We got to Termini time for our train to Venice on the Frecciargento train. Train travel is just awesome in Europe and makes everything so easy.

It was such a fast AND smooth trip. I slept for a couple of hours! One highlight was the little refreshments cart that came down the train aisle. It had a built in espresso machine! So Bill got a coffee and we shared a packet of Italian cookies and watched the Italian countryside roll by.

The trains were very modern and clean. This is what the seats looked like in our carriage –

They go so fast and yet, hardly any bumps. My ears regularly popped when we were going through the mountains – it is a great way to travel!

We arrived at the Venice – Santa Lucia station and took our time walking to the vaporetto. We picked up a Venice pass which enabled us to have unlimited vaporetto trips for our whole stay there. This was great just for convenience – we never had to worry about buying tickets.

Our accomodation was near the Accademmia vaporetto stop so we got to cruise down the Grand Canal and see Venice in all its glory. I got chatting to a girl from Australia who was originally from Bathurst and was studying in Florence. Her boyfriend had just flown from Bathurst to meet her – he had never been overseas before and you could tell he was slightly overwhelmed by everything!

Even with our suitcases, the vaporetto was an easy trip and we were lucky that from the Accademia stop to our accomodation we didn’t have to go over any bridges – a straight run!

Imagine getting off a train, hopping on a vaporetto and this is your view?

It was great to be back in Venice!

After our full day on the Scavi tour and at the Vatican museums, it was time for some downtime for our last night in Rome.

We just wanted to go to a nearby restaurant and have an easy dinner and an early night. Bill also thought it would be fun to go to an Italian supermarket and also pick up some snacks for our train trip the next day. So that was the plan!

The supermarket was a cute little community one like an Australian IGA or the small Associated we have in our neighbourhood. This was so much fun and we just had to share some of the photos we took in there!

The Deli –

Smurfs were everywhere!

Some familiar things –

Chocolate pasta anyone?

Italian lollies –

The refrigerated section provided some entertainment!

WUDY! What an awesome brand name –

BIGGY!

Italian ‘snackables’ –

Pronti in 5 minuti!

For Steve and Colette!

Pasta heaven –

Béchamel sauce in a tetra pack! GENIUS!

Is it just for Big Americans?!

I don’t think anyone paid any attention to the sign –

The line to get to the checkout… we just hung out by the freezer for a while!

I wanted to walk out of the door with the whole Kinder display –

We then popped in to the restaurant around the corner for some dinner. We thought it looked touristy but all we were thinking was food and then bed. It was a FANTASTIC meal! We were so surprised – it was a great way to end our time in Rome. It may not have been the coolest place but wow – the food was great.. and cheap!

Here is our dinner at Ristorante ‘Steak House’. Now you can understand why we thought it would be an average meal.

This pizza was absolutely amazing –

And so was this carbonara –

We then headed back to Domus for our last night. Some last minute packing and getting our things in order was all that was needed before we drifted off before our early morning wake up for our train to Venice.

On Monday it was another early morning as it was time for a Scavi Tour. We had to be back at St Peter’s at 8.30am! Yep – back to St Peter’s AGAIN! The Scavi Tour can be extremely difficult to get tickets to – only a small amount of people are able to tour the excavations on any day. Because we knew our dates so far in advance, this wasn’t a problem for us. Also – this is different to visiting the catacombs – a lot of people get these tours mixed up! We could not take photos so I cannot share anything but my memories with you.

We got to the St Peter’s and had to go through security in another ‘secret’ side entrance.

There, we started chatting to a couple from Ohio who had tried for their past four trips to Rome to get on a Scavi tour – it is that sought after!

I would probably say that it was one of the most amazing experiences that I’ve had travelling. We were in a small group of ten and were led through dark, narrow corridors of the necropolis under St Peters – you can view the map here.

Our tour guide was a sensitive, intelligent theologian who led us through and explained clearly what we were seeing. It then ends up, he has written a whole book on the area and was an expert on the excavation, so it was even more wonderful that he was able to explain everything to us in a way we could understand. The tour itself went for about an hour and a half. We kept going through the dark, damp underground area and then came out in a chapel area. This chapel (later found out it is called the Clementine Chapel) was entirely covered in gold with a few small kneelers and an altar.

Here is a photo from the web of the Clementine Chapel –

Our guide gave an explanation of the chapel and then led us up some metal side stairs and into a darkened stone room that had glass on one side looking at some rubble. It was here he explained if we looked closely into the rubble we would see bones and these were the bones of Saint Peter himself. It was chilling and I got goosebumps when he said it then, there was just emotion. He then asked us all to bow our heads for a prayer. Here we were, steps a way from St Peter’s remains. It is something we will always remember. I just held Bill’s hand and we were led out of the room. You do not have to be Catholic to go and do a scavi tour or anything like that but it was such a powerful experience that we were speechless. We then walked back into the Clementine Chapel and then we realized when we turned around that we were. Where were right below the cupola in the middle of the Basilica. The phrase “Upon this rock…” came to life right there.

We were led up a small staircase and up to the middle of the Basilica where our tour ended.

We walked around and tried to comprehend what we just experienced but we really couldn’t. The pangs started happening at that point where I was fretting at having to leave Rome. We needed more time but we didn’t have it.

After this, we went at posted some postcards at the Vatican Post Office and then made out way back into the town to have another look around.

We went to the Gammarelli shop and picked up a couple of pairs of socks for our two Fr Joe’s and then we saw a church across the square from the shop.

As we had got into the habit of doing, we went inside for a look. The church was Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. This church was dark and gothic and there was hardly anyone in there. I walked up to the altar and saw a tomb. On closer inspection I nearly fainted. It was the tomb of St Catherine of Siena. My confirmation saint. It was too much to even comprehend when I saw her tomb was open – because it had been her feast day the day before. I was able to go in and pray over her tomb – it was just too much!

All of this in a little neighbourhood church!! Even just typing about it now gives me chills. We spent a long time in that church full of strange plaques and displays… here are some.

Blurred –

Side chapel –

We then went to a quick place for lunch and to rest our feet… gnocchi time! We stopped at a touristy little place called Trattoria Di Torre Argentina.

Chocolate Mousse was more like a cold fudge –

As we spent longer than expected lazing around at lunch we ended up getting a cab back to the Vatican as we had a 2pm guided tour of the Vatican Museums. As we crossed the river and around the back streets alongside the Vatican walls we could see an ongoing queue of people. I think there was easily 15,000 people LINING up to get in to the museums. This is only part of the line –

Seriously! To make it worse, it was already 1.30pm – these people had NO HOPE of getting in and yet, there they were lining up. This was most probably because it was the May Day public holiday on Tuesday and the Museums would be closed. So those who were in Rome for a short time had no other choice but to try and get in to the Vatican on that day. The thing that baffled me was there was guided tour groups lining up in this line. What kind of tour guide and/or tour company makes people who are visiting Rome spend half of their time lining up in obscene queues in hot weather? I can only feel for these people, probably on a trip of a lifetime and spending all of their timing lining up in endless queues. It is awful and tour companies should know better. We booked our place beforehand so just walked right in. It was absolute scenes of madness in the ticketing area. There were people everywhere. Bill and I found a corner and waited for our tour to start.

We had another great tour guide but the conditions were awful. There were so many people in the museum we couldn’t move through the areas easily and came to a lot of traffic jams that resulted in long waits just to move.

The hot conditions in the museum itself were awful. We were basically dripping with sweat and people were pushing to get their way through – it was difficult to enjoy the surrounds.

View through a window –

When we got to the Sistine Chapel the madness continued. Despite signs everywhere saying SILENZIO! Many people find it impossible to be silent for even five minutes and continued to chat. This resulted in the guards constantly shouting “SHHHHH!” “QUIET!” To make it worse – a lot of the offenders were TOUR GUIDES. It was infuriating and the lack of respect or care by the people in there was making my blood boil. The experience was ruined. I had already seen it before, but I was disappointed for Bill. SIGH! Our guide was actually respectful (being an actual Vatican guide) and explained aspects of the Sistine Chapel to us at the start of the tour using these boards as guides. It is a shame that the shoddy guides don’t use this method as well –

At least we can say we were both there, together but when we go back to Rome, hopefully the museums will be a little bit less stressful!

When we left we headed straight back to the hotel for a little downtime before dinner and some adventures at an Italian supermarket!

Our alarm went off at 5.30am on Sunday morning and we had no problem getting up at all! We were off to Mass at St Peter’s but this wasn’t just any Mass. Pope Benedict was presiding and the Mass included the ordinations of new priests. WHOA!

Before bed, we got all of our clothes and things ready. I checked my purse ten times to make sure we had our tickets! When we went down to the Domus Lobby, they called us a cab and gave us our packed breakfast. They even took a photo of us –

I was actually nervous as we were in the car… but it was beautiful driving through the empty streets in the morning sun. Everything was beautifully illuminated and peaceful.

Morning sun at St Peter’s –

When we got to St Peter’s there was already a line of people. Mass wasn’t starting until 9am and we got in the line promptly at 7am. Then we just had to wait it out.

In the queue –

By about 7.45 the line through security was moving. We just held hands and said “Let’s do this!” and off we went. We entered the Basilica and the sun shining from behind us was almost blinding. People moved swiftly and what surprised me most was that we could choose our own seats!

So here we were, 21 rows back from the main altar AND we were sitting on the aisle. We would get to see everything! I was in shock that we were able to sit so close and I kept thinking someone, somewhere would be coming up to tell us we would have to move but that didn’t happen. Before we left, I bought us two Italian – English missals so we could follow along but we didn’t need them as we all got beautiful Mass books just for the occasion. We will always treasure them!

Everyone getting seated –

The pews started filling and I started chatting (as well as we could understand each other) to the lady beside me. Her brother was a priest and would be in the main procession. I was so excited for her and she was very excited to have New Yorkers beside her. The excitement in the air could be felt by anyone there and it was wonderful to see so many different people – young familes, the elderly, nuns, tourists, locals – all together in one place.

Here we are all settled and excited –

Before Mass there was a recitation of the Rosary in Italian and then we all waited patiently. The procession was amazing. I have never seen so many priests in my life – there were hundreds of them.

Then, surrounded by clouds of incense, we could see Pope Benedict in the distance.

I couldn’t even speak. As his platform moved slowly down the aisle you could hear the gasps of people – just honored to be in his presence. When he came near us, he was close enough that I could have reached out to him. It was one of those moments that you can’t really believe what you are seeing.

A few things – he is A LOT shorter than I envisaged him. He is tiny! He is also very tanned – I didn’t expect that. He was also a lot more mobile that I expected. It is known that he suffers from severe arthritis but honestly, you couldn’t tell. He looked great. I was so transfixed on looking at him and with the shock of seeing him I didn’t even get a good picture of him arriving. I thought Bill would have but.. he had the same issue as I did!

Before we knew it, the Swiss Guards were standing in place and it was time for Mass to begin. I was able to follow along a lot easier than Bill because I have some knowledge of Italian.

Funnily enough, mum was watching at home on EWTN online and she was getting a full explanation of everything that was going on and what he was saying in his homily! We had programmed our Tivo to record it on EWTN so we were able to come home and watch that broadcast.

For the new priests, the ordination ceremony is extremely moving. They pledge to obey, they lay on the floor, they are blessed – it was very moving but somewhat celebratory after all of their study and preparation – today was their day!

The music was spectacular and the choir sung beautifully. On the other hand, Communion was the craziest scene I have ever witnessed in a church! A priest was assigned to distribute communion to two rows each. But, they did this while standing in the aisle facing us who were sitting and facing the altar. So first up was Bill, as he was sitting against the guard that was blocking us from the aisle. He stood up and received and I crept around him when it was my turn. We ended up having to walk back to the end of our row of seats while the others in our row went up for communtion. The problem was all of this movement was taking place in a tiny space – it was chaos! Also, with no kneelers it was strange to just sit back down straight afterwards!

The Mass went for nearly over two hours. Then it came time for the recessional. WOW. We actually managed to get a few good photos of Il Papa! It all went so quickly but the recessional was beautiful and full of joy!

And look – we got some good photos of him as he was leaving!

More of the spectacular recessional –

You can actually see the whole Mass online here
Read Pope Benedict’s homily here

After a while of sitting there thinking “Whoa – what did we just experience?” it was time to go outside. When we stepped out a lot of the fellow worshippers were mingling out the front of St Peter’s – just like what normally happens at every parish on a Sunday. Then we looked out ahead and there were thousands and thousands of people in St Peter’s Square.

Ohhhh look Vatican tape –

And… trying to move the crowd on –

There was the huge sitting area that was empty between us and them. They were all waiting to see the Pope appear from his apartment window for the Regina Caeli. As he normally doesn’t actually perform that many Masses, he always says the Sunday Angelus/Regina Caeli from his window. We were SO fortunate to be present for both!

Here he is –

For the Regina Caeli, everyone prays and then also reads a message. It was a great way to finish off a very memorable morning. He read the part about to English speaking visitors in English so we could understand part of the message! It was fun to read what he said later and to know that he finished with “I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week. Thank you. Have a good Sunday!” Awww!

Here we are – still basking in the excitement of our unforgettable morning –

See the video here
Read his message here

The crowds were so large and getting back to Domus was going to be an issue. We were lucky enough to get a cab and got back to Domus very quickly as the buses were not running frequently and the lines were so long. We were exhausted so we decided to try and have a nap to refresh ourselves before heading back out to our afternoon activity.

I had booked tickets to see Lux in Arcana – the special Vatican archives exhibition at Musei Capiolini. By the time we got there, it was PACKED. We had pre-booked tickets so we thought we would be able to just walk straight up and collect them. Unfortunately not. I asked two people and they just said “Ticket booth!” The line for the ticket booth was about 30 minutes long. I couldn’t believe I went to the trouble of booking in advance to still have to line up! One thing that made it easier was we got talking to the couple in front of us who were from Memphis. We all chatted away for the whole time and then, when we got to the ticket booth we saw a sign for pre-booked tickets. We could’ve skipped the line after all but we couldn’t get close enough to the booth to see the sign! Sheesh! Anyway, we got into the exhibition and again it was packed and again, it was hot. I couldn’t really enjoy it as I think by it being after 5pm I was now jut too tired to enjoy anything and seriously what could top the morning activities?! We ended up staying in the museum for a while but did spend a lot of time on the rooftop. It was so peaceful and it offered us such a beautiful view of the city… I could have stayed there forever!

From where we were standing there were church bells ringing everywhere. When I get the video uploaded I will post it separately.

I wish I got to take more at the exhibition as some of the artefacts on display were absolutely amazing, but by the time we left (and Bill had heard me say a million times “I love it here – I want to stay forever!”) we were starving as we had skipped lunch. So we wandered around and ended up back at… Abruzzi!

Before we sat down for dinner, we went and spent time in Santi Apostoli. This was a very dark church inside – it was almost spooky! We went down to the crypt are and this was the view looking up –

The altar under the church –

Relics of St Philip –

The church was magnificent and there was hardly anyone there as we were visiting so late.. it was perfect!

We wandered across the square to Abruzzi. Again, everything we ordered was absolutely amazing.. my mouth is watering just thinking about it while I type this. It was the best lasagne I have ever eaten!

After dinner we went for a walk.. it was such a beautiful night and walking around the quiet back streets was a great way to end the day.

We came across the Pontifical University –

We had no idea where we were going but Bill asked if we were close to the Trevi fountain. I said there was no way we could be but.. before we knew it we were there!

That REALLY is the color of the sky!

And it was here that we took the most touristy/creepy photos EVER –

Then… romance!

Now.. here I was 13 years ago. I threw a coin into the fountain and well.. I really did make it back!

We walked away knowing that we really didn’t need to throw a coin into the Trevi to hope that we would be returning to Rome.. we knew that someday we would definitely be back. Without a doubt!

Our accomodation in Rome was at Domus Australia.

It was the most unbelievable accomodation and an absolutelty wonderful experience to stay in such a beautiful place. It was just perfect!

I first saw mention of Domus when we dropped into St Patrick’s in Gundagai – there was a brochure on a table. I picked it up and thought nothing of it until we returned to New York and remembered the brochure. I checked out the website online and Domus wasn’t even open yet! But it would blessed by Pope Benedict and open by the time we were planning to go… so as soon as we had dates, I booked.

You don’t need to be Australian to stay there… in fact there were a fair few Italian people there at the same time as us. The location is awesome – close to Termini but far enough away to feel like a normal neighbourhood. Everything is new and spotlessly clean. The beds are comfy and the bathrooms are HUGE.

View from our room –

They also provide breakfast. An included breakfast is something that I really look for in accommodation as it can help save time and money and really helps to get your day started off on a good note! For Italy, an included breakfast normally means a roll and some cheese or cereal. Not at Domus… eggs, bacon, baked beans, lamingtons, cheese, cold cuts, coffee, juice, yoghurt – this is definitely not the norm!

Then there is the Chapel of Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary and Saint Peter Chanel. It was breathtaking – from the portrait of Mary McKillop to the portrait of Mary with the Southern Cross in the background. Nothing was overlooked and it offers a place of peace in such a busy city. Going to Mass there was intimate and and yet, familiar. The restoration is absolutely beautiful.

The Rector of Domus is Father Anthony from Melbourne. He is also a Pies supporter and is studying in Rome at the moment. How he gets the time to do all he does, I have absolutely no idea! But, it was like staying with family. Everyone was so nice!

This is what is looks like from the street –

This is the view looking up towards our room –

The beautiful al fresco dining area and water feature – beautiful chance for quiet reflection!

Looking down to the dining room –

The walkway to the accommodation –

The attention to detail and planning of Domus has been amazing. An example was our floor was named after former Bishop for the Diocese of Sandhurst, Bishop Grech. For that connection our hallway was full of historical photos of churches from around the Bendigo region.

Many of the Australia dioceses have contributed to the development of Domus and there are tokens of appreciation everywhere. To tie in with this, in the foyer there are beautiful pictures and information of prominent Australian Catholics. You can see how this is unlike staying in a random hotel or apartment… Domus offers so much!

On our first morning, we were at breakfast and looked up and Cardinal Pell was there having breakfast at the next table! We told him how appreciative we were of his work to make Domus happen and how impressed we were with everything. Later on after Mass one night, he blessed all of our medals, prayer cards etc for us. It was truly humbling!

The staff at Domus were exceptional. Every question we had was answered wtih a smile and they provided a great amount of useful resources – not just stacks of touristy brochures. They are all locals but they really do ‘get’ the Australian thing. On the morning that we were going to the Papal Mass at St Peter’s the kitchen packed a to-go bag of breakfast goodies which came in very handy seeing as we were there for so long.

Apart from the Italians also staying there, there was also a group of Australian travelers who had just been to Anzac Cove and were on a bit of a pilgrimage. Cardinal Pell spent a whole evening with them all downstairs in the dining area having a great time! I am sure it will be something they will always remember!

I cannot recommend Domus highly enough. Speaking to other people we met along the way and hearing about their tiny rooms and lack of breakfast… we knew we had come across something great. It is a credit to Cardinal Pell, all of the Bishops who supported this and all of the Australian parishioners that made this happen. We know that it was part of the reason we loved Rome so much and we cannot wait to get back there. It really did feel like home!