts involved. People just showed up and said, “I’m here.” “What do you need me to do?” But, it was glorious and beautiful. Paul Scherbel especially deserves praise. He was one of the early missionaries in Italy. He ended up running the whole volunteer program, probably 12-14 hours daily. Everyone was cordial, gentile, humble, and grateful to be there and help out. It was a true act of ministering. The sentiment was, “This is the day we have been praying and waiting for, let’s rejoice.”