The Grapes Have Seeds

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The grapes have seeds and other rude awakenings...
1.) Italian men hollering at you is just as annoying as hispanics hollering at you
2.) I wish I could wear the kind of shoes grandma does...this cobblestone KILLS
3.) Pedestrians do not have the right of way. You WILL get run over and no one will care when a Vespa wheel is halfway up your ass

I got off to an atrociously late start today. 11:17am to be precise. I guess I'm more jet lagged than I thought. Or perhaps I stayed up too late watching "Dietro Le Linee Nemiche" (Behind Enemy Lines). Any who, the morning started with a rousing episode of charades with Lucia. We were sharing some grapes and she was bossily teaching me the Italian word for grape. That's when I choked and nearly died on a grape seed. Grapes should NEVER have seeds. It's a sin, venial, but still a sin. I then had to mime to her that I was going up to the terrace on the roof and not to lock me out. This was QUITE hilarious. My charade skills are so superb that I got the message across in about 20 seconds. Not gracefully but pointedly. And I managed to make her crack up laughing. Everyone has told me that underneath Lucia's bossy scariness she has a heart of gold. I'm weaseling my way in. I know she loves me already 😉.

I spent about an hour on the roof terrace journaling and drinking tea. It is so peaceful up there. It made me think of mom, she would love to take a book up there and get her vitamin D.

Last night Theodoric encouraged me to take a trip to St. Peter's and spend some time in prayer since I've been having such a rough couple days. Lucky for me Costanza came home for lunch and I was able to ask for specific directions to the Vatican. She directed me towards Via d. Coronari, a lovely walking route which took me through lot's of cute antique shops. After about a 35 minute walk I arrived at the Piazzo S. Pietro. I was SO overwhelmed. I didn't know what the heck to do or where to go. I had a momentary Notre Dame flashback. When I get overwhelmed I have a tendency to just give up so I was praying the whole time that God would direct me and give me peace in this beautiful place. I found the line to get into the Basilica. Lo and behold right in front of me were some wonderful Americans! A girl, Erin, studying with her class from Missouri and her mom and dad, Mike and Michelle. They were so incredibly sweet and kind. They let me tag along and we all attended the 5pm mass which was celebrated at the altar of St. Joseph.

Prior to mass I spent about an hour in the chapel for adoration. No photos were allowed in here unfortunately. It was so magnificent. I knelt amongst the nuns and prayed for every single one of my friends and family members (close and extended) by name.

I couldn't understand any of the Italian Mass but nonetheless knew what was going on and where to insert my English responses. At the end of the homily the priest spoke in English about the times that Mother Theresa visited the Vatican. He said, "Here we walk among spiritual giants but we too are called to be spiritual giants because the same Christ that walked with them also walks with us." It was a really beautiful message.

I'm starting to feel a lot better now than when I first arrived. I'm enjoying my dinner of bread, cheese, fruit and wine as I blog. Rome is really beautiful. I'm glad I get to share what I can through this blog. Please say a prayer for me. Miss and love you all.

hugs

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Photos

Grandma Shoes
So comfy. So hot.

My Room
Little Princess?

St. Joseph's Altar
Where I went to mass today

Comments

[Sista]

Yum
Cant wait to have my own dinners of wine, bread, and CHEESE!

[Sista]

Im just gonna ride this one out....
in these shoes

[Sista]

Yay
Glad you are having a much better time. This is the kind of blogging I look forward to from you :-) MLFMS. "Is this Notre Dame?" "I dunno but lets take a picture in front of it and pretend" "Too bad we cant go in..."