Disney Birthday

John is the more thoughtful and consistent gift giver in our family.    Because we often buy ourselves what we need when we need it, we never exchange lists for Christmas gifts and rarely get each other anniversary or birthday presents.   Over the years I've gifted John a few experiences for/near his birthday but this year I finally thought of something extraordinary:  an adults only trip to Disney World.   We have been to WDW alone one other time for a work conference, but this was specifically to dine at the adults only Victoria & Albert's, a reservation that required me to get up at 5 a.m. two weekend mornings in a row, six months before his birthday.   I was thankful I got the reservation on day two; not sure I wanted a third day up that early!    

Thanks to some very gracious grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, William got an extended Thanksgiving in Indianapolis while we spent two nights in Florida.   

Although the Food & Wine Festival had ended two weeks prior, EPCOT was having its Festival of the Holidays which also included tasting booths.   We had a lovely lunch as we ate and drank our way around the World Showcase and then returned in the evening for the Illuminations fireworks with its special Peace on Earth holiday ending that we had never seen.

Canada:  Seared salmon, traditional French Canadian tourtiere, maple buche de noel, frozen coffee with whisky.  We started with the best intentionally in case we got too full or ran out of time.

 Father Christmas telling his story

France:  Turkey and mushroom in a Veloutte cream sauce, Buche de Noel au Chocolat, some beer from somewhere, and Grand Marnier slushy (not pictured).   Quite good.

America:  Orange Blossom Brewing Cranberry Kringle Pilsner, Shipyard Eggnog White Porter, JDub's Season's Greetings Peppermint Milk Stout (these were all laughably horrible!)

Italy:  Cavatappi ai Quattro Formaggi and Moretti Amber Lager.  The pasta was very tasty, which may have been enhanced by my low expectations! 

We don't go to World Showcase often, so I was shocked to see that the Italy pavilion had this St. Mark's Square replicas.  Perhaps I've always noticed but it never sunk it since I hadn't been to Venice yet! 

Mexico:  Tamale stuffed with shrimp and cheese.    Not amazing.   I also got a margarita to drink during Illuminations.  Strangely I have no photos of it.  Probably because I tried to erase all memory of it after I realized the salt on the rim (of which I rarely get) had salt, chili power and black ants in a fancy mixture.  Apparently that's a thing.....

Starbucks:  had to swing by to get an iced coffee and my "You are Here" mug that I missed on our trip this summer.  Though when I got home I realized I actually already had it.

 Refreshment Port:  Beef brisket poutine.   Not bad tasting; not good for you in any way!

Ladies Night

One of my neighbor friends organized a fun ladies night out for DIY home signs and wine!  We had an entire table of Brookdale moms, and I loved seeing all of the creative projects!   We had to pick our design in advance, and when we got there our spot was ready with the stencil and materials ready.

The first step was to stain the plywood background with a quick drying stain - I chose a grayish color.  Then we pulled the backing off of the stencil and stuck the stencil onto the dried wood.   We received lots of tips along the way about color selection, how to not overdo on the paint, etc. 

One of the most time consuming parts was removing the stencil.   Tweezers had to come out to get the teeny pieces between my tree branches and around the details of friends' pieces.  Final step was to frame it.   From start to finish it was only about 2 hours of work, and we got to take our finished masterpieces home with us that night. 

Rome - Coliseum

We saved William's best for last.  Of course he wanted to see where the gladiators fought!  Funny enough there were no "gladiators" around there that day; I'm told during most of the year there are people dressed up for photos.  Either authorities are cracking down or we were there in the off season.   Here we had scheduled the underground tour, so we got to walk out on the arena floor, then go underground, and then walk on the main level (third level, I believe).  Our tickets also included the Forum, but it was closed for the day when we got out and we flew home the next morning.  We were able to see bits from the side as we walked back to the hotel though.

Over the years, the Coliseum has been used by whomever is in charge - including when the church added crosses throughout.   A lot of the missing stones were used in building other projects once the original uses of the Coliseum was out of favor.

With most of the arena floor missing, you can see down into the underground and the labyrinth where all of the "backstage" was occurring. 

With the arena floor mostly open, the sun helped light up the underground, but it was still a little shadowy.  You could get the feel for how claustrophobic and dark and loud it must have been when it was full of people and animals underneath and the screaming crowds up in the stands. 

We walked up to the third level for some additional commentary.  The views as the sun was setting were stunning.   I couldn't tell how the pictures were turning out when I was standing there.  I was glad once I saw them later in the evening that they turned out so beautifully. 

That half circle shaped "stage" is where we started the tour.  We felt big while we were standing there.   It looks tiny when you're seeing it from above!

On our walk home we saw a lot of interesting things:  the first was a flock of hundreds of black birds, which both of these pictures are attempting to show.   We also saw many street artists and performers  lining the sidewalks along the Forum.   It made the 20 minute walk go by quickly with so many distractions.  Another stop for gelato in the dark in the last few blocks also helped!  I'm shocked I didn't take any pictures of the gelato except the first one.  There were a dozen opportunities for photos!

Our hotel staff recommended a close by restaurant for dinner, and we had one last walk through the plazas around our hotel.    The next morning we started the long trip back home.  Since it was officially off season now, there were no more nonstop flights from Rome to O'Hare.   Our layover in Heathrow was uneventful, and we got home in time for bed and a normal night sleep so we could return to school and work on Thursday morning!  We did pretty well on Thursday but were sure ready for the weekend by the time Friday evening rolled around!

Rome - Necropolis and Pantheon

Our final day started with a very special tour for my dad and me:  the Necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica, the capstone of which is to see relics relating to Saint Peter, himself.   When we first planned our trip, I had no idea such a tour existed.  Luckily my well connected Catholic neighbor, Lori, told me it was a must do and I researched the ticket request process.  Unfortunately there was a minimum age of 15 years old to attend, so William could not join us and John stayed back to tour with him elsewhere.   

We encountered a very peaceful morning at St. Peter's Square before the tour.  The public wasn't out and about just yet, nor were the streets crowded on our walk over.   No pictures were allowed in the Necropolis, so I just took some general "behind the security gate" building shots.  

The Necropolis is two or more levels below the current floor.  During our 90 minute tour in the humid underground we learned how Vatican City was originally marsh land outside the gates of Rome so was used as burial ground - both pagan and Christian funerals - and how the pope building the original basilica used pagan burial vaults as the foundation for the church.  It was fascinating to see the cut-away in the excavations of all of the layers of tombs and building materials and to smell the dirt and clay.    Directly under the current altar (several stories down) is the earthen grave of St. Peter.   I was impressed by the entire tour and though the chapels outside the area where we peaked back to see St. Peter's grave were stunning with their elaborate walls and ceilings. As I was looking up through an air vent of sorts, I realized there were people walking above us.  Some stopped and looked down, and I realized they were inside of the current church.

Above part of the Necropolis is the Grotto where many popes are buried.  We had to walk through it on our way back out to the current elevation.   I took this photo before seeing the no pictures sign.  Tour groups were allowed in the Grotto so it felt less sacred (which is a horrible thing to say surrounded by all the burial vaults) than our trip through holy ground in the Necropolis.

Back inside of St. Peter's, we examined what we had seen the night before with a new eye.   And I was especially keen to go near the altar (which has been blocked off for a service the night before) and look down to see the chapels where we had just been.   Knowing what I was looking for, I could see bits of the wall and floor, but even had I walked past them prior to the tour, I would not have noticed. 

Back outside I took one last look at that amazing place - realizing I probably won't be back anytime soon.  There are just too many other places I want to visit before returning to Rome.   Our walk took us past another gelato shop (of course it did!) and then Hadrian's Tomb before checking in on the rest of the family back at the hotel.   Mom was getting ready to meet us for lunch, and my guys were out exploring.  So Dad and I made the short walk to the Pantheon to check one more spot off our list.  While there we met up with John and William before heading to lunch.   I tried to get that same pizza again at a different place but it was missing the hard-boiled egg and had black instead of green olives.  So not the same at all!