Rome and Home

School begins again here in about a week, we've had a good, long Christmas break! Here's a quick overview of our trip to Rome, and a few updates about what we've been doing since!

Outside St. Peter's!

     We arrived in Rome in the evening and had to walk quite a ways to find our airbnb. We had booked two separate ones because Mom, Dad, Rachel and Rosie hadn't known exactly when or if they were coming at first, so we ended up with the four of us staying in a bigger one, and Mom and Dad a few streets away in their own. That arrangement worked quite nicely, since we had several really enjoyable dinners all together in the bigger one, and then during the day we would split up some and then also meet up at various places.

The street right next to
the Vatican with the bigger of
our two airbnbs.

     We went to Mass at the Vatican the morning after we arrived, there are Masses happening all throughout the day at the side alters there. We had to wait in line to go through security to get in, but we arrived early enough that that didn't take too much time. By the time we came out after looking around, going to Mass, confession, and walking through the crypt where the Popes are buried, the line was really long and it didn't look like we would be able to go back in that day if we had wanted to. After spending the morning there, we spent a lot of time walking through the streets of Rome. It was really cold, so we stopped often in the many churches along our way (Mom is so very good at discovering them. They aren't quite as obvious as one would think), and were continually amazed by them! Sometimes it's hard to tell if the building is a church or not from the outside, but then you walk in from the busy street and suddenly a new world opens up-- huge and beautiful, peaceful, (warmish), silent.  Often there was beautiful classical music playing somewhere in the background, so that even when you go back out onto the busy street the violin in the otherwise completely silent church still echoes in your head, bringing that peaceful silence with it as you find yourself back out dealing with people, cars, and logistics.

St. Andrew's

     We saw lots of old Roman ruins of course, and enjoyed seeing many street artists with lovely paintings (which set us off into several debates about whether or not they were authentic or prints...), and had fun getting some real Italian espresso at a coffee shop near the Pantheon. Michael got a neat little espresso maker for his brother there. It was getting very cold, so we made our way back to the airbnb with a plan to buy groceries and make dinner there. On our way we ran into a group doing some sort of drum performance, so we stayed and watched. It's a real treat to watch people having a lot of fun, and they all seemed to really enjoy beating those drums and dancing. After watching that and deciding to start our own drumming group (or maybe that just happened in my head...), we walked back to our airbnb which is right next to the Vatican, and Michael made another delicious dinner that we all enjoyed there, crowded around a tiny table without enough chairs. We had a few really great skype sessions with the Montrose family, Madeleine had made it safely back with all the Christmas presents we'd given her to deliver, and Joseph was there over break, too, so they opened the presents while we watched and it was a happy time. :) Margaret joined us for some of it too, although the younger girls in Trumau weren't able to.

The drummers!

     Michael, Rosie, Rachel and I went out together the next morning (Sunday) to Mass at St. Andrews, a really magnificent church we'd found the day before. We made it there barely on time, and it was very cold, but beautiful all the same. Afterward we had a lot of fun looking for some breakfast, we had some espresso and then found a pastry shop.

We found a neat glass shop.

We bought some delicious (delicious looking anyway...) pastries but there was nowhere to eat them inside, and outside was too cold for one to be able to appreciate deliciousness, so we went exploring for a warm place we could buy coffee and sit down. On the way we found some sort of outdoor Sunday farmer's market, and probably tried more than our fair share of the free samples.

Michael bought these for
me from one of the artists we passed. :)

We bought some fantastic pasta sauce and some exciting looking noodles for dinner, and some dried mangoes too. Then we did more street exploring (they are so beautiful), stopped in a glass shop to buy the younger girls some presents, and found a place to eat our pastries and relax.

"Guys! I think I found it!"

     Our friend Alex who we met over the summer at the ITI is studying in Rome, and we had a giant Greek lexicon of his that he had left with us when he visited ITI in October. That good old Greek lexicon. It added about 1000000 lbs to our luggage, but we were glad for it anyway because it meant we got to spend some time with Alex. :)

Rachel patiently puts up with us...

We met him at our airbnb and after catching up a bit there, (he had just flown in from the states) he took us by the metro to the Colosseum. It was getting dark and we couldn't go in, but it was really neat to see from the outside.
We had some issues finding money for the metro to get home, but in the end we made it, and Alex stayed for dinner. It was a really nice time, Michael and Rosie made dinner again, and we all enjoyed it while talking with Alex about his studies.

We found a warm place to eat our pastries. :)

It was an interesting time, since we were travelling and one might think that the sights we saw and the places we went would be what would stick out, but I for one mostly appreciated the dinners and conversations we had there. More like being home and having people over for dinner than travelling the world. :) Alex took us to his favorite gelato place after dinner (yes, we bundled and bundled till we thought we could handle the cold at 10pm, and then we went on an expedition for gelato), and then Mom and Dad went to their airbnb, Alex to catch his train, and Michael and I to figure out our trip back to Trumau the next day.

A church in Rome that Mom
and Dad went to Mass in.

     That "trip back to Trumau" was definitely another adventure. Dad, Michael and I took the metro to our car that we'd parked somewhere far from our airbnb's and planned to drive that to the airport. When we found it we discovered the driver's window was shattered, and so for some reason or other regarding insurance for the car we thought we were supposed to leave it where it was for now, and so Michael and I went back to the metro to try to find our own way to the airport. That wasn't working out to well, time was passing, and we ended up taking the car after all, catching the plane, landing in Vienna, and getting confused on every train we ended up on, sprinting across stations and up escalators, missing our train, and then finally, when the one-car, ice covered, dark and scary looking train that goes to Trumau finally showed up at the same place and time that we did, we got on, and when it stopped in Trumau we forgot to get off. Luckily we realized that in time, and Michael banged on the driver's door so he stopped again and let us out. (We literally were so relieved to know the next stop was Trumau, that we stopped thinking about it and started talking, and simply didn't get off when it stopped...) We "landed" in a bunch of snow on a lonely, dark railway track, but right next to the ITI. It had taken all day, we felt a little dumb, but we'd made it.

     The others stayed in Rome for a few more days, and visited Venice and Assisi as well. I, however, was not there, and don't intend to blog about that. Michael had one more day here, everything was covered in snow, which we were very glad of, and we took a long walk in the snowy fields and went to Liturgy.  Irene, Jenny, Jacinta, and Claire were all there too (it was good t see those guys again!), and that night we invited some friends over for dinner, served a really delicious, tomato soup and meat vegetable role thingie dinner, made shortbread for dessert and had a great conversations with our friends, Stefan and John. (It was all secretly a bribe because we needed one of them to drive Michael to the airport the next morning, since we'd had our fill of public transportation.) It was a success, and next day Stefan drove us to the airport and we sent Michael off to Paris, and then home to California. A smooth end to a lovely trip.
     After the customary day of mourning, I went skiing. I went with Stefan and John to a ski slope about an hour a way, called Schneeberg, and they patiently helped me along until I could do it on my own, and fall down without killing myself. It was a ton of fun, though pretty taxing. Even though you get better at it as you try again and again, you still have to muster up your energy and courage and decide to try, since one can't exactly just inch peacefully down the hill. I fell over plenty of times (not as many as last year in Washington, though, with Rosie and Grandma Judy...) and the next day I could hardly move. But it was really a treat to go, and it was snowing, foggy, windy, but beautiful. Just a little ways away from the slope we were skiing on is an old ruined castle, and you get a beautiful view of it from anywhere on the ski hill, and just below the mountain are a bunch of lovely, snow-covered Austrian villages between the mountains.
     Unfortunately, I got fairly sick after that, the cold I had progressed into some sort of stomach flu that no one else here got at first. Then about a week after I was feeling better, the rest of the girls came down with terrible sore throats, coughs, and Irene got the stomach flu also. Then Mom and Dad took Jakie (who's throat was the worst) to the doctor, and after getting various medications for her and making sure things were stable here went to Prague for a few days for Dad's birthday.

I think they had a good trip, although it was very cold and so mostly they got to see really neat museums. The girls stayed sick for a long time, Irene missed a whole week of school, and some of the others would be up all night because of throat pain. So we watched plenty of movies and they drank plenty of tea. Mom and Dad came back and then a few days ago Rachel got a sinus infection, and Jakie had an allergic reaction to her antibiotics. Things are on the mend now (and we're hoping again to fit in a trip to Croatia before school), but this whole thing has made me realize how long it's been since we had a family epidemic, since it is quite the event, and lasts a good long while.
     In other news, we've been having dance sessions, me and the girls; relearning our bollywood dance and doing some Irish dance, too. Claire and Jakie are teaching me and Rosie a four person Irish dance, and today we're going to meet with some of the kids from the ITI and teach them bollywood.

At the top with Sister Christina and Milda!

Stefan and Jakie
about to take the lift!

Should be fun! We also got Irene's violin fixed up in Vienna (finally) and she and I have been playing together. We went skiing again yesterday, and this time Jakie came too!
I was so glad she decided to. She did a wonderful job, began terrified, stuck with it, and with help from Sister Christina who came along was able to ski down all by herself! At about lunch time she crashed into the metal box that scans your ticket as you go up to the lift, and she got a bloody nose and understandably didn't enjoy it too much after that. She's glad she came though, and I think she was also glad to be home. What a trooper!

     pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/LDPbN6NVv4UDzdUF8