Day 9: Rome Part 1

As strange as it may seem, I really don’t have much to say about Rome itself from the first day of being there. We arrived after our drive from Arezzo in the afternoon and we had to immediately dress and prepare to get back onto the bus. We were all really full of nervous energy because we had all been looking forward to our performance at St. Peter’s Basilica.



Unfortunately, we were not able to take any pictures inside the Vatican, but I can assure you in a few days when we get a formal tour that I will get an overload of photos for you. I can tell you that it was an absurdly beautiful experience and one which I will never forget. Being in the largest church in the world, one which represents a place where millions of people worldwide focus their faith. The entire church was shut down for the mass and we were singing as real parts of the actual mass which was going on. We were greeted extremely warmly by the audience of many hundreds of people and the actual mass was in no way staged or just put on for tourists. We were amplified, unfortunately, but I know that we still sounded great and it was something that was simply incomparable in terms of anything I have ever done before.

After getting out of the Vatican, we returned to our hotel and got ready for the final dinner with the Friends and Family. This group had been with us for about a week of our whole time in Italy and we got to share a special meal intermingled with them at their hotel. We were sad to see them go, but we were very happy to have sung for them and that they could have joined us across the ocean to give us a piece of home.





So, with a bit of regret for not having seen so much of Rome, but with excitement for what lay ahead, we made our way out of Rome and we will be headed south for Salerno.