Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Mom and Dad Come to France! April 5 – 12
My parents came to visit me during my mom’s Spring Break vacation from school. It was unbelievably awesome to see them! After having trouble with delayed/cancelled/near missed flights, they got to Rouen Monday afternoon and checked into their hotel, a small, quaint hotel and tea house. I met them, and we went to one of my favorite restaurants here, Les Temps des Cerises – great cheese fondue. Melissa came with us, and we enjoyed filling them in on random stories from our semester. They explored downtown Rouen on their own while I was in class Tuesday – cathedrals, shops, antiques, cafés … I think they got a pretty good idea of what the city is like. Unfortunately, the weather didin’t coooperate, as it rained pretty much the whole time we were in Rouen; however, at least they experienced a few true days in the fabulous Normandy weather!
The D-Day Beaches in Normandy
Wednesday morning we left early to begin our two day trip to the northern coasts of Normandy to explore the D-Day landing sites, something which my dad has been looking forward to for years. First we went to the Caen Memorial, a huge museum with several exhibits and films featuring the D-Day operations, WWII, and another world conflicts – all with a focus on peace for the future. Although we somehow messed up and went through the whole thing backwards, it was very interesting and a good way to begin touring the beaches themselves. From Caen we drove to the coast to begin our tour along the invasion beaches. First we went to Point du Hoc, the beach area where US Rangers landed and scaled the cliffs. It was a well preserved area with lots of deep, bombed out holes and even remains of some bunkers. From there it was too late in the day to see more landing sites, so we went to Grandcamp-Maisy to find a hotel for the night. We ended up staying at a place where the Ranger Veterans stay when they come back for yearly anniversaries in June (this was after we checked about staying in a chateau in the countryside – not exactly what we were looking for, though!). The drive along the coast through these little towns was amazing. Thursday morning we started at Utah Beach, the westermost landing point of all the American forces, and obviously very well known. This was one of the most well set-up landing beaches, as it has several monuments, a guided path, and a museum. We stopped in the nearby town of St. Mère Eglise, where the English paratrooper John Steele landed and got stranded on the church. The church is still standing and has a permanently placed fake paratrooper on top of it. We then drove to the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, an immaculately maintained memorial and gravesite for thousands of U.S. soldiers. With all of the white crosses set on the grass with the ocean in the background, it was inspiring and unforgettable, to say the least. Next we saw Omaha Beach, where my dad took some sand. On the cliffs overlooking the beach, there’s a monument dedicated to the 1st Infantry Division – Big Red One. Our next stop on the coast was at Longues-sur-Mer, an area with lots of well-preserved German bunkers and artillerie. Before starting the drive back to Rouen, we went through the town of Arromanches (Mulberry Harbor) – which looked to be a very nice area. Seeing all of the invasion sites is definitely something I won’t forget, and I’m really glad I was able to see them with my parents. This June is the 60th anniversary of the invasion, so there are lots of special ceremonies on the coast. Depending on where I will be in early June, I would like to try to make it there during this time.
The Champagne Region
Friday afternoon my parents and I drove to the town of Epernay, a central point in the Champagne region of France. The ride in itself was great – driving through French forests in the beginning and later just huge stretches of vineyards. We actually had an interesting run-in with the French Gendarmerie, national police. Since it was the Friday of Easter weekend, there were groups of Gendarmerie everywhere on the road pulling cars over at random. We got pulled over, and the officer started questioning us in French. I tried to communicate with him from the backseat, and after my dad showed him all his papers, he asked if he had been drinking today and had him take a breathalizer test! Needless to say, he passed the test and they thankfully let us go. We were pretty nervous at the time, but looking back it’s rather amusing, and my mom and I wish we had taken a couple pictures (didn’t seem like a good idea at the time, with really serious, armed French officers everywhere). We got into Epernay and toured the Castellane champagne caves – huge, underground storage and production cellars. We had a great dinner in a really small, one-woman-run restaurant in town, and then woke up Saturday to tour the Mercier caves. This turned out to be an awesome tour; we started by going 30 meters underground to the caves in a glass elevator and then toured the caves riding in carts. The tasting afterwards was nice, and we bought a few bottles of champagne, since Mercier is mainly distributed in Europe and almost impossible to find in the US.
Paris
We spent Saturday afternoon through Monday morning in Paris. Our hotel had a great location in the heart of the Opéra area, so we were easily able to go to different areas of the city – including Montmartre, Sacré Coeur, the Tuileries, Champs Elysées, and the Latin Quarter. It was my mom’s first time in Paris, so we tried to give her a thorough introduction – impossible in two days but we tried nonetheless! My friend Camille who is working in Germany for the semester was in the city for the weekend, so I was luckily able to spend time with her, too. Sunday morning we started off with the huge flea markets at St. Ouen. There were streets and streets full of everything from food to clothes to antiques. We enjoyed the antique stalls the most and spent quite a long time in one of the nicer antique markets. We bought a few old French advertisements and a couple smaller items. They had a really great selection of a wide variety of antique items, and we probably could have stayed all day looking through it. Monday morning my parents flew back home. The week flew by, but I think we’re all satisfied with the amount of places and activities we were able to fit in. But even better than going to the different areas was just seeing my parents and being able to spend time with them in France. I hope I was able to give them a good introduction to the little world I’ve been living in for the past 3 months.
My parents came to visit me during my mom’s Spring Break vacation from school. It was unbelievably awesome to see them! After having trouble with delayed/cancelled/near missed flights, they got to Rouen Monday afternoon and checked into their hotel, a small, quaint hotel and tea house. I met them, and we went to one of my favorite restaurants here, Les Temps des Cerises – great cheese fondue. Melissa came with us, and we enjoyed filling them in on random stories from our semester. They explored downtown Rouen on their own while I was in class Tuesday – cathedrals, shops, antiques, cafés … I think they got a pretty good idea of what the city is like. Unfortunately, the weather didin’t coooperate, as it rained pretty much the whole time we were in Rouen; however, at least they experienced a few true days in the fabulous Normandy weather!
The D-Day Beaches in Normandy
Wednesday morning we left early to begin our two day trip to the northern coasts of Normandy to explore the D-Day landing sites, something which my dad has been looking forward to for years. First we went to the Caen Memorial, a huge museum with several exhibits and films featuring the D-Day operations, WWII, and another world conflicts – all with a focus on peace for the future. Although we somehow messed up and went through the whole thing backwards, it was very interesting and a good way to begin touring the beaches themselves. From Caen we drove to the coast to begin our tour along the invasion beaches. First we went to Point du Hoc, the beach area where US Rangers landed and scaled the cliffs. It was a well preserved area with lots of deep, bombed out holes and even remains of some bunkers. From there it was too late in the day to see more landing sites, so we went to Grandcamp-Maisy to find a hotel for the night. We ended up staying at a place where the Ranger Veterans stay when they come back for yearly anniversaries in June (this was after we checked about staying in a chateau in the countryside – not exactly what we were looking for, though!). The drive along the coast through these little towns was amazing. Thursday morning we started at Utah Beach, the westermost landing point of all the American forces, and obviously very well known. This was one of the most well set-up landing beaches, as it has several monuments, a guided path, and a museum. We stopped in the nearby town of St. Mère Eglise, where the English paratrooper John Steele landed and got stranded on the church. The church is still standing and has a permanently placed fake paratrooper on top of it. We then drove to the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, an immaculately maintained memorial and gravesite for thousands of U.S. soldiers. With all of the white crosses set on the grass with the ocean in the background, it was inspiring and unforgettable, to say the least. Next we saw Omaha Beach, where my dad took some sand. On the cliffs overlooking the beach, there’s a monument dedicated to the 1st Infantry Division – Big Red One. Our next stop on the coast was at Longues-sur-Mer, an area with lots of well-preserved German bunkers and artillerie. Before starting the drive back to Rouen, we went through the town of Arromanches (Mulberry Harbor) – which looked to be a very nice area. Seeing all of the invasion sites is definitely something I won’t forget, and I’m really glad I was able to see them with my parents. This June is the 60th anniversary of the invasion, so there are lots of special ceremonies on the coast. Depending on where I will be in early June, I would like to try to make it there during this time.
The Champagne Region
Friday afternoon my parents and I drove to the town of Epernay, a central point in the Champagne region of France. The ride in itself was great – driving through French forests in the beginning and later just huge stretches of vineyards. We actually had an interesting run-in with the French Gendarmerie, national police. Since it was the Friday of Easter weekend, there were groups of Gendarmerie everywhere on the road pulling cars over at random. We got pulled over, and the officer started questioning us in French. I tried to communicate with him from the backseat, and after my dad showed him all his papers, he asked if he had been drinking today and had him take a breathalizer test! Needless to say, he passed the test and they thankfully let us go. We were pretty nervous at the time, but looking back it’s rather amusing, and my mom and I wish we had taken a couple pictures (didn’t seem like a good idea at the time, with really serious, armed French officers everywhere). We got into Epernay and toured the Castellane champagne caves – huge, underground storage and production cellars. We had a great dinner in a really small, one-woman-run restaurant in town, and then woke up Saturday to tour the Mercier caves. This turned out to be an awesome tour; we started by going 30 meters underground to the caves in a glass elevator and then toured the caves riding in carts. The tasting afterwards was nice, and we bought a few bottles of champagne, since Mercier is mainly distributed in Europe and almost impossible to find in the US.
Paris
We spent Saturday afternoon through Monday morning in Paris. Our hotel had a great location in the heart of the Opéra area, so we were easily able to go to different areas of the city – including Montmartre, Sacré Coeur, the Tuileries, Champs Elysées, and the Latin Quarter. It was my mom’s first time in Paris, so we tried to give her a thorough introduction – impossible in two days but we tried nonetheless! My friend Camille who is working in Germany for the semester was in the city for the weekend, so I was luckily able to spend time with her, too. Sunday morning we started off with the huge flea markets at St. Ouen. There were streets and streets full of everything from food to clothes to antiques. We enjoyed the antique stalls the most and spent quite a long time in one of the nicer antique markets. We bought a few old French advertisements and a couple smaller items. They had a really great selection of a wide variety of antique items, and we probably could have stayed all day looking through it. Monday morning my parents flew back home. The week flew by, but I think we’re all satisfied with the amount of places and activities we were able to fit in. But even better than going to the different areas was just seeing my parents and being able to spend time with them in France. I hope I was able to give them a good introduction to the little world I’ve been living in for the past 3 months.
Italy – March 22 to 27
All of the exchange students had the week off of classes, so Melissa and I planned a trip to Italy together. We flew from Paris to Venice, then traveled by either train or bus to Florence, Sienna, Montepulciano, and Rome – where we took a flight back to Paris. Although it rained a lot and was not as warm as I had anticipated, the week was a great introduction to Italy. Most of the people in shops and restaurants spoke English, sometimes we used French, and other times we were completely lost because neither of us knew any Italian. By the end of the week, we figured out that “Preggo” was a good thing to say in a variety of situations!
Here’s a breakdown of the trip by cities:
Venice
We had only been there for about 10 minutes before we passed a gelato shop, and although it was cold and rainy, we had to get a cone – so good. Gelato became one of our staple food items for the rest of the week … because it’s a cheap meal and really good! We checked into our hostel, which was located on an island off of the Grand Canal. Then we had fun riding around on the Vaporettos, the Venetian form of public transportation through the canals. We hung out in San Marco Square, a huge public square with the enormous Basilica San Marco on one end of it. Venice is a maze of tons of tiny streets with canals running everywhere. We heard before coming that it was easy to get lost there, and we definitely got lost several times. But it didn’t matter because we had no set plans – just walking, shopping, and finding places to eat when we were hungry. We stopped at a small bar before dinner, and after wine and a free cocktail from the bartender, he suggested a good Italian restaurant nearby. We were seated next to an older French couple and began speaking to them. Then Melissa and I continued the rest of the meal speaking in French – we were a little more comfortable speaking French in Italy than in France because we didn’t have to worry about anyone critiquing us! We spent a little too long at dinner and realized we would have a problem getting back to our hostel on the island before the curfew. The vaporettos, which were necessary to get to the island, run a lot less frequently at night, and after a really long wait and ride, we got to the hostel about an hour and a half late. Luckily, the guy let us in. That night was one of my most uncomfortable hostel nights. When we got to our room we found that the other two girls sleeping in it had left both windows wide-open … really cold air coming in from off the water. And the window was unfortunately being propped open by one girl’s bunkbed. We tried to wake her up, but that didn’t work, so we had to actually pick up her bed and move it about 5 feet in order to close the window. It was still cold, and we had to sleep in hats and jackets – not fun.
Florence
We took a train from Venice to Florence on Wednesday. Florence was a beautiful city with lots of great architecture and different areas to explore. We enjoyed shopping in the large market areas and each bought a couple of things. We toured the Boboli Gardens, which was a huge, terraced area behind a palace. From the top of the gardens there was a great view over Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. We went through a couple of cathedrals, even more ornate than the ones I’ve seen in France, as well as the Bargello Museum, which has Donatello’s David. Florence is famous for all of its Renaissance artwork, and we would have like to go to some of the bigger museums, but we ran out of time.
Sienna
Thursday afternoon we took a train from Florence to Sienna, which was just a stopping point on our way to Montepulciano. We only spent a couple hours here but enjoyed seeing its plaza and church. We then took a bus to Montepulciano, and driving through Tuscany in the late afternoon was gorgeous – it really does look like all the postcards you see of Tuscan Italy.
Montepulciano
I don’t even remember how we ended up choosing this town, since it is pretty small and not as well known as the others. We had called ahead to get a room for the night but had trouble understanding the woman’s English on the phone once we arrived at the train station there. So we went into a small store and tried to get directions, but they didn’t speak any English. We tried to turn the woman’s Italian into French in order to find where we needed to go, and somehow we did. We got to the address we were given for the hotel, but it wasn’t actually a hotel – just rooms rented out of a building. So we waited for the woman to come, and she let us into the building and our room. The window from our room had a great view over the town and countryside, so we looked forward to seeing it in the daylight the next morning. We found a small restaurant in town and had a great, authentic Tusacan meal. We split a couple of entrees and a half bottle of house wine. When we were finished with our wine, the table of three Italian men next to us had the waiter bring us a couple glasses each of their wine (nice than what we had ordered). They just looked at us, smiled, and cheered. It was great because they didn’t speak English, and we didn’t speak Italian. After that they ordered dessert wine and biscotti for us, followed by grappa, super strong Italian liquor. Just an example of how friendly all the Italians we met were! It turned into a four hour meal, and we were the last to leave. The next day we woke up to fog everywhere … so much for the beautiful view from our room! Montepulciano and the surrounding area is know for its wines, and in the town there are several cellars and tasting rooms. The cellars are awesome; they are hundreds of years old, underground, with barrels of wine stored everywhere. The first one we went to was so much fun; we tasted about 6 wines there, including their dessert wine, grappa, and olive oil. The 11am tasting with no breakfast made us a bit tipsy, so we stopped and got lunch, then visited several more cellars. We both bought a couple of bottles to bring home with us. That afternoon we left Montepulciano, which randomly turned out to be the best place we went during the whole trip!
Rome
We took a late train from Montepulciano to Rome and arrived in Rome Friday night with no hotel room, not a good idea. The train station at night is pretty seedy, and there were people everywhere trying to sell us everything. We quickly got a few blocks out of that area and went into a random hotel. I still can’t believe we stayed there … so shady! We went in and the guy wanted 60 euro for a double, which we said we too expensive. He immediately asked what our budget was and agreed on 20 euro each. The room was hilarious … really dingy with tacky pick furniture. It totally reminded me of the hotel where Tom Hanks stays in New York in the movie Big. We were tempted to brought a chair and other furniture against the door before going to sleep but just tried not to worry about it. We woke up the next morning and left to find a more suitable room for our last night. The next place we found was perfect … small dorm with 5 beds in a hotel within walking distance to the Coliseum and other sites. We toured the Coliseum, which was pretty awesome to see. Unfortunately, there were no official tours given; rather, you could find one of the many unofficial tour guides to hire off of the street. That’s how lots of Rome seemed to me – very touristy with lots of people trying to take advantage of the rourists; at least, that’s how it came across to me. We spent several hours in the area around the Coliseum, the Palatino, which was a huge area with lots of historical ruins, including the Senate. Once again, we weren’t really sure what we were looking at because they didn’t really have good signs explaining anything. Later that day we also went to the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and other parts of the city. All of the sites to see were neverending, and Rome was a bit overwhelming. We could have spent more time there to see more of it, but it wasn’t my favorite city.
Vatican City
Our last day, Sunday, we went to the Vatican City. Unfortunately, while waiting for a subway to get there, I was nearly pick-pocketed. I can’t believe this almost happened because I had my purse in front of me and thought I was being observant - apparently not. The platform was extremely crowded, and everyone was pushing to get on the train. There was a guy next to me with a blanket-poncho thing, which I think he was using to hide the fact that he was trying to unzip my purse. He had gotten it all the way unzipped before I noticed, and fortunately he was unable to take anything. It was scary, but at least nothing actually happened. So we arrived at the Vatican and followed the huge mass of people who were going to the same place. We got to the central area and were just waiting around deciding where we wanted to go when I saw someone I knew! It was Dave, a friend of my friend Patty’s from Notre Dame, whom I’ve met a couple of times. I just turned around, and he was right there! He is studying in Rome for the semester, and he stopped by the Vatican to hear the Pope speak. That’s right – the Pope was going to speak in 5 minutes! Dave showed us a good spot to stand to see the window from where he gives the address. I took pictures, but it was so far up that the Pope is tiny in them. He spoke to the crowd for about 10 minutes, and I was able to record some of it on my camera. Melissa and I still can’t believe that we just happened to be there at that time because we had no clue about this in advance! After that we walked through St. Peter’s Basilica, which was an amazing and very impressive site to see. We actually ran into two of our friends from France in the Basilica, as well! Then we had to leave to catch our flight back to Paris. What a trip – Italy is truly a very welcoming country with genuinely friendly people and so much to do and see. Maybe before going back I will try to learn some Italian!
All of the exchange students had the week off of classes, so Melissa and I planned a trip to Italy together. We flew from Paris to Venice, then traveled by either train or bus to Florence, Sienna, Montepulciano, and Rome – where we took a flight back to Paris. Although it rained a lot and was not as warm as I had anticipated, the week was a great introduction to Italy. Most of the people in shops and restaurants spoke English, sometimes we used French, and other times we were completely lost because neither of us knew any Italian. By the end of the week, we figured out that “Preggo” was a good thing to say in a variety of situations!
Here’s a breakdown of the trip by cities:
Venice
We had only been there for about 10 minutes before we passed a gelato shop, and although it was cold and rainy, we had to get a cone – so good. Gelato became one of our staple food items for the rest of the week … because it’s a cheap meal and really good! We checked into our hostel, which was located on an island off of the Grand Canal. Then we had fun riding around on the Vaporettos, the Venetian form of public transportation through the canals. We hung out in San Marco Square, a huge public square with the enormous Basilica San Marco on one end of it. Venice is a maze of tons of tiny streets with canals running everywhere. We heard before coming that it was easy to get lost there, and we definitely got lost several times. But it didn’t matter because we had no set plans – just walking, shopping, and finding places to eat when we were hungry. We stopped at a small bar before dinner, and after wine and a free cocktail from the bartender, he suggested a good Italian restaurant nearby. We were seated next to an older French couple and began speaking to them. Then Melissa and I continued the rest of the meal speaking in French – we were a little more comfortable speaking French in Italy than in France because we didn’t have to worry about anyone critiquing us! We spent a little too long at dinner and realized we would have a problem getting back to our hostel on the island before the curfew. The vaporettos, which were necessary to get to the island, run a lot less frequently at night, and after a really long wait and ride, we got to the hostel about an hour and a half late. Luckily, the guy let us in. That night was one of my most uncomfortable hostel nights. When we got to our room we found that the other two girls sleeping in it had left both windows wide-open … really cold air coming in from off the water. And the window was unfortunately being propped open by one girl’s bunkbed. We tried to wake her up, but that didn’t work, so we had to actually pick up her bed and move it about 5 feet in order to close the window. It was still cold, and we had to sleep in hats and jackets – not fun.
Florence
We took a train from Venice to Florence on Wednesday. Florence was a beautiful city with lots of great architecture and different areas to explore. We enjoyed shopping in the large market areas and each bought a couple of things. We toured the Boboli Gardens, which was a huge, terraced area behind a palace. From the top of the gardens there was a great view over Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. We went through a couple of cathedrals, even more ornate than the ones I’ve seen in France, as well as the Bargello Museum, which has Donatello’s David. Florence is famous for all of its Renaissance artwork, and we would have like to go to some of the bigger museums, but we ran out of time.
Sienna
Thursday afternoon we took a train from Florence to Sienna, which was just a stopping point on our way to Montepulciano. We only spent a couple hours here but enjoyed seeing its plaza and church. We then took a bus to Montepulciano, and driving through Tuscany in the late afternoon was gorgeous – it really does look like all the postcards you see of Tuscan Italy.
Montepulciano
I don’t even remember how we ended up choosing this town, since it is pretty small and not as well known as the others. We had called ahead to get a room for the night but had trouble understanding the woman’s English on the phone once we arrived at the train station there. So we went into a small store and tried to get directions, but they didn’t speak any English. We tried to turn the woman’s Italian into French in order to find where we needed to go, and somehow we did. We got to the address we were given for the hotel, but it wasn’t actually a hotel – just rooms rented out of a building. So we waited for the woman to come, and she let us into the building and our room. The window from our room had a great view over the town and countryside, so we looked forward to seeing it in the daylight the next morning. We found a small restaurant in town and had a great, authentic Tusacan meal. We split a couple of entrees and a half bottle of house wine. When we were finished with our wine, the table of three Italian men next to us had the waiter bring us a couple glasses each of their wine (nice than what we had ordered). They just looked at us, smiled, and cheered. It was great because they didn’t speak English, and we didn’t speak Italian. After that they ordered dessert wine and biscotti for us, followed by grappa, super strong Italian liquor. Just an example of how friendly all the Italians we met were! It turned into a four hour meal, and we were the last to leave. The next day we woke up to fog everywhere … so much for the beautiful view from our room! Montepulciano and the surrounding area is know for its wines, and in the town there are several cellars and tasting rooms. The cellars are awesome; they are hundreds of years old, underground, with barrels of wine stored everywhere. The first one we went to was so much fun; we tasted about 6 wines there, including their dessert wine, grappa, and olive oil. The 11am tasting with no breakfast made us a bit tipsy, so we stopped and got lunch, then visited several more cellars. We both bought a couple of bottles to bring home with us. That afternoon we left Montepulciano, which randomly turned out to be the best place we went during the whole trip!
Rome
We took a late train from Montepulciano to Rome and arrived in Rome Friday night with no hotel room, not a good idea. The train station at night is pretty seedy, and there were people everywhere trying to sell us everything. We quickly got a few blocks out of that area and went into a random hotel. I still can’t believe we stayed there … so shady! We went in and the guy wanted 60 euro for a double, which we said we too expensive. He immediately asked what our budget was and agreed on 20 euro each. The room was hilarious … really dingy with tacky pick furniture. It totally reminded me of the hotel where Tom Hanks stays in New York in the movie Big. We were tempted to brought a chair and other furniture against the door before going to sleep but just tried not to worry about it. We woke up the next morning and left to find a more suitable room for our last night. The next place we found was perfect … small dorm with 5 beds in a hotel within walking distance to the Coliseum and other sites. We toured the Coliseum, which was pretty awesome to see. Unfortunately, there were no official tours given; rather, you could find one of the many unofficial tour guides to hire off of the street. That’s how lots of Rome seemed to me – very touristy with lots of people trying to take advantage of the rourists; at least, that’s how it came across to me. We spent several hours in the area around the Coliseum, the Palatino, which was a huge area with lots of historical ruins, including the Senate. Once again, we weren’t really sure what we were looking at because they didn’t really have good signs explaining anything. Later that day we also went to the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and other parts of the city. All of the sites to see were neverending, and Rome was a bit overwhelming. We could have spent more time there to see more of it, but it wasn’t my favorite city.
Vatican City
Our last day, Sunday, we went to the Vatican City. Unfortunately, while waiting for a subway to get there, I was nearly pick-pocketed. I can’t believe this almost happened because I had my purse in front of me and thought I was being observant - apparently not. The platform was extremely crowded, and everyone was pushing to get on the train. There was a guy next to me with a blanket-poncho thing, which I think he was using to hide the fact that he was trying to unzip my purse. He had gotten it all the way unzipped before I noticed, and fortunately he was unable to take anything. It was scary, but at least nothing actually happened. So we arrived at the Vatican and followed the huge mass of people who were going to the same place. We got to the central area and were just waiting around deciding where we wanted to go when I saw someone I knew! It was Dave, a friend of my friend Patty’s from Notre Dame, whom I’ve met a couple of times. I just turned around, and he was right there! He is studying in Rome for the semester, and he stopped by the Vatican to hear the Pope speak. That’s right – the Pope was going to speak in 5 minutes! Dave showed us a good spot to stand to see the window from where he gives the address. I took pictures, but it was so far up that the Pope is tiny in them. He spoke to the crowd for about 10 minutes, and I was able to record some of it on my camera. Melissa and I still can’t believe that we just happened to be there at that time because we had no clue about this in advance! After that we walked through St. Peter’s Basilica, which was an amazing and very impressive site to see. We actually ran into two of our friends from France in the Basilica, as well! Then we had to leave to catch our flight back to Paris. What a trip – Italy is truly a very welcoming country with genuinely friendly people and so much to do and see. Maybe before going back I will try to learn some Italian!
