We'll be heading out the door in five minutes! off to the west and east coasts of italy to see more saints like Maria Goretti, Padre Pio, St Francis, etc. We probably wont have a computer for the next five days until we get home on the 19th most likely, but keep leaving comments and stuff, we'd love to read them when we get home :)
I miss you guys!! Talk to you soon!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Happy Birthday Jessie!!
Yep she's fifteen today! We gave her a bracelet and a Liverpool soccer jersey we bought her in London, she loves them both :) We got up early to get a seat at St Peters for the papal audience, which was veryyy awesome! The pope got in his popemobile and rode around through the crowds so we got some good pictures of him, and then he got up there on the steps and started speaking in Italian, half of the time without his notes. They introduced to him all of the groups from different churches in Italy and other countries... among them were kids from Benedictine College (woo woo!!) and probably what was the entire student body of the Austrian Campus of Franciscan U!! (Woo woooo!!) they were the loudest group when it came to cheering ;)
after it all ended we got a blessing from Pope Benedict, which he said was also extended to members of our family, especially the sick and the young. So if youre part of our family, congratulations!! :)
We came home, had lunch, and took naps! its raining alot outside so we'll be staying indoors the rest of the day, makin dinner again :)
after it all ended we got a blessing from Pope Benedict, which he said was also extended to members of our family, especially the sick and the young. So if youre part of our family, congratulations!! :)
We came home, had lunch, and took naps! its raining alot outside so we'll be staying indoors the rest of the day, makin dinner again :)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Random Facts bout Italy!
Okay so we do take alot of things for granted in the States.. things are weird here when it comes to money and things we consider convenient! get a load of this haha
things you have to PAY for:
plastic grocery bags
using a grocery cart
sitting outside vs. sitting INside at a restraunt
service charges at restraunts
sitting down at a table when youre in a bar vs. just drinking/eating at the bar itself
sometimes paying to use a toilet
Half the time when you go into these churches you have to stick a euro in to 'luminate' a side chapel or a statue or whatever. How cheesy!
Before you get on a bus, or use a pay phone, you have to buy the ticket/coin at a store first, THEN use it.
More interestingish stuff:
We walked by a Tassel store. Yeah where they only sell tassels.
Theres a random Indian shop in the Jewish Ghetto.
^^ I'll put more stuff here later when I actually remember what I was going to write lol
In answer to your comment: Lol yes there are random body parts lying around, but theyre all from saints and martyrs inside the churches. Tonns of miracles have come out of what we call 'relics', and alot of these saints are incorrupt. Meaning their bodies are very much like they were when they died hundreds of years ago, somehow perfectly preserved by supernatural means.
Yikes im starting to sound like a dictionary :P
buona serra!
things you have to PAY for:
plastic grocery bags
using a grocery cart
sitting outside vs. sitting INside at a restraunt
service charges at restraunts
sitting down at a table when youre in a bar vs. just drinking/eating at the bar itself
sometimes paying to use a toilet
Half the time when you go into these churches you have to stick a euro in to 'luminate' a side chapel or a statue or whatever. How cheesy!
Before you get on a bus, or use a pay phone, you have to buy the ticket/coin at a store first, THEN use it.
More interestingish stuff:
We walked by a Tassel store. Yeah where they only sell tassels.
Theres a random Indian shop in the Jewish Ghetto.
^^ I'll put more stuff here later when I actually remember what I was going to write lol
In answer to your comment: Lol yes there are random body parts lying around, but theyre all from saints and martyrs inside the churches. Tonns of miracles have come out of what we call 'relics', and alot of these saints are incorrupt. Meaning their bodies are very much like they were when they died hundreds of years ago, somehow perfectly preserved by supernatural means.
Yikes im starting to sound like a dictionary :P
buona serra!
Today!
We got to sleep in today!! I LOVE sleep! We walked to the Vatican to ascend it. Yes I mean the whole thing. It took an elevator and 320 steps to get to the VERY TOP of the dome overlooking Rome, and Im telling you it gets CRAMPED! the walls are all going sideways and its all crazy and makes you dizzy :P Before you get to the very top you get to go inside the dome within St Peters, so you get to look down on what now appears to be a very small baldicino (the big square thing with 4 pillars which goes over the main altar). Enough to make you pretty woozy!
After we got back to ground level we went to the Bronze Doors where the Swiss Guard (I almost said Praetorian Guard.. sheesh lol) was supposedly handing out tickets for the Papal Audience tomorrow. Turns out you have to actually go up to them and ask for it, so we did that and WE HAVE TICKETS! We're gonna see Pope Benedict tomorrow morning at 10.30 on Jess's birthday.. what a present lol!
After that we walked to Trestavere again, went into 2 more Churches in that area, I'll post what theyre called later cause I forgot :P We got some amazing amazing amazing pizza at this one restraunt, then stopped at a bar to get espressos and alcohol haha.. On our way home we went to another church which had relics of St Faustina in it, pretty awesome!
Im getting used to the nightly routine of walking through St Peters Basilica on the way home, its pretty sweet :) Oh and on the way home guess where we stopped... Di pèr Di to get milk and.. gelato. 3 boxes of it.
Crazy Americans!
oh and leftovers for dinner ;)
After we got back to ground level we went to the Bronze Doors where the Swiss Guard (I almost said Praetorian Guard.. sheesh lol) was supposedly handing out tickets for the Papal Audience tomorrow. Turns out you have to actually go up to them and ask for it, so we did that and WE HAVE TICKETS! We're gonna see Pope Benedict tomorrow morning at 10.30 on Jess's birthday.. what a present lol!
After that we walked to Trestavere again, went into 2 more Churches in that area, I'll post what theyre called later cause I forgot :P We got some amazing amazing amazing pizza at this one restraunt, then stopped at a bar to get espressos and alcohol haha.. On our way home we went to another church which had relics of St Faustina in it, pretty awesome!
Im getting used to the nightly routine of walking through St Peters Basilica on the way home, its pretty sweet :) Oh and on the way home guess where we stopped... Di pèr Di to get milk and.. gelato. 3 boxes of it.
Crazy Americans!
oh and leftovers for dinner ;)
YESTERDAY!
Took bus 64 back up to Casa del Rosario to buy stuff for you guys!
Went to St Prassede's which had St Charles Borromeos Tomb, and had the column of Jesus' scourging, and some tombs of the Martyrs underground.
Got pizza right outside the church!
Went to St Peter in Chains but it was closed :p
Went to the Colosseum and the Forum/Palatine!!! the Forum was the BOMB. Tons of pictures from that!
Campa Doglio - Statue of Marcus Aurelius, and the square was designed by Michelangelo :)
Went into another church - St Maria in Campitelli
Got some Peroni beer on the way to Campo di'Fiori, which has tons of people in it in the morning but by evening its pretty dead.
Went to the church of St. Phillip Neri, and got the BEST gelati so far!
Got some cookies donuts and bread at this little cafe, then waited at the bus stop for 30 minutes but no one showed up cause the bus drivers are on strike LOL so we decided to walk home.
Went to St Maria Fontanelli on the way to the Vatican to get home.
Took a flurry of crazy pictures with my sis at the Vatican at nite :)
Stopped at Di pèr Di again for more groceries...
Made a dinner of Ravioli, which almost overflowed all over the stove cause I tried to cook 2 pounds of pasta in a 1 gallon pot LOL
Went to St Prassede's which had St Charles Borromeos Tomb, and had the column of Jesus' scourging, and some tombs of the Martyrs underground.
Got pizza right outside the church!
Went to St Peter in Chains but it was closed :p
Went to the Colosseum and the Forum/Palatine!!! the Forum was the BOMB. Tons of pictures from that!
Campa Doglio - Statue of Marcus Aurelius, and the square was designed by Michelangelo :)
Went into another church - St Maria in Campitelli
Got some Peroni beer on the way to Campo di'Fiori, which has tons of people in it in the morning but by evening its pretty dead.
Went to the church of St. Phillip Neri, and got the BEST gelati so far!
Got some cookies donuts and bread at this little cafe, then waited at the bus stop for 30 minutes but no one showed up cause the bus drivers are on strike LOL so we decided to walk home.
Went to St Maria Fontanelli on the way to the Vatican to get home.
Took a flurry of crazy pictures with my sis at the Vatican at nite :)
Stopped at Di pèr Di again for more groceries...
Made a dinner of Ravioli, which almost overflowed all over the stove cause I tried to cook 2 pounds of pasta in a 1 gallon pot LOL
Sunday, November 9, 2008
What can happen in 3 days?
Okay so I'm done being lazy for a little bit, and I'll give an update (finally!)
on the 6th, besides the Vatican, we went to Trastavere where we had amazing pizza, beer and wine (best yet!) anddd took a huge hike up the hill to Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi and saw an equally amazing view of Rome :)
Nov. 7!
I woke up at like 7 or 8 but everyone else was suuuper lazy and got up at 10.45 :p
° Took a bus! to Statione Termini, a huggee crowded train\bus hub. Stank pretty bad but my dad said it brought back memories lol
° Walked to Santa Maria Maggiore's, soo beautiful, they have the manger Jesus was born in, so thats where we'll be in our Christmas picture :)
° Got sum mor petezuh on the way to the Basilica of the Holy Cross - they had the wood of the true Cross, a huge piece of the Good Thiefs cross, 2 thorns of the crown, a nail from the cross, the inscription on the cross, a finger from St Thomas, a part of the block Jesus was scourged at, etc.. it was cur-AZY!!!
° Ohh and in the basilica we walked in on the Dominican priests chanting Afternoon Prayer, it was all echo-y and chant-y haha
° oh and we bought trappist chocolate heheheh gooood stuff!! and NO were not bringin it home!! :D
° walked toooo St John Lateran!
° went to St Clements, which is the 3rd time they rebuilt the church, and we went underground to where the original church was.. that stuff was OLD!
° Went to the Colosseum in the dark!!!! cool beans!! we havent gone inside yet :(
° Walked past the Forum, Trajans Column, and Piazza Venezia, which has the monument to Victor Emmanuel. most italians consider it an eyesore but it was SUHWEET
° Went to Church of the Gesu, I forget whats in thereee
° Randomly went into some church which happened to be St Maria Soppro Minerva, it had an altar for St Rose andd had the body of St Catherine of Siena. Why does this matterr? cuzzz St Rose is my patron and St Catherine is HER patron woot woot!! Oh and it had the arm of St Andreas and idk who he is!
° PANTHEON! sweet! tomb of Raphael!
° Piazza Navorona woooop
° By this time our feet were dying but we walked back across the Tiber (Cause Rick Steves suggestion for a restraunt was lousy.. amazing nightlife though) where we had gnocchi, roasted pork and potatoes, andd spaghetti carbonara
° Gelati of course! (italian ice cream yup yup!)
° Got home at 10pm!
My sis already wants me to get myself off this computer but too bad!
Nov. 8!!
° Dad and I went to Di pér Di (grocery store) and corner bakery and got more stuff to make more dinner, and I fell down on the wet street hahaha! I saved the grapes though!
° Walked to the Vatican again in the rain again to get in line for the Vatican Museum, and there was no line! Saw the Sistine Chapel!! <333 everything in there was AMAZING!! but honestly the new modern art stuff was crap. honestly. :p
° Exited the Sistine Chapel from the "secret exit" back to the Vatican and went to see the papal tombs underground, saw Pope John Paul II's grave :) and St Petes!!!
° Got home around 4.30 and made more spaghetti! We were still dead from yesterday!
TODAY!!!!
This morning we went to Latin Mass (Novus Ordo) at St Petes! Ahem... I mean the Vatican.. anyways!! It was the BOMB! Mass honestly needs a setting like that for every time its said, so much for American churches! :p
After Mass we went outside and most of the Basilica was crowded with people.. bucuss the popes window was open with his red banner coming out! WE SAW THE POPE! He talked for a while, said the Angelus, and then gave us his papal blessing :D
After all that jazz we went to Castel de San Angelo, which was kewl looking on the outside, but only half as good on the inside. After being in there for a hour or two we went to the Spanish Steps!!! Crazy... Gucci, Dior, Dooney & Bourke, United Colors of Benneton, Armani, Valentino, Burberry... all of that stuff in there!! We were hungry so we went to McDonalds, not much of anything like at home though! (ours seem sooo cheesy now!) The fries and Big Mac tasted just like it should though so it was a little taste of home :) After that we went into a bunch of other churches I'll name off later, but one had St Phillip Neris body, another St Peter Julian Eymards body, andddd another had the head of John the Baptist! :O amazing stuff!! We mosied on over to the Trevi Fountain, WAY bigger than I thought it would be! We stopped by the Angelicum, which is a school for seminarians and priests, and my dad went there back in the 80s for a year so it was cool seeing that. We got more gelato on the way home.. best yet!! andd when we got back to our street we stopped at a Irish Pub to grab a bottle o' wine, cause everything else is closed on sundays
I know that was super messy and alot to take in, especially without pictures! I'll hopefully write more details of it later on, in a "more understandable manner" ;)
buona notte!!!
on the 6th, besides the Vatican, we went to Trastavere where we had amazing pizza, beer and wine (best yet!) anddd took a huge hike up the hill to Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi and saw an equally amazing view of Rome :)
Nov. 7!
I woke up at like 7 or 8 but everyone else was suuuper lazy and got up at 10.45 :p
° Took a bus! to Statione Termini, a huggee crowded train\bus hub. Stank pretty bad but my dad said it brought back memories lol
° Walked to Santa Maria Maggiore's, soo beautiful, they have the manger Jesus was born in, so thats where we'll be in our Christmas picture :)
° Got sum mor petezuh on the way to the Basilica of the Holy Cross - they had the wood of the true Cross, a huge piece of the Good Thiefs cross, 2 thorns of the crown, a nail from the cross, the inscription on the cross, a finger from St Thomas, a part of the block Jesus was scourged at, etc.. it was cur-AZY!!!
° Ohh and in the basilica we walked in on the Dominican priests chanting Afternoon Prayer, it was all echo-y and chant-y haha
° oh and we bought trappist chocolate heheheh gooood stuff!! and NO were not bringin it home!! :D
° walked toooo St John Lateran!
° went to St Clements, which is the 3rd time they rebuilt the church, and we went underground to where the original church was.. that stuff was OLD!
° Went to the Colosseum in the dark!!!! cool beans!! we havent gone inside yet :(
° Walked past the Forum, Trajans Column, and Piazza Venezia, which has the monument to Victor Emmanuel. most italians consider it an eyesore but it was SUHWEET
° Went to Church of the Gesu, I forget whats in thereee
° Randomly went into some church which happened to be St Maria Soppro Minerva, it had an altar for St Rose andd had the body of St Catherine of Siena. Why does this matterr? cuzzz St Rose is my patron and St Catherine is HER patron woot woot!! Oh and it had the arm of St Andreas and idk who he is!
° PANTHEON! sweet! tomb of Raphael!
° Piazza Navorona woooop
° By this time our feet were dying but we walked back across the Tiber (Cause Rick Steves suggestion for a restraunt was lousy.. amazing nightlife though) where we had gnocchi, roasted pork and potatoes, andd spaghetti carbonara
° Gelati of course! (italian ice cream yup yup!)
° Got home at 10pm!
My sis already wants me to get myself off this computer but too bad!
Nov. 8!!
° Dad and I went to Di pér Di (grocery store) and corner bakery and got more stuff to make more dinner, and I fell down on the wet street hahaha! I saved the grapes though!
° Walked to the Vatican again in the rain again to get in line for the Vatican Museum, and there was no line! Saw the Sistine Chapel!! <333 everything in there was AMAZING!! but honestly the new modern art stuff was crap. honestly. :p
° Exited the Sistine Chapel from the "secret exit" back to the Vatican and went to see the papal tombs underground, saw Pope John Paul II's grave :) and St Petes!!!
° Got home around 4.30 and made more spaghetti! We were still dead from yesterday!
TODAY!!!!
This morning we went to Latin Mass (Novus Ordo) at St Petes! Ahem... I mean the Vatican.. anyways!! It was the BOMB! Mass honestly needs a setting like that for every time its said, so much for American churches! :p
After Mass we went outside and most of the Basilica was crowded with people.. bucuss the popes window was open with his red banner coming out! WE SAW THE POPE! He talked for a while, said the Angelus, and then gave us his papal blessing :D
After all that jazz we went to Castel de San Angelo, which was kewl looking on the outside, but only half as good on the inside. After being in there for a hour or two we went to the Spanish Steps!!! Crazy... Gucci, Dior, Dooney & Bourke, United Colors of Benneton, Armani, Valentino, Burberry... all of that stuff in there!! We were hungry so we went to McDonalds, not much of anything like at home though! (ours seem sooo cheesy now!) The fries and Big Mac tasted just like it should though so it was a little taste of home :) After that we went into a bunch of other churches I'll name off later, but one had St Phillip Neris body, another St Peter Julian Eymards body, andddd another had the head of John the Baptist! :O amazing stuff!! We mosied on over to the Trevi Fountain, WAY bigger than I thought it would be! We stopped by the Angelicum, which is a school for seminarians and priests, and my dad went there back in the 80s for a year so it was cool seeing that. We got more gelato on the way home.. best yet!! andd when we got back to our street we stopped at a Irish Pub to grab a bottle o' wine, cause everything else is closed on sundays
I know that was super messy and alot to take in, especially without pictures! I'll hopefully write more details of it later on, in a "more understandable manner" ;)
buona notte!!!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Photos from the Vatican - Nov. 6
I might not be adding any more photos. Copying them over to this dumb computer is proving to be a big pain in the neck :p Ill have a recap of the last couple days on here in a while.. time for more homemade spaghetti!
ps. Click the photos to make em bigger
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