I Can't Believe It's Finally Happening!

Operation MAD-Rome is officially underway (and actually 2 days in)! MAD stands for Mom And Dad...see, almost exactly a year ago, when I was in the car with my brother who was about to get married in about 2 hours, we somehow came up with this crazy idea that it would be awesome to give our parents a trip to Rome as a Christmas present this year, so they could see the city, and me, all at once. It wasn't really a serious idea when we first threw it out there, but then we thought about it more, and talked about it with the rest of our siblings, and then, somehow...they're here! We've been hardcore sightseeing for the past few days, pretty much non-stop since I met them at the train station, actually.

Yesterday we started by checking into the hotel, and then visiting my studio and di per di, the grocery store across the street. Those 3 places are where I divide most of my time, actually:-) And no joke about di per di--sometimes I'm there multiple times a day. Anyway, after lunch (which was the purpose of our di per di visit), we went to the Pantheon, S. Maria Sopra Minerva (where St. Catherine of Siena is buried), Piazza Navona, and the Spanish steps. We went in the churches at Piazza Navona and on top of the Spanish steps, too, which somehow I had failed to do so far. And speaking of failing...whenever we pass a church, which happens quite frequently here, Mom asks me what it is. Usually I have to say "uhh...I'm not sure...", haha. Anyway, after all of that, we went to dinner and then to mass. It was raining after mass, but that didn't stop us from making the trek out to our first of many gelato stops, my favorite place, Giolitti's. Also, I used my recently purchased umbrella for the first time ever. (Where did I get it? Where else but di per di, of course...) Turns out umbrellas a quite a nice little invention--it's too bad it took me 20 years to figure that out.

Today was Vatican Day! We started by going on the Scavi Tour, down into the catacombs to see a bunch of old mausoleums and finally, St. Peter's bones. It was pretty incredible. Also, there's a chapel right by where the bones are, and it's in the shape of a Latin cross, like tons of other churches...but in most of those churches, the altar is in the short end, with the crossing pretty close to it. Here, the altar is in the long end, with the crossing at the back of the chapel. It's an allusion to the fact that St. Peter was crucified upside down--his chapel is sort of upside down too. I got a huge kick out that, being an architecture nerd and all. When the Scavi tour is over, you pop out right by JPII's tomb. That worked out well, since that was one of the places that I think Mom wanted to see most, out of all of Rome. So we stayed there for a little while, and then we up to St. Peter's Church itself. Obviously we spent quite a while looking around there. We went to adoration for a little bit, and I prayed especially for the rest of our family back home, aka our generous benefactors:-)

We spent all afternoon in the Vatican museums, which culminate in the Sistine Chapel. It's amazing--better than all the pictures. There's SO much there; you could spend hours just in that room. The paintings in themselves are enough to make it awesome, but then Mom also reminded me that that's where new Popes are elected...and that just makes it even more incredible. The Holy Spirit works hardcore in that room. And we all got to stand in it! We got gelato again for our walk back, from another of my favorite places, Old Bridge. Then we got dinner and had another relaxing night.

Tomorrow is going to be another pretty full day--the agenda includes the Forum, the Colosseum, S. Maria Maggiore, AND St. John Lateran. And maybe we'll even have time for gelato again, who knows? :-)