Roma- the Vatican- and Assisi

A view of Rome from the Victory Monument a little bus ride away from my apartment

At the Papal Address at 10:30am (got there at 8am) I was that close to the Pope! He gave his blessings to each person in the audience and their family- so I extend the blessings to you!

One of my first views of Assisi- a look at the St. Francis Monastery

The beautifully ancient streets of Assisi- barely wide enough for people and cars to fit through! We had a wonderful day spent- 12 of us in total- of wandering around the town and visiting the many churches; my favorite was the (upper) Basilica of St. Francis

The Castle of Assisi on top of a HUGE hill

Two boys from my group- Nick Homen and Will Breen. Unfortunetly we were not allowed to take photos in many of the churches that we toured and due to my poor quality of pixels the pictures that I did take are of poor quality. I can say that each church was unique in its own beauty! The Church of St. Claire- another patron of the town- held relics of St. Francis' abbot along with the very tomb of St. Claire!

We arrived in Assisi at 10am and hopped back on the train for a total of 2 hours of travel back to Rome at 6:20pm. By the time we arrived in Rome we all crashed for the night.

Today- November 21, 2011 at 7:10am I found out that I am the aunt of a beautiful little girl of Thomas and Brittany Coleman given the name Julia Rae! I heard the wonderful news as I was riding the bus on my way to the Vatican to have mass with one of the Priests of the Saint John's University. I actually shed some tears of joy and I cannot wait to go back to Minnesota and see her in person! Congrats Tom and Brit- you will make wonderful parents!