A Day in Rome

Today we spent the day driving to Rome, visiting St. Peter's and driving home.  What a beautiful day.   St. Peter's was amazingly beautiful and overwhelming.  The size of the church was just incredible.  We walked around looking at everything, spent some time praying, and then went downstairs to the tombs.  We prayed for all of you in front of Pope John Paul II's tomb, and I found that very moving.  I hope that when we come back in November we will be able to see Pope Benedict XVI in the flesh.

Only a couple of construction setbacks and a little bit of traffic and it took us 4 hours to drive to Rome.  For those of you in the U.S., you probably wouldn't believe the cost of the highways here.  The main highways are tollways, and when we drive for about 2 1/2 hours, the cost was 13.80 euro.  That is about $20 for a one-way trip to Rome.  Or $40 for the day trip.  And I wouldn't say that the roads are always worth the price, either.  Then we needed a litre of oil for the engine.  Lloyd paid 11 euros for one litre!  That is about $17!!!  Not to mention the parking garage (25 euro for the whole day).  But despite the cost, and including gas (and oil) it was still cheaper to drive to Rome than to take the train.  It may have been a bit less stressful, however.  We left the house this morning at around 8am and got back just before 8pm, and in fact, just in time for a very delicious Italian barbecue at the Villa!  A nice change from pasta!