Happy Fall, everyone!
We are enjoying a glorious burst of color at our new home!
And yet, I feel compelled by a bit of an OCD complex to finish this narrative of our trip last summer. So bear with me as I flashback to the end of May one more time - and then, eventually, I'll summarize the last 6 months of the year, which are flying by.
To resume...
We arrived in Rome early on Thursday morning. Travel from Toulouse, where we stayed after our day in Lourdes because it was the closest major airport, on RyanAir was uneventful, other than I was frustrated that the hotel shuttle was not running early enough for us to make our 6 am flight, so the hotel called a van, which cost about $100 to drive us a mile. I was up for walking, but my husband was tired of lugging bags. Up to this point, I had been pretty relaxed about our budget; we were staying within it, so I wasn't stressing as I often do on trips. Our meals and accommodations had been affordable, and we were mostly walking everywhere, so I tried not to let it bother me. But when we arrived in Rome and needed to get a cab to our hotel, I let my husband and the girls jump in a little cab with all our bags, and our son and I took a bus to Trastevere and then walked the rest of the way. He had spent the semester in an apartment there, so I got to see his window - someone else had already moved in for the summer. We had a lovely walk - he pointed out all of his hangouts and some favorite spots, and we strolled through the Campo de Fiori, the only morning we had for passed through the stalls, grabbed some fruit and drank coffee.
The rest of Thursday was for reuniting with the wedding party and guests and for eating pasta and gelato and drinking espresso and wine. Our accommodations, not far from Piazza Navona, were in another apartment-hotel, and we took over almost the whole building - 7 of the 12 rooms. The rooms weren't large, but each floor had a gathering/living room and a small kitchenette to share. We had two floors and the penthouse apartment on the top floor between our family and some friends. Dan's brother and family had that space, but they opened it up to use for gathering. It had a tiny balcony off the bathroom - a funny design, but we ended up sitting out there late in the evenings after their kids had gone to bed. Based on reviews of the hotel, located on a side street/alley that had several restaurants and a bar, I was a little concerned the neighborhood might be a bit noisy, based on reviews, but I think we may have been the noise-makers.
The bride and her family were staying in another airbnb on the other side of the Piazza, so only a short walk. We convened there on Thursday around lunchtime to meet up with our son the groom and to visit with the bride's family. She was getting her nails, hair and face done by the aestheticians, a trial run, in the kitchen while we were there, so the girls gathered and giggled with her, while we all nibbled a little cheese and bread and shared a prosecco toast to the happy couple and the weekend. Their apartment was more of a villa-style, with high ceilings, gauzy curtains around a window opening to a great view on a tiny piazza, and a velvety sofa and chairs in the main room, which made it all feel very Merchant and Ivory, although our clothes weren't as lovely.
After this midday toast, our son and daughters and I headed north through Rome to take a poster of the seating chart with illustrations of Roman buildings our son, the groom who is an architect, had sketched. At one point one of the cards started to fall off the poster, so we propped it up against a building while my son tried to reattach it. Suddenly we were accosted by three gendarmes rapidly speaking Italian telling us we were forbidden, forbidden! Apparently the building was a federal building and it appeared we were hanging propaganda - we were vandals! They wanted papers we didn't have and then wanted to take us to an office for tickets while we tried to explain we were only fixing a poster for a "mariage ... esposo... la mesa arrangement... " Italian, French, English, Spanish... we were spewing out words until the oldest of the police realized we were just stupid Americans there for a wedding. He finally sent us on our way with a warning not to touch government buildings. Warning received and heeded - we touched no more buildings!
The hotel for the reception, where we were taking the poster, was near the Borghese Gardens, so after dropping it off with the concierge, we walked into the gardens and ate large slices of thin crust pizza and drank deliciously sweet sodas. The weather during our stay was persistently warm, not as hot as Texas, but warmer than expected. With my thin skin, I wasn't uncomfortable, but staying hydrated, especially with all the coffee and wine we were drinking, was a goal each day.
Along the walk back to the center of Rome, we stopped in a few shops, and our youngest daughter discovered Italian leather goods. Suddenly the hunt for the perfect leather purse was under way. At the time I thought this was a passing fancy, but leather shops are everywhere in Rome, and they have most of the same things for the same price, although there was just enough variation that a hunt for the perfect thing took some time. Over the next few days we paused at nearly every small shop with leather bags.
That afternoon, we walked around Rome a little bit, but everyone had a few things they wanted to do or buy. The boys went to get haircuts, the girls went to shop for some accessories for their wedding dresses, and we walked a bit before meeting up with the cousins as they arrived at the airbnb. The day progressed from one snack to the next ending with dinner, perhaps our best meal, at a restaurant overlooking another piazza, I can't remember now which one, with just the younger cousins. We ate delicious carbonara and fish and steak and laughed and drank delicious red wine and laughed and then laughed all the way back to the hotel. It was a wonderful evening.
The next day was our pilgrimage morning - we woke early to head to the Vatican to do our Jubilee year pilgrimage through the holy doors. This was a bit of a process - more than we expected. In our group were the girls and our oldest son and his wife and baby and our cousins from Germany, who probably didn't know what they were getting into as they aren't practicing their faith. Along the walk there, we ran into one of my students from Texas! I knew he would be there with his family, but it was a surprising delight to meet them on the streets of Rome. They had just finished their pilgrimage, starting very early. We had tickets for 9:30 am, still early, but had to get in a line with other pilgrims near Castel San Angelo at the end of the boulevard up to the Vatican - I should know the name of this street. We were given brochures with songs and prayers and joined up with another small pilgrimage group to sing and pray our way to the door. A prayer leader with a large cross lead our group. There were designated stops along the way to stop and pray special intentions. The morning was growing warm, and I was worried the spirits of our group might flag, but everyone stayed in pretty good spirits. Unfortunately, I didn't feel quite as prayerful as I might have were we just our small family group or if we were only in Rome for the Jubilee. There were hundreds and hundreds of pilgrims, many in matching shirts or the traditional dress of their culture. I was glad we had spent the time in prayer - probably about an hour - before reaching the doors, although the crowds were large so there was not time to linger. At this point our group dissolved, and we walked through the St. Peter's relatively quickly. It was so crowded that there was not time or space to feel particularly prayerful, but it was heartening to see so many people there to take part in the pilgrimage and to pray at the special side altars, our favorite being the chapel for John Paul II.
Upon leaving St. Peter's, we tucked into a few of the shops along the via to look for souvenir medals and gifts, but did not buy much. So much of what is offered for sale is available everywhere now. I did wish I bought a little della Robbia relief, though, as they seem to be harder to find and I love them.
After refilling our water bottles at the street fountains, we walked along the Tiber a bit - a treat for the younger members of our group who were fascinated by the trash in the river - shopping carts and electric scooters and umbrellas, and other discards that were reminders that Rome has a fair share of people who are suffering from a lack of permanent housing and poverty.
After a long and filling lunch, we again split up, with the younger members of the party heading out to shop and the older members taking another walk until it was time to return to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. One of the best parts of the day was meeting up with our son the groom, whom we had hardly been able to talk with because of all the other family and friends. We were able to have a short conversation and give him a blessing, a sweet moment of peace before the main events.
Then it was on to the actual wedding events. We were hosting the rehearsal dinner at a small restaurant that my husband used to visit as a student and which my son visited several times when he was a student also. It wasn't fancy, but it was tasty, and we had the whole restaurant for our party. I felt not a little trepidation that we had not checked in the day before to confirm everything, but my husband seemed confidant that the email exchange that he had had a few days before was enough to ensure the menu and timing. A little challenge had arisen a couple weeks prior when the church said that the rehearsal could not take place there - apparently Italians don't practice getting married the evening before. Fortunately, my husband had just been to Italy several weeks prior on a site visit for his new role as university architect and had made connections at the Rome campus. Additionally, one of the priests concelebrating the event was the chaplain for the ND Rome program. Between these connections, we were able to host the rehearsal on the rooftop of one of the Rome campus buildings, which was not far from the Colosseum. Here we gathered with the priest and bride and groom and had a wonderful little meet-up with the bride's side of the family before doing the quick run through of what would happen during the Mass, since not everyone on the bride's side was Catholic. Spirits were joyful in anticipation and in the moment of preparation and having beloved family and friends together. Although I had wished for a larger stateside wedding so that more family could attend, I see the virtue of a smaller guestlist. I can't say I prefer one to the other, but they both have value.
The change of location resulted in a delay getting to the restaurant, but happily, blessed relief!, they were ready for us. The owner and staff greeted us with glasses of bubbly wine and had our son carry the bride-to-be, wearing a white dress, into the restaurant. Apparently they thought this was the wedding dinner! Everyone was laughing and no one corrected the misapprehension, which didn't matter anyway. The food and wine and aperol spritzes flowed freely, and spirits were high as all the college friends reunited and our families got to know each other better. My husband's high school friend, an usher at our wedding, by coincidence was in Rome with his family, so we invited them, too. The kids had been able to pick up gag gifts around Rome that morning to surprise the couple with what is now a tradition in our family dating back to our own wedding. The siblings of the couple present silly gifts to the happy couple that highlight their personality - and some hint at honeymoon fun. These got large laughs form the crowd. Everyone was so full of pasta and wine that hardly anyone ate the tiramisu that was served after the presentation of these gag gifts, although I had more than one slice, having picked at my plate earlier in between talking to people. Needless to say at the end of the night the bill was quite a bit higher than anticipated, and my husband felt awful for not confirming the price before the event. Uncharacteristically, I was not too upset by this, partly because I anticipated it being more expensive than he thought and because everyone had such a wonderful time. I did, however, make note that the next time we host a large dinner, we should ask for a better estimate before the event... anticipating that at least most of our 5 remaining children will someday wed, we had also better start saving...
Exhausted, we thought we'd sleep in the next morning, and we did a little bit, but my husband and I still woke earlier than the rest of our crowd and had time for another walk around Rome. We don't think we'll ever tire of this. The good part of having traveled prior to the wedding was that we were now mostly used to the time zone, so jet lag wasn't wearing us down.
The day of the wedding was a blur. We did some hurried shopping for a wedding gift because we'd been hoping to find a nice crucifix or Italian pottery or something, but we didn't find quite the right thing (I ended up having our oldest son pick up a cross in Assisi after the wedding and ordering Italian pottery online sent directly to the newlyweds back in Boston). We were also looking for a restaurant to host Sunday brunch after the wedding, which was our anniversary. We narrowed down a couple options before returning to the hotel to use the internet to make the final decision. My exhaustion was showing up in an inability to make decisions. All too suddenly, it was time to get ready for the wedding - and, as is my habit, I didn't give myself enough time as I needed to do hair and make-up. I was afraid after all my debate about what dress to wear, my hair was a disaster. I bobby-pinned the sides up and then we had to dash across cobble stone streets to the church of San Ignazio. It wasn't a long walk and the crowds and small streets made walking faster than trying to uber, but I was almost late to my own son's wedding!
Fortunately, everything was running on Italian time, so at the church, my daughter had time to repin my hair and straighten everything that needed straightening. We had time to gather and greet the family and say a quick prayer before the ceremony began. The church had closed the doors to tourists, who were all waiting outside in the piazza for it to reopen so they could take photos in the Tiktok famous mirror that reflected the ornate ceiling. Our son had chosen this baroque church originally because it wasn't a large tourist stop, but somehow in the months prior to the wedding, some influencer had discovered the mirror and made it a destination for a photo-shoot.) Everyone was all smiles as the bridesmaids and finally the bride processed down the long altar. And everything went beautifully. The readers, our daughter-in-law and the bride's godfather, did a beautiful job, and the priest, our son's college rector, gave a lovely homily about the challenges and rewards of marriage, a reflection that resonated with some of our nonpracticing family. I'm always happy when they attend Mass with us and leave with a sense of being filled. The Mass, so anticipated, seemed to go by much too quickly. The bride and groom signed their names in the book of sacraments and signed their marriage license with the witnesses, and many pictures were taken, although not as many as some weddings we've been to. (I was a little concerned the wedding photographer may not have captured enough, but he did - I was only sorry he didn't get a better portrait of the couple in their photos after the wedding, taken around Rome while the rest of us went to the cocktail hour. He took lots of posed photos that didn't seem to fit the couple's personalities.)
The couple exited the church to a full piazza of cheering admirers - guests and tourists. We suspect some of those gathered may have thought the newly weds were someone famous, and at this moment they were! They drove off in a limousine, while the rest of the guest got into vans that shuttled us to the hotel where the reception was taking place. We were treated to a cocktail hour on the rooftop deck, where plenty of photos were taken while the couple had their portraits taken around Rome. The view over Rome was amazing and the golden hour was just arriving as the bride and groom rejoined the party. Lots of toast, lots of laughter, lots of photos.
The rest of the evening was something of a blur. The food and drinks were delicious, some of the fanciest wedding food we've ever had. The mementoes were tiny bottles of limoncello and the flowers matched the girls/ dresses in citrus hues. Our adorable six month old granddaughter was an additional highlight - she was in great spirits as she got passed around in her fluffy pink tutu dress. She smiled for everyone and provided surges of happiness to all her held her, as babies do. The toasts were funny, but appropriate; the bride's father's toast was particularly moving as he perfectly blended humor and sentiment. The cake was a marvelous concoction of millefois topped with flowers. And the bride's family of 4 all joined in to U2's "Marvelous Day" for her father-daughter dance. Our mother-son dance was a big hit, too - We started dancing slowly to Michael Jackson's "Ben," our son's name, and then cut in the record-scratch moment of a Beastie Boys' song, for which we broke into a choreographed reenactment of Rowley and his mom's dance in "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." I'm not sure all the guests caught the reference to that movie, but they loved the surprise switch-up, and despite very little practice, we were able to make it seem like we really planned the moves.
The rest of the night was spent dancing, dancing, occasional trips outside to admire the skyline and moon and stars, and then more dancing. We stayed until the hotel shut things down late in the night, and then the kids all went out to karoake at Scholar's Lounge, where the bride and groom had met six years ago.
But the end of the wedding is not the end of the story! The next morning we were able to rally our immediate family, minus the bride and groom, and an aunt and uncle, for the Jubilee Mass for Families at the Vatican. This was our 29th anniversary gift from our children. We arrived early and were able to find a spot in the shade of the colonnade. Surprisingly, we ran into friends from our church in Coronado! All roads really do lead to Rome, and it is something short of miraculous that in this crowd of thousands our friends - and our sons coming on their own a little later than us - entered the piazza right in the same area as us. The only drawback to being in the shade on this warm day was that Pope Leo, celebrating one of his first large masses as Pope, did his drive around the piazza BEFORE the Mass. On our previous visits to Rome, Pope JPII and Pope Francis drove around after the Mass. This meant that we weren't close to the rails to hold up our still happy granddaughter to be blessed up close by the new American Pope. We had a good view, though, and were buoyed by the cheers of the crowd. This was not the biggest papal Mass we had ever attended, so it was less overwhelming, and perhaps more joyful.
From Mass, we headed to another hotel rooftop for brunch. This one was much less fancy, and the food was less exquisite. The party was also more subdued after the long night and morning. It was time for goodbyes. Everyone was heading in different directions: the bride and groom to a lake in central Italy, like Lake Como, but not; our oldest son and family were off to Assisi; our two other sons were flying back to the States to start jobs; our oldest daughter was back to work in CA; the bride's parents were going to the Amalfi Coast to relax; and we were heading to Germany for a couple days with the 2 youngest girls to visit our husband's brother and family since we were so "close." They came to the wedding, but we wanted to show the girls Nuremberg.
One last thing we did before leaving Rome: while the kids packed up and napped, my husband and I took one more walk around Rome. Our goal was to go to Santa Maria Maggiore to enter the Jubilee doors there and see Pope Francis's tomb. On the way we stopped in 4 other churches and prayed a decade of the rosary for the intentions of our family. By the time we reached Santa Maria Maggiore, we thought we had arrived as lines dwindled because we were able to pass through the jubilee doors with little waiting. However, we found we when entered the basilica, that we could not move forward - Mass was about to begin and they had stopped the flow of pilgrims through the church. We waited, thinking the crowd would inch forward past Pope Francis's tomb, but it came to a standstill as more and more people filled the sanctuary. At last, knowing we had one more dinner gathering with the remaining family, we had to turned around and weave our way out before the liturgy of the Eucharist. We never did see Pope Francis's tomb, although we finished our rosary and said some additional prayers while we waited.
Our last dinner was a joyful celebration of marriage and family with the remaining kids. My husband's brother hosted this dinner and had our son who had been in Italy all semester order everyone's meal. This was just a trattoria off of Piazza Navona, probably a tourist stop, but it seems impossible to have a bad meal in Italy and spirits were still high. It was a lovely ending to a lovely visit.
Although travels weren't quite over for the 2 younger girls and my husband and me! We were off to Germany the next morning before dawn - this longer and earlier cab ride half the price of our French shuttle. About Germany: I will just add that it was a lovely little family visit of just 2 days. We had visited in 2021 when our daughter was studying in Heidelberg, so site-seeing wasn't as high a priority as seeing how German families live. We did tour the town of Nuremberg and the castle and gardens, but missed the Nazi sites again. Then we spent most of our second full day at the Schrebergarten relaxing and eating and visiting.
It was lovely, peaceful, and restorative respite before our flight back to the states. We all flew to Chicago and then the girls and I returned to Texas to pack up while our husband returned to Indiana. Celebrations and travels were over; time for the work of moving to amp up.
