Italy remains one of my favorite places I’ve ever travelled to, and I’ve fortunately been back since I wrote this. The smells, the culture, and the sights are second to none. That “natural drug thing” I refer to is none other than melatonin (I was pretty sheltered at this point in my life).
10-day number two was amazing. I left with Kree, Alicia and Mallory on Thursday night from Gaming for Venice. At this point, I am SO SICK of train travel. Six of us were crammed in the train car, and sleeping was an adventure in and of itself. I finally got up and tried to talk to people to make myself tired. I ended up chatting with Hadro and Andy Morrow, and Hadro have me some natural drug thing to knock me out. It really worked. By the time the sun came up, we were in fabulous Venice. At the train station, we were able to reserve a hotel room for only 40 Euro a person. Venice is an expensive city, so that was a good deal. We walked to the hotel, showered and relaxed for a little while before setting out on the town. We ate lunch at this little restaurant that was amazing… We shopped a ton. Venice has AMAZING shopping. I recommend the open-air market by the bridge. After that, we walked to St. Mark’s Square, and Kree fed the pigeons. This square is quite disturbing. Literally thousands of pigeons hang out there, and will freely land on you. I screamed. Then, we went into St. Mark’s, saw his tomb, which was pretty cool, and then we took a gondola ride. Our gondola rower was named Lorenzo. He was cool and quite chatty. After the gondola ride, Kree and I took the water bus back to the hotel while Mallory and Alicia trecked there by foot. Once everyone was back at the hotel, we took the train to Padova and went immediately to the Basilica of St. Anthony, and coincidentially ran into Jonathon and Steve on the bus from the train station to the Basilica. I almost cried when I walked into the church.. The witness of this amazing saint is something I have admired since I was a freshman in high school. Since it was near closing, we did not have a ton of time to gander around. We prayed by St. Anthony’s tomb and saw his incorrupt tongue (eww) from a distance. After the church, we went across the street to the San’ Antonio Café for dinner before heading back to Venice to crash for the evening.
The next day we got on the train by 10 to go to Rome to meet up with the rest of the group. Once we got to the hotel, I was exhausted but decided to join the rest of the group for Mass anyway. After Mass was dinner and Mavie came!!!! Yay! It was SO good to see her. I love my Mavie. The Stella girls were supposed to go to the Trevi Fountain after dinner, but we ended up just riding the bus in a circle before calling it a night.
Sunday morning we had to be at St. Peter’s really freakin early. Needless to say, I was the last group to go cuz it was pouring rain and I was really not all about getting out of bed. After getting through security, we finally got into St. Peter’s. The first thing I saw when I walked in there was Michangelo’s Pieta. That is one of my favorite pieces of art, and to finally see it in person was incredible. I wandered around St. Peter’s for a while before Mass. Now, Mass at St. Peter’s is not just any Mass. Duh. You can’t just go save seats. Oh no no no. Abour 45 minutes before Mass is to begin, everyone crowds by a gated area before security opens the gates that lead to the pews, and it is a mad rush to find a seat for Mass. Travel advice: Italian nuns push more aggressively than anyone I have ever seen. A few almost took me out. Mass was in Italian and Latin, and there were about 40 priests concelebrating. It was super cool. The choir that sang at this Mass was from Salt Lake City, and they were soooo talented. After Communion, my dumb ass wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking and as I passed the choir, I tripped over their microphone cord, making a loud noise that could be heard all over St. Peter’s Basilica. Oops. I was quite mortified. After Mass, we went out into St. Peter’s square to join Pope Benedict XVI for the noon Angelus. It was cool to finally see him in person, even if it was from a very long distance. After the Angelus, a really random group of people went to lunch at this tiny “Mom and Pop place” a few blocks away. It was soooo good. After lunch, I went with Shirlea and Sean to the Colesseum and the Forum Ruins (SO COOL) before meeting up with the rest of the group for Colosi’s walking tour of Rome-Part one. We went to St. Mary Maggiore, St. Peter in Chains, and a lot of other really freakin cool churches. I think my favorite was our last stop, which was St. Clemente. This church has two other levels beneath it from Old Rome. It was incredible to see something so old. It was creepy as hell, but still really cool. It made me miss my dad like crazy. I know he would have loved to see that place. After the tour, we took the metro back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, Natalie, Kree, Amy, Mrs. Welker, Sr. Faustina, Stephen and Gabe all went to get gelato. Let me just say that Italians really know how to do ice cream. It was amazing. It’s called Blue Ice Cream Gelatria, and it’s a chain all over Rome. I HIGHLY recommend.
On Monday we took advantage of the fact that we had complete freedom and slept in. At around 10:30, Lindsay, Emily, Guine and I took a cab to St. Peter’s. We had lunch at Pizzaria Tavolo (AMAZING) and then went to Soprani’s to do some religious articles shopping. Soprani’s is famous amoung FUS students and Vatican frequenters the world over. This store is amazing. The prices are dirt cheap, and they have really nice stuff. At this point, Lindsay and I had broken apart from Emily and Guine, so we cruised the town until 1:30 when we had to be at St. Peter’s for a detailed tour by some FUS alums. The tour was quite interesting for the beginning part at least (did you know that basilica means “court house?” I didn’t.). So, once we had heard enough, Lindsay, Natalie and I took a cab to the Spanish Steps and did some shopping in the area before meeting up with some tour guides to see a church where an approved Marian appirition occurred in the 19th Century, and where St. Maximillian Kolbe celebrated his first Mass. Sorry for the run-on sentence. After this, it was time for Mass at St. Mary Maggiore with the infamous Cardinal Law. It was… Interesting. After Mass, we headed back to the hotel for dinner before calling it a night.
Bright and freakin early on Tuesday, we had to be at St. Peter’s for the second part of the Roman walking tour. Lindsay and I took a cab and the cab driver went ape shit when Lindsay has the audacity to bring bread with her. He was an ass. The tour was freakin cool. We saw the Pantheon, St. Agnes, a bunch of Bernini stuff, the Trevi Fountain and a freaky bone church. Ok, this bone church was literally covered with human bones. The inside walls consisted of designs made soley by human bones. It was creepy as hell. After this, I went with Lee, Christy, Chris, and Lindsay to Hard Rock Café. It was spectacular.
Later that day, we met up with the rest of the group for a tour of the Colesseum, the ruins of the Forum and Circus Maximus. I helped Mrs. Welker with the kids. I just love those kids. Aiden is the second cutest baby ever… Next to my Camryn, of course.
Wednesday was the Papal Audience. Yes, that’s right. I went to an actual papal audience of Pope Benedict XVI. AND, I shook his hand. People from FUS got there at like, 5:30 a.m. to ensure front row seats. After getting through security it was like a mad dash to the front of the papal audience. fun fun fun. While we were waiting for good ol’ Benny, AMDGers led some priase and worship. It was incredible.
After the audience, I went with some Stella sistas to lunch at some amazing pumpkin place before meeting up with the rest of the group for Mass at St. John Lateren (which is probably one of my favorite churches EVER).
Thursday we had to be on the bus freakin early and we went to St. Paul’s Basilica and some catacombs (SO cool) before heading out of Rome. The catacombs were freakin awesome. A little Chinese priest led our introduction tour and he was SOOOO CUUUTE. He gave us his email address and wants to keep in touch. Awww. The catacombs were awesome. St. Ceclia was buried there once upon a time, and we saw her former grave. It was really cool to see a place where the early Christians spent so much time (they used to celebrate Mass in the catacombs during the Roman persecutions of Christians).
After the catacombs we headed out the Assisi. Rach and I sat with our favorite nun, Sr. Monica. We love her but sometimes feel like we corrupt her. Oops.
Our first stop in Assisi was the St. Mary Queen of the Angels Shrine. It’s where the original Portcuincula is! It was sooo cool to see it!
Assisi is quite possibly my favorite city in all of Europe… I know I’ve said that about a lot of cities, but I really mean it this time. The tranquillity and sheer beauty of the Umbria Region is enough to take anyone’s breath away. The witness of Sts. Francis and Clare is so admirable, and to finally be in their home town was incredible.
We checked into the Hotel Dei Priori and had free time for the remainder of the day. Needless to say, I shopped… Nothing all that noteworthy happened for the rest of the time in Assisi, except for my visit to the embriodory shop. Now, I can’t give too many details cuz it involves something I bought for someone, but basically I went in there so many times the creepy owner guy, Stefano wouldn’t leave me alone. Every time I’d walk by the shop, he’d scream, Ciao, Breeetany! It was an interesting time…
Assisi was relaxing, incredible and one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. All-in-all, we saw the tombs of Sts. Francis and Clare, the San Domiano Church, the hermitage of St. Francis and the original Portciuncula. I still can’t believe it myself. I loooooove Assisi and feel so blessed to have gone there with so many amazing people!