Buona Pasqua!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter (Pasqua) yesterday! Today is Pasquetta in Italy (literally, "Little Easter") which is basically a day of eating leftovers and enjoying another little holiday. All of the stores were closed, even our grocery store, which meant we were forced to eat leftovers here!

That's okay, though, because we made an amazing meal for Easter which only got better after sitting in our fridge overnight. We roasted chicken and potatoes with olive oil, garlic, rosemary and lemon and then we made breaded artichoke hearts. We also had our now famous gelato sundaes with almonds, bananas and our homemade chocolate sauce.

Before we sat down for our Easter dinner, though, we had to of course check out the Easter service at the Vatican. Let me tell you, it was crazy!! There were so many people from so many different countries. It was pretty much standing room only in St. Peter's Square, except in the parts where they did set up a few chairs (unfortunately, not having tickets left us in the standing crowd). It was cool to see how many people were there, all dressed up for Easter.

Again, the earthquake was a major topic of prayer as was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here is a link to Pope Benedict's "Urbi et Orbi" (To the City and to the World) Message, which shows more of the things he talked about. He gave this address after the mass; it's a tradition every Easter.

With all of the happenings this week it's a wonder he had the energy for Easter Sunday--we're talking about a man who turns 82 this Thursday!!

I added in the few pictures I took in the Vatican album!