Roma

First off let me mention that the title of my blog means 'life is awesome'. I forgot to say that in the original post, at least in the version that actually made it onto the blog.

I have a suspicion that I'm going to be saying and feeling this a lot, but today was one of the best days ever. I woke up, helped the kids get off to school and then went into the city. It was a little scary at first since I'm all alone and a fairly obvious tourista, but I got the hang of things pretty quickly and ended up living the dream of wandering around Rome letting things find me as they would. I had a map but stopped looking at it after a couple times because it was basically useless and it was far more fun to just go where my feet took me. I took the tram into the city because it goes literally from my door to San Pietro. I was going to go in but the line literally wrapped around the piazza so I left it til later in the afternoon. There's a level of peace that I forgot about that pervades such holy places. My soul found rest just standing in the piazza. It’s like I knew I was home, in a sense.

Next I walked across the river and down Via Vittorio Emanuele for a while. I stopped in Nuova Chiesa, which I had never seen. It turned out to be the final resting place of St. Philip Neri, one of my favorite saints. I don’t know if you know about him, but this guy loved the Lord so much that his heart literally burst out of his chest. Ok, it only broke two ribs (and didn’t kill him) but still. That’s intense. He’s totally awesome. I had some really good time with the Lord there, it was nice and peaceful.

I went to Piazza Navona and another church that’s close by, I think it’s called Santa Maria Anima or something. I forget. I decided to head back and had gelato for lunch on the way, which is one of my favorite things to do. I stopped by Castel Sant’Angelo to see what I could see and ended up discovering what I believe to be one of the few peaceful outside spots in the city center. There’s a park that kind of wraps around the back of the Castel. It has tons of benches and shade and I took a bit of a napnic on a whim. It was a perfect day, not too hot and not too cold, sunny but with big puffy clouds. My favorite weather. I think I found a spot that will become a favorite.

Last but not least I went to San Pietro and the Vatican grottoes. San Pietro is astounding. Like most of the older churches here, it is absolutely decked out in statues and decorations and sheer beauty, but there’s something different about it. An aura indescribable to those who haven’t been there so I’ll leave it at that. There is an adoration chapel inside, and it was especially great to spend some time with the Lord in and on the Rock of San Pietro.

Watching the kids was relatively uneventful. The now housekeeper showed me about 50 billion things, so I’m assuming that at some point she’s leaving and I’m to take over. Fine with me, but the kids better be prepared for some relatively lamesauce cooking. I’m no Italian mamma.
Alright, I think that’s about it. Hooray for my first real post! Hope it wasn’t too boring.