And 18 days and 6 countries, 3 currencies, 6 languages (Luxembourg had 3 “official” languages!) later, we are back in Italy now for the foreseeable future. Our next scheduled trip is not until well into October, with the next major trip outside Italy planned for after Christmas.Â
Anyway, we just arrived in Rome last night after four days in London, which, to my surprise, ended up being my favorite place we visited. Not just because of the English language, although the accents and little English phrases were absolutely fantastic. London is wrapped in history. So much of our lives as Americans makes sense because of English culture and to be able to observe the monarchy in action was wonderful.Â
The priest we stayed with also introduced us to double cream dessert topping, which quickly became a source of great delight and vice for us. He said it’s “like high end cool whip.” Never heard of it before, but boy I hope we find it again.
Places we visited:
Houses of ParliamentÂ
Tower of London and the Crown Jewels
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral (the Catholic one)
Westminster Abbey (the no-longer-Catholic one)Â
Buckingham PalaceÂ
St. Edmund of Canterbury in Loughton, Essex
It is nice to be back in Rome and spend some free time in St. Peter’s Square while we wait for the other half of our group to rejoin us from their time in Poland.Â
Last night we watched the sun set over St. Peter’s Basilica and I think each one us had, in his own way, a moment of intense gratitude to God because this moment has been existed only in our wildest dreams ever since we were children. Now it was real, coming to fruition before our very eyes. The magnitude, both in size and importance, of this place has not set in for us yet, but we give glory and thanks to God who got us here and who is charge!Â
I promise my posts will be more interesting and substantial when I get my laptop back and I don’t have to do this from my phone, but until then: keep it classy, O-town, and remember that God loves you.Â
PAX,
RA
J
