so.... Roma is flooding

Like, seriously. The Tevere (Tiber) is way high, and I hear that parts of Trastevere are under water. A barco (tourism boat) totally broke away from its dock near Ponte Cavour and flowed with the rushing waters left behind by the nearly-incessant winter rainy season thanks to the Mediterranean. This barco ended up smashed against Ponte Sant'Angelo. Like so:



I'm not sure when the Tevere last flooded like this. Most likely it was a very, very long time ago-- I say this partly because of the fascination of the locals. ALL day there were hoards of italiani with their chic little high-tech telefonini (of course they had cameras in them, duh) snapping away and creating photographic evidence of this CRAZY event. It was nothing short of hilarious. I love italiani- such a strange breed, but ever so endearing. The river is flooding! The river is flooding! Text Giuseppe! Call Gaia! Tell Francesca! Che peccato, ma eccolo! Interessante, fantastico, che spettacolo! Oh, Rome..

Recently lots has been going on in light of finals and whatnot. But that stuff is boring-- the important thing is that JCU is a thing of the past (good.). But this past Sunday before finals Msgr. Wells, my theology professor//Vatican big shot (perhaps the first American pope?) took our class and the arkies (so about 60ish people, give or take) on the traditional pilgrimage 7-church walk. The list-

• San Pietro in Vaticano
• San Paolo fuori le mura
• San Giovanni in Laterano
• Santa Maria Maggiore
• Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
• San Lorenzo fuori le Mura
• Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore

So we hit all those churches (walking) plus two more. If you are at all familiar with Roma, you'll notice that San Paolo fuori le mura-- St. Paul's outside the walls [Roman CITY walls]-- and San Pietro are very far apart from one another. We started the day at 7 am in St. Peters (the only people there, yay ND) and headed from there to Santa Maria Maggiore, then to San Paolo [pictured], then along Via Appia outside the city to San Lorenzo and Santuario della Madonna, then to San Giovanni in Laterano, then across the street to Santa Croce. Whew. 12+ miles of walking. We were on our feet from about 7 am until 4pm. It was pretty cool, though, because all that walking led to a number of really great conversations, plus the weather was wonderful (no rain !!!) and the skies that Roman blue. We stopped for lunch and to hang out somewhere on Via Appia, which is just Lazio paradise-- cyprus trees and grass and old hunks of rock everywhere. Overall a great day, one during which tons of awesome talks were talked and pictures taken. One of my faves-- I love walking, and I especially love walking around Roma, quite possibly one of the most gorgeous and colorful places in the world.

In other news: I found another GREAT gelateria today. Gelateria del Teatro on via dei Coronari, near Navona. Also, I was introduced by Nathan to the best coffee in all of Roma, quite conveniently located near the arkie studio. And the Pantheon. Definitely the best coffee I've ever had in my entire life- including that of Vienna and Ljubljana. In addition, be prepared for the Eurotrash wardrobe that is coming home with me. Trends I've noticed over the past 4 months a Roma:
1) really really REALLY tight pants on both guys and girls
2) man purses (bonus points for Louis Vuitton)
3) Dolce&Gabbana everything
4) colored tights
5) fur
6) boots of all sizes, shapes, colors, materials-- just NO stilettos ( the cobblestones limit that one)


Oh, yea- and one more interesting thing going on. CHRISTMAS STUFF. Here is the Vatican getting ready for Christmas:
A presto! Un bacio~ K