23 June - Sunday In Rome

June 23, 2019

Last night, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow...so Sherry Ann says...I just don’t remember. Anyway, this morning, we showered and prepared ourselves to go to church in the Roma 1st Ward. This is where I served all those years ago, although at the time, it was the Trionfale Branch. We had a quick breakfast of yogurt and juice, and headed out the door. We got there at 10:23; just in time for 10:30 church. Except for the part that they started at 10:00. I apparently misunderstood the sisters last night...a reminder that I need to ask clarifying questions to make sure I understood correctly.

So, apparently they have a lot of English-speaking visitors now, because they have these little headsets you can use to hear the English translation provided by one of the Anziani or Sorelle serving in the ward. Sherry Ann was able to use one of these, and I was very happy to have been able to just listen and understand.

After Sacrament Meeting, we lingered in the foyer before Priesthood and Relief Society began. Then I saw a familiar face. I approached her and asked, “Sorella Barbara?” She looked at me for a moment, then her face lit up and she said, “Anziano Reep!” We embraced, and I took her over to meet Sherry Ann. We chatted for a minute or two, then it was time to go to our meetings. Barbara took Sherry Ann to Relief Society, and I went to Priesthood. We talked about Elder Gong’s talk from the April 2019 General Conference about the Good Shepherd. It was a nice discussion.

After church, we visited for a bit. There are 4 Anziani and 2 Sorelle serving in the ward. One of the sisters served in L’Aquila not too long ago, so I was able to receive some news about a few of the people there. We talked some more with Barbara, then she had to leave. We returned to the apartment in Trastevere, and cooled down again. We started to transfer the pictures from the camera to the Google Drive, but it was taking forever! It said 5 hours and 45 minutes. The WiFi connection is there, just not super strong. So we decided we’d go out and try to find something to eat. I also found out that the laundromat is literally just around the corner from our apartment...attached to the same building. We’ll go and do our laundry in the morning. Right across the street, there is a small restaurant with homemade pasta, so we decided to stay and eat there.

We each had fettuccine alla carbonara with a bottle of Fanta aranciata and a basket of focaccia. Oh, it was so nice to eat some fresh pasta! It was delectable. So creamy with our daily dose of guanciale (crisp bacon). And the focaccia was so savory! We were well fed. Unfortunately, the food was gone way too fast. Before going out on the town, Sherry Ann and I decided to head back to check the progress of the pictures on the computer...3 hours 45 minutes more. Ugh. We let our food settle a bit before heading out again.

We made our way to the metro at Colosseum, then went to the Piazza Del Popolo. This is a huge public square with a central fountain and Egyptian obelisk. We sat and talked for a while, watching people in the piazza. We then went up the huge steps on the East of the piazza to the gardens above. We went to the balcony to overlook the piazza and take a couple of pictures. The view was stunning! In the park/gardens, we stumbled upon a water-powered clock. It was way cool. Basically, there was a system of water being moved through the clock that made the gears move to keep the accurate time! It amazes me the level of engineering some people have to be able to figure out how to do that.

From there, we walked to the church of Trinità dei Monti. This is the church that overlooks the Spanish Steps. Sherry Ann was amazed by the amount of people gathered on the steps and in Piazza di Spagna at the bottom. On the way down, we counted the steps. We discovered that the steps were grouped in 11 sets of 12, and the bottom set which only had 4. That was a little disappointing. It would have been really cool to have a perfect 12 sets of 12. Oh well. At the bottom, we found a gelateria, and sat on the steps, eating gelato, watching all the people with the one I love. I found out that that moment has been one of Sherry Ann’s dreams since she met me and began to learn about Italy and Rome. Yea! I told her it was also one of my dreams, too. She said, “For how long? About 5 minutes?” I nudged her and said, “No!...more like...1 minute!” We both laughed at that.

After finishing our gelato, we debated whether to just grab the metro and head back to the apartment or rather walk through town and get back in really late. It was already past 21:00...okay, we walked through town. We headed down the corso toward the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. It was a nice walk. The sun had gone down and there was a slight, but pleasant, breeze. We somehow missed Pantheon, but found Piazza Navona. I really love this piazza. I have so many good feelings about it and love the fountains. The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is the giant one in the center of the piazza. To the North is the Fontana di Nettuno, and, on the South, la Fontana Del Moro. We left the piazza (after spending a good bit of time strolling around the piazza) and found a bus to Piazza Vanazia, where we waited for the tram to Trastevere. Okay, it took 20 minute or so for the bus to come along, then after waiting for the tram, we decided to walk down the track until we saw the tram going to Piazza Venezia, then go to the next stop and wait there. We almost made it to the bridge crossing the Tiber before the next tram came. We could have made it back to the apartment before the tram came (maybe), but we waited for it anyway.

By the time we got back to the apartment, it was about midnight! Well, then we contacted the kids and talked to them for a bit, then committed to go to sleep...by 01:00 Monday morning. What a day!