Thoughts, Theories and Things: Tutte le strade portano a Roma!! aka "All roads lead to Rome!

As you already know, I got back from Italy a few weeks ago and have been meaning to blog about my experience.

I guess I will start with what the trip to Italy was for.

Guido (my boss) plans group trips throughout the year- some religious pilgrimages, some food and wine tours and the others are just miscellaneous/ personal vacations. For more information or examples of our upcoming trips please visit our website: http://www.bethesdatravel.com/travel/group-trips/

My trip to Italy was organized with the Archdiocese of Washington as a group pilgrimage. It was planned for the holy mass dedication of the Titular Church (St. Peter in Chains) to Cardinal Wuerl! (Google what this is all about!). In other words, a select few and very holy people from the Archdiocese of Washington, and a select few priests were all invited to see Cardinal Wuerl receive his "church" in Rome. The week consisted of priests (between the ages of 23-27), EARLY morning masses, wine lunches, tours of the Basilica, Vatican Gardens, Ancient Forum and of course, wine and gelato!

Guido had asked that me and my coworker, Galina, experience Rome, Florence and other parts of Tuscany to gain a better understanding of the areas in which we send most of our clients. Who could argue? We were sent on this trip in the hopes of understanding the geography of each place as well as putting faces to names (we met plenty of our trusty guides and private transfers that take care of all our clients). We also had the chance to stay and see many of the restaurants and hotels that our clients use when they visit the Romantic Country.

Day 1: Lets start at the beginning. The airport was a breeze because I packed one carry-on and big purse. For those of you who know me, I can barely pack an over sized suitcase for a one-night sleepover (I like options) so to pack a carry-on for 5 days in Europe...is literally a miracle (it made traveling SO MUCH EASIER!!!)

After our 8ish hour flight, we (Galina, Maryanne-Guido's wife and I ) arrived in Rome at about 8:30 in the morning. Guido was already in Italy and met us at the airport. We gathered the other people on our trip and took a van with a private driver through the city to our hotel. Now, let me back up a minute...I have never travelled luxuriously (unless it was with my parents for a few days when they visited me in both Luxembourg and Argentina) and even then...we took taxis, walked everywhere and were our own tour guides. This past trip to Italy was totally different. We were shuttled around everywhere with a private driver, we had private tour guides, all tickets had been purchased in advance (so no waiting in lines), all restaurant reservations and meals had been pre-arranged and served upon arrival, and we were treated like royalty at our hotels since we are a travel agency and they wanted us to advertise them!

Here is the view from the front door of our hotel in Rome

Albergo de Senato

Amazing hotel, with a perfect location right next to the Pantheon!

Me in front of the Pantheon!

Enjoying a cafe with Guido and Maryanne in front of our hotel

The church where we celebrated mass on our first day in Rome

After a lovely mass, our group of priests and Archdiocese members walked over to "La Vecchia Romana" for a yummy lunch of pasta, wine, evoo, bread and salad, oh, and of course tiramisu!!

I was lucky enough to sit with the four young priests and be able to chat about all my burning questions; why someone would want to be a priest, did they ever want to be married, do they have second thoughts, why can't priests marry, why aren't women priests, do priests party etc etc. Thankfully, my new friends were extremely honest and open and didn't even blink an eye at my bold questions. Thank goodness!

After our tasty lunch and detailed conversations, Guido suggested we grab an espresso, like true Italians and head over to St. Peter in Chains (the church in which Cardinal Wuerl receives during his titular mass). Upon arrival, we were lucky enough to have a private tour with Msgr. Roger Roensch, who talked all about the chains themselves, the history behind the church and of course, the beautiful Moses statue, that is said to represent Michelangelo himself.

Moses statue

Saint Peter's chains

At around 3:30, jet lag hadn't kicked in yet, so Galina and I decided to take advantage of our energy and explore the entire city. We set out, leaving the group of Catholics behind and saw everything. We visited the Colosseum, the ancient Forum, the Vittorio Emanuele II (better known as the Wedding Cake), hot army men in front of army tanks, and much more. For those of you who have visited Rome, you know it is a very walkable city! After and entire day of flying, mass, eating, priests and walking, we were exhausted and needed a break. We rested in our beautiful hotel, ate fruit from the complimentary fruit basket, and got some R&R before heading over to the Trevi Fountain, for some pictures and the best gelato

Colloseum