Oh Cecilia, You're A Darn Good Guide, You're Reinforcing Our Confidence Daily

(Title should be sung to the Simon and Garfunkel tune, Cecilia.)

When you book a tour guide, there's always a little nervousness -- is the tour guide interesting, engaging, and understandable?  Most of the time the answer is yes, but every so often the guide is a dud.

Well, not to keep my beloved readers in suspense, but Cecilia Alessi turned out to be fabulous; one of the of the best guides we've ever had.  Not only did she take us to the Pantheon, but she also belongs in our Pantheon of Guides!

Read the other blog posts about the two tours we took with Cecilia to understand how great a guide she is,  and if you are going to Rome, her WhatsApp is +39 347 738 4373 -- you'll be glad you hired her.   (I asked -- Cecilia gave me permission to put her WhatsApp contact in the blog.

(Again, I get no money for anything in this blog -- I just enjoy recommending people, activities, sights, and restaurants we like/love.  To reinforce -- I make ZERO money off any recommendation or link, and I'm happier that way.)

(Editor: Uh, Glen, I hate to break it to you, but nobody would WANT to pay you.  Writer: Harsh but true.)

Cecilia was recommended by our concierge, Claudia.  Both of them are true gems.  It was especially great that Cecilia was so good on our first tour because we had her the very next day for a tour of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican.  It would have been grim had Cecilia been disappointing, or just so-so, and still have a second tour to survive.

By the way, in Italian, Cecilia's name is not pronounced with soft c's, but hard c's (I never would have guessed).  So it's "Cuh-cheel-yuh" not "Suh-seal-yuh." 

Honestly. learning it's not pronounced with soft c's was breaking my heart.  Heck, it was shaking my confidence daily.  I did NOT get down on my knees, begging her to pronounce it the Simon and Garfunkel way.  However, for fun, but just around Julia and Carol, I referred to her as "Kuh-keel-yuh" which annoyed the heck out of my eldest daughter.  Success!

(Editor: I know Dad jokes are your thing, along with puns and plays on words, but I didn't know Dad Pronunciations are a thing too!  Writer: It's not easy, but I'll do whatever it takes to annoy my offspring.  Somebody has to do it, it might as well be me.)