Two Saturdays ago, myself, Meredith, Maria, Dan, and Sarah D. went to the small town of Bracciano, 1 hr. train ride north west of Rome on the recommendation of our Modern philsophy professor, Mr. Wunsch, who is, by the way, one of the best professors I've ever had, and a wonderful man to talk to outside of class as well. We intended to visit the famous castle there, in which Tom Cruise or some such famous guy got married, and then go to the restaraunt that has just about the best food in Italy for extremely cheap, according to Mr. Wunsch. We go there 15 min. early, and there was already a huge crowd of Italians by the door. We still might have gotten a seat in the tiny restaurant though, if we had been more assertive about our place in line, but we weren't, and so were shooed away with, "Non c''e posto!" Bother. So we hunted around for pizza, then went to a bar for tea, hot chocolate, or pastries as our tastes decreed. This was followed by a stroll down to the foggy lake, which was cold but fun. There we fed the swans and read Belloc and just generally hung out for the rest of the afternoon.
Although the castle was neat, it was not worth 7 euro to be dragged around by an Italian tour guide who gave the tour only in Italian. We weren't allowed to wander around as in Rocca Maggiore, so Meredith and I were especially disappointed. There was a weapon collection though.
And a neat view from the windows.
And a neat looking turrent and balcony that we weren't allowed on. :(
And here we are by the lake, Maria, me, Meredith, and Dan. Sarah D. was taking the picture.
I saw Lewis from "The Trumpet of the Swan," and he let me get a close up of him. Rather a friendly swan he was too.
Lovely Maria in front of "her" bar...
Sarah D. eating a gelato trash can. I'm laughing because I did it too; you can see the Italian guy chuckling at us in the background. I wanted to get a photo that would be a fitting counterpart to my brother's "gelati-man" image, but it didn't quite work out this time 'cause Sarah was hogging the trashcan. ;)
Buona notte, Papa! (the lighted windows are his apartments) When we came back from Bracciano it was dark, and it gave me warm fuzzies to see Papa Benedetto's lights on up above us. Did I mention that I love the Piazza di San Pietro? At night...ahhhh
Although the castle was neat, it was not worth 7 euro to be dragged around by an Italian tour guide who gave the tour only in Italian. We weren't allowed to wander around as in Rocca Maggiore, so Meredith and I were especially disappointed. There was a weapon collection though.
And a neat view from the windows.
And a neat looking turrent and balcony that we weren't allowed on. :(
And here we are by the lake, Maria, me, Meredith, and Dan. Sarah D. was taking the picture.
Lovely Maria in front of "her" bar...
Sarah D. eating a gelato trash can. I'm laughing because I did it too; you can see the Italian guy chuckling at us in the background. I wanted to get a photo that would be a fitting counterpart to my brother's "gelati-man" image, but it didn't quite work out this time 'cause Sarah was hogging the trashcan. ;)
Buona notte, Papa! (the lighted windows are his apartments) When we came back from Bracciano it was dark, and it gave me warm fuzzies to see Papa Benedetto's lights on up above us. Did I mention that I love the Piazza di San Pietro? At night...ahhhh
3 comments:
What magnificent photos. How fortunate you are - I pray that every moment of your time there will be a moment you treasure and are able to remember all your days!
John
Those lights did the same for me when I was in Rome. Sort of nice knowing Papa was home.
Tonight a group of us gathered below those lighted windows and sang the "Salve" to the Holy Father since we were passing through the square at night. Who knows if he heard, but I'm glad we did anyway; it was such a Christendom thing to do.
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