Ten years ago, on the Monday after our wedding, we flew to Rome, Italy to begin our honeymoon. What a wonderful trip! We stayed in Rome for two nights and Positano, Italy for six nights. Following are some of the highlights of our trip.
On our first day in Rome we met up with Bishop Conley, who was a Monsignor at the time and working in Rome. Monsignor Conley took us to the Scarpone Ristorante for our first meal in Italy:
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| Do we look jet lagged? |
The next morning, on February 26, 2003, we got dressed in our wedding clothes and with our Sposi Novelli tickets in hand (thanks to Monsignor Conley!) we went to the Wednesday Papal Audience. After a little mix-up because we did not have our actual marriage certificate, and with a little help from Archbishop Keleher, who happened to be there, we got seated in the right spot, and after Pope John Paul II's address, we waited our turn to go up. Finally, we got our own brief time with the Pope. We knelt in front of him, he gave me his hand, and put his other hand on Dan's head, and blessed us as newlyweds! It was so awesome!
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| A moment we will never forget! |
Afterwards, we walked around St. Peter's Square and took a few pictures. A lot of people were staring, and some stopped to talk to us and ask us where we were from. They guessed we were from Germany, Austria, Ireland, but no one guessed the USA. Funny!
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| I felt like a queen! |
On our third day, we had Mass with Monsignor Conley at the Transfiguration Altar in St. Peter's Cathedral, and then we rented a car to drive to Positano, Italy, which is on the Amalfi Coast. On the way there, we stopped at Monte Cassino, the famous abbey of St. Benedict. Unfortunately, they were about to close for a 3 hour siesta, so we did not get to be there long, but it was still neat to see.
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| Monte Cassino in the background. |
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| After a harrowing drive through Naples and a gorgeous drive along the Amalfi Coast, we arrived at Positano. |
Positano is a beautiful place right on the sea, and in February, is not busy at all. As you can see, it is built on a very steep hill, and it has a narrow, winding road that goes all the way through town. It is not practical to drive because parking is very limited, so we walked everywhere. In the picture below, you can see our hotel at the top (the red one - Casa Albertina), and to get down to the beach, it was about 300 steps, with little staircases and paths going through and around all the little buildings. So fun to walk down. Going up was another story! The first night we ate at a restaurant on the beach, and after a 2 hour meal, we went back up all those stairs. We thought we'd have a heart attack before we got back to our hotel! After that, any time we needed to go up, we took the long, winding road instead.
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| On the beach in Positano. |
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| The view from our private balcony. |
On one of the days, we took a day trip to Capri. We drove to Sorrento, then took a ferry to Capri. At Capri, we bought tickets to see the famous Blue Grotto. The only way to get there is by sea, so we got on board a little boat and when we got to the grotto, we all got into little rowboats to go inside the grotto. Lights inside showed very blue water and the grotto looked blue from the reflection. Our rower was singing Italian songs. Very nice. Then we spent the afternoon walking around Capri and seeing the sights. It is a very beautiful island.
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| Dan in Capri. |
Another day, we took a day trip to Pompeii. A fascinating place.
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| Dan in Pompeii. |
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| Exploring Positano. |
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| Janet in Positano. |
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| We had a wonderful honeymoon! |
