Worth every minute.
We have hundreds of pictures, of course. Here are a just a handful of my favorites.
This is an armadillo, representative of the New World, sculpted by people who had never seen an actual armadillo, on Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona.
Here's one of only two pictures of Kansas Dad and me. Despite 17 people willing and able to take our picture. We were too busy actually looking at everything.
We spent most of our time in churches, but we didn't neglect the Forum and Coliseum entirely.
Below is the front of St. John Lateran, the site of one of four sets of Holy Doors in Rome we were able to enter during the Year of Mercy.
One of my favorite church crosses ever - Sant'Eustachio, patron saint of hunters. This is a good picture for Kansans in Rome. An excellent coffee shop is right across the plaza.
Below is the Oratory of the Crib in St. Mary Major. We attended a sung Sunday mass there, absolutely beautiful. One of my favorite mosaics in Rome is there, on the triumphal arch. I failed to get a good picture, though, after they turned off the lights at the end of the Mass. One side shows Jerusalem and the other Bethlehem.
The dome of St. Peters in its entirety, as it was meant to be. (This picture is from inside the Vatican Museum.)
Below is one of the stained glass windows in Assisi, one of my favorite places on earth. In addition to the tombs of St. Clare and St. Francis in Assisi, we prayed before St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Monica, St. Agnes, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Peter Claver, St. Cosmas, St. Damien, and others in Rome.
We saw the Pope, too.
We have really had the most amazing spring, but we're glad to be home for a while. It's time to dive into summer!
