Sunday Is A Good Day To Do Nothing, Especially When You Are A Jew On Easter.

The family made an early journey back to the States after a week in three countries, and four different cities. I think they had a fabulous time and it was a special treat to have them here. After just one week of visiting a few of the worlds most incredible places, I can already predict the future for my family. Amy I will probably move to the Vatican where she will be the only Jewish artist commissioned to make mosaics at the Vatican gift shop. She will also open up the world's first Jewish confessional and will hire a personal tour guide where she will be able to ask a million questions and be quartered that no question will be unanswered and that all answers will be repeated as many times as she pleases. Adam I will probably return to the Cianti region to become the worlds youngest vineyard owner and will secretly import vodka from Romania. He will sell and drink it on the side. With great success, he will collect every soccer jersey from the San Lorenzo market and will sport them at every Italian soccer game. Papa I will spend his weeks in Rome as a wine bar shmoozer, dining at the finest restaurants after investing in Little Adam I's vineyard. The two of them will smell and swirl their wine to wine success. On his spare time, Papa I. will meet with all of the European JDC presidents and start wine clubs with them, obviously talking business and discovering new ways to help the Jews throughout the world. He will probably invest in an apartment in the Jewish quarter and start attending Shabbat services. Mama I. on the other hand will still be related to the rest of the family, however she will probably stay far away from the vineyard and help invest in my new journal company. She will find a small quant house in Tuscany (possibly down the street from the new family winery) where she will turn a majority of her house into a studio. The backyard will be big enough where she can make large scale sculptures. Not really knowing how and when she did it, it probably happened in her sleep but she will invent a new way of making gelato that is just as delicious as "real" gelato however it has the reverse affect, the more you eat, the more calories you burn. She will be become famous and Oprah will probably call her to have her on the show (automatic success) Obviously she will leave room for small printing press, paper cutter, corner rounded and racks of paper for me to launch my journal company. The entire family will learn Italian, so Amy I. will not say gracias to the waiters, Mama I will not put the wrong emphaaasis on the wrong syyyllable, and Adam I will no longer need to pretend like he knows Italian, he will actually know it. Now for Papa I, he will probably learn it but still never really get it but we will help him. Say goodbye Kansas City, with this prediction, it looks like the Isenberg's found a new place in the world.

After we received a goodbye and good morning poke from Amy I. at 5 in the morning, Monica and I fell back sleep and then we re-woke up again pretty early, at least early for Allison and Monica time. We got up around 8 o'clock in hopes of sunny weather and short lines at the coliseum. Everything that we had hoped for and ever wanted in a day was the complete opposite. We obviously did not miss one chance of free food, and we hit up the delicious included continental breakfast. We had some what of a hope for the first 2 minutes we were walking down our street but then before we even could make it to the Trevi fountain to take pictures, we were singing in the rain. At first we thought it wouldn't be too bad and if we had survived yesterdays shower, we would surely be a-okay. Half way between the Trevi fountain and the coliseum, I realized my camera was out of batteries, and Monica realized she didn't bring hers. Typical I tell you, just a typical Allison Jane Isenberg thing to do, not charge her camera battery before she headed to the most famous site in Rome. Together with our not so smart minds we decided that we would rather splurge our money and have a lasting memory of our rainy time in Rome. With a disposable camera at hand, we united as many times together under our umbrella's to take pictures. In the world of digi cam's and digi phones, people were quite shocked when we handed them our disposable camera, and the simple act of pressing down was all they needed to do. We tolerated the rain until a massive hurricane of rain came pouring down and we called it quits and hailed a cab. I am a little ashamed to mention the rest of our adventures but we decided to come back to the hotel to protect our feet from flooding and our bodies from pneumonia. It was a good thing we came back because as we were stripping down our clothes from mother earth's generous bath, we heard thunder followed by hammering rain. We packed up our room, made to-do lists (Monica's was the final list before leaving london and mine was list for the rest of easter weekend) Monica became an esthetician and touched up one of my eye brows before we headed out the door to meet her-not-so-fun-friend who actually turned out to be just fine on this visit (the same friend that came to flo flo with her) By the time we packed up, got dressed and plucked and ate it was already time to go. Clearly it stopped raining the minute we were about to leave and even a few rays of the sun came through the clouds. This would only happen to me, so I am not surprised. Exhausted from two weekends of non-stop delicious and exciting travel, I decided that when Monica headed to the airport I too would head back home. I thought about staying for the rest of the day for about the two minutes the sun was out but realized that my water bucket shoes, sponge absorbing coat and wet hair should probably leave room for my next visit, knowing that it would indeed happen after my money toss in the Trevi fountain. I hopped aboard the 3 o'clock train back to the motherland. A bitter-sweet train ride home. Said goodbye to the fam and the almost fam and went back home to my fam in Florence.