We chose Rome for the first part of our trip.  Once I found a hotel with a good location, we mapped out our interests. First, proximity to a museum that offered background  information on the Etruscans (9^th century BC), who were the original settlers in Rome.

Lovely place. Perhaps we were a bit frustrated because Mike’s suitcase disappeared from the plane…and it started the dominoes collapsing. I had reserved a room for 5 days through a travel agent (good move) who supplied us with an itinerary.

We were shown to a room with a balcony (requested) but on the first level and a wall for a view! Back to the desk with my itinerary showing balcony and view…and obtained this lovely room.

And it had a couple of easy chairs…..hard to find in many hotels.

After such a long flight, we headed to the bar for a glass of wine.

Then we walked to a lovely Italian restaurant near-by. The next morning we went to the lovely dining room.

Here we discovered that our meal cost us $40  each. Again the itinerary and the room’s “Information book” went with me to see the manager. Showing him these items “breakfast included”—he laughed and said “the room info was out of date.” I laughed and held out our itinerary and said “This isn’t.” He suggested we compromise. I said “ok, we prefer a continental breakfast, now I won’t have to call my travel agent.

Later we started walking through the Villa Borghese Park.

This enormous layout opened in 1605 for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a nephew of the pope. It was the first of its kind for Rome. Statues, trees, formal gardens, fountains and even a zoo of exotic animals, all open to the public.

In I773 mock Classical Temples were scattered around and we walked through the Villa Borghese Gardens.

We saw only the garden and side yard…the Villa didn’t open until later. One beautiful attribute of this park was the many people and the many off-leash dogs bouncing   around.

We continued walking to “Villa Borghese Park”

On our way to the Etruscan Museum.  Passed lovely ponds surrounded by greenery, other walkers and many statures. Finally our goal!

The Villa Giulia National Etruscan Museum.

Established in 1889, this Museo Nazionale collected pre-Roman Antiquities  from central Italy.  And we went straight for the tombs.

This 6^th century BC  Sarcophagus of a husband and wife with tender expressions reveals the fantastic skills of the Etruscan artist. This glass enclosed tomb was only opened for 3 minutes to 2 people at a time.

The exhibits from the 8^th through 4^th century BC were extremely humbling to someone with no artistic talent. After paying homage to these lovely “Statues in a Cove” we left.

And there were miles to go back to our hotel. Knowing that there was a swimming pool awaiting with lunch service all afternoon was a draw….and it was good!

P.S.  Mike’a suitcase, of course, arrived on our last night. No problem, he washed and hung his underclothes on the balcony each night. We didn’t find out till later he could have bought new clothes and charged them to the airline! (New lesson learned: for the future.)