Everyone is now home from our pilgrimage to Rome. Half of our group had to get up at 3 AM Rome time on Friday. Why? Some people in our group had to leave on a flight at 6:30 am! Other people had flights at about 9:30, others had flights at 1:30 pm. Since we had only two busses, the groups that had flights at 6:30 and 9:30 took one bus, the group at 1:30 pm had the other bus (and were able to sleep later!) The hotel was nice enough to put out breakfast at 3:30 am for those on the early bus - it included croissants, jam, cereal, milk, and coffee. Everyone arrived home safe and sound, some later than others.
I thought I would write a little bit about some differences in Europe compared to the US.
1. The most important difference is that our money does not go very far in Europe. Why? It takes $1.50 to buy 1 Euro. This means that when we shop, if you see a price in Euros, you have to MULTIPLY by about 1.50 or even 1.60 to get the price in dollars. When I was in Europe in 1989 in Germany, we would see a price in German marks (before the Euro) and be able to DIVIDE by 2 to get the price in dollars. Things are expensive in Europe!
2. Gas in Europe is almost $10 per gallon. We complain a lot about gas prices here, and we have the right to complain, but they pay a lot more in Europe. However, people in Europe use busses and trains and WALK a lot more than Americans do. In many of the smaller towns, people live close to where they work and walk to work and home.
3. Hotels work very hard to save energy. When you check in, you often receive a key card. After you open the door, electricity comes on in your room for about 2 minutes. To keep the electricity on, you have to put your key card in a slot in the wall. It's a pretty smart way to make sure that people don't leaave their lights on all day! Air conditioning is also not always available. At our hotel in Rome, the AC was shut off between midnight and 8 am. The theory was if you were hot, it was cool outside and you can open a window. (There are no screens, though, so you would also get the flies and the bugs!)
4. Public toilets are often hard to find, especially in Italy, and you often have to pay to use them. There is often an attendant to clean them and you "tip" the attendant the equivalent of about 30 cents American. On the other hand, it's very easy to find places that sell water, which is good when you have temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or more!
5. Milk, OJ, and eggs are not sold refrigerated in the grocery stores. Milk is sold in about quart (liter) containers that seem to be sort of cardboard, but have some plastic. They are sold on the shelf much like juice boxes or other similar things in America. After they are opened, they need to be refrigerated but they are not refrigerated in the store. It's kind of strange to see, really.
6. When crossing the street, you need to use the crosswalks, but they are not always respected in Italy! You need to look for traffic, but as you are walking across, you need to walk quickly and not look at traffic. It is understood that if you look at the driver, then you know they are there and they will not stop. It takes a little getting used to but it's necessary to do.
7. All of the coins in Italy have their value in numbers on the back, whether it's 1 or 2 Euros, 50, 20 or 10 cents. It's very nice for tourists who don't know one from the other. Our US money isn't like that, and I wonder what tourists think about that when they come to visit us. For example, our dime (10 cents) says "one dime" on the back, but if you don't know a dime equals 10 cents, you don't really know how much money it is.
8. Paper money in Euros starts at 5 euros. There are 1 and 2 Euro coins, which are actually preferred by people. I would often receive 2 and 1 Euro coins when change was 5 or 7 Euros simply because people preferred using the coins to the paper. You can tell the difference between the 1 and 2 Euro coins by the color of the outside ring of the coin. 1 Euro has a gold circle, while the 2 Euro has a silver circle.
9. Diet Coke is called "Coca-Cola Light" in Europe. Coke is known more as Coca-Cola. They do also have Coke Zero there. "Coca-Coca Light" actually tastes a little sweeter than Diet Coke, maybe they use a little different recipe???
There are other differences but I think these are the most important. The last few days, I was asking people what their favorite part of the tour was. A lot of people said it was the whole experience, meeting new people, new cultures, seeing many many new things. Others said their favorite was Padua because they felt very close to St. Anthony. Other people enjoyed Assisi because of the beautiful countryside atmosphere and St. Francis. Still other people enjoyed visiting the catacombs. Two people said their favorite moment was seeing 1,400 Deaf people in St. Peter's Square or in St. Peter's Basilica, participating in truly historic and remarkable events. My personal favorites were the catacombs for the
ir sheer inspiration, realizing how so many people had died for their faith.
However, the moment that touched me the most was the moment that I saw a beautiful, simple, humble crucifix in a chapel behind the Papal chapel in the Holy Staircase building. It had some very dramatic lighting but was just so beautiful in its simplicity it struck me and I had to spend several moments just sitting in awe and praying in front of it.
Seeing the Pope and all the people were, of course, very beautiful and exciting moments but this one moment of seeing Jesus Christ on the cross just struck me very powerfully. I will always give thanks for this trip and thank everyone for their prayers and constant watch over everyone while we were gone. We felt all the prayers and knew everyone was with us.
