Italy, Day 6

We made today our rest day.  And boy did our legs need it.  We slept in until 9 am then hopped on the bus to find the church (our church).  Sacrament meeting started at 11:20 and we made it just in time.  It was so refreshing to be around the church members and there were enough Americans there that they translated the meeting through little headsets.  And I have to say that it’s so great that anywhere in the world you go, the church is the same and it feels like home. 

I think the reason we were supposed to go to church today was for Mark to find out some amazing news.  He was chatting with a pair of missionaries who are currently serving in Sicily and told him that the first person he baptized on his mission is still very active and her daughter has since served a mission as well.  It made his day.  We met the mission President’s wife and she was kind enough to walk us to the bus stop to get back into town.  We also met some women who were visiting and one was from Riverton, UT.  It was a really good fast and testimony meeting and a perfect mid vacation spiritual lift (especially after the Vatican the day before). 

One thing I haven’t mentioned before are our sandwiches we have been making for meals when we are too tired to go out.  Here’s the recipe:  fresh bread (hoagie style), salami or prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil.  Seriously, so yummy.  They hit the spot and it’s a cheap meal that we can eat in our room while relaxing. 

We had our homemade sandwiches for lunch then headed out for our Sunday afternoon passegiatta (walk) along with the rest of Rome.  We walked through the Villa Borghese park to the Piazza del Popolo.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a gathering in the Piazza with many military personnel.  It seems that the country is celebrating national unity this week for it’s armed forces.  A concert was to be held in the Piazza.  We were lucky enough to see the fighter jets fly over with colored smoke. 

Here we are in the Piazza with a bunch of military dudes behind us.  Note the blue sky in the picture.  20 minutes later it started pouring rain and half the square scattered. 

Before dinner we squeezed in the Spanish Steps which are famous for reasons we have yet to determine.  Supposedly you are supposed to sit on them and act cool but since it was raining we thought standing and taking a picture would suffice. 

Dinner was at a very authentic Italian restaurant and I disgraced myself and was shamed out of the restaurant when I couldn’t finish my bowl of pasta carbonara. 

Mark was telling me that you don’t take leftovers home because you  normally don’t have any left to take.  I did notice that even the petite Italian girls in the restaurant finished their carbonara.  I suck.