So we're just about caught up with pictures, thank you Lord! It's been real nice working on the pictures from home now. Tomorrow we'l have the rest of the Poland pictures up I think and then we will have one more surprise album, oh boy! So anyways... this may be my last blog entry here.
We finally made our day trip to Paris work and somehow, everything went real smooth. We left Friday night, trained through the night and arrived bright and early in Paris. After figuring out the metro system we made our way to Notre Dame. It wasn't quite as large as we imagined it from the outside but it was still really cool and beautiful on the inside. And warm! After checking it out we sat and napped for a little while before daring the cold once again! We then sought out the Miraculous Medal Chapel where St. Catherine Laboure is incorrupt, my patron saint. So that was really neat. The rest of the day was spent hanging around the Eiffel Tower and doing some shopping for our sisters. Overall it was a good day and we hopped on a train for the night trip home, getting back to Gaming afternoon-time on Sunday pretty exhausted, but happy that our goal of seeing Paris was accomplished, gifts bought, and out last independently planned trip was over as well as the last time we used our Eurail! woohoo!
So everyone. It's been an adventure and it's been fun narrating it all on here. But it's over and we're back to life, work, school, planning a wedding, all that fun stuff. :)
Peace to all, MERRY CHRISTMAS, and a Happy New Year too!!!
-catherine*
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Rome & Assisi
Well! It's almost been a month since this trip but we did take over one thousand pictures during those 10 days so it's been a work in progress. We have almost half of them posted so you can check them out and know that there are more to come! Also, our weekend trips to Paris and to Poland will come out hopefully soon after. We're actually returning home this weekend so we will finish from there. But in the meantime let me relate our experiences to Rome in a most concise, from memory, but wonderful blog. Here goes!
So we left on a Friday night in November, whatever that day might have been matters little at this point. We drove through the night, by this point we're getting used to weird sleeping arrangements so it wasn't that big of a deal. We arrived in Rome Saturday morning, checked in, and the rest of the day was actually spent playing cards and in merriment. It's a good thing because little did we know the following days would be the most packed, tiring, and crazy days of our travels so far.
Sunday we began by heading to St. Peter's Square bright and early to grab seats in the basilica for Mass. Alden and I ended up getting seperated but I was sitting with some people maybe 8 rows back, poor Alden had to stand in the back. The Mass was in Italian but it was beautiful. The basilica itself was breathtaking, massive, incredible. But all in all, it was like home to us. Our mother Church. After Mass we said the Angelus with Pope Benedict XVI, who was up in a tiny little window, far far away. After this we had a little free time, we headed to the Colosseum by metro, everywhere was pretty much by metro and we were on the guard for pick-pocketers! Mark and Fr. Dave gave us some tours and I think we saw half a dozen churches in the course of 3 hours. Record time! Needless to say, we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel for dinner and the most amazing lasagna I've ever had in my life! I might just remember it this way because we were starving!!! (nice save huh Mom?)
Monday we continued our Rome tours, saw many more churches, works of art, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and all those good things. I believe we went shopping that afternoon in a souvenir shop, it's hard to remember at this point, but we bought quite a few gifts. I think this was the day that we were also forced to pay for a pizza because we needed a bathroom so bad! They wouldn't let us use it unless we were a paying customer. Monday night we had Mass at one of the basilicas from what I remember, it was again another beautiful celebration. Mass was always my favorite part of the day! That night we got to see Scott too which was awesome (old RI friend :)
Tuesday Alden and I went to St. Peters Square early to really just hang out and take in the beauty of it all without there being crowds everywhere. Then we had our Scavi Tour late that morning which takes us under the basilica where the tombs of pagans and early Christians are buried as well as St. Peter himself! It was kind of hot and humid under there but really amazing to go back in time like that. After our Scavi tour we went back to the Colosseum with the intention of going inside but they wouldn't take credit cards so we just hug out instead. We had another tour through the Roman ruins. I think this was one of my favorite parts because we were outside for a change, it wasn't hugely rushed, and the ruins themselves were really cool. After this we had Mass at Cosmos and Damian Church, the Franciscans mother church in Rome, and they let us wander a little and then once again head back to the hotel. I believe this was the night that we had to wait like 3 or 4 metros to pass because Italians pack on so tight we couldn't squeeze on. But we made up our mind that the next one was it, we were getting on no matter what, and we shoved and squashed on that metro, finally! Then! we had to take a bus from the metro to our hotel as usual, and the bus was completely crammed with singing, loud, crazy Fanciscan students. Oh boy, that was a fun 45 minutes! It was pretty insane, Erin even crowd-surfed, and when we finally burst out at our stop, Fr. Dave breathed "Thank you Lord!"
Wednesday was pretty sweet though we got up about 4:30 in the morning to wait in line at St. Peter's. Wednesday was the day for the papal address and it was "Operation Shake the Pope's Hand!" We stood in line for 2 and a half hours before they opened the gate and we all forgot that we were eachother's fellow classmates in order to scramble and fight for the front. Our whole school probably took up 3 entire rows on one half in the front, Alden and I were in the second row. We waited once again for 2 hours before Pope Benedict came out in his little pope-mobile and it was picture time! He drove all around the square and then the address began, it lasted for quite a while and very little was in English. We did have a time of recognition however when they were announcing different groups. When they announced the Austrian Campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville we went crazy for probably 2 or 3 minutes, it was so cool! After the address, we were ready to shake our papa's hand, but he didn't seem to feel in the mood to shake hands that day. However! The little Kalpagian baby, Dominic, was handed up by one of the guards and he got a beautiful kiss on his head! That was the icing on the cake for me! :) If you check out the Gaming blog, which I will add to our links, you can see a picture of it. (You can also check out other really cool stuff about our Austrian group this semester) The rest of the day Wednesday we went to Santa Scala to pray the holy stairs that Christ climbed to meet Pontius Pilate. These stairs were brought to Rome by some womanly saint... We had Mass in the nearby basilica and afterwards visited a church which holds many relics of Jesus' Cross and nails and stuff. That was pretty amazing. We went back to the hotel one more time and this concluded our Roman journeys.
Thursday we were packed, fed breakfast, and out the door for Assisi! We made one stop on the way at the Portiuncula, St. Francis's first church I believe. Assisi was cold and windy! Our hotel was practically right in the center of the town. Actually, the girls' hotel was, but all the guys were at a different hotel a few streets down. I don't think we did much that day except check in, take a nap, and have dinner and Mass. But it was nice to start slowing down.
Friday we had Mass in a nearby church to start off the day and then had a tour around Assisi. We saw a few more different churches and learned more about St. Francis's life. Friday afternoon we had our pilgrimage walk up to St. Francis's hermitage, where he used to go to be in solitude and quiet prayer for days at a time. We also did this in silence, Alden was tired and not feeling great so he stayed behind but it was nice to take the time to be alone, explore the trails St. Francis used to walk and pray by myself. For Assisi, this was the highlight of the trip for me! After heading back down there wasn't much else except relaxing and eating.
Saturday we had Mass in front of St. Francis' tomb which was a great honor. We had some more touring and then we had the afternoon to really just shop around, relax, and take it all in. We also had some gelatti that night with Scott and Erin so that was fun! I can't remember much else that we did. We packed up that night, had dinner, and Mass, cause we left early on Sunday morning, drove through the day and got back in Gaming around midnight. It was nice cause we had the next day off from class to recuperate.
But the following weekend we were off and traveling to Paris! Stay tuned for more!
In the meantime... see you all back in the States!
Goodbye Austria, we'll miss you!!!!
-catherine*
So we left on a Friday night in November, whatever that day might have been matters little at this point. We drove through the night, by this point we're getting used to weird sleeping arrangements so it wasn't that big of a deal. We arrived in Rome Saturday morning, checked in, and the rest of the day was actually spent playing cards and in merriment. It's a good thing because little did we know the following days would be the most packed, tiring, and crazy days of our travels so far.
Sunday we began by heading to St. Peter's Square bright and early to grab seats in the basilica for Mass. Alden and I ended up getting seperated but I was sitting with some people maybe 8 rows back, poor Alden had to stand in the back. The Mass was in Italian but it was beautiful. The basilica itself was breathtaking, massive, incredible. But all in all, it was like home to us. Our mother Church. After Mass we said the Angelus with Pope Benedict XVI, who was up in a tiny little window, far far away. After this we had a little free time, we headed to the Colosseum by metro, everywhere was pretty much by metro and we were on the guard for pick-pocketers! Mark and Fr. Dave gave us some tours and I think we saw half a dozen churches in the course of 3 hours. Record time! Needless to say, we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel for dinner and the most amazing lasagna I've ever had in my life! I might just remember it this way because we were starving!!! (nice save huh Mom?)
Monday we continued our Rome tours, saw many more churches, works of art, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and all those good things. I believe we went shopping that afternoon in a souvenir shop, it's hard to remember at this point, but we bought quite a few gifts. I think this was the day that we were also forced to pay for a pizza because we needed a bathroom so bad! They wouldn't let us use it unless we were a paying customer. Monday night we had Mass at one of the basilicas from what I remember, it was again another beautiful celebration. Mass was always my favorite part of the day! That night we got to see Scott too which was awesome (old RI friend :)
Tuesday Alden and I went to St. Peters Square early to really just hang out and take in the beauty of it all without there being crowds everywhere. Then we had our Scavi Tour late that morning which takes us under the basilica where the tombs of pagans and early Christians are buried as well as St. Peter himself! It was kind of hot and humid under there but really amazing to go back in time like that. After our Scavi tour we went back to the Colosseum with the intention of going inside but they wouldn't take credit cards so we just hug out instead. We had another tour through the Roman ruins. I think this was one of my favorite parts because we were outside for a change, it wasn't hugely rushed, and the ruins themselves were really cool. After this we had Mass at Cosmos and Damian Church, the Franciscans mother church in Rome, and they let us wander a little and then once again head back to the hotel. I believe this was the night that we had to wait like 3 or 4 metros to pass because Italians pack on so tight we couldn't squeeze on. But we made up our mind that the next one was it, we were getting on no matter what, and we shoved and squashed on that metro, finally! Then! we had to take a bus from the metro to our hotel as usual, and the bus was completely crammed with singing, loud, crazy Fanciscan students. Oh boy, that was a fun 45 minutes! It was pretty insane, Erin even crowd-surfed, and when we finally burst out at our stop, Fr. Dave breathed "Thank you Lord!"
Wednesday was pretty sweet though we got up about 4:30 in the morning to wait in line at St. Peter's. Wednesday was the day for the papal address and it was "Operation Shake the Pope's Hand!" We stood in line for 2 and a half hours before they opened the gate and we all forgot that we were eachother's fellow classmates in order to scramble and fight for the front. Our whole school probably took up 3 entire rows on one half in the front, Alden and I were in the second row. We waited once again for 2 hours before Pope Benedict came out in his little pope-mobile and it was picture time! He drove all around the square and then the address began, it lasted for quite a while and very little was in English. We did have a time of recognition however when they were announcing different groups. When they announced the Austrian Campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville we went crazy for probably 2 or 3 minutes, it was so cool! After the address, we were ready to shake our papa's hand, but he didn't seem to feel in the mood to shake hands that day. However! The little Kalpagian baby, Dominic, was handed up by one of the guards and he got a beautiful kiss on his head! That was the icing on the cake for me! :) If you check out the Gaming blog, which I will add to our links, you can see a picture of it. (You can also check out other really cool stuff about our Austrian group this semester) The rest of the day Wednesday we went to Santa Scala to pray the holy stairs that Christ climbed to meet Pontius Pilate. These stairs were brought to Rome by some womanly saint... We had Mass in the nearby basilica and afterwards visited a church which holds many relics of Jesus' Cross and nails and stuff. That was pretty amazing. We went back to the hotel one more time and this concluded our Roman journeys.
Thursday we were packed, fed breakfast, and out the door for Assisi! We made one stop on the way at the Portiuncula, St. Francis's first church I believe. Assisi was cold and windy! Our hotel was practically right in the center of the town. Actually, the girls' hotel was, but all the guys were at a different hotel a few streets down. I don't think we did much that day except check in, take a nap, and have dinner and Mass. But it was nice to start slowing down.
Friday we had Mass in a nearby church to start off the day and then had a tour around Assisi. We saw a few more different churches and learned more about St. Francis's life. Friday afternoon we had our pilgrimage walk up to St. Francis's hermitage, where he used to go to be in solitude and quiet prayer for days at a time. We also did this in silence, Alden was tired and not feeling great so he stayed behind but it was nice to take the time to be alone, explore the trails St. Francis used to walk and pray by myself. For Assisi, this was the highlight of the trip for me! After heading back down there wasn't much else except relaxing and eating.
Saturday we had Mass in front of St. Francis' tomb which was a great honor. We had some more touring and then we had the afternoon to really just shop around, relax, and take it all in. We also had some gelatti that night with Scott and Erin so that was fun! I can't remember much else that we did. We packed up that night, had dinner, and Mass, cause we left early on Sunday morning, drove through the day and got back in Gaming around midnight. It was nice cause we had the next day off from class to recuperate.
But the following weekend we were off and traveling to Paris! Stay tuned for more!
In the meantime... see you all back in the States!
Goodbye Austria, we'll miss you!!!!
-catherine*
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