Museo Egizio

Today we went to the Eyptian Museum and it was AMAZING! I was fortunate enough to speak with the director of the museum and discuss the challenges faces her museum. Surprisingly she is facing some of the same difficulties as me-although the Marshall Museum does not have the problem of having several thousand visitors a day and only 5 bathrooms.....eek! The building is under construction (and yes they will be adding more bathrooms) so here are a few pictures from the inside.

Tara looks so studious.....

MUMMY!

Ancient toilet pictured sideways



Me standing next to a copy of the Rosetta Stone given to the museum by the British Museum

shoes-need I say more?

Marshall in Italy

Today we visited the historic home of Alfred Nobel in Sanremo. Nobel only lived in the home for 5 years but there he dictated his famous last testiment creating a prize for those who "conferred the greatest benefit on mankind."

Front of Villa Nobel

The desk where he wrote his final last will and testiment in November 1895. He died a year later in Sanremo.

List of Nobel Peace Prize winners

GCM!

Rear view of the villa. In the gardens behind the house Nobel conducted experiments with dynamite.

Tara cooling off in the Med after lunch!

Cathedral in Imperia

View of the Sea after a bit of a hike

Unique way to hide ugly pipes

For those of you who know me, you know I am passionate about food. So when the GSE team is in Italy, I will be blogging mostly about the food.

The first meal that we enjoyed in Alesandria was a classic. We started with a mushroom pizza. The crust was super thin and almost cracker-like. The sauce was thin and used sparingly. It was delicious.

This was our pizza maker. He did throw the crust into the air but I had a hard time getting a picture.

We ordered some risotto to share. We had an asparagus risotto and a mushroom risotto. Nancy had spaghetti with mussels and clams. They were all delicious. And of course we shared our first bottles of vino.

For dessert we had perfiteroles filled with chocolate mousse. After this meal, we needed a walk around the city. So that is what we did.

We’re leaving on a jet plane.....

The preparation has come to an end for the Rotary GSE trip district 7570 visiting district 2030, Northern Italy. We have completed our first flight, Roanoke to Dulles. We will then fly to Munich and finally to our end destination in Turin at noon tomorrow, or 6am EST. During this trip we are all excited to visit our individual vocations and enjoy the local culture.

We would like to thank all who made this opportunity possible, with a team of 5 there are too many to mention, but a special shout out goes to Ernie Bentley, the District GSE Chair and District Governor Janet Johnson. Also, each of our sponsoring Rotary Clubs: Front Royal, Staunton, Lexington Sunrise, Bridgewater, and Waynesboro