Coming close to Jesus

We saw Jesus' footprints today... how they know they are the footprints of Jesus beats me... but here's a picture

So let's backtrack.. we got up at 6:30 AM and met at 7:15 for a quick breakfast across the street. Cappucino and a doughnut (which was completely covered in sugar... sugar overload.) 

                                       

Then we caught the train... got lost a little bit... and found our bus which took us to the first catacomb, S. Calisto. Our tour guide was wonderful and told us so much information s l o w l y so we could take it all in. This catacomb was rediscovered in 1852, 75 feet deep, has 4 floors, and is home to 1/2 million graves. Kinda creepy, huh? Rome has 59 catacombs and only 2% are open to the public. The graves closer to the ground are the oldest, and going deeper into the ground are the newer (slash not new at all) graves. We started in a room that has graves of many popes and 16 bishops (day full of churchy things). The plaques, kind of like gravestones, were stolen so all of the graves were empty, and the bones disintegrated. Our tour guide said there is chapel still in use today down in the catacomb. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures :( 

Kyle took this picture of me, Kate, and Kelly in front of church on the way to the first catacomb and he goes "okay 1... 2... 3..." but after 3 he continues to hold the camera up and he is just staring... so the three of us stand there smiling awkwardly and finally he goes "I think I just witnessed a miracle... your camera made the boxes in the shape of a cross." Jesus was with us... all day long. 

After this, it was back to walking. Oh, and a lot of it. We either missed the bus or thought the walk was a lot closer... but we were basically walking on the side of a cobblestone highway where the Italians pick their own speed limit... super fast. We stopped at a little church.. I lit a candle for Adam and said a little prayer. Logan went to light a candle and accidently blew all the lit ones out, so 20 American girls laughing in a church was quite the scene. As she went to relight the candles, I swore we were going to burn it down. But we survived. After almost getting taken out by buses and crazy Italian drivers (they are the nicest, friendliest people, but boy oh boy they are on a mission when they are driving!), we made it to the second catacomb, S. Sebastiano. It was interesting to see the differences between the two catacombs, but the first was a much better tour. Our tour guide in the second catacomb spoke English so quickly it sounded like he was speaking Italian. I kept thinking, "just smile and wave boys, smile and wave." So no cool information to share :(

After our tours, we hopped on a few different buses and finally made it to lunch. Eight of us ate at this restaurant called The Glass and I ordered a delicious vegetarian pizza. Not sure I will ever be able to eat pizza from Dominos, Papa Johns, or Pizza Hut anymore. Our waiter was an extremely good looking Italian man... and I now have my first Italian crush. 

                                        

And my embarrassing story of the day.. I went to buy some post cards and took out a Swiss franc I got at the airport in Zurich. This Italian woman looks at it, looks at me, and goes "no, no , no." Oops.