Buona Sera:
We were so relaxed we stayed up to after midnight….are we nuts! We slept well and we were still awake by 7:30…can’t miss breakfast and that was a good thing, they had fried eggs, bacon and other goodies we haven’t seen too often. Susan had 2 helpings, it was good to see her eating again.
Today’s plan was to visit two shrines not far from here, about 1 ¼ hours drive to the first and 30 minutes to the second. Susan had no idea we were headed back to the mountains and she was not a happy camper on the first leg, wait ’till she sees the next one. I hope the sleeper sofa is comfortable!
Our first stop was Genazzano and we arrived easily and we parked right in front of the gate to this very old walled city. As we made our way up and up and up to the shrine we couldn’t help but laugh as there was parking everywhere, even in front of this Shrine to Our Lady.
The church was beautiful but paled in comparison to the fresco of the Mother and Son that has a wonderful unique history. Sorry…..you have to read the story.
We made our way back to the car and we were glad we parked below. This town is so old and each corner produced a new insight as to the way of life here in pagan times. We drove away feeling very uplifted and made our way to the next shrine.
As we rounded a corner Susan saw this structure about 2 miles up at the top of the mountain and just looked at me in disbelief. You have got to be kidding she said, and I think that was when the sleeper sofa came into play. This road up had it’s own attributes compared to others, the main was the fact that there was an S-turn every couple hundred feet. It was marvelous except for the girls. The views were indescribable and I hoped Susan had the camera on as she bravely attempted to take pictures. A couple of times I stopped the car and took a couple myself not wanting you to miss the vistas. When we arrived at the shrine Susan was busy looking in her purse and I asked what she needed and she said her sunglasses and I started laughing and told her she had them on. LOL.We spent most of our time in front of this beautiful, miraculous picture that came from heaven. We prayed there for the indulgences and also said our rosary in front of the shrine for your intentions. We didn’t want to leave but the 12 noon lunch hour was approaching and we wanted to leave with dignity instead of getting thrown out. LOL
The sad part of this story was that we hadn’t arrived at the main shrine we were going to visit. We meant to go to Mentorello and we ended up in Montrello, which is very close to Mentorello but was meant to be a stop on our journey. Apparently it was and Our Blessed Mother laughed the whole time knowing we ended at the Mont instead of the Ment. You think you are confused! When we get back we have even a better story but to tell, so you will have to wait and it’s LOL.
We walked the city going up and up again and finally ended up in this beautiful church. It was again very old and full of treasures to enjoy and we thought we were in the Ment. There were many relics and beautiful paintings from Michelangelo (we think, or they could have been from Montoangelo) and we were alone in the presence of Jesus and we didn’t care because this was a place that people would never see, except for all of you. This was a church dedicated to Mary Magdellana.
We went back to the car and stopped at the pizzeria that was open and before sitting down asked if we could get pizza and once again we were told NO, only at night. DUH As we left the rains started and we saw the sign to get to the Ment., where we wanted to go. The rain had started and the road wasn’t appealling, so we decided to head back.
As we went down the mountain another way we saw the Ment and almost turned around. It was spectacular and only 10 miles away, up and up and Susan was going to have none of that. We were Ment to leave. We looked for a pizza joint along the way but we ended back at the hotel before we found one, so we went to the supermarket and bought our own as well as other goodies to stuff our refrigerator for the next few days.
Back at the hotel we cooked the pizza as well as enjoyed a bottle of wine as we answered e-mails and typed this report. the only problem was that we didn’t get 2. Tomorrow in Rome we will have pizza at our favorite place near the Piazza Navona. Eat your hearts out.
Tomorrow begins the unknown part of this trip. We have no set plans except to go to Rome tomorrow and get our tickets for the Papal Audience on Wed. We hope for a chance to meet the Holy Father and Susan has been sending him Notes on Twitter and now Facebook even describing the clothes we will wear. May be he will take us to the Ment in his helicopter. If not we will try and go back before we leave and Susan’s nerve returns.
Have a great day
God Bless
Susan and Tom
