Rome and the Vatican

Following Kendall's birthday, we went to Rome for a special event -- an opportunity to hear Pope Francis at his weekly general audience!

We stayed with a friend and colleague after taking the evening train from Florence, and started our day at the Dolci Maniera croissant bakery -- open 24 hours and operating from a basement, and wow do they make great croissants:

Treats await downstairs!

We then needed to wait in line to get through the metal detectors and get into Vatican City,

but thanks to our friend's connections, we moved to the front of the audience -- literally!

Aurelie Hagstrom (hi, Aurelie!) had arranged for our family to have special tickets, which put us on the same platform as the Pontiff himself:

Although the forecast was for rain, Aurelie's class jokes that it never rains on His Holiness -- and they were right!  The sun began to break through the clouds as we waited for Pope Francis to arrive.

In drove the Pope-mobile with the Bishop of Rome (as we understand he calls himself).

The pope then proceeded to drive its way through the crowd of people.  You can get a sense of how large the crowds were in all of the photos, but we were truly thankful to be as close as we were.  The picture below is almost like "Where's Waldo?"; can you spot the Pope in the picture?

The Pope then gave his General Address, which was read in Italian initially and then read by aides in other languages, including English.  The Pope spoke on the sacrament of baptism and the forgiveness of sins.

Following the address, Pope Francis received bishops from around the world who were visiting.

He then went down into the crowd, to bless those seeking comfort.  You can see in several earlier photographs that many people in wheelchairs had lined up in front of the larger crowd in order to receive the Pope's blessing.

We decided to avoid the lines of St. Peter's Basilica and, since it was Adam's first trip to Rome, we raced around the city to take in the highlights.

First, Castel St. Angelo -- or Castle of the Holy Angel.  Originally built as the tomb of Hadrian (Roman emperor of the wall in England), it went through multiple uses and rebuilding over the years.  The statue at the top shows the Archangel Michael sheathing his sword, a vision representing the ending of the plague. 

Next came the Pantheon with its remarkable concrete dome,

the ruins of the Roman Forum,

and a quick trip to the Colosseum.  (Wow, it's big.)  Having seen all of this in a whirlwind day, we knew we'd have to come back to Rome -- so the next stop was tossing the obligatory coins in the Trevi Fountain:

The funny part about standing down by the fountain is that you will occasionally get whacked in the head by people with poor aim.  We were pelted by Swiss francs and an American dime -- so will those people not return to Rome?  I wonder...

To end our day, we went back to our friend's neighborhood which was conveniently located near Vatican City -- so we went back to St. Peter's to see the sunset and the basilica:

 

All in all a fantastic day!  Exhausted, we took the evening train back to Florence.

A più tardi!

Happy Turkey Day!

Just a quick post to wish everyone back in home a very Happy Thanksgiving.  We celebrated with the Florence study abroad students yesterday, along with staff and friends from Fairfield University.

From Central Market:

to this!

All thanks to Laura and the family!  Teamwork pays off!

The food was wonderful, and the company was still better.  The comforts of home in Florence.

Blessings to all -- we have much to be thankful for.  Ciao!

Cake and Leftover Pisa

November 10th was the occasion of Kendall becoming a teenager!  For his thirteenth birthday, his Gram and Gramp treated us with a trip to the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, to see his trombone teacher perform:

Kendall, who is nearly 13 in this picture.

 

Andrea is standing in the middle toward the back.

On the day of his birthday, we splurged for a cake from the Sugar and Spice bakery across town as well as hazelnut gelato from Vivaldi Gelateria:

Wonderfully, some friends of his sent a package from the States (thanks, all!):

 

After too much partying:

To celebrate more, we took a weekend trip to Pisa to take in more of the sights there; it gave Adam his first chance to see Pisa, and there was something special in store.

The sign welcoming you to Pisa....

...is almost as busy as the Keith Haring mural they have there!

We stopped in to a "sweets fair" that was held that weekend:

And then went to Palazzo Blu, a "palace of art and culture" in Pisa on the banks of the Arno.  They had recently opened an exhibition of Andy Warhol's art!

Even though people routinely take photographs inside museums here, we just can't bring ourselves to do it (at least, not often!).  But the exhibition of Warhol's work was fantastic, including the Brillo boxes, the soup cans, ten Marilyns, and ten Mao Tse Tungs as well as many Jackie paintings rarely exhibited.

There were a few pictures at the end of the exhibition, though, that were created in workshops.  I felt "safe" taking a picutre of this:

Following the exhibit, we walked along the Arno and took in some of Pisa's other sights.

Sign seen downtown -- community Wi-Pi!

Approaching the tower complex from the city --
an interesting view!

How old?

For those who don't know, the famous "leaning tower" is actually the campanile, or free-standing bell tower for the Pisa Duomo.  It really is remarkable to see it.  The tower "bends" as it goes up, since it had already started leaning before it was finished.  If you were to straighten it's base up and down, it would be crooked at the top!

The Pisa Baptistry

Once again -- how old?

The Pisa Duomo

Then it was back across the Arno to take the train home.

Oh, yeah -- and we saw this really strange car while we were walking around.  Kendall's expression just screams "Mom and Dad are making me do this," right?  Guess he doesn't want this car for a gift.

Again -- how old?