Monday was our last full day. We were scheduled for another 730a Mass (Daylight Savings happened on the normal day!), but we got bumped because St. Peter's was packed for a Mass of Thanksgiving for the beatifications. We spent the day on the Roma Christiana bus tour, which was a hop-on / hop-off all over Rome. It was nice because it got us around everywhere and also told us a bunch of things about all the places to which I paid zero attention. Hey, man; it was the last day. I was tired. I was a little overloaded. I can identify a few of the things below; that's good enough!
For example, St. Peter's at 7a in the fog
The Pope's apartment window (No, he did not poke his head out to say hello. Unfortunately.)
This is from the bus, looking at the crowds. Square was
paaaaaaaaaaaacked.
I have to confess, on my itty bitty My First Digital Camera, I thought this was the Pope. It is not. Clearly.
This is the apartment I choose for living in.
St. Paul on the wall (really outside the wall)
We stopped at St. Paul for a few hours, actually. There are lots of interesting facts about this Basilica. It was built over St. Paul's burial site, and his tomb is partially revealed now. There are portraits of the Popes surrounding the walls, from Peter to Benedict XVI. In 2000, for the Jubilee, it was one of the Holy Doors. A devout trip to St. Paul (+ Eucharist + Reconciliation + praying for the Pope's intentions) will still get you an indulgence, by the way. While we were there, we crashed a huge Mass in French with 15 priests & a cardinal. Fancy.
St. Paul's tomb
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After our hours and hours at St. Paul, we got hopped back on the bus and went to
Maria Maggiore (+ lunch). There were a lot of cool things there too. The relics of the Holy Crib, for example. The
Salus Populi Romani - another of
St. Luke's Madonna paintings (of which there are, like, 8 - including
OLCzestochowa, which we saw in Poland).
Salus Populi Romani - Health of the Roman People
Nativity Crypt, with reliquary of the Holy Crib, statue of Pope Pius IX, below which St. Jerome is buried
After we left Maria Maggiore, we stayed on the bus for the rest of the afternoon (like, an hour). Again, I will identify what I can!
Colosseum
Hadrian's (?) Arch
Circus Maximus
And, scene.
I will definitely have to go back to Rome some day. I - obvs - did not see everything. There is a lot there! After our bus adventures, we went back and got packed up. We had another super early morning of travel - leaving Domus Aurelia at 3:30a for our 6am flight from Rome to Munich.
Ciao, Italia!
