We have seen a significant increase in tourism recently. This is not only great for the people who make money doing things on the streets like braiding hair, but also fo us! We were not expecting to have many friends visit, but we have been blessed to get to say hi during people's vacations :)
This is just a reminder to myself. It takes a while for relationships to grow and especially when you have had so many deep ones in the past. There are days when we wonder how long it will take to "make those connections" then we have a day like Dragon Boat Festival arrive. It's not celebrated in Italy, but we had THREE different people/families go out of their way to bring us zongzi to eat/celebrate...and one person took the time to make them by hand! It was a great reminder that we have touched some people here even if the depth is not there yet...it's coming.
So, as I have said before, Katherine's play got cancelled so she made it her mission for our family to do ALL the parts, and she put together all of the outfits for each character and made the props.
One of the cutest archbishops ever!
Dad as Merlin (from the play King Arthur to clarify)
We went out on some errands and realized that we were all in the same color group. We also ran into Jonathan walking a dog so he took our picture for us.
Wow, we haven't seen these friends in so long. What a nice surprise! The kids were really tiny the last time we saw them and they said that the next time we got together we would do ice cream...they didn't forget! Benjamin is with us but volunteered to take the photo ;)
There's so much artwork inside churches and other buildings in Rome. Even if you have been to a certain place before, you will always notice stuff that you missed the time before. This particular photo is in the building with the Holy Stairs.
Inside San Giovani Church
This church has a statute of each of the 12 disciples. i took these pictures to remind me to look up the symbolism and meanings of a couple of them. The statues always had symbolism and told stories. In this one, Philip is standing on a creature that has the head of a dog, body of what looks like an alligator, and the tail of a serpent. I'm still looking into it...there's so much history here...it will take a while to learn it all ;)
This one of Bartholomew also fascinated me because it looks like he is carrying a sheet with the skin of someone's face hanging off of it. Again, need to look this one up.
Here's a picture from the inside of the center gate/entrance. It is only opened during the year of jubilee, every 25 years. The next one in in 2025.
Stylin with her sunglasses
Bruschetta is one of mine and Regan's favorite appetizers. We got it at this restaurant, and I believe it's my favorite so far!
Our friends wanted to know where a good bakery was.
So, we all tried a few different things!
We also went to the part of the park that has the ancient aqueduct ruins. I didn't realize that Regan and Katherine had not been to this part before.
Any time we go to a park, the soccer ball comes, too. :)
holding up the ruins
Lauren
It's such a great park to walk
walking around our neighborhood
Selfie in front of San Giovanni Basilica
Cheryl and Kelly
Cheryl and Regan
