When in Rome do as the Romans do, so said Paul.

So we did as those in Rome (now Italians and tourist) do, take many pictures and fell in love with the city.

We get up to go again and off to Rome the place I have read about in history book and my bible. So excited. We find our hostel easily and is less than expected even the elevator could only one of us with our pack at a time, funny. So Mandi is first then me and our beds are like the old spring held frames. He he he, I had to put my pack under my bed to keep my bottom from hanging so low. He he he. I may be lighter than I was last year but not enough. Then I get my hair stuck in the springs in the bunk above me, =oP``, gotta love curly hair. Much better than hitting my head on the bed above, which I have done during this trip and almost knocked myself unconscious. Poor Mandi, she did not know she was taking a clumsy silly woman she only knew I was silly.  The atmosphere in Rome is what I expected in Madrid but sadly did not get due to their economic problems. So we go out and look around and take pictures again and get our bearings. We will be doing the free tour tomorrow so we just want to get out and look. I am not sure if we will ever get used to the crosswalks. It is always a leap of faith to step on that stripped section of road or “zebra stripes.” Mandi keeps telling me I am trying to kill myself, sometimes I am oblivious to the cars on the road for watching all the people around us and area we are at that moment. Monday, we send our laundry out to be washed then we get up excited about the tour and it is raining but we go anyway and the guide is a no show,=o(. So we walk, as usual, and walk and walk. We saw many monuments, had many giggles and yes took lots of pictures. It did however rain all day. The sun and clouds have not behaved this whole trip, grrrr. When we get to the hostel we discuss the next few days because we are limited to our time in Rome and do not want to give the tour anther chance. We find out the Pope has an “audience” or teaching every Wednesday that the general  public can attend and we waned to see the Sistine Chapel. Tuesday, so this is the first time we pay to go into a museum 16 euro so we were going to see the whole thing, hopefully. The Vatican Museum has three museums,=0O, and it takes several hours  but worth the price and the time. Then we are in the final museum and not even half thru when I realize we have about 15 minutes before the museum closes, ahhhh. So I leave Mandi behind enjoying paintings on the wall. I knew I did not want to miss the reason we came and I wanted more than five minutes. I did miss the modern art but I did get a good 10 minutes in the chapel and even snuck in a picture. So now we go to Saint Peters church, where his bones are buried and where Michael Angelo’s statue of Mary holding Jesus is behind glass. Beautiful church and unlike Fatima they are more careful about the noise level so if someone wanted to pray or meditate they could. OK, so now we need to get a ticket to see the Pope. Mandi goes on the hunt and was sent from here to there to here again then finally gets the tickets from the very colorfully dressed guards and she is advised to come real early. Early it is. We get to Vatican before 8 am and we had found a coffee shop the day before that made HOT coffee!!! The Pope must like his coffee hot. The shop seemed to be family run and they remembered us from the day before and even what we ordered. Then we were off to be sent thru metal detectors and seated by the blue and yellow (look like bumble bees, =o)) guards. Since we were two and a half hours early we had good seats those who sat closer had been announced before or something. Well, as most of you know I am not Catholic but Mandi and I serve the same God creator, Jesus the Savior and Holy Spirit counselor. I want to honor her belief as well as my friends who believe the same. So to Jo Ortega, I did take your rosary and cross from your mom and Tangie I took you a rosary too and the Pope did bless them all. Being in the assembly was not quite what I expected, I have been to several services with Mandi since we have been on our trip but this assembly had more …energy. There were marching bands and choirs from all over the world and most surprising and fun was the mariachi band from Mexico, how fun!!! These kids were dressed in their performing clothes and the musicians and singers were ready to show their stuff. Yea!!! How much fun to see the teens be so excited. They did a great job and my goodness made me miss home especially when I saw a TEXAS flag. The assembly was like a pep rally only thing missing was the big beach ball. If I would have known I would have brought it.  When the Pope came out the service was very structured and spoken in seven languages by the Pope, impressive. I will have to admit since the teaching was in Latin or Italian I took a small nap but I did not snore like the man behind me. =o). So this was our last day and we were off to see the coliseum and Roman ruins. I try to imagine what Christians went thru while there but knew my little self could not come close to the truth of what believers went thru for their faith in Jesus. I was honored to be there where believers died for their faith in Jesus. I will add pictures about the rest but I honestly cannot add anymore to this post. Nothing can surpass the beauty and importance of Believers dieing for their faith in Jesus.