A year ago I documented our top 10 highlights from Rome and Assisi (you can click on those links to see how much the kids have grown in one year). This trip we enjoyed many of the same experiences (except no Pope kiss) along with being able to visit some more of Rome's 600+ Catholic churches. We've found our favorite places for pizza, gelato, and cannolis as well. Yes, it's a rough job accompanying Brian on these work trips - but someone's got to do it ;)
In contrast to last year's posts about the trip, I'll try to give you a chronological overview of our trip. It's a busy but amazing 10 days!
Friday
Our family flew from Vienna to Rome. Overall this year's trip was easier because both kids sleep through the night and for the most part fall asleep quickly because they're exhausted from the full days (the first night Ellie chose to skip to dessert because she wanted to go to straight to bed).
Saturday
Students arrived via bus or train. Brian helped check people in while the kids played at the nearby park.
We had the afternoon free and walked around Rome (crossing the Ponte Sant'Angelo - Bridge of St. Michael / the Holy Angels) and enjoyed our first stop for Frigidarium's gelato.
We had Mass and Adoration at Santa Galla Church that evening. We then returned to the hotel for dinner, which every night consisted of the pasta first course, meat and vegetable second course, and dessert! I was only 14-15 weeks pregnant on this trip, but all the delicious Italian food made me look more like 25 weeks!!
Sunday
We went to Mass at St. Paul's Outside the Walls.
The tomb of St. Paul and the chains that once held him prisoner (until an angel freed him) are at the center of the church.
After Mass we made our way to St. Peter's Square for the Angelus with Pope Francis. He led us in prayer from the window marked with a red banner. This was our first encounter with rain - for which we came prepared with rain jackets, boots, umbrellas and the huge rain cover for the double stroller.
Then we made our way through security and passed through the Jubilee Year Holy Door into St. Peter's Basilica. When we were there a year ago we saw the door sealed shut waiting for the Year of Mercy to begin. This year we got to pass through and gain an indulgence during the final week of the Jubilee Year.
Francis bears a very strong resemblance to the cherubim around the church.
Our neighbors and their boys were on this trip too.
On our way back to the hotel this evening we got caught outside in a major thunderstorm that led to flash flooding. I'd never been so excited to finally get the stroller onto a bus that took us relatively close to our hotel.
Monday
After an early breakfast, we boarded packed city buses to St. Peter's Basilica where our Friars were saying Mass at the Altare della Cattedra. Brian and the kids made it to Mass with the help of the students helping to load the stroller on the buses. I had to get off the first bus after a couple of stops because I felt very dizzy and faint - blaming our baby in utero here. Sr. Maria Pio got off with me and we eventually got to St. Peter's Square.
We had pasta for lunch - and every other meal of the trip.
We burned off some of the carbs walking to Borghese Gardens - which is like the Central Park of Rome.
We met our friend/co-worker Sarah at San Andrea Della Fratte Church. This is the church where St. Maxiliman Kolbe said his first mass. He chose to have it here because of the miracle that occurred. In the 1800s an atheist was converted and instantly infused with the profound knowledge of the Catholic faith instantly upon seeing this image of Our Lady. The man went on to become a missionary priest.
That evening Brian took the kids back to the hotel for dinner and put them to bed. I joined about 90 of the students in St. Peter's Square to walk to the Pontifical North American College (NAC) for praise and worship. The NAC is where some of the best and brightest diocesean seminaries from the USA study. I got to meet one seminarian from the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, who did his undergrad at Franciscan. He first visited the NAC four years ago when he was studying abroad in Austria and went to this praise and worship night! The view of St. Peter's from the NAC is one of the best in Rome.
Tuesday
The Friars said Mass for us at St. Mary Major.
Brian then led one of the walking tours of another area of Rome. The kids and I joined him. We stopped at the Colosseum (which was the site of many Christians' martyrdom) and Cosmas and Damian Church among many other holy sites.
Fortunately it only rained during the last thirty minutes of the tour.
After pizza for lunch, Brian organized students for a scheduled tour, and we headed back to the hotel - with a stop for gelato along the way. And I think we may have actually bathed the kids this night.
Wednesday
Wednesday is the day of the Pope's General Audience in St. Peter's Square. To secure the best seats we have students each semester who leave the hotel by 4am to be first in the security line. We show up and join the line around 7am. At 7:30am they open the security check points and this is when you see the worst in Catholics eagerly wanting to see the Pope come out. We got through the gate about an hour later and joined the students who had been the first to enter in the section closest to where the Pope would be. We found our spot in the back corner along the rail where we would have Pope Francis pass directly in front of us twice. Around 9am we got a phone call from one of the staff members telling us that Hillary had just conceded. At 9:25am the Pope came out in the Pope Mobile and began blessing the crowd and kissing babies - unfortunately none of ours this time.
After the Pope's final blessing we went to St. Cecilia in Trastevere. St. Cecilia's tomb is here, as is the famous sculpture made of her incorrupt body that was discovered in the catacombs.
We then had lunch the best pizza place, Dar Poeta. After lunch we walked through a nearby open market and then went to the famous Piazza Navona for some artwork with our neighbors.
We made another stop for gelato at the Frigidarium and then walked a couple of miles to the Basilica of St. John Lateran (we needed to walk after all the pizza and ice cream - and it was a beautiful, sunny day so the walk was perfect).
Wednesday was the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica making it an extra blessed time to attend Mass there. The Lateran is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, and, as such, ranks as the mother and head of all churches in the city and the world. It is a beautiful place to pray. The main area to worship is surrounded by massive statues of the Twelve Apostles holding the instruments of their martyrdom.
After Mass we went back to the hotel for our farewell to Rome dinner (with tiramisu for dessert). Early the next morning we boarded buses for the two and half hour drive to Assisi. More on that in the next post!
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