Many gifts

There was a poster outside our hotel room in Rome that, translated, said, "The city unveils its secrets" which I hoped would be an omen and I now know it was.

Rome is a beautiful city and also loud, chaotic, busy, rushed and somewhat disorganised but oh so enchanting, captivating and rich with diversity and surprises.

You all know the trouble I had in maintaining my blog where wifi was scarce most of the time and the lack of success in uploading photos but I could not leave the blog unfinished. So here is my final post written after the 'official' Path of Peter Pilgrimage is over although I will never willingly leave the path. 

The photo above and the 2 below are of Monte Cassino about 1 and a half hours out of Rome and is a Benedictine Abbey - a breathtakingly beautiful place on top of a hill.

Every centimetre of the place had a touch of beauty both simple and elegant and rich and ornate. Google it and you will be able to read its history as I do not want to bore you with details at the moment. I can still feel the tranquil mood of the place so the details don't really matter that much to me.

 Here is a bread shop that also sold cakes and pastries which we found near Piazza Navona. 'Fornaio' means oven and the smell as you walked inside was tantalising. Tosca and I bought a ricotta pastry which we gobbled without uttering a word except to say, "Mmmm, good!". In case you can't tell the thing in glass on the left of the entrance is a huge Mortadella log which would have been around 40cm in diameter - huge!

This is outside the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (Mary Major) which is one of the four Papal Basilicas in Rome. Beautiful on the outside but I found it to be rather gloomy and serious on the inside.

On Anzac day we were privileged to attend a service at one of the War Cemeteries led by the New Zealand contingent. Each year Australia and New Zealand alternate leading the service. It was a very moving occasion as was the sight of the headstones of many young men who'd died in the line of duty, some as young as 19 years of age. 
 

 The papal audience on Wednesday April 24 is a day none of us will forget! Apart from the crowds, the heat, lack of organised access, cranky participants etc there is something very very special about Pope Francesco! He exudes love and warmth - no wonder each Wednesday has had record breaking attendance.

Our final night before departure was spent at Domus Australia where we attended Mass led by Cardinal Pell followed by dinner with the Australian Ambassador to the Holy See, Mr John McCarthy. The style of the Chapel fits in well with other Roman churches and edifices although one can tell it is quite new unlike the norm here.  Lovely touches of Australiana are included such as little kangaroos at the base of the lectern and on the right side of the sanctuary is the most captivating picture of Mary MacKillop.

Dinner was a delicious mix of Italian and Australian cuisine and you can see below that Leonie, Jim, Tosca and I were very happy dinner party members!

And so there I must leave my writing as I have been back for 3 days and other responsibilities need my attention. The city of Rome did unveil some of its secrets as did every place we visited and as we have time to process our pilgrimage experience I'm sure much more will be revealed. This time away has been a gift and a blessing which we have been very honoured to receive.

In the words of Rev. Peter J. Milano - "Tourists pass through places, but pilgrims let places pass through them, allowing their hearts to be changed."Our hearts have been changed.