Arrived Safely, Buddy System Fully Functional

Singing in Vancouver Airport

We started the day in Vancouver by singing a couple of songs in the area of the Bill Reid statue. Bemused people wandered by and some stopped to listen. One fellow even expressed his appreciation for the music and a regret that he was not able to hear more.





Gathering at the Rome Airport







It was a long trip - a 9 hour flight to Amsterdam, a 4 hour layover and another 2 hour flight to Rome. Not terrible but we were bagged at the end.







Cristina and today's stevedores

After a very long walk at the Rome airport we found our double decker bus. Loading the suitcases was difficult - the space is small and the cases are large, cumbersome and numerous. Ramona reminded us that every day we need to improve our loading efficiency by 5 minutes and share the loading workload. We are thankful that we didn't arrive a couple of days ago. Cristina, our tour guide said at that time the airport was closed down because of a fire and a power blackout.

Oleander bushes

We are staying in Rome for three nights at the Church Hotel. 










We were met on our arrival there by a chorus of cicadas chirping in the pine trees. The park-like grounds feature more of the pink and white oleanders that we saw along the verge of the highway on our drive in


The temperature during the day was 30 degrees and the humidity was high but it cooled off nicely for a stroll after our first communal dinner. They say it may rain on the weekend.