It's almost 4pm here, and I have to admit, I'm trying not to fall asleep. My 6yo was crying saying she wanted a nap, and all i could think was "You're telling me! I want one too!!" Alas, everyone is upstairs playing in the girls room instead, and I'm enjoying a leftover cup of coffee, trying to stay awake, and writing this post instead of finishing unpacking suitcases.
I emailed my husband yesterday, asking him if we had done anything else on day 2. And he's amazing, amazing I tell you! He sent me a list of every thing we did every single day. I dont know how he remembers things like he does!
So yesterday, I forgot to say that after the bookstore, we took a long walk along the Tiber River, ending up at Piazza Populo, where there are two churches next to each other that are identical. We decided to go in to the one on the right, and boy were we glad we did. As we walked in, we saw that Adoration was going on, with the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar. We had a nice time resting in the cool church and praying before Jesus.
On Saturday, day 3, we had decided we were going to sleep in. We were exhausted from not getting sleep the night everyone was sick, to then staying up late packing/getting up early to get to the airport Wed. and Thurs, and then getting up early to get to St. Peter's on Friday. We needed a resting morning if we were going to survive the rest of our vacation. Unfortunately, they started setting up the market in the street at like 6am, and the kids woke up to it! We got them to go back to sleep until about 8am. We had breakfast, then our whole family went and explored the market. We had a lot of fun, shopping together for whatever looked yummy to us.
In the afternoon, we set out for San Callisto Catacombs. We had meant to make reservations to say Mass here, but forgotten to. So, when we arrived, Fr. Nathan went and asked if we could say Mass. The man said do the tour, then afterwards, we could say Mass. We went on the tour, learning how they just kept digging deeper and deeper, so the people on the top were from the 2nd century and the people on the bottom were from the 5th century. It was very interesting. We had visited these catacombs 3 years ago, but it was neat taking our kids back. At the end of the tour, they took us to to an altar IN the catacombs, to say Mass where all these martyrs for the faith had been buried so many centuries ago. This was by far one of the most amazing experiences we had.
Unfortunately, I edited all of these pictures to be right side up, and they're still showing up sideways. :( I can't figure out how to change them.
Afterwards, we went to the Holy Stairs. St. Helena brought them to Rome, and they are the stairs from Pontious Pilate's house. It is believed that these were the stairs that Jesus climbed when he was being condemned to death. You are not allowed to walk up them, and must go up them on your knees, so we all did (Except the baby was on my back, asleep), praying all the way up. Very humbling to say the least. Then we went in to San Giovanni. This Basilica is special because it was the Church that Fr Nathan was ordained in 3 years ago. It was neat to take our children there and explain this to them.
Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment, where Jon made the best meal we had. He roasted a chicken and fresh veggies (eggplant and zuchini) and made risotto for the first time ever. It was delicious!
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