The day dawned crisp and cold. I was up early, still a bit on California time, though I had eight hours of sound sleep. I was in the chapel at 5:30. Our hotel was a place run by German nuns and they have a lovely chapel. Mass was at 7:00am in Italian. That was not the first time I had concelebrated at a Mass in Italian, but it was the first time I had taken part of the Eucharistic prayer. After A quick Italian breakfast we introduced ourselves to the Metro and made our way to the American Embassy. Two hours later I had a new passport. Our itinerary plans were changed by events. We saw nothing of what was planned for the day, but we saw plenty. Since the embassy was near the Trevi Fountain we went there so that we could go to Santa Maria in Trivio which is where St. Gaspar is buried. The pictures taken this day were on Donalyn’s camera. That is a picture of me standing in front of the Church. After a visit to his tomb we set out for St. Peter Basilica. The lines were huge and since we would have other opportunities we did not go in. We made our way to Piazza Navona and walked a bit until we came to one of my favorite restaurants near the Pantheon, “La Sagrestia.” We had a marvelous Italian Pronzo, the first of many to come. My traveling companions took very quickly to this very Italian way of eating. We then explored the Pantheon, and then Sopra Minerva where we visited the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena. From there we walked to the Collegio Romano where Gaspar was a student, and then to St. Ignatius where he often worshipped. Across from St. Ignatius is a the spot where the police station stood where Gaspar refused the oath to Napoleon and was taken away to prison and exile. We then walked to Piazza Venezia where we entered the Church of San Marco where Gaspar served as Canon. After that visit, it now being dark we hailed a taxi back to our hotel. We took a little break before dinner and I walked up a block to Appia Nuova where I found a camera shop and very soon found myself the new owner of a new digital camera, one much better than the one that was lost. We celebrated for a second night at our now favorite pizzeria, and then retired for the evening, because the next day was going to be long.
