Monday, October 15th

I rise, shower, call around to make sure everyone’s up, and hit the bar for an early diet coke. Rome looks different on Monday morning. Everyone’s focused, on their way to work, staring straight ahead as they walk. Drivers honk their horns through the traffic. I talk with Jan outside the hotel and wave to the NY jogger as he passes. When I get back to the room I listen to The The until Ivan calls to check if he can access his cash. After he grabs his Euros we hit breakfast then walk, as a group, to St. Peter’s square for the traditional pilgrimage picture. I think I’m the only one of the group who decides against dropping the eight euros for the picture, but I hate those types of pictures, everyone lined up and all that. My decision is vindicated by the fact we’re facing the sun and squinting madly when the photographer’s shutter clicks. I take a few pics on my own in the bright morning light:

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Priest takes us across the square to a small hut where we’re supposed to get our headphone rigs, like back in Assisi at St. Francis’ Basilica, but the headphone guy is late. We mill around, and I consider buying some Italian Star Wars of High School Musical paraphernalia either for the boys or to sell on Ebay. Before I can decide the headphone guy pulls up on his scooter and we’re whisked into St. Peter’s for the historical visit. Priest goes into lots of detail as we dodge basilica crowds, trying to stay together. He shows us how some of the world churches are represented on the floor and gets in an argument with a couple of American woman, saying, “I don’t want to talk to you” when they get in the way. I take a quick picture inside the chapel because everyone is doing it. Sorry, Japanese picture rights owners:

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When we’re waiting to leave I ask River if he wants to check out the Sistine Chapel and he says “fuck yeah” pretty loud before he covers his mouth in horror. We laugh pretty hard then go outside before anyone can chastise us. Jean, Bob, Ivan and I decide to hit the Sistine Chapel. I’m rested, after a mellow Sunday, and I feel like walking. We cross the square and get in the Sistine Chapel line. Rumors swirl about how the building closes at noon, how the wait is three hours, etc., and after checking with a tour guide who promises to get us in for a fee, decide to blow off the Sistine Chapel altogether and walk through Rome. I’m ok with this decision, although I want to see the art, because I don’t want to spend my last day in Rome waiting in line.

Jean has a map, and everyone wants to see the pantheon, so we figure out where we are and start walking. We pass through Piazza Neuvo (sp?), where we had seen mimes on the first night’s walk, but the space is now covered with merchants selling artwork and the like. River spends about ten years going through the stalls before he fails in his attempt to bargain down a painting price.

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We snake through some small streets (including one called “Coronary Street” which, of course, features a restaurant) through what appears to be a high-end shopping district.

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After asking a waiter for directions, arrive along the side of the Pantheon. We’re hungry, so we get food. I get a mozzarella and spinach salad with Jean while Bob and River get beer and pizza. We eat on a ledge along the street. After we’re done we enter the Pantheon. The space is huge, and my heights fear kicks in about ten seconds. The columns are cool, though, and I have to admire the dome’s construction.

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We pass through some shops once we leave, and River gets stuck looking at t-shirts for his family, so we ditch him and walk down a busy street (Corso, I remember, was part of the street’s name) back to the rooming house. We cross the Tiber and I snag a cool shot.

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I help Jean find a place to mail her postcards before, take a long shower, then call home. M says the boys saw The Blue Man Group in Milwaukee. She also changed the car’s oil. I sit on the patio with some U colleagues and chat about U gossip before I hit my room for the last packing session. I have time to kill, so I hit a small, crowded shop right outside the hotel and pick up Rome snowglobes for the boys and some friends from work and a cheap Vatican hat for M. I’m down to my last Euros, but that’s ok, as I didn’t want to take many home.

We go to the last group classroom meeting. We’re supposed to evaluate the pilgrimage. The leaders first split into small groups. I sit on the couch with a couple of the NY guys and more or less blow off the “what went well/what didn’t go well” assignment. However, once we’re in the whole group again I talk through what I liked best (Laverna), how to best communicate the pilgrimage’s spirit when I return (using some of the Francis stories), and what I didn’t like (kicking people out of churches, feeling like I took more than I gave). After a quick break we go to a small upstairs chapel for the closing ceremony. One of the leaders gives each of a small Tau cross.

The night air is cool, so I grab a sweatshirt for the last meal. We eat at a restaurant across from the rooming house, right on the sidewalk, a while after dusk. I’m with Laura and a friendly couple from Minnesota. Ivan wants to hit some stores across the square, but Laura convinces him to stay close to the hotel due to crime concerns. He and I return to the crowded tourist shop, where I bought the snowglobes, and shop a little more. I save my last five Euros for a morning diet coke and hit the room. We’re due on the bus at 6:15AM, so I set the alarm for 4:45AM. Bob and Ivan pick up their valuables from the safe. I’m worried I won’t sleep well, but I do. River, by the way, decides to fly home with the group rather than staying on for Florence and Venice.