Travels with Hope

Our last day in Rome; the last day of our trip. Bittersweet, it is. I'm looking forward to being in one place (and my own bed) and at the same time, I'm relishing all the many good moments Doug and I had here in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy. It was wonderful to see Doug's high school friends, all but one of whom has visited us in Reedley. The train rides and our Eurail Pass served us well and were so enjoyable. The cathedrals and churches and stained glass windows inspired a sense of awe. The unexpected way this became a "Mennonite/Anabaptist tour" was a pleasant surprise, a confirmation of where we came from and who I am in this world. Today, on our last day, we visited the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. A good way to end our trip. The Sistine Chapel, with Michaelangelo's ceiling is difficult to describe and no photos are allowed. The crowd kind of got to me, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I loved the Hall of Maps -- all 4...

Tonight, as we made our way from the Metro to the restaurant where we had a reservation, we passed a huge crowd in front of St. John Lateran Basilica. One of us jokingly said maybe the Pope is making an appearance. Turned out to be true! We waited until we heard him speak (something about "speranza", which was all I could catch), which we could see on the monitors. And then they drove right out past us. It was, I must admit, quite exciting. We followed that with a tasty, full-course Italian dinner, discussing if we could come up with any other famous living person we'd be this excited to see. I could name a few living women I'd love to see and talk to. Doug said he can think of no one he'd like to see, but quite a few he'd like to moon. We saw Pope Leo XIV!! He's speaking -- he's on those screens. And there he is in the Pope Mobile. Not very clear, but we saw him.

We weren't able to get tickets to the Borghese, nor to the temporary Caravaggio exhibit at the Palazzo Barberini. We tried months ago, but it was too late. So today, with a bit of research, we bought a 24-hour transit pass and spliced together our own Caravaggio tour. The best three paintings were in a church and free. It was a fun way to get to different parts of Rome. And around every turn is another 2000-year old ruin. And in the hunt, I found a new favorite artist, one I had never heard of before: Maestro Jacomo. His paintings are of figures in candlelight: a young boy singing, a woman wth lantern, a boy holding a bat. Then we did the goofy touristy thing and stuck our hands in the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità). It didn't bite our hands off, so we must be relatively truthful. ( Carravagio's A Penitent Mary Magdalene, Rest on the Way to Egypt, and John the Baptist.) (All three of these Carravagio paintings are of St. Matthew.) ( Maestro Jacomo, Boy Singing) ( Maest...