Day 1: Part 2, Arriving in Rome by Nick Tanner

From Nick:

Wow, what a day!  After nearly 24 hours of airplane travel and layovers, I was absolutely spent, expecting to arrive in Rome and immediately pass out on my bed.  But being in the city was so exciting that we stayed out well past midnight and crammed a ton of excitement in during a very short amount of time.

To start with, we checked into our apartments.  They are right in the heart of Rome, with the giant dome of St. Peter's fully visible from my apartment's front door.  The apartment I share with Brandon, Thomas, Toan, and Mr. Romano is also right across the street from Castel Sant'Angelo.  The apartments are awesome (I have a whole room all to myself).

Once we got settled in we all walked to a pizza place right down the street from our apartment called "Pazzariello."  I don't know if I was just hungry, but the pizza was excellent.  We'll definitely be revisiting that place.

Next we took a walk through some of the city.  Our path took us east to Piazza Navona where we visited Saint Agnes in Agony, then to view the Pantheon, then to the Jesuit residence where Fr. Johnson is staying for the week.  We celebrated Mass in a small chapel at the Jesuit residence and said an evening prayer.  Then we dispersed for the night.  Most of the group went for some gelato (also excellent) and then Austin, Brandon, Michael, Toan, and I went back to St. Agnes for a holy hour.  A local youth group was hosting a night for adoration and reconciliation.  The church is absolutely breathtaking and they had beautiful music.  Priests were sitting around the Church available for confessions in all kinds of languages.  It was a beautiful night -- we sat for awhile in adoration, made confessions, and then prayed a rosary.

Austin, Brandon, Fr. Bravo and I enjoying real Italian pizza!

We left the church when the event ended, which was 12:15, and walked back to the apartment.  The streets were still crowded, and people were still eating dinner and carrying on.  I got back to my room and fell asleep to the sounds of the busy Roman streets outside my bedroom window.  This is a great place to be.

Our view of St. Peter's from our apartment the Angel House

Outside the Pantheon

The ceiling of St. Agnes in Agony. Amazing!

Mass in the Jesuit chapel

My bedroom in the Angel House

St. Agnes in Agony, where we had our late night adoration and confession.

Our favorite pizza place