December 7, 2025
Well, today is our last day in Rome. It’s been fun to see the old stuff again. But it’s a little too crazy here for me.
Our goal today was to get out to see the Rome Temple. We also wanted to attend church services. So it turns out that there is a chapel on the same grounds as the temple. Two wards meet in the building and chose the one that started at the latest time…10:30 AM. To get there, we left a little early, around 9 AM. And that was a good thing. The metro system is good, generally always on time. The bus system here…pretty horrible. So going to the temple, we got off the metro stop and went to the place to wait for the buses. We waited and we waited. The bus we wanted kept saying the same arrival time even though that time came and went. Using GPS, I then chose a different route and bus and it arrived just fine.
The temple and the temple grounds are amazing. The grounds has the temple, a visitor center, a large chapel and living accommodations. We arrived about 15 minutes before Sacrament Meeting started, so we walked around the temple and took some pictures. Sacrament meeting was nice…all in Italian of course. But we were given ear pieces and a sister missionary did her best to translate what was being said. This is the first trip when I did not bring a white shirt and tie. I don’t know why I did not pack such. But I didn’t. So Jeff showed me up in his formal dress attire as he brought a nice shirt and tie. Heck, he even brought a dress coat. He looked great. Now the girls wore pants (trousers) but in the middle of the temple plaza pot skirts over the top. That looked funny watching them dress just outside the chapel doors in the square. We met many American couples serving there in the temple. I think they actually get 12 foreign missionary couples to serve in the temple. They also have family history missionaries and MLS missionaries here. Sacrament meeting was a fast and testimony meeting. One brother blessed a baby in Spanish and his wife bore her testimony in Spanish. Another couple, who sat behind us, also spoke Spanish. And they turned out to be from Colombia, where I served my mission. That was cool to speak with them for a minute. After church, we went into the amazing visitor center where they have a Christus that is half-circled by statues of the original 12 Apostles called by Jesus Christ during His ministry. They also had a structure that looked like an Italian home that would sit on a corner inside the visitor center that was used as a place to teach. That was unique. We met the Director of the temple and his wife who are from Mesa, AZ. They were called as ordinance workers in the temple but were asked to be the directors when the called director had a heart attack and had to go home. So they will be doing this for another 18 months I believe. We talked about our mission and some how got on the topic of cars. They said that all their temple missionaries were frustrated also with the policies given to them relative to cars. Here they can ‘rent’ a car that is covered by the church but they can ONLY go to church meetings and shopping with them. If you are a foreigner here, you can’t buy a car. So the Director and his wife entered into a private rental contract so they could use their car for more things. I guess the missionary and temple departments need to get together to figure this out. Anyway, great stop seeing this beautiful temple. We need to come back and do a session or two here.
The journey home was a killer. What was supposed to take an hour took almost 2.5 hours. We were supposed to be home bv about 12:30 PM. We arrived at a Chinese restaurant just before 2 PM near our flat. The Chinese food was pretty good…a good change from all the pasta we’ve been eating. The bus ride, again, was unbearable. We waited and waited for the suggested bus. Never came. Finally we jumped on another that would then force us to use buses all the way to our flat. The first bus took forever again. But it came and it was packed most of the 20+ minute ride. We got off at our stop looking for a bus to go to Termini, the train station. One came. We got on it…went around the corner…and there was Termini. We had no idea we were that close. So confusing…but we made it.
After lunch, we split up. The girls went out shopping looking at stuff they need not buy (nor have room for). But then again, they don’t like shopping…at least that’s what I hear all the time. I know they will return as they want to find one of these Christmas markets. So we are waiting and I am writing. But more to come to close out our trip.
So around 5 PM we headed out to Piaza Navona to check out a Christmas market there. It’s been nice being by Termini as it’s always easy to catch some form of transportation. They have a huge bus terminal outside the train station. Anyway, we caught a bus that grew to have tons of people. And we got to one intersection and I would guess that it took 10 to 15 minutes to get through it. Just bad flow. I think lanes were trying to condense down. Anyway, we got there in about 40 minutes…I think it was about 1.5 miles away. The Christmas market was jumping. The plaza was chuck full of people. There was a Merry-go-Round, statues and quite a few Christmas stuff booths. Nothing hand made or special…just stuff. We made sure we hit everyone though. Florence had better food options at their market. Nonetheless, we ended the night sitting and talking eating Gelato. It was my first and only Gelato the whole week. I’m not sure how that happened!!! Coming home we went to a bus stop only to find a bus load of people wanting to get on the bus we wanted. When the bus pulled up, no one got off the already full bus! So we punted. We went for a 5 minute walk to another bus station and caught a less crowded bus that got us home. Last Rome bus! Thank heavens. Between my GPS on my phone pointing me in different directions and the tardiness of these buses…I’m done. Tomorrow its a train to the airport and then hopefully a couple of flights home. One last thing about the buses is that no one taps on or off. No one…unless you’re a tourist. But eventually you figure it out. We did!
Summary…it has been a fun week. You know you’ve done a lot when you come home for the evening and you just want to crash. That’s how it has been every night. It’s been fun traveling with Jeff and Michelle. They have been great travelers, forgiving travelers, when their guide gets tired and frustrated with many things. But I think we hit all the places and did all the things that we hoped to in 6 days, 7 nights. Italy is a fun place with so much to see and so much to eat! The latter is probably why I like it so much!
Arriverdeci!
Some pictures:
Great pictures Thanks 🙏!!!
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