August 4 blog Calgary-Montreal-Rome What a whirlwind! After 6 weeks of synchro swimmers in the house (great girls)And working almost full-time since June 1,I Couldn't believe the day had finally arrived. I like to leave my house clean so that I have a clean house to return to. At 0200 hours I realized this WAS NOT going to happen. Not if I planned on actually packing for the trip. I broke down and asked Karin if she would clean my houe prior to my dad's arrival at 1130. i actually started crying Shen she said yes! We got the girls delivered safely into the capable hand of the coaches as I choked back tears at seeing Signa wearing her Canada gear and representing her country. We checked in and got through security--for me that is when the vacation actually starts. It was smooth flying to Montral and with a 40 minute connection, we still made our flight. After clearing what passes for customs at the airportin Rome, we strapped our backpacks to our backs and smaller packs on the front and hopped on the trains to Ostia. Check in was noon and we arrived over an hour early. We hung out for a while outside the apartment, but heard the call of gelato, so left for about 20 minutes. Of course it was during that time that the manager arrived and let in the other guest-Myrna--leaving us sitting outside for a good 40 minutes. After checking in, the girls decided to stay in the room and sleep--so Uli snd I hesded out with Patricia (another synchro mom). We headed into Rome and specifically to St Peter's Square. When we arrived the whole area outside the square was swarming with teenagers. We thought they were lining up to go into the Vatican--so Patricia and I linked hands and I pushed our way across the mass of people. We were getting dirty looks from them but continued to offer reassurances that we weren't cutting in line, in fact we didn't want to go into the Vatican, rather just into the square. as it turned out they were also trying to get into the square and were part of a youth delegation. We were told in no uncertain terms that we would not get in--but we did! We made our way up to the front of the seating area after having my most dangerous Contigo water bottle and kindergarten scissors confiscated. I must contact Contigo and give them the head's up regarding the dangers associated with their product. Did I mention it was 37 in the shade??? We weren't in the shade, but rather in the blazing sun admits a throng of humanity, with 4 hours go go until the pope would come out---and I had no wAter. I left Uli and Patricia and scouted out for a water supply. There were two fountains that people were using to fill their water bottles--FYI metal SIGG bottles are apparently Not Considered dangerous. After scouting the entire grounds, base survival kicked in and I reached into the refuse bin (sounds more sophisticated than garbage can) and grabbed out a discarded bottle(feel free to cringe in horror but this was survival we were talking sbout here!) i proceed to clean it as best I could and filled that puppy with water and had a big swig. After waiting about an hour, Uli and I decided that we needed some food. We left Patricia and headed to Piazza Navons. A bottle of prosecco and some wonderful food later, we felt like a million bucks. We managed go get back into the square and I got to keep my Contigo bottle--it had been declassified as a weapon of concern. We made it just in time to receive the Papal Blessing, which occurred with no spontaneous combustion on my part. We picked up the girls from their siesta and gathered up come more of the synchro troops snd headed out for dinner. We found a lovely restaurant where we quickly learned the importance of making sure the food was gluten free. Patricia had ordered a cab to pick her up from the restaurant. At the end of dinner she caught out of the corner of her eye a car with a light on top. She jumped up saying there's my cab and turned to go. We called her back because in fact that "cab" was a police car! We made our way down to the designated pick up spot and waited for almost an , hour!! No cab. A call go the company suggested we walk to the metro station 20 minutes away. With a few misturns we finally arrived at the station....no dispatcher in sight. At this point we figured we were going to have a new room mate for the night. Myrna saw a vehicle with lights and shouted out to Patricia that her cab had arrived. In fact it was 2 police cars! In a fashion and with skill I have never before seen, Patricia spoke with the officers and they offered her a ride to her hotel!!!! It was amazing! We picked up some groceries for the next day snd walked bsck to the hotel. We were finally settled into bed all clean and sparkly by 0230 and an alarm set for 0830! Overall, a great first day!