Si, Si, Si, el Papa va a Madrid!

Today we headed to The Vatican for the Papal Audience, what an honor. It turns out that we were given tickets for the Sposi Novelli section, the Newlywed section. We were a little nervous and apprehensive to use them because if you’re a newlywed you should show up in wedding attire, if you don’t, you are not permitted. You are also given the newlywed tickets up to two months of your wedding date. It also turns out that one can still obtain those tickets up to a year after the wedding date. We felt uncomfortable not having some form of wedding attire and didn’t want to get kicked out, so we used our ‘special seat’ tickets instead. Well, little did we know, the ‘special seat’ section was at the very top, right next to the section where Pope Benedict would sit! We were able to get our seats, a few rows back, and relish the honor of being in attendance of such an event. Luckily, Pox is fluent in Italian, and he was able to speak to the usher. He explained that we had no knowledge of being given the newlywed tickets and that we had not packed wedding attire to wear to the Audience, so that we had used the other tickets. He said it was fine and that we didn’t have to worry about a thing and told us to go right ahead and sit in the very front row!!! We were feeling mighty lucky! We had the perfect view of where the Pope would sit!

It was exciting to see the crowds of people arriving, many were waving their countries’ flags, others were chanting songs. At one point, it became apparent that there were overzealous pilgrims in attendance. Young girls were chanting and screaming for Pope Benedict as if he were a rock star and they were his groupies at his rock show… that was a little strange. Although we did have to admit, that it is a positive thing to have young adults who are excited and spiritual—they could be doing other things. It was exciting to see the Pope’s arrival in his mini-hummer-like Mercedes. He stood and waved at the crowed as he approached his platform. The Papal Audience itself was truly an event to remember, we had the opportunity to experience an event that brings individuals from different parts of the world and different walks of life together. He extended his blessing upon all those in attendance, as well as to relatives and friends of all those whom attended. It was truly something that reinforced in us, that fact that we should appreciate what blessings and opportunities we have. The fact that the Pope passed right before us and looked right at us while he waved, was the icing on the cake! Actually, we thought that was the icing. What happened after the audience with the Pope was even more exciting. Due to our "sposi novelli biglietti" we got to go inside the Vatican, behind the scenes, and get a special rosary and prayer card. It was given to us by the Pope's Camerlengo, his right hand-man if you will. Very exciting! What a day to remember!

Giorno due a Roma!

Hello again, everyone! We apologize for the late entry, it’s just that we’ve been struggling with our internet connectivity and well, internet cafes are scarce her e in Roma. We started our day extremely early today, 5 a.m.! We both woke up early and couldn’t sleep any longer, so we decided to get up, get ready, and see the sites. We visited the Trevi Fountain first, and let me say, it was a sight to behold. It was almost empty, as it was only 7 a.m. and it was perfect. The swarms of tourists had not yet invaded the enormous fountain. We made it past the Gregorian University and il Museo de Cere (wax museum) with views of President Obama, Albert Einstein, Brad Pitt, and the stars of Italy—the Popes! The Vittorio Emanuele Monument was next on the list of sights, there’s a reason it’s referred to as the “wedding cake monument,” it’s a giant mass of bi-leveled marble deliciousness! It’s truly a spectacular monument, or building, it’s so massive, it probably takes up two entire city blocks! Just behind the Vittorio Emanuele monument sits the Piazza d’Aracoeli, complete with: Roman ruins, Santa Maria in Aracoeli and Piazza dell Campodoglio perched high above the city, various museums, and perhaps the best views of The Roman Forum and Colosseum. After leaving the wonders of the ancient city, we stopped in at Santa Maria della Consolazione before taking a morning stroll through the Circus Maximus. By 8 a.m., we had already visited countless sites and we were famished! We made our way to a café, where we had a colazione dal spezzo—a quick breakfast—you literally eat standing up at the counter. With full bellies, we walked to Santa Maria in Cosmedin, to relive the famous scene in “Roman Holiday,” in which Gregory Peck almost loses his hand in La Boca della Verita—The Mouth of Truth. Legend says that if one puts their hand into the mouth of the sculpture, it can detect a liar and it will bite one’s hand off! We tried it and it was fun! We are happy to report that no hands were lost during the visit. Happy to be whole, we made our way to Isola Tiberina, a small little island that sits on the River Tiber, which houses a hospital. After resting for a bit, we made our way through the Jewish neighborhood and the Teatro di Marcello, ruins that were built by Augustus.

As if we had not had enough action for one morning, we walked up to Campo de’ Fiori and strolled around it’s farmer’s markets and cafes. We were enticed by the fresh produce and bought some beautiful white peaches and juicy plums… yummy! After admiring all of the goods the venders had to offer shoppers, we headed off in search of Piazza Navona. Piazza Navona is one of the largest piazzas and was once used as a chariot raceway but thanks to Bernini, it is now home to three of his spectacular fountains! Finally tired—oh who wouldn’t be—we made it back to our apartment rental for a break. We were so tired, that the break turned into a nap! Feeling rested, refreshed and a little hungry, we decided to explore our neighborhood a little more while trying to find the perfect place for a snack. We settled on a little café, where Pox had a tuna and tomato Panini and Cindy had an amazingly, delicious, toasted salami and mozzarella sandwich on a rosmary chiabatta….she thought she heard angels sing when she bit into it! A long day and evening of exploration deserves a true reward—dessert! So off we went into the streets in search of something yummy and of all places, yes, we know, we ended up at Mc Donald’s. The Piazza di Spagna Mc Donald’s was featured on Food Network as one of the fanciest in the whole world…so Cindy had to check it out. It turns out that it has been remodeled since the show aired—boo—but the new and improved fast food chain now includes a Mc Café—yay! They even feature authentic Italian pastries such as torta di nona, tiramisu, and torta di ricotta e pera. We sampled a torta di nona, an almond and cream torte and mille foglie ( a thousand folds), a pastry made of phylo dough and cream…mmm. We can definitely say it was a sweet way to end the second night!

Primo Giorno a Roma!

We’re back in Rome,…however, what it took to get here is nothing short of a miracle. We started off very early from Pasadena to the Burbank airport at 5:30 Sunday morning. We cleared through security in a breeze and were at our gate with time to kill. Excitement was slowly beginning to settle in when we were dealt a hard blow. Our first flight was delayed for five hours due to a “maintenance” issue. This meant that we would miss our connecting flight out of the international airport in Oregon which we were supposed to fly out off. Long and agonizing story short, the kind people at Delta airlines were eventually able to send us directly from LAX to Rome on a 3pm flight, we still would arrive at the same time we had planned on. Everything worked out; they even paid for the cab to LAX and our lunch at Wolfgang Puck. The 12 hour flight was okay, except for the Indian sitting close to us who decided that it was okay to take off his shoes allowing for his “heavenly” aroma to penetrate the cabin for the first six to seven hours.

Upon our arrival in Rome, we booked a shuttle which was crammed like a sardine can. We were literally dropped off at the door of our apartment. When we exited the vehicle, we were greeted by Juan, a Colombian ex-pat and by a BEAUTIFUL courtyard fountain. We were shown the ropes as far as the automatic 20ft doors, the tiny elevator which requires a specific sequence of operation. The apartment is tiny, but cozy. It is definitely made for a shorter person or a hobbit. We both truly feel at a home. Although the comforts of a five star hotel would be very welcoming, there’s nothing like feeling truly “Romani”. The only drawback in the apartment is that the internet is still not working.

We spent the remainder of our day exploring our neighborhood, Piazza di Spagna. With such a perfectly situated locale, 5 minutes from the Spanish Steps, unfortunately come the excessive Easter tourists. It looks like an ant colony. We still loved walking to Piazza del Popolo to marvel at the twin churches. It was on our walk that we discovered that Italy is definitely our second home. There were dogs everywhere, good food, a lot of loud people, it’s like any night at the Chavez house. After finding an internet station at Mail Boxes Etc. we had our first Roman meal at Canova Ristorante. We dined al fresco in perfect spring weather. The bruschette mista (bruschetta sampler) was very good. Cindy had a bellini with lasagna and Pox had a colibri with pennette all’arrabiatta. Everything was delicious. We casually strolled back gawking at the expensive fashion that adorns the displays in all of the designer shop windows. We ended the night back at Piazza di Spagna, were Cindy could not resist her evening snack temptation. Cherry and Panna Cotta (Sweet Cream) gelato,…CHECK!