Hi All!

I've been in Rome for 3 days now, and have managed to see a good bit of what I'd hoped to see. Rome is huge, and everywhere you look, there are layers upon layers of history, from ancient to recent. My photos focus mostly on three sights -- the Pantheon, the Roman Forum and the Vatican, including St. Peter's and the Vatican museum. There's lots to tell that I don't have room for here, but I've got lots of material for when I come back! I will mention two things - one having to do with the Church and one personal.

First, one thing I'm learning more of here is that many words used in the church are actually old Roman words, that didn't even have any particular religious meaning to them. For example, the term "basillica" simply meant a large, covered building with one main and two side aisles. Usually, these were government buildings used for legal proceedings. However, as churches began to need larger spaces after the legalization of Christianity, and started using old Roman "basillicas" for worship, the term came to mean a big church. Also (and I did know this before), the title of Popes (Pontificus Maximus) was originally a term used by the Roman Emporers.

The personal thing I'm very grateful for is the ability to use English while in Italy. My bad Spanish is good enough to help me understand a little bit of Italian, but it hasn't helped me very much in trying to talk to people. But, I'm starting to realize that lots of Europeans use English as their international language (much the way people in the first century used Greek.) This was driven home to me when I was sitting in a cafe having lunch yesterday, and a bunch of German guys sat down at the table next to me. Only one of them spoke a little English, but he needed that English to commuicate with the waiter who spoke only Italian and some English. So, I ended up helping the Germans figure out the English words they needed to communicate with the waiter. And when my German is better than their English, it's bad!

Tomorrow, I fly to Athens, and will be in Greece for a little over a week. I'll be visiting a lot of places that St. Paul visited and wrote to. For now, I'm getting into my journeys with Paul by reading Paul's letter to the Romans, since I am, after all, in Rome!