The Adventure Begins

It is 4:00 in the morning in the Eternal City and, of course, I am wide awake. I arrived Tuesday morning at 9:00 am. By the time I retrieved my baggage and made my way by train into the City, it was noon. June 2 is the Italian equivalent of the US's July 4 or France's July 14. Because of parade traffic, the central city was very crowded and what should have been a short taxi ride from the train station to the Angelicum turned into a rather expensive tour of Central Rome. But the mood of the city is festive. Despite the economy, Rome is as crowded as ever with tourists.

Daniel Buffington, who just graduated from UA School of Medicine and his friend Derek met me at 3 pm. at the Angelicum. I took them to my favorite gelato shop on Via de Serpente and we indulged. Filip Leonarski flew in from Poland today and is staying with me at the Angelicum. I was able to secure a room for him as one who has been accepted for admisssion into our Province). We walked over to the American Bishops office in Rome (at the North American College) to pick up our tickets for the Papal Audience on Wednesday. We were delighted to find that we were given tickets in the VIP section. More on this later.

We had dinner at a lovely little restaurant on the Piazza di Sancti Apostoli and celebrated our arrival in Rome with Pasta alla carbonara! After dinner I left the young people to their nocturnal exploration of Rome and I headed back to the Angelicum for sweet, sweet sleep. I was quite tired all day yesterday (having been in transit for more than 18 hours the day before) but forced myself to stay awake so I would sleep tonight. It did not work! That's why I am sitting in the computer room of the Angelicum at such a horribly late (early?) time recording this blog.

No pearls of wisdom - just a lovely beginning to this adventure of a lifetime!