On Sunday, we went to Trujillo for a wine and cheese festival. Tried lots of different cheeses and cheese cakes and a couple types of wine. There was lots of goat and lamb cheese, which I thought was disgusting. We spent most of the day there and when we returned to Caceres, we were going to climb the mountain one last time but we were tired. So, we went to a cafe and got ice cream and then went to a plaza/park and watched the movie Bridget Jones's Diary on a computer. The Spanish people looked at us kind of funny because we probably apppeared homeless(we were sitting on blankets on the sidewalk eating food) but oh well. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do that again tonight.
On Monday, we had no school because it was Labor Day. When I woke up, I found out the news about Bin Laden. Everyone here has been congratulating us because we are Americans...kinda strange and not sure how I feel about that. We had our last bible study and then had a farewell dinner on Monday night. I tried calamari-octopus legs! It was disgusting due to the texture but check that off the list of exotic foods to eat. We went to the Plaza Mayor afterwards and got ice cream and sat and talked. It was lots of fun being together as a group.
Last night, I took some NyQuill for my cough which caused me to be a bit late to my first class due to oversleeping...oopsie. We had my favorite food for lunch today-bean soup and empanadillas. This afternoon, Casey and I went to the park for 2 hours...had to get our last Spanish sunning in! I hear Iowa is like 40 degrees which is very disappointing considering it is in the 80s here! Tonight is a Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona soccer game, so of course all of Spain will be watching that. Afterwards, we are having a going away party/birthday party for Casey at a bar in the Plaza Mayor area. It will be fun and will be our last time together as a whole group. So crazy that this is already the end. It hasn't flown by but the semester has gone pretty fast.
I have 3 last classes tomorrow...one test and one speech left! I leave on a bus from Caceres at 3:30pm and will be spending a night in Madrid. We fly out around 11am on Thursday and I will go to Newark then Des Moines. I should be in Des Moines at 9:15pm Iowa time on Thursday. Praying for safe flights!
This is my last post from Spain :( There are definitely things here I will miss!! But I am very excited to come home!!!
Love you all!
Annette
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
The Patrons of Caceres
On Monday, we had no school because Easter Monday is considered a holiday here in Spain. We went to a pueblo called Torrequemada for their fiesta, which turned out to be a bit of a waste of time because it was just for the people of the pueblo and we were like outsiders. We had to walk for 45 minutes from the bus stop to this hill in the woods/countryside where they had the fiesta. Casey and I left and went back to Caceres after staying there for like one hour. There was seriously nothing to do there. Wish I wouldn't have gone...biggest waste of time yet. Oh well. When we got back to Caceres, we went to the park for a couple hours with Shea. It was fun and good to catch up with her about our Semana Santa trips.
On Tuesday, I woke up with a very bad headache and chills. As it turns out, I was dehydrated from being in the sun for 5-6 hours on Monday and not drinking enough. Ooops. Other than going to school, I spent the day at home in bed drinking water and powerade.
On Wednesday, I felt much better and in the evening went on a tour of the old part of the city. After the tour, we went to see the Virgin come down from the mountain. Mary is the female patron of Caceres and they carried a statue of her all the way down the mountain to the Cathedral of Santa Maria. She will stay there all week. Each day they change the color of clothes she is wearing and the kind of flowers in the cathedral. There were TONS of people watching the procession down the mountain.
On Thursday evening, we went to see the festival of San Jorge, the male patron of Caceres. Legend has it that San Jorge killed a dragon and saved the city of Caceres in the 1200s. There was a theater-like production in the Plaza Mayor that lasted almost 2 hours. There was a huge dragon that was set on fire by San Jorge. At the end they set off fireworks from the roof of the City Hall. Safety standards are so different here. We were getting rained on with ashes from the fireworks the whole time. But, the fireworks were pretty good! Makes me miss the US.
After San Jorge, we went out for our last Thursday night in Caceres! We went to Divina Comedia, La Habana, and Cameron (a discoteca). We decided to go out like true Spaniards-aka stay out all night until the churrerias are open. We stayed at Cameron until 5:45am and then left to find a place to buy churros for breakfast. Luckily, we found a place that opened at 6am! We ate churros and chocolate and got home around 6:30am. It was a very fun night!
On Tuesday, I woke up with a very bad headache and chills. As it turns out, I was dehydrated from being in the sun for 5-6 hours on Monday and not drinking enough. Ooops. Other than going to school, I spent the day at home in bed drinking water and powerade.
On Wednesday, I felt much better and in the evening went on a tour of the old part of the city. After the tour, we went to see the Virgin come down from the mountain. Mary is the female patron of Caceres and they carried a statue of her all the way down the mountain to the Cathedral of Santa Maria. She will stay there all week. Each day they change the color of clothes she is wearing and the kind of flowers in the cathedral. There were TONS of people watching the procession down the mountain.
On Thursday evening, we went to see the festival of San Jorge, the male patron of Caceres. Legend has it that San Jorge killed a dragon and saved the city of Caceres in the 1200s. There was a theater-like production in the Plaza Mayor that lasted almost 2 hours. There was a huge dragon that was set on fire by San Jorge. At the end they set off fireworks from the roof of the City Hall. Safety standards are so different here. We were getting rained on with ashes from the fireworks the whole time. But, the fireworks were pretty good! Makes me miss the US.
After San Jorge, we went out for our last Thursday night in Caceres! We went to Divina Comedia, La Habana, and Cameron (a discoteca). We decided to go out like true Spaniards-aka stay out all night until the churrerias are open. We stayed at Cameron until 5:45am and then left to find a place to buy churros for breakfast. Luckily, we found a place that opened at 6am! We ate churros and chocolate and got home around 6:30am. It was a very fun night!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Return to Caceres and Easter Weekend
NOTE: This is the final post from my Spring Break adventures. I recommend that you go to the post called When in Rome and then read the ones above until you get to this one. There are 7 posts total because there is so much to say!
The bus we rode to Madrid was extremely small and there was hardly any room for our legs because the people in front of us put their seats back all the way. It was bad. I felt very claustrophobic...not enough room to breathe even with our seats back too! Thank goodnes for the Melotonin that Aunt Mary gave me to bring with. It is 2 months expired but still does the trick! I slept some on the bus but tossed and turned a lot trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.
We got to Madrid at 5:45am and waited for the metro to open at 6am to go to the other bus station. We got there and had to wait until 8am for our next bus to leave. We got some breakfast. On our second bus, we all slept for the first 2 hours. There was so much more room and we each took 2 seats because there were extra. We met a very funny guy named Martin who was from Austria and was coming to Caceres to visit his girlfriend and meet her family. He was concerned about "keeping his legs" because her dad had threatened him that he would cut off his legs if he did something wrong haha. He said some very funny things about soccer and I wish I could remember his quotes. He also gave us Austrian chocolate! We got to Caceres around 12pm and were so tired that we decided to take a taxi home instead of walking in the rain. So lazy of us, but it only cost like 1.5 euros so whatever! When I got back, I told my host family about my trip and talked to my parents on Skype. Changed my plane ticket to May 5.
Friday night, I went to Good Friday service at Guadalupe. It was a very very good Mass! The homily was good and it was about each of us carrying our own cross in our lives, just like Jesus carried his cross. They did pretty much everything the same as we do in the US on Good Friday.
On Saturday, I went shopping with Casey to the mall and then to the downtown stores. I bought some scarves to bring home. We still need to make one more shopping trip before coming home. We went to La Caballeriza and met Courtney's mom, aunt, and sister before trying to go to a procession. However, the procession took forever to get to the Plaza Mayor, so Casey and I left before it got there to go to the Easter Vigil at Fatima. I was surprised at how few people were at the Easter Vigil. We started just like in the US-outside with a fire and candles. There were 4 baptisms-3 babies and 1 kid who was probably 8 years old or so. The priest annointed them with oil before baptising them and put very little water on their head to baptise them. I really missed singing "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" at the end. It lasted about 1.5 hours. They went really fast through everything!
This morning, I got up at 6:30am to go with Casey to the non-denominational church's Easter service on top of the mountain. We got a ride in a car to the top thankfully and got to see the sunrise. It was so cool! We listened to a reading, sang some praise and worship songs, and prayed a bit. Then, we went down the mountain and went to a cafe for breakfast. After, I came home and took a nap. At 12pm, there was another procession, so I went to the beginning of that and then went to Easter Mass at Fatima with Taylor and Clint. Once again, I was surprised at how few people there were at Easter Mass. I expected it to be packed like it is in the US for Easter. This afternoon, I did some homework and updated all of this on my blog. My host sister Maria left to go back to her university today, so I had to say goodbye since I won't see her again before I come back to the US. She is the one I will miss the most!
The bus we rode to Madrid was extremely small and there was hardly any room for our legs because the people in front of us put their seats back all the way. It was bad. I felt very claustrophobic...not enough room to breathe even with our seats back too! Thank goodnes for the Melotonin that Aunt Mary gave me to bring with. It is 2 months expired but still does the trick! I slept some on the bus but tossed and turned a lot trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.
We got to Madrid at 5:45am and waited for the metro to open at 6am to go to the other bus station. We got there and had to wait until 8am for our next bus to leave. We got some breakfast. On our second bus, we all slept for the first 2 hours. There was so much more room and we each took 2 seats because there were extra. We met a very funny guy named Martin who was from Austria and was coming to Caceres to visit his girlfriend and meet her family. He was concerned about "keeping his legs" because her dad had threatened him that he would cut off his legs if he did something wrong haha. He said some very funny things about soccer and I wish I could remember his quotes. He also gave us Austrian chocolate! We got to Caceres around 12pm and were so tired that we decided to take a taxi home instead of walking in the rain. So lazy of us, but it only cost like 1.5 euros so whatever! When I got back, I told my host family about my trip and talked to my parents on Skype. Changed my plane ticket to May 5.
Friday night, I went to Good Friday service at Guadalupe. It was a very very good Mass! The homily was good and it was about each of us carrying our own cross in our lives, just like Jesus carried his cross. They did pretty much everything the same as we do in the US on Good Friday.
On Saturday, I went shopping with Casey to the mall and then to the downtown stores. I bought some scarves to bring home. We still need to make one more shopping trip before coming home. We went to La Caballeriza and met Courtney's mom, aunt, and sister before trying to go to a procession. However, the procession took forever to get to the Plaza Mayor, so Casey and I left before it got there to go to the Easter Vigil at Fatima. I was surprised at how few people were at the Easter Vigil. We started just like in the US-outside with a fire and candles. There were 4 baptisms-3 babies and 1 kid who was probably 8 years old or so. The priest annointed them with oil before baptising them and put very little water on their head to baptise them. I really missed singing "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" at the end. It lasted about 1.5 hours. They went really fast through everything!
This morning, I got up at 6:30am to go with Casey to the non-denominational church's Easter service on top of the mountain. We got a ride in a car to the top thankfully and got to see the sunrise. It was so cool! We listened to a reading, sang some praise and worship songs, and prayed a bit. Then, we went down the mountain and went to a cafe for breakfast. After, I came home and took a nap. At 12pm, there was another procession, so I went to the beginning of that and then went to Easter Mass at Fatima with Taylor and Clint. Once again, I was surprised at how few people there were at Easter Mass. I expected it to be packed like it is in the US for Easter. This afternoon, I did some homework and updated all of this on my blog. My host sister Maria left to go back to her university today, so I had to say goodbye since I won't see her again before I come back to the US. She is the one I will miss the most!
Stadiums, Soccer Game, and Sagrada Familia
On Wednesday, we woke up at 9am, had breakfast at the hotel, got ready, and metroed to the market. There was lots of disgusting things to see at the market-goat's heads with the eyes still in them, animal tongues, pig's feet, and lots of fish-most of it still alive. Reminds me why I don't eat a lot of meat. We bought some fruit for lunch and it was very fresh and only 1 euro!
We metroed to Camp Nou-FC Barcelona's Soccer Stadium. The boys took a tour. We girls decided we had already seen one soccer stadium and that was enough for us, so we went to the souvenir store and then decided to metro to the Olympic Park Area, which the boys didn't seem to want to see anyways. In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics, so we got to see the outsides of the buildings, the inside of the main stadium, and the pool area. I'm glad we went to see it!
We met the boys back at the hotel and then took naps for 2.5 hours :) We got food at the grocery store, showered, and went to watch the Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona soccer game. Those are the two main teams in Spain. We watched the game at an Irish Pub and I got a Magner's :) We met college students from Hamilton College in the Northeastern US I think. One of the guys got his Blackberry stolen from his pocket by a pickpocket while we were at that bar that night. Scary! Everyone always told us how bad Rome was supposed to be for pickpockets but we had no problems there and had 2 problems in Barcelona. Thankfully all they got was Taylor's gum. Anyways, Real Madrid won!!!!! 1-0 :) They are my team! We couldn't cheer too loud because we were in Barcelona, home of the losing team.
After the game, we went to another Irish pub where we had a very deep discussion about faith and the difference between Christianity and other religions. I am so thankful for my strong Catholic faith!!! We left there when it closed and headed to a discoteca. It was the coolest discoteca we have been to! Lots of creepy guys came up to us, so Cory and Taylor had to pretend to be our boyfriends but there were lots of cute guys there too. At 5:30am, it closed and we left. Thankfully, the metro happened to be open already, so we metroed back to the hotel. On our walk from the metro station to the hotel, Lizzy convinced Taylor he needed to climb a tree to get us back to the hotel...hilarious video! We went to bed around 6:30am.
On Thursday, we woke up at 10:20am! We almost missed breakfast!!! We ran downstairs and thankfully got food before they closed it. We got ready and checked out of our hotel. They let us leave our bags there so we did not have to carry them around all day. We went to the Sagrada Familia and waited in line for 30 minutes before going in. It was very cool. Very different than any other cathedral I have seen. Gaudi designed the inside to look like trees going up to the sky. It is definitely a work of modern art. It is expected to be completed in 2026.
We met up with Bev and her family and went to eat lunch around 5pm...a little late! They were very nice and it was fun to meet someone else's family. We went shopping in Las Ramblas again and Casey and I found artists who were selling jewelery so we got lots of souvenirs! We met back up with Lizzy, Cory, and Taylor, got our backpacks from the hotel, and walked to the bus station. On our way we stopped at the Tower of Agbar which was lit up at night and was really cool. We got on our bus to go to Madrid and left at 10:15pm.
We metroed to Camp Nou-FC Barcelona's Soccer Stadium. The boys took a tour. We girls decided we had already seen one soccer stadium and that was enough for us, so we went to the souvenir store and then decided to metro to the Olympic Park Area, which the boys didn't seem to want to see anyways. In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics, so we got to see the outsides of the buildings, the inside of the main stadium, and the pool area. I'm glad we went to see it!
We met the boys back at the hotel and then took naps for 2.5 hours :) We got food at the grocery store, showered, and went to watch the Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona soccer game. Those are the two main teams in Spain. We watched the game at an Irish Pub and I got a Magner's :) We met college students from Hamilton College in the Northeastern US I think. One of the guys got his Blackberry stolen from his pocket by a pickpocket while we were at that bar that night. Scary! Everyone always told us how bad Rome was supposed to be for pickpockets but we had no problems there and had 2 problems in Barcelona. Thankfully all they got was Taylor's gum. Anyways, Real Madrid won!!!!! 1-0 :) They are my team! We couldn't cheer too loud because we were in Barcelona, home of the losing team.
After the game, we went to another Irish pub where we had a very deep discussion about faith and the difference between Christianity and other religions. I am so thankful for my strong Catholic faith!!! We left there when it closed and headed to a discoteca. It was the coolest discoteca we have been to! Lots of creepy guys came up to us, so Cory and Taylor had to pretend to be our boyfriends but there were lots of cute guys there too. At 5:30am, it closed and we left. Thankfully, the metro happened to be open already, so we metroed back to the hotel. On our walk from the metro station to the hotel, Lizzy convinced Taylor he needed to climb a tree to get us back to the hotel...hilarious video! We went to bed around 6:30am.
On Thursday, we woke up at 10:20am! We almost missed breakfast!!! We ran downstairs and thankfully got food before they closed it. We got ready and checked out of our hotel. They let us leave our bags there so we did not have to carry them around all day. We went to the Sagrada Familia and waited in line for 30 minutes before going in. It was very cool. Very different than any other cathedral I have seen. Gaudi designed the inside to look like trees going up to the sky. It is definitely a work of modern art. It is expected to be completed in 2026.
We met up with Bev and her family and went to eat lunch around 5pm...a little late! They were very nice and it was fun to meet someone else's family. We went shopping in Las Ramblas again and Casey and I found artists who were selling jewelery so we got lots of souvenirs! We met back up with Lizzy, Cory, and Taylor, got our backpacks from the hotel, and walked to the bus station. On our way we stopped at the Tower of Agbar which was lit up at night and was really cool. We got on our bus to go to Madrid and left at 10:15pm.
Arrivederci Italia! Bienvenidos a Barcelona!
On Monday, we woke up at 5am. We had AMAZING breakfast-yogurt, fruit, cookies, and of course croissants with nutella! We got a taxi to the airport and listened to Italian pop music all the way. Got psalms and holy water through security! We took a shuttle and got on our plane. It left around 8:15am from Rome and got to Barcelona at 10:15am or so. When we were walking through the Barcelona airport, we overheard a British lady say, "If you pay a little more for your nickers, they last longer than that cheap shit." Gosh, I want to go to England!
We took a shuttle to the city center and sat in Cafe Zurich to wait for the boys. Cory and Taylor had been in Lisbon for the first part of their Semana Santa and came to meet up with us in Barcelona. We told them to meet us by the small fountain in the plaza and watched as they walked right by us to the big fountain. We decided to take some pictures of them looking for us so we hid in the trees and got some pretty good ones. We got a little to close and they saw us...oops. We eventually all met up and they weren't too mad. They never did get to our small fountain anyways. We metroed to the Holiday Inn and checked into our room. All 5 of us stayed in the same room. Taylor ended up sleeping on the floor a couple nights but we made it work.
We walked to the beach, found sea shells, swam a bit (it was freezing cold!), and buried Taylor in the sand and made outfits for him. We went back to the hotel, showered, and went to a restaurant near our hotel for supper. It was okay food. We went back to the hotel and went to bed.
On Tuesday, we got up at 9am, at breakfast in the hotel-DELICIOUS!, and walked to the bus station to try to get tickets for a bus home to Caceres on Thursday. The bus that went directly from Barcelona to Caceres was full, so we had to get tickets for a bus to Madrid and then a bus from Madrid to Caceres. We walked to the Sagrada Familia, a famous cathedral that is still underconstruction and has been for over 100years. It was designed by Gaudi, a Spanish architect who we learned about in our Spanish art class. When we got there, we found out that there was a fire, so we could not go in. Apparently some 55 year old guy who had been acting suspicious the last few days set some of the priests' robes on fire in the Sacristy in the crypt. I don't know how much damage there was.
We walked to Parc Guell, another thing designed by Gaudi, and saw the famous lizard and park benches. We saw this absolutely crazy guy dressed in leopard print tights, a leather vest, and sunglasses that were shaped like electric guitars who was playing music in the park. He played "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and we all sang along. He was the most crazy person I have ever seen...I really think his brain was gone from too many drugs. Good entertainer though.
Next, we walked down Paseo de Gracias and walked past a couple famous houses that Gaudi designed. We waited in line to go inside one, but decided it was too expensive. In line, we met Rhonda and her husband-bold New Yorkers. Rhonda told us she was going to go "hablabla some Spanish to find out what was going on" and her husband stayed and talked to us. I think she assumed that we didn't know Spanish at all. Oh well. Their accents were hilarious and we enjoyed meeting them.
As we continued down the road, it turned into Las Ramblas, the famous shopping street of Barcelona. We stopped at H&M and I bought a dress. We continued down Las Ramblas until we got to the ocean and boat docks. We metroed to the hotel and went to the grocery store to get food for supper. We ate lots of cheese sandwiches, chips, apples, and breakfast cookies from the grocery store while in Barcelona to try to cut down on how much we spent on food. It was nice to eat some Americanish food for once. We were going to go out, but changed our minds and stayed in the hotel, telling stories, listening to music, and watching movies. At 2am we finally went to sleep. Taylor kept scaring Lizzy and I by standing at the edge of our bed and trying to grab our feet.
We took a shuttle to the city center and sat in Cafe Zurich to wait for the boys. Cory and Taylor had been in Lisbon for the first part of their Semana Santa and came to meet up with us in Barcelona. We told them to meet us by the small fountain in the plaza and watched as they walked right by us to the big fountain. We decided to take some pictures of them looking for us so we hid in the trees and got some pretty good ones. We got a little to close and they saw us...oops. We eventually all met up and they weren't too mad. They never did get to our small fountain anyways. We metroed to the Holiday Inn and checked into our room. All 5 of us stayed in the same room. Taylor ended up sleeping on the floor a couple nights but we made it work.
We walked to the beach, found sea shells, swam a bit (it was freezing cold!), and buried Taylor in the sand and made outfits for him. We went back to the hotel, showered, and went to a restaurant near our hotel for supper. It was okay food. We went back to the hotel and went to bed.
On Tuesday, we got up at 9am, at breakfast in the hotel-DELICIOUS!, and walked to the bus station to try to get tickets for a bus home to Caceres on Thursday. The bus that went directly from Barcelona to Caceres was full, so we had to get tickets for a bus to Madrid and then a bus from Madrid to Caceres. We walked to the Sagrada Familia, a famous cathedral that is still underconstruction and has been for over 100years. It was designed by Gaudi, a Spanish architect who we learned about in our Spanish art class. When we got there, we found out that there was a fire, so we could not go in. Apparently some 55 year old guy who had been acting suspicious the last few days set some of the priests' robes on fire in the Sacristy in the crypt. I don't know how much damage there was.
We walked to Parc Guell, another thing designed by Gaudi, and saw the famous lizard and park benches. We saw this absolutely crazy guy dressed in leopard print tights, a leather vest, and sunglasses that were shaped like electric guitars who was playing music in the park. He played "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and we all sang along. He was the most crazy person I have ever seen...I really think his brain was gone from too many drugs. Good entertainer though.
Next, we walked down Paseo de Gracias and walked past a couple famous houses that Gaudi designed. We waited in line to go inside one, but decided it was too expensive. In line, we met Rhonda and her husband-bold New Yorkers. Rhonda told us she was going to go "hablabla some Spanish to find out what was going on" and her husband stayed and talked to us. I think she assumed that we didn't know Spanish at all. Oh well. Their accents were hilarious and we enjoyed meeting them.
As we continued down the road, it turned into Las Ramblas, the famous shopping street of Barcelona. We stopped at H&M and I bought a dress. We continued down Las Ramblas until we got to the ocean and boat docks. We metroed to the hotel and went to the grocery store to get food for supper. We ate lots of cheese sandwiches, chips, apples, and breakfast cookies from the grocery store while in Barcelona to try to cut down on how much we spent on food. It was nice to eat some Americanish food for once. We were going to go out, but changed our minds and stayed in the hotel, telling stories, listening to music, and watching movies. At 2am we finally went to sleep. Taylor kept scaring Lizzy and I by standing at the edge of our bed and trying to grab our feet.
BEST DAY OF MY LIFE
I had been waiting for Sunday and seeing the Pope at Psalm Sunday Mass ever since we bought the plane tickets to Italy. I was SOOOOOO excited! We woke up at 5:45am and got ready, listening to Christian music on Casey's iPod. We found really good chocolate cookies in the hostel to eat for breakfast and left around 6:45am to walk to Vatican City.
We got to the line outside at 7am. We saw a guy in line wearing a plaid shirt who we had seen two times before, wearing two different plaid shirts. It was strange to think that we were beginning to recognize people! We waited in line and talked to Scott who was standing by us. He is a deacon who lives in Rome and is from Illinois. They opened the security at 8am and we got in and got REALLY good seats. We were shocked to get seats in the first place because I assumed they would be reserved for priests and nuns and such but I guess it is just a free for all. We were in the middle of the section closest to the front, on the right side of the main aisle. I sat like 5 seats from the middle aisle-which is where the opening procession would go down! We were given olive branches instead of psalms. There were huge psalms that they gave to the people in the middle aisle to hold up during the procession.
At almost 9:30am exactly, the procession began-first with the cross and priests, then bishops, then cardinals, then THE POPE!!!!!!! The first thing I saw was his gold hat! He was riding on top of a little white car. I was so happy that I cried two tears and then started taking pictures and videos. We stood up on the chairs to try to get a better view, which angered the guards and one of the guards came over and yanked a guy off his chair and said something to him in Italian and threw him on the ground. That was not very Christian of him. Pope Benedict did a blessing of the psalms/olive branches at the obelisk in the middle of the square and then his car took him up to the front altar. On the way to the altar, he went right down the middle aisle and at one point, HE WAS LITERALLY NO MORE THAN 10 FEET FROM US!!!!!!!!! He was smiling the whole way and it was so cool!!!
The people we were sitting next to were Spanish students, about our age and they were EXTREMELY RUDE!!! I was so frustrated because I wanted to tell them to leave, but I didn't. Two of them were making out, one was plucking her eyebrows and then checking to see if we saw her by looking at us in her mirror, and the others were sleeping the whole time. It was very offensive. Just guess it shows what problems there are with youth in the church in Spain. They were so disrespectful!
So other than them, Mass was great! The readings were one in English, one in Spanish, and the Gospel (the Passion) was sung by 3 priests...so cool! We got little books with all the music, readings, prayers, etc. so we could follow along. We could understand enough to know what was going on most of the time. I couldn't get anything from the homily though. I know it was supposed to be directed at youth, so I'll have to look it up and read it online. The petitions were read in Portuguese, Arabic, French, Polish, and German by a native speaker from each of those countries. For Communion, they had a Vatican staff member with each priest who held a yellow and white striped umbrella so that we could locate a priest to get Communion from. At the end of Mass, the Pope did a blessing in at least 8 different languages and everyone cheered when they heard their language.
After Mass, we met Jeff Dole, a former ISU student, who is now a seminarian in Rome. We asked him lots of questions we had come up with and he told us lots about the history of St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Square, and the Vatican etc. He also showed us the spot where Pope John Paul II was shot, which I did not know about before. Miraculously, the bullet weaved through his organs and did not damage anything. He also told us that the obelisk in the middle of St. Peter's Square is thought to be the last thing that Peter saw before he died. He told us the story of how they moved it to its current location. He also recommended that we visit St. John's Basilica, one of the other 4 main Basilicas in Rome.
We walked to the metro and rode to the Coliseum area. We stopped at the Roman Forum gift shop to see if we could get tickets there to avoid the line at the Colliseum and a guy told us that the Colliseum was closed to prepare for the Stations of the Cross that the Pope does there on Good Friday. We were heartbroken because here we had gone to Rome and not even seen the Colliseum! So, we walked to the Colliseum and saw people going inside. Turns out that guy was wrong and we got inside! We met a couple from Texas-Lizzy's favorite couple ever-and had them take a picture of us. I think they ruined the inside of the Colliseum because the area where they would have had gladiator fights looks like a maze made of bricks. It was turned into a small city and market area many hundred years ago, which is very unfortunate. I would much rather see the area where the gladiators fought. Oh well.
As we left the Colliseum, it started to rain so we walked to St. John's Basilica. We stopped at St. Clement's on the way which is a smaller Basilican in Rome. We didn't stay there long. San Giovanni-St. John's had Mass every hour that we were there. In the main sanctuary area are statues of the 12 disciples with the weapon/way they were killed. For example, Bartholemew (I think) was skinned alive, so he is shown with a human skin in his hand. It is all made of stone, of course. In front of the altar, there is an opening with stairs that lead down, which is where the table from the Last Supper is kept. It was under glass and looked like the real thing to me. Above the altar is the box with the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul.
We left the basilica and stopped at our last gelateria on our way to the metro. It was not as good as the other one, but it was still gelato! I got cream, raspberry, and cotton candy. We metroed to the Spanish Steps which are basically just steps with azaleas planted there. Nothing that special. Lots of couples and people drinking alcohol. We looked above the steps and saw another obelisk-a sign of a major basilica! So, we decided to go quickly. The nuns told us that you could get another indulgence if you went to all 4 of the major basilicas, but we only ended up getting to 3. Oh well!
As we were coming out of the basilica, the sun was setting. It was a gorgeous, red, firey ball. We got on an elevator with two couples to get to the metro station. The elevator hesitated a bit and one of the guys said, "Maybe backpacks aren't allowed." He was joking of course. When we got to the metro, we saw the father-what-a-waste from the day before at Pope JP II's grave but we could not get a picture before the metro came...what a shame! We metroed to the end of Line A and got a taxi to our hostel. We had to do some bargaining with the taxi men. They were trying to charge us double what the hostel told us it would take to get there. You're not going to rip us American girls off! The taxi driver didn't play any music or anything. It was just silent. Lizzy asked, "So has it been a busy night?" and got no response...pretty sure he only spoke Italian! We laughed so hard in the back seat, trying to be quiet so he didn't notice.
We arrived at our hostel-the Flower Inn B & B and it was the CUTEST little hostel/B & B ever!!! It had only been open one month and we found it on hostelworld and loved the pictures, so we just HAD to stay there. It was very nicely decorated and everything was SUPER clean! We went to bed at about 10:30pm. And that was how the best day of my life ended!
We got to the line outside at 7am. We saw a guy in line wearing a plaid shirt who we had seen two times before, wearing two different plaid shirts. It was strange to think that we were beginning to recognize people! We waited in line and talked to Scott who was standing by us. He is a deacon who lives in Rome and is from Illinois. They opened the security at 8am and we got in and got REALLY good seats. We were shocked to get seats in the first place because I assumed they would be reserved for priests and nuns and such but I guess it is just a free for all. We were in the middle of the section closest to the front, on the right side of the main aisle. I sat like 5 seats from the middle aisle-which is where the opening procession would go down! We were given olive branches instead of psalms. There were huge psalms that they gave to the people in the middle aisle to hold up during the procession.
At almost 9:30am exactly, the procession began-first with the cross and priests, then bishops, then cardinals, then THE POPE!!!!!!! The first thing I saw was his gold hat! He was riding on top of a little white car. I was so happy that I cried two tears and then started taking pictures and videos. We stood up on the chairs to try to get a better view, which angered the guards and one of the guards came over and yanked a guy off his chair and said something to him in Italian and threw him on the ground. That was not very Christian of him. Pope Benedict did a blessing of the psalms/olive branches at the obelisk in the middle of the square and then his car took him up to the front altar. On the way to the altar, he went right down the middle aisle and at one point, HE WAS LITERALLY NO MORE THAN 10 FEET FROM US!!!!!!!!! He was smiling the whole way and it was so cool!!!
The people we were sitting next to were Spanish students, about our age and they were EXTREMELY RUDE!!! I was so frustrated because I wanted to tell them to leave, but I didn't. Two of them were making out, one was plucking her eyebrows and then checking to see if we saw her by looking at us in her mirror, and the others were sleeping the whole time. It was very offensive. Just guess it shows what problems there are with youth in the church in Spain. They were so disrespectful!
So other than them, Mass was great! The readings were one in English, one in Spanish, and the Gospel (the Passion) was sung by 3 priests...so cool! We got little books with all the music, readings, prayers, etc. so we could follow along. We could understand enough to know what was going on most of the time. I couldn't get anything from the homily though. I know it was supposed to be directed at youth, so I'll have to look it up and read it online. The petitions were read in Portuguese, Arabic, French, Polish, and German by a native speaker from each of those countries. For Communion, they had a Vatican staff member with each priest who held a yellow and white striped umbrella so that we could locate a priest to get Communion from. At the end of Mass, the Pope did a blessing in at least 8 different languages and everyone cheered when they heard their language.
After Mass, we met Jeff Dole, a former ISU student, who is now a seminarian in Rome. We asked him lots of questions we had come up with and he told us lots about the history of St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Square, and the Vatican etc. He also showed us the spot where Pope John Paul II was shot, which I did not know about before. Miraculously, the bullet weaved through his organs and did not damage anything. He also told us that the obelisk in the middle of St. Peter's Square is thought to be the last thing that Peter saw before he died. He told us the story of how they moved it to its current location. He also recommended that we visit St. John's Basilica, one of the other 4 main Basilicas in Rome.
We walked to the metro and rode to the Coliseum area. We stopped at the Roman Forum gift shop to see if we could get tickets there to avoid the line at the Colliseum and a guy told us that the Colliseum was closed to prepare for the Stations of the Cross that the Pope does there on Good Friday. We were heartbroken because here we had gone to Rome and not even seen the Colliseum! So, we walked to the Colliseum and saw people going inside. Turns out that guy was wrong and we got inside! We met a couple from Texas-Lizzy's favorite couple ever-and had them take a picture of us. I think they ruined the inside of the Colliseum because the area where they would have had gladiator fights looks like a maze made of bricks. It was turned into a small city and market area many hundred years ago, which is very unfortunate. I would much rather see the area where the gladiators fought. Oh well.
As we left the Colliseum, it started to rain so we walked to St. John's Basilica. We stopped at St. Clement's on the way which is a smaller Basilican in Rome. We didn't stay there long. San Giovanni-St. John's had Mass every hour that we were there. In the main sanctuary area are statues of the 12 disciples with the weapon/way they were killed. For example, Bartholemew (I think) was skinned alive, so he is shown with a human skin in his hand. It is all made of stone, of course. In front of the altar, there is an opening with stairs that lead down, which is where the table from the Last Supper is kept. It was under glass and looked like the real thing to me. Above the altar is the box with the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul.
We left the basilica and stopped at our last gelateria on our way to the metro. It was not as good as the other one, but it was still gelato! I got cream, raspberry, and cotton candy. We metroed to the Spanish Steps which are basically just steps with azaleas planted there. Nothing that special. Lots of couples and people drinking alcohol. We looked above the steps and saw another obelisk-a sign of a major basilica! So, we decided to go quickly. The nuns told us that you could get another indulgence if you went to all 4 of the major basilicas, but we only ended up getting to 3. Oh well!
As we were coming out of the basilica, the sun was setting. It was a gorgeous, red, firey ball. We got on an elevator with two couples to get to the metro station. The elevator hesitated a bit and one of the guys said, "Maybe backpacks aren't allowed." He was joking of course. When we got to the metro, we saw the father-what-a-waste from the day before at Pope JP II's grave but we could not get a picture before the metro came...what a shame! We metroed to the end of Line A and got a taxi to our hostel. We had to do some bargaining with the taxi men. They were trying to charge us double what the hostel told us it would take to get there. You're not going to rip us American girls off! The taxi driver didn't play any music or anything. It was just silent. Lizzy asked, "So has it been a busy night?" and got no response...pretty sure he only spoke Italian! We laughed so hard in the back seat, trying to be quiet so he didn't notice.
We arrived at our hostel-the Flower Inn B & B and it was the CUTEST little hostel/B & B ever!!! It had only been open one month and we found it on hostelworld and loved the pictures, so we just HAD to stay there. It was very nicely decorated and everything was SUPER clean! We went to bed at about 10:30pm. And that was how the best day of my life ended!
Mamma Mia! Gratzi! Ciao!
On Saturday, we left our hostel at 9:45am. We had to check out and pack everything up to take with us since we had to move hostels that day. We walked to St. Peter's and waited in line for 1 hour and 15 minutes to get in to see the Basilica. We checked our bags with a cute Vatican guy and went in to the Basilica. The 7 sacraments were depicted on the doors, which was very cool. We also saw a statue that a man destroyed part of Mary's nose and fingers with a hammer in the 70s so now it is under glass. We saw the altar where Pope John Paul II's body will be put when it is exhumed on May 1. We also saw the guards march, which was pretty cool. The inside of St. Peter's was huge and it was GORGEOUS! We also had an opportunity to pray in a chapel for about 5 minutes before it closed which was really neat. Lizzy and I climbed 551 steps to the top of the dome to look out over the city. I bought some rosaries and we got a drink of water from the fountain outside of the gift shop (we have lots of pictures of this). We also walked through the Tombs of the Popes again. Each had a little placard about their life. It is crazy that some only served for like 22 or 31 days! We saw JP II's grave again and this time there were lots of notes, pictures, and many more flowers on it. We saw an Italian priest here that we ran into the next day on the metro. He was a father-what-a-waste if you know what I mean ;)
Outside of the basilica, Lizzy tried to take an artys picture of people taking pictures of the Vatican guards but they put down their cameras too fast...awkward! We walked to our new hostel and the owner took literally 5 minutes of attempting to buzz us in before it finally worked. Our room was huge and even had a table with chairs and a mini fridge. Our hostel actually turned out to be a bit sketch...the other people staying there were smoking pot in the bathroom and it was really dirty. But, we made it through and at least we only had to be there one night!
We metroed to the Trevi Fountain area and walked to the Pantheon. Funny story. So I said in my earlier post that we went to the Pantheon...or so we thought! We actually saw the City Hall which we thought was the Pantheon because we were reading the map wrong...it only took us like one day to figure this out haha. The real Pantheon was much older like we expected and was conveniently located by the Giolitti gelateria from the day before so we went back again! When in Rome, right? I got oreo, banana, and strawberry this time. We had supper at a restaurant. Lizzy and I ordered pesto and got a Lady and the Tramp picture. We also saw this CUTE baby girl who we named tourist baby because she would point to things in the stores as her parents pushed her in her stroller. After dinner, we went back to the hostel and went to sleep around 10:15pm. Early, I know, but we had to be up very early to get to Psalm Sunday Mass the next day.
Outside of the basilica, Lizzy tried to take an artys picture of people taking pictures of the Vatican guards but they put down their cameras too fast...awkward! We walked to our new hostel and the owner took literally 5 minutes of attempting to buzz us in before it finally worked. Our room was huge and even had a table with chairs and a mini fridge. Our hostel actually turned out to be a bit sketch...the other people staying there were smoking pot in the bathroom and it was really dirty. But, we made it through and at least we only had to be there one night!
We metroed to the Trevi Fountain area and walked to the Pantheon. Funny story. So I said in my earlier post that we went to the Pantheon...or so we thought! We actually saw the City Hall which we thought was the Pantheon because we were reading the map wrong...it only took us like one day to figure this out haha. The real Pantheon was much older like we expected and was conveniently located by the Giolitti gelateria from the day before so we went back again! When in Rome, right? I got oreo, banana, and strawberry this time. We had supper at a restaurant. Lizzy and I ordered pesto and got a Lady and the Tramp picture. We also saw this CUTE baby girl who we named tourist baby because she would point to things in the stores as her parents pushed her in her stroller. After dinner, we went back to the hostel and went to sleep around 10:15pm. Early, I know, but we had to be up very early to get to Psalm Sunday Mass the next day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)