Subtitled: How I Ended Up In Rome.
There I was, minding my own business, walking along a trail in Alley Pond Park with Lisa when suddenly she said the magic words. “We’re going on that diocesan pilgrimage to Rome & Assisi. Why don’t you come?”
“Okay!” Hey, when do I ever turn down an opportunity to have some fun?
Coincidently, it turned out that Stephen would be installed as an acolyte during the time we would be there so how could we not go? Besides, we hadn’t seen our boy in over a year.
We left for Italy on Thursday, March 4th & were traveling with a group of people from our diocese. That group included 3 other Church Ladies so we knew this was going to be fun.
When we arrived in Rome on Friday, we were herded onto a bus and headed out to Assisi, our first stop. Our family had been to Assisi 10 years ago & loved it. I always wanted to go back there & was thrilled the trip would include Assisi.
Slight tangent, but it will be tied in quickly: This year we hit a record in NY for snowfall in February. The public schools, which closed for snow maybe 3 times in the last 5 years, were closed twice within 2 weeks. Guess what the weather was like in Assisi that first day. Yep. Snow.
The 30 Brooklyn pilgrims (we should have all been wearing little pilgrim hats!) arrived at the hotel and received our room keys. Frank & I went up to our room & opened the door. The room seems just a wee bit crowded. In addition to our bed & desk, there were 2 other mattresses leaning against the wall, a second headboard and a desk piled high with towels. Apparently our room was being used as storage. We were supposed to be meeting downstairs in a few minutes to go out for lunch & there was not enough room in there to even temporarily store our suitcases. After being awake for nearly 24 hours & very hungry, I was not happy. Luckily, the hotel personnel quickly emptied the room of all the uh… extra accessories.
After lunch, we wandered around a little in spite of the cold. Then the group went marching off in the cold drizzle to the basilica of St. Claire’s for Mass. By the time we walked back to the hotel for dinner, it was snowing. I don’t think any of us slept real well on the plane ride over & we all went to bed early that first night.
Tomorrow will be the next installment – Day 2 in Assisi.
Looking forward to part 2!