Riddle Family In Italy

"It Has 2001 Rooms!"

We went to the Vatican on Monday (Oct. 1).  We have seen this place on T.V. many times and read about it in books and seen pictures of great masses of people watching and listening to the Pope.  We had to go.  No trip to Rome would be complete without it and it also is where, like so much of Italy, so much history has taken place and much of the history of the church in particular.

We got off the subway close to the Vatican and walked the couple of blocks to where we could see the wall of Vatican City.  Do remember that Vatican City is a nation state in and of itself; it even prints its own version of the euro with the Pope on it.  We wanted to go through the museums and thought we had gotten there in good time to get in line without too much of a wait.  Boy were we WRONG!  The line went from the entrance of the museums almost to St. Peter's Square.  Just to let you know, that is a long way! 

We decided that three boys would not do all that well in a line that long so we decided to go into the Square and see what we could see.  It was really incredible!  One of the reasons that churches were build so big four, five, six hundred or more years ago was to give a sense of awe to those coming to worship there.  The idea was that if you think this is big and beautiful, think of how much more God is than this.  Well, St. Peter's Square definitely gives you that since of awe!  It is huge and has two giant fountains on each side and an obelisk in the center.   (See photo at the right.)  We now understand how it can hold hundreds of thousands of people for a big event like the funeral of a Pope! 

After looking around the Square for a little while we went back out and found a place that was selling backpacks and other luggage.  We have been wanting to get a new backpack but have not really looked for one.  Well, at this little stand we found one that was really nice so we asked the price.  25 euros (about $35).  Melody immediately said no, 15!  My wife knows how to bargain!  Well, the vendor did what we expected and said 20 and started to walk away with it to make the sale.  He did not expect to run into my wife on this day!  Melody calmly looked at him and said no, 15.  The guy was a little perplexed by this and said that was too low and he could not do it.  Melody said, "Fine, we do not need it right now, we will leave it here."  We started to walk away.  The vendor relented and said okay to the offer of 15 euro (about $21). 

We walked about ten meters to a cafe and Melody was looking over the backpack that we had just bought and found a broken zipper on it!  The vendor had taken the one we wanted to buy in the truck "to take the paper out of it" but in reality had switched it for a broken backpack.  If the vendor did not get the hint earlier that he was dealing with an experienced haggler, he was about to find out!  Melody took the backpack back to the vendor and showed the guy there the broken zipper.  He took it to his "boss" who came to us and said that he had given us a good product and that we had broken it!  "We walked ten meters with it! How could we have broken it! You gave us a broken backpack and we want one that is not broken!" was my wife's unrelenting reply!  (Do remember that this is all going on in Italian!)  Needless to say, we got another backpack and we checked it out in front of them.  It does not have anything broken.

Now, Back to the Vatican.  After finishing with the backpack vendor, we decided to walk around the area a little and went to the Castel Sant'Angelo.  We thought that we would get to see inside and the boys would really like that; they have a thing for castles.  Unfortunately it was closed on Monday.  So we looked around out side it and watched some street artists for a while and relaxed a little.  We got gelato, a family favorite and walked back to the Vatican.

When we got to the starting point of the line to get into the museums, we notice that the line had disappeared!  So we decided to go inside.  It was neat to be able to walk all the way to the door with no wait!  There were still plenty of people going through though and there were a couple of places that we had bottlenecks that were slow, but for the most part, we were able to run through the museums.  We ran because it was about two o'clock and the boys had not had much to eat at this point in the day so we were all a little on the hungry side.

Adam was really having a hard time getting through the museums and was starting to melt down when Melody started asking how many rooms he thought this building had.  The answers started at the low hundreds but soon climbed to 1000!  After another 20 minutes of walking/running through hallway after hallway, we got to the Sistine Chapel and Adam declared "This place has 2001 rooms!"

The art in the Vatican is incredible!  There is so much of it and this time we did not have time to see it all since we were trying to get through as quickly as possible for the boys sake.  It is beautiful.  It is grand and it makes me realize that a lot of money was spent to build all of that.  It also reminds me that it all pales in comparison to who and what God is in my own life.  There is nothing in all of the Vatican and the world for that matter, that I would change for what God has done in my life and the blessings that he has granted to me.  I hope that we can all see the blessings that God has brought into our lives no matter where we are at this point. 

Seeing all of this at the Vatican and seeing all the people there makes me think.  When people visit there, do they really remember that all of this was done to Glorify God?  Does the building that we see there in the middle of Rome represent an arrow pointing to God and Christ or is it too much for us and we just see another beautiful building that blocks our sight of who we are supposed to meet there?  It makes me think.

So, What Did You Think?

I was talking to my oldest son Micah as we were waiting for the train to come back to Bari from Rome and I asked him, "What did you think of Rome?"

This is where I am learning that there is a difference between boys and girls at this age.  I have heard stories about my nieces who are the same age as our oldest two boys and how they will tell everything about something that they have attended on a trip they took.  Not our boys.

Micah's response to my question, "Neat."  Not, "It was neat" or "I liked it."  Just "Neat".  So I tried to push him out a little and get him to talk some about our trip, "Can you tell me in more than one word what you thought of the trip?" I asked.

He looked at me and said, "Really neat."

I got what I asked for.  He doubled the word count of his previous answer!  Micah is a boy of few words and we love him!  It just takes time to get stories out of him. 

Impressions of Rome...

We left Bari at a little after 5:00 AM on Saturday morning and road the train for about five hours to get to Rome.  It may seem like a crazy time to leave on a trip but it is the BEST way to go.  This train gets you to Rome at around 10:00 AM and the tickets are the cheapest you will find!  The ride went well and we arrived in Rome and met our friend Jan who we were going to be staying with for the weekend.

Since being here in Italy, we have lived in Lecce (100,000 people) and now live in Bari (500,000 people) but they both seem very small compared to Rome (3,000,000 people!).  We have also decided that we prefer the way of life in southern Italy to that of Rome and the north.  The people here in the south are just friendlier and seem more welcoming then they are in Rome.

The history in Rome is rich!  There is so much for us to see and learn from this city about the past and we were amazed at the size of it all.  The Colosseum (pictured to the right) was incredible to see.  The size, the number of people it could hold when it was actually used 2000 years ago (50,000 people) and the beauty of it was amazing.  It is hard to believe that at its peak, when it was in its best condition and in its most beautiful state, thousands were dying inside for the amusement of others. 

We counted this as a field trip for our boys and for three days we traveled around Rome looking at various sites and seeing new things at each turn.  We also met many people.  It was interesting to see the boys reaction to hearing so many different languages.  While we were there we heard English, Italian, French, German, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and I am certain there were a few languages that we did not even recognize.  It was good to be able to show the boys that there are many different people from all over the world though.  It was a good learning experience for them and us.

Rome is much more expensive than Bari.  It is like going to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia or New York City.  When you go there be prepared to pay a good bit more for just about everything!  At one point we stopped at a fruit vendor to pick up some peaches.  We asked about the price and and he told us 5 euros per kilo!  Where we get our fruits in Bari we generally pay about 1.50 euros per kilo!  I asked him why in the world it cost 5 euros and he looked at me and said, "This is Rome."  So, we left that fruit stand without buying anything.  Later we went to a grocery store near Jan's house and were able to find things at a little more reasonable price.

Our boys enjoyed looking at the sites.  They got bored after a while but they did great overall.  They have gotten their pictures taken so often that they do it pretty much automatically now when we ask them to do so.  The picture to the right was taken by more people than just us!  There were a couple of people behind us as we took the picture and when we turned around they looked at us and said, "They are so cute!"  We tend to agree. 

Rome has much to offer and much to see.  We liked the visit to the historical sites and seeing the people there.  We really enjoyed our time getting to know Jan better.  She was a wonderful hostess.  We will go back in the future, we do not know when.  We want to spend a little more time at some of the places we saw this time.  Rome is an awfully big place though.  For now, we will stay here in Bari and relax some and get to know the people here better and the language better. 

More on Rome to follow.  Until then, Blessings to you all in the Name of Jesus Christ.