Italy Day 12 - Tourists Sights and Scala Santa

May 18, 2007 12:05

In the morning, we took a tour of the main cultural sights of Rome with Adele. We did Morning Prayer on the Spanish Steps, then went to the Trevi Fountain. I still don't understand why a Pope built a monument to Neptune, but whatever.


    

Last, we went to the Pantheon, which is now the Basilica of Maria ad' Martyres - take that, pantheism!!


    

The silence was poorly enforced in the Pantheon, so I was very happy that they had a back chapel for us to have Mass in. It was very simple, with nice choir stalls and pillow kneelers. We had Mass at noon and Padre offered it for Daniel, Nick, Robert, and Lonnie. According to my calculations of time zones and such, we were celebrating Mass around the time they were killed, exactly one year ago.

There was a moment of levity during Mass. I was sitting next to Stephen, and then beyond him there was Tanner and Aaron. At the Sign of Peace, I hugged Stephen and Tanner, and then Aaron and I looked at each other . . . we were kind of far away, so normally we would have just shaken hands, but after the discussion of the night before, we knew we couldn't, so I climbed over a few people so we could hug.

Immediately after Mass, we got on the Padre tour to San Luigi, but lost him within minutes because Tanner was being a 'bad fork'. So we tried to find Santa Maria Sopre Minerva instead, but eventually settled for some pizza, which we ate in the piazza. Kate and I had an interesting adventure going to the bathroom in the Rome McDonald's. Let's just say that I was grateful for everyone's bad allergies, because it meant Kate was carrying around toilet paper.

By chance, we met up with Padre's group after lunch. I was very happy, because I needed to get something blessed. I found out my cousin Becca had been confirmed a few days before and took St. Catherine of Siena as her her patron saint. I didn't know that when we were in Siena, though. However, the good news is that, while Catherine's head and finger are in Siena, the rest of her body is in Rome. It really works out well that her body is in pieces, because I was able to buy a rosary and have it blessed at her tomb at Maria Sopre Minerva. It was a very pretty Gothic church, with pointy ceilings painted with beautiful blue and stars.

We proceeded to the Cathedral of St. Agnes, where we saw her skull, and then to the Piazza Navonne. It's a big artist hang-out spot, and I bought two beautiful paintings of St. Peter's Basilica for 10 Euro each.



After perusing the art for sale, Bryanstephanosque and I left Padre's group to go to the Scala Sancta. As we left them, I turned to the guys and we gave each other a high five because we were finally done with looking at art!!

After a significant walk, we arrived back at St. John Lateran and the Scala Sancta, which are the stairs that Jesus walked up to be sentenced. St. Helena brought them back from the Holy Land (along with the relics of the Passion that we saw the day before) and they are now a big pilgrimage site. They're covered with wood, but you can touch them through the vertical part of the stairs and there are glass-covered holes over the spots where Jesus' blood stained the stone. We did the Stations of the Cross as we went up the steps on our knees, two per station. Behind us, the stairway was packed with people. At the top of the stairway, there was a painting of the Crucifixion, but above that was a dome with God and angels in it, over a tabernacle that you could pray in front of when you finished. It was a very moving experience, thinking about Jesus' Passion on the stairs where it all began.

We were pretty tired afterwards, so we took the Metro back to St. Peter's Square (without getting lost on the way!!) We hit up a few shops nearby before running into Padre's group again and doing Evening Prayer with them in the Square. Then we went to Old Bridge Gelateria one last time. The guys were crazy about their coconut ice cream because it had real coconut pieces in it. They had gone the day before, but in a moment of weakness, got other flavors instead of all coconut. All day, I had to listen to them lament their loss, so I made them get only coconut. They were lucky, because I tried the coconut as well and didn't like it, so they got to finish it off between them. That gelato place is right by the Pope's garage door.  It was open this last time, so I think he had come back to Rome that day.


   
    

After a shower, we got on the bus and went to dinner. I think it was a pretty long drive, but I'm not sure because I was asleep. The meal had many courses and was very good. More excitingly, though - there was Coke! And ice, of which I had a cube because I missed it so.


    

Lory, our guide, came also and brought her two sons. I was greatly amused by talking with Kristin in sign language about the older son, although I'm pretty sure he had to have noticed at least a little bit . . . There were also musicians, including a very good flute player.

We did Night Prayer in the hotel because people were too tired to walk out to St. Peter's Square. But then all of a sudden, Aaron, Kate, and Tanner did want to go out. When we got close, Tanner started singing under his breath and finally I understood that he was saying "Stay close to me". Sure enough, Kate and Aaron split off, leaving Tanner and I alone at the Square around 11:30. It was a good place for a first person shooter game. I hadn't been hanging out with him much on the trip because I knew we had a long trip together ahead of us, but it was good to have that chance to talk, just the two of us . . . for 45 minutes. Finally we saw Aaron and Kate get kicked out of St. Peter's Square and we headed back. Elizabeth and I talked to Kate a little bit, and then we packed and went to bed. Our last night in Rome . . .
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