flashback! 26 May 2012, in Italy

These all appeared on fb today as a flashback to the ten-day, three-city, vacation to Italy that I took with a group of Armstrong State University's nursing students.

Their purpose was to learn Mediterranean cooking and visit a hospital there.

My purpose was purely to revisit some of the places I'd seen in Rome in October of 2002, during my ten-year anniversary trip to Italy with my then-husband.  

My thanks to Victoria Lowe - one of the students - for having tagged me in these photos that she took as we traipsed around.

They're not in any particular order, just stream of consciousness.

(smile!)

 

Here we are, tromping around in the rain in Rome.

I'm visible only as the unseen person under the yellow-daisy umbrella.

The lone male is Nate, who had earlier proposed to Amber.

 

Tromping around in The Forum!

For the second time in ten years, there I was, walking around in the ancient ruins I'd wanted to visit ever since I was a teen!

 

Incredibly, we had Andrea as one of our Rome guides!

She was the same one we'd had in 2002!!!

Here I am, on this trip, in my multi-pastel windbreaker, listening to her.

Wow!

 

Here's another pic of us walking in the rain in Rome.

This has me up ahead, my butterfly tote bag over my shoulder, in my multi-pastel windbreaker, with an edge of my yellow-daisy umbrella barely visible.

Only the butterfly tote was new, bought to make me easily visible to the others in our group.

Between those three items, no one got lost -

not even me!  

(smile!)

 

And we're walking... that was our mantra, sung out to let all know we were on the move!

This time, we were in Siena, which had been the second city we stayed in.

That's where we had cooking classes at Arte & Cucina for three days.

That's Nate Brattebo and Amber just ahead of me and Shayla Edgell.

Nate was also always easy to spot in the crowd! 

LOL!

 

Here I am with Shayla again.

[The next year, I went to her bee-themed baby shower!] 

I'm the one with the neon-green sunglasses atop my head, of course.

Yet another item of clothing that made me visible to all!

We were having lunch, dining on fresh ravioli that we made - yes, us!!! - that very morning.

I was given the option to attend the classes with the nursing students, so I took it!

Glad I had that chance to make pasta!

 

Here we are, en masse, walking once more!

This is another day in Siena, this one warmer.

I'm in the lower right of the photo, neon-green-rimmed sunglasses in place, wearing one of my favorite tops: a lightweight, fuchsia-colored, sweater.

My butterfly tote was over my shoulder, as always, with a bottle of water and my glasses, should there be something to read.

 

Let's finish up with our first meal in Siena, at a favorite restaurant that Bob (our leader) always brought his tour groups to visit.

Yes, the wine flowed freely and was much enjoyed after the long bus ride from Salerno, were we'd been for the three previous days.

And the waiters?

They were all male, and they flirted and kept our glasses full for the whole time we were there!

That's Kate Faford I'm with, another of the nursing students.

None of them were my students, so all of them accepted me as one of their peers.

Coming home alone, and not hearing them call my name so often, took quite a bit of adjusting -

oh, what fun we had!!!

(smile!)