Rain delays play on 5th day
September 19, 2008
The journey to Rome is somewhat incomplete without visiting the four Basilicas and today was the day scheduled to “tick” three of them off. Our focus was St John Lateran, St Mary Major and St Peters. It was going to be a big day, so much so that at our meeting yesterday we made the decision not to come home for lunch. Our plan then was to visit St John Lateran and St Mary Major in the morning, get some lunch down town and head off to St Peters.
The morning went well and we could clearly see why both churches were on the must see list.
At the beginning of the day we’d been warned that there was likely to be rain, certainly the temperatures were a little cooler, but we’ve been so lucky with the weather, “we’ll be right”.
If there was any doubt in our minds that there would be rain, confirmation soon came in the form of at least six umbrella sales people between the time of getting off the bus to the time we entered the doors of St John Lateran and by the time we’d left our second Basilica, St Mary Major, the rain as forecat had arrived right on time.
Still not deterred we made our way back down town but away from the tourist spots and the high priced lunches. Surprisingly, not, Pizza or Pasta were on the menu. Marcel ordered Pizza, however when it arrived, one look at it and he said, “This is not Pizza!” Marcel is very diplomatic so registered his observation only to his table, plus the brisk service meant the proprietor’s attention was now elsewhere. Prego. The imagination can paint wicked pictures at times. Clearly the influence of American-style pizza with its thicker crusts had more of a strong-hold in the African pizza market.
Over lunch the rain became much heavier, what was a few drops became a torrent. As a consequence, the street price of umbrellas went up 2 Euro and the exact same type of umbrella that Bernard paid 3 Euro for earlier in the morning, now with the heavy rain the asking price was now 5 Euro.
The second consequence was we decided to give the Vatican a miss. Here’s hoping that we might be able to get back later, perhaps on one of our free mornings or afternoons. They say that the best time to visit is either early morning, that is arrive there around 7am or during the siesta time in the early afternoon.
With the afternoon now effectively free time, and the weather so inclement it’s really stay at home weather. Time I’m sure will be well spent and given the security alarms were accidentally set off twice during the night, once late and then again early in the morning, some may play “catch up”. Those traveling with ear plugs would be useless when and if a burglar invaded and a little bit of reading might be an option.
However going back to earlier in the day our visit was nicely timed for the visit of the Heralds of the Gospel. They’re group of mainly lay people who in any other context might be confused for being in fancy dress. Leather boots, large Rosary beads, chains around their waist, striking dress and very clean cut. They approached St John Lateran en-masse. Coming home I did a little bit of research on them and there’s a 9 minute clip on YouTube if you’re interested. Each to their own, however they’re getting followers. I’m still not sure what they actually do.
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