...I arrive sleepy and annoyed in Belgium to find it as always rainy and windy ...I witness some important changes to security protocols at the Charleroi airport (where our flight gets rerouted due to ongoing rebuilding procedures at Brussels main airport) - you can only be in the building if you flew in or if you are traveling somewhere - they check your ticket...no taxis and no private cars - just one bus and hundreds of people, who can't hide form the rain...

...we visit two more galleries including Bernini's famous perspective at Palazzo Spada (overrated if you ask me)...we make it to St. Peter's basilica and are surprised that the thorough checks are still there and whole sections of the church are still fenced off to visitors...we have lunch at Trastevere where an Italian lady from the table next to our offers to refill dad's wine cup - he courteously refuses...at another table two ladies from England a...

...we replace a mirror on our Vespa - the original one we broke off trying to adjust it because of its poor threading (it had been a Chinese knockoff anyway as it turned out)...we visit some more beautiful churches and the Vatican Museums including the Sistine Chapel (where we see guards who only job is to keep repeating: "Do not blockeh the passageh. Enjoy the chapeleh from de middeleh" all day long. Depressing....we go to see St. Peter's basilica and get fr...

...we discover the kettle in our room is defective and does not bring water to a full boil. Here goes the Italian lukewarm tea curse for my dad again!...we battle crowds again - this time at the Colosseum. Be advised that whatever the organized tour touts tell you, you CAN shorten the wait time by buying a ticket online, www.coopculture.it even for the same day but not drastically because, well, security checks apply to everyone and this is still Italy so skip th...

...we eat one more fabulous breakfast at Gaetano's and we head out...we buy mozzarella at a nearby supermarket and witness the first fender bender at a Naples roundabout...we go to Rome, leave the car; seemingly no problem; the an hour later I get an email with a fake photo of a dirty seat and a noticeI got charged €150 for "thorough cleaning of car interior". They couldn't get me for the scratches because I had insurance so they tried something els...