Monday Memories

OK, so I'm making an attempt at some regular type posts. Who knows if this will last because, hey, it's shocking that I've done 3 blog posts in fairly recent days as it is. But, this weekend we stayed in a hotel room and for some reason the smell of the hotel soap/shampoo transported me back to Rome and I was remembering our honeymoon. <3 So, I thought it would be nice to devote some time to reminiscing about fun things that we've done. And, duh, today I'm going to talk a little about our honeymoon.

Jason has been an avid donor to Catholic Answers for a long time, and during my conversion this is where he pointed me to get many an answer. He had frequently read about and heard about all of the Catholic Answers Cruises and he really wanted to go on one. I did too and when the trip to Rome came up we thought it would be so fun! We were not engaged yet, but we booked the trip hoping that we would be able to be married soon and this could be our honeymoon. It was a tight squeeze...our wedding was Friday, September, 25th and we left for Rome the following Wednesday, October 1st.

[caption id="attachment_439" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="At the airport"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_440" align="aligncenter" width="85" caption="This church quickly became a landmark for us to find our way back to the hotel. I believe it was St. Bartholomew."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_441" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="The real deal everyone...yes, we met Karl Keating. Here he was lecturing outside of some ruins at the Roman Forum if memory serves correctly"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_442" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="And here I am, crossing the Tiber!"]

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The ever-important Tiber River. Converts to Catholicism sometimes refer to their conversion as "crossing the Tiber".

We saw some really awesome, beautiful churches. I wish I could post all of them, but we took so many pictures between our two cameras, so I'm just going to put in a couple.

[caption id="attachment_444" align="aligncenter" width="199" caption="The crucifix at The Pantheon"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="This was some amazing artwork at one of the Churches. "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not many pictures were allowed inside the Vatican so here is a picture of the entrance. Definitely amazing!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_447" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Entrance to St. Catherine's chamber"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_448" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Inside the chamber."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_449" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="St. Catherine of Sienna."][/caption]

These are just a few highlights. Hopefully someday I'll get all of the pictures organized and I can either post them here, or a link to a slide show. I love looking at the pictures because it reminds us how close we were to some saints. We walked in St. Peter's basilica where St. Peter is actually buried. We entered the chamber where St. Catherine of Sienna died and saw the chamber where they attempted to martyr St. Cecilia. What an amazing experience that I am so thankful for.