Festiva Settimana, part 2
On Wednesday, some of the girls and I ventured near St. Peter’s and went shopping for gifts and religious articles. It started to rain lightly, and at first we didn’t mind, but as our feet got soggy, we stopped to buy some ponchos and another umbrella. It was packed and a lot of the streets were closed because of the Wednesday audience, but we still had fun.
And then on Thursday, we took the bus over near the Colosseum and walked to San Clemente, where we saw the amazing 3 layers of church and excavations. Then on to St. John Lateran, through the Holy Door, and all around that church!
Then we walked a bit until we found a good place to stop and have lunch, tired, hot, and hungry.
After some pasta, pizza, and wine, we all felt better.
And then I jumped in an uber to go get Ben from school, while the older kids kept walking to St. Mary Major (another Holy Door!), and then the Embassy for a tour. Sam (coming from the airport), and Ben and I met everyone at the Embassy. Everyone in Dad’s office! What fun.
We were given a cultural tour of the whole Tri-Mission compound, from which we learned a lot of the history of the buildings and property.
That evening, Brian and I went to a Memorial Vespers for September 11 at Santa Maria in Trastevere. The next day, I took the little girls to buy uniforms for school, which entailed a 30 minute uber ride, 1.5 hours of trying on and piling up all the different uniforms for 4 kids (everyday, gym, and “perfect” for Mass days), and then my phone ran out of battery right after I paid the bill, so I couldn’t call an uber home. None of the salesladies in the store had the right kind of charger, so they tried to call me a taxi but the company wouldn’t answer. I tried using their phone to call Brian but he didn’t pick up because it was an unknown number. Finally I was able to reach Bridget and she called us an uber, and we made it home. The amazing adventure of trying to survive without a phone! It can be done!
Perfect little girls in their perfect uniforms.
That afternoon, we all went to the Vatican for a tour of the Apostolic Palace, the Sistine Chapel, and The Vatican Gardens.
We saw one incredible room after the next.
We got to see the Pauline chapel and pray for a few minutes inside, right where the new Pope goes to pray immediately after being elected.
The battle of Lepanto.
The Vatican Gardens are such a beautiful, peaceful place, and so big! We could have walked around and explored for hours, but they hurried us along because most afternoons the Pope comes to say his rosary by the grotto. So we had to skedaddle. It was a lovely day!