Craig's blog

Everyone is getting tired so a bunch of the adults decided to go into town a little later.  Patty went in with the bus at 9:00, but Kelli, Katie and I took the hotel shuttle to the Metro station and then the Metro to Piazza de Popolo (where Patty and some others had been bussed).  The three of us checked out the beautiful Piazza and then walked to the Spanish steps (maybe ¾ of a mile).  There we caught up with Patty who had been window shopping slowly with others.

After viewing the Spanish steps (which aren’t too amazing, and the fountain at the base of them is being refurbished), we walked to Trevi fountain, which also is being refurbished.  It is clearly just an amazing sight when it is operating.  We saw pictures of it and were very sorry it was dry and being worked on.

Next we wondered our way toward St. Peter’s with the intent of meeting our good friends Diane and Jim Coward for lunch somewhere on the way – they were coming from the Vatican, and we will spending the rest of the trip (after the Cantabile part ends) with them.

We wondered slowly and got hungry and cranky, but eventually found a spot near the river where we met them and had lunch.  We were much better after eating.  It even rained for about 4 minutes while we were sitting outside.

Next we left Diane & Jim and walked to St. Peter’s where we met the Cantabile group again.  I changed into long pants in the middle of the gigantic square, much to the horror of my daughters, although I think they are the only ones who noticed.

We stood in the security line in the hot sun and baked, but eventually got in.  We met the choir inside the security check point and then we all went in to the amazing basilica.  The place is absolutely incredible – unimaginably huge and ornate.  We walked around for about 45 minutes with Katie as tour guide and then went to the front to be let in for the mass.  The mass was held at the main alter at the front of the basilica.  It was the real deal and Cantabile did the singing.  While the mass was impossible to understand, and the rituals are largely unknown to me, and the choir was hard to hear because they faced forward in massive building, it was still an extraordinary experience.  Diane & Jim managed to find a way to get past the guards to come up and be part of it to.

Next we took the bus to a big restaurant that we were told was going to be fancy so we had to wear our best clothes.  It didn’t seem to be very fancy to me, although it was a marathon dinner.  There was tons of food, lots of courses and lots of time between courses.  It was also very hot.  Although we left the basilica around 6:30, we didn’t get back to the hotel until 11:00.  We had planned to go to our strip mall gelato place, but we were too tired and went to bed instead.