Rome was always on my bucket list. Tim had been a few times and so it was never cited as a holiday destination.

Donagh, Tim’s nephew, moved to Rome during the summer as part of his studies. He is working with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. He called to us before he left and suggested that we visit him.

Donagh’s parents, Laoise and Sean Hennessey, are 30 years married this year and they decided to celebrate the momentous occasion in Rome. To our delight, they suggested we join the family for the celebrations.

Laoise called one evening and we booked the flights. She looked after the accommodation, so all we had to do was show up. The Hennessey children – Aileen, Liam, Donagh and Roisín – grew up parallel to ours, attending the same schools and sharing a dairy farming background. They were welcome and frequent visitors in each of our houses and supportive of each other over 20 odd years.

Life has thrown challenges at both families and we’ve supported each other. A 30th wedding anniversary is worthy of note and celebration. The ethos of both families has always been to encourage our children through their education and young working lives. That, in turn, brings the reward of a family willing to make themselves available to celebrate the milestones that are important in family life.

TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY

There are all sorts of technologies there to make the travelling experience easier. Our accommodation was booked through Airbnb. It turned out to be a lovely apartment in a central location. When we found ourselves in need of transport, Colm Casey, who is Aileen’s husband of four months, organised an Uber taxi. There was no queuing or finding a taxi rank. Colm pressed the buttons on his phone and announced that a car would be along to the spot in so many minutes. It worked perfectly.

Roisín, the youngest member of the Hennessey’s and still in college, explained to us how she never carries cash. The smart phone has been the revolutionising tool, enabling us to be participants in a world where accommodation, transport, shopping and business can all be organised easily. All our pictures were shared on a What’sApp group created for the holiday. The technology is mad when you contemplate it.

We were extremely fortunate to have Donagh as our guide. He has a massive interest in Roman history. He knew where the queue would not be long. He had researched what tickets to buy to avoid queues and, more importantly, how not to get ripped off. We visited lots of ancient sites, including Vatican City, St Peter’s Basilica, The Pantheon, The Colosseum, The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. I threw a coin into it to ensure my return to Rome.

Going through the Vatican museum from gallery to gallery, it was difficult to take in all the information if you were not already well versed in ancient Greek and Roman history. I did get the full sense of how much the Romans were influenced by the Greeks. It was a violent time and many of the busts, statues and sculptures were plundered.

As the crowds swelled in the magnificent tapestry gallery, I noted to Tim how trapped we were if there was a terrorist attack. He did the statistics of locations, incidents and surmised that it was most unlikely. Still, I was happier when we could move freely.

A FRIGHT

We soaked up Rome, eating in fine restaurants chosen by Donagh and enjoying the fine company. On the last afternoon, the Hennessey family went off to view Donagh’s office.

It was important for his mum Laoise to see exactly where Donagh was working. When a son or daughter is working abroad, it’s nice to be able to visualise exactly where he/she is working. Somehow it eases the pain of separation. Laoise and I had talked about this. Tim and I went to a nearby restaurant where we would have the final meal before flying home.

We ordered a drink and sat down to enjoy the beautiful weather and the Italian ambiance. We had seen that there were a few police cars around with their lights flashing. There were also a few police men standing around on our side of the road. We though no more of it until our chat was interrupted by a loud bang that vibrated through us and physically hurt my ears.

Nobody panicked so we didn’t either. It is funny how we take stock of how other people are reacting around us. Presently we saw a Darth Vader-type person approaching an old navy car on the other of the road. It was then we noticed that one of the windows was blown out. Presumably we had just witnessed bomb experts making safe a suspect device. More police officers were milling around along with press cameras arriving on the scene.

The rest of the party arrived. We questioned the safety of staying outside where we were and decided to move inside.

We asked the waiter, who offered: “Sure, we have the Vatican and the Mafia, we’re bound to be safe.” Then he said it was a frequent occurrence.

We had a lovely lunch and struck off for the airport. As the Uber moved off, Donagh crossed in front of us on his merry way. I didn’t have to look around to know that at that moment his mother’s heart would be breaking. We mothers can’t help ourselves. That doesn’t mean that we don’t want them to spread their wings. We just miss them.

Once home and remembering, I wondered what possessed us to continue to lunch in an area where there was potential danger. I guess we were just sticking to the plan. CL