It's no red robin, but I'll take it.

As we get ready to give out the first $1,000 Ian Hassett Memorial Art Scholarship, I was looking for some notes I had made about what we wanted to say at the awards ceremony on my computer when I came across a document called "Ian".  Of course, I opened it but it wasn't what I was expecting. What I found was dated March 2007 and it was a very detailed itinerary that Ian had created for a trip to Rome and Greece -

ITINERARY

 DAY 1:           March 25, 2007

Depart LAX at 8:30am/arrive Rome on March 26, 2007 at 11:10am

                                                Cost:                   $1,178.35 USD(round trip)

                                                Budget Balance:  $2,821.65 USD

 

DAY 2:           March 26, 2007

                        AFTERNOON

                        Check into hotel (Cancelli Russi Hotel)

                        Eat Lunch                               Cost:                      $5.00 USD

                        Coliseum Tour                         Cost:                      $13.27 USD

                        Fountain of Trevi                    Cost:                      FREE

                       

                        EVENING

                        Dinner (Alfredo alla Scrofa)   Cost:                      $33.00 USD

                        Walk around Trastevere

                        Purchase Bus Pass                   Cost:                      $3.00 USD

                         

DAY 3:           March 27, 2007

                        MORNING

                        Eat Breakfast                          Cost:                      FREE at hotel

                        Purchase Bus Pass                   Cost:                      $3.00 USD

                        Visit Vatican Museum            Cost:                      $72.77 USD

                       

                        AFTERNOON

                        Eat lunch                                 Cost:                      $5.00 USD

                        Visit the Forum                       Cost:                      $83.00 USD

                       

                        EVENING

                        Eat Dinner (Acqua e Farna)    Cost:                      $16.84 USD

                        Walk around Trastevere          Cost:                      $28.52 USD

                                                                        Budget Balance:   $1,924.26 USD

DAY 4:           March 28, 2007

                        MORNING

                        Eat Breakfast                          Cost:                      FREE at hotel

                        Tour of the Pantheon              Cost:                      $15.17 USD

                       

                        AFTERNOON

                        Eat lunch                                 Cost:                      $5.00 USD

                        Visit Piazza Navona and

                           Capitoline Hill                      Cost:                      FREE

                       

                        EVENING

                        Dinner (Re Café)                    Cost:                      $14.38 USD

                        Visit Fountain of Trevi           Cost:                      FREE

                                                                        Budget Balance:    $1,886.71 USD

DAY 5:           March 29, 2007

                        MORNING

                        Eat Breakfast                          Cost:                      FREE at hotel

                        Check out of Hotel                 Cost:                      $584.00 USD (4 Nights)

                        Depart Rome Airport at 9:05pm

                        for Athens, Greece and arrive at 12:05 pm          

                                                                        Cost:                      $138.00 USD (round trip)

Maybe this was a class project or maybe his dream trip, I'll probably never know but this is why this is special....Eric & I have made plans to celebrate our 25th anniversary next year with a European river cruise along with some friends, Debbie & Erle, who will be celebrating their 30th.  Since we don't know when we'll ever get to Europe again, we decided to extend our trip and visit Rome.  We just happen to have some friends, Angie & Chris, who
are stationed in Rome and graciously invited us to stay with them and see the sites - how could we refuse? 
Now we'll be going for Ian as well; he wanted to travel and see the world - we'll see it for him and I think he'll
be there with us.  We'll try and see as many of the things on his list as we can manage.

Maybe Greece will come later......wherever we go, Ian will always be with us.