Recently, in a beautiful little mission outside of San Antonio, I was married to the prettiest girl in the world, who is also very awesome. Sam and I have known each other for a couple of years, and have been planning our wedding for about a year. I don't think two people could be happier. The weather was a bit drizzley, but the grounds of church could not have looked more verdant and lovely. The rain made the stone of the Church almost glimmer, and it cleared for a little while during the actual ceremony because I have the distinct memory of two little birds singing back and forth outside the window.

For once, I was not only ready, but actually early. It was a little surprising how little I had to do on the big day, and given that we had chosen to bet married in San Antonio, no one I knew was really available. At moments, it was a little ominous, but mostly I really enjoyed the quiet. Both the Missions, and the Franciscans are special to me. I drove out to the church, and because of the weather it was very quiet and still out there. My good friend Bosco, and his family arrived shortly after I got there and it was really particularly nice to spend that quiet moment with him.

Eventually things started jumping, and all this activity started to whirl around me. It is funny really, all I needed to do was show up (check), and say "I do". I was ready for the second task. Fr. Herb Jones, the pastor of the mission waited around the sacristy with me for a good part of the time. It was a lovely time, and it was really nice to occupy that space that so many people, under so many different circumstances had occupied before. It was really nice to be there with a purpose beyond going and snapping a few photos. Very few of our guests have any experience with the Catholic Church, and I think that many of them felt a little awkward about the idea. The beauty of the space did a lot to win them over, but one of the most unexpected joys of the day was the grace Fr. Jones showed in welcoming everyone. He seemed to genuinely delight in so many new (and unlikely, perhaps) visitors to his little church. We no doubt gave him plenty to be crabby about, and yet he handled everything we could throw at him. I believe someone took a picture of me with him after the wedding, and when I get it, I will post it here.

Once all the photography was complete at the church, we headed down to central San Antonio for the reception. The reception was wonderful. It was a challenge at times to pay attention to everyone; or at least to focus on the person I was paying attention to at that time, and to make sure I devoted some time and attention to everyone. I think it worked out well. It certainly was delicious to spend a few hours with all kinds of people that mean so much to me, and to meet some of the people that have been in Sam's life for a long time. I was especially pleased to have the chance to spend some time with my sister, whom I seldom get to see. It would be impossible to single out anyone else, really. It was great to share the day with so many of my good friends.

Despite wrapping the reception up early, we did not get into bed until late, and as a result we found ourselves on an airplane the next day destined for Italy on only a couple of hours of sleep. It was worth it, we had a great time with our friends. The hotel had also given us an amazing room, which we fully enjoyed. We even went for a short walk along the San Antonio River that night.

I say that it was worth it, but it wasn't until later that I found out that my new wife was sitting on the platform in Rome the next day entertaining thoughts of homicide. It was a pretty rough journey over to Italy, and I had intentionally front-ended the misery so that we wound up arriving exhausted in Florence at about 2 in the afternoon. After a little trouble, we found our B and B, we went for a short walk and had the first of many awesome meals at a nearby restaurant.

For the most part, I think that Sam covered the high points of our time in Italy; to the degree discretion would allow such a delicate thing to cover the high points, of course. You can check her blog out at: odonnellsinitaly.blogspot.com

We spent most of our time in a small town above Florence called Fiesole. It was awesome, because it was definitely very accommodating to travelers like ourselves and yet was still very authentic. The town has a really interesting history, and is quite distinct from Florence even though it is very close by and much smaller than Florence. It has its own bishop, and a very sweet little cathedral. This is kind of like Austin and Round Rock each having it's own bishop. There was also a very small Franciscan monastery up above Fiesole. One morning, very early I went up to attend Mass in their small church. We also sat and listened to them singing vespers one evening.

Our hostess in Fiesole was named Isabella. Our room was comfortable, very clean, and we had a great view of the Arno River valley, including the center of Florence. By far, the best part of each day was waking up to find out what had been laid out for us for breakfast each morning. As I have said we did splurge fairly often on a full meal in a restaurant, but what was really delightful about the food in Tuscany was the incredible quality of all the most basic components of the meals, in Isabella was particularly skilled at putting it all together. Mostly what we had every day was some very good bread, a selection of cheeses, a wonderful array of meats (including prosciutto) with fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee. The coffee in Florence (and Fiesole) was wonderful, but for reasons that eluded us Isabella's was the best. Frequently we had a similar meal in our room at night just before we went to sleep, but it was never as good. We often added olives or sun-dried tomatoes. The meals we did eat out were good, there is no question, but really it was hard to beat the basics.

We did a lot of walking. We even went out for a walk the day we arrived and took a very steep walk from the B&B to the center of Fiesole. We did wind up getting a little lost, but learned a lot about the lay of the land right off. The one thing that struck us immediately was the beautiful small gardens that were just everywhere. The other thing that was interesting, and I think felt kind of quaint was the degree to which agriculture is integrated into the rest of the landscape. There are not huge tracts of land set aside for agricultural production, but any where you have a little open space there will be a few olive trees, or grape vines. There were a lot of artichoke plants everywhere. I think they are such beautiful plants.

The next day we wound up wandering almost inadvertently into Florence and in fact all the way to the Cathedral. It really is a glorious building. Along the way, we stopped in at a small family run nursery. That was a treat. Because we didn't understand the buses yet, we also wound up walking all the way back home. It strikes me as funny now, but it wasn't until the next day at breakfast that I finally realized that we were actually looking out over the dome of the Cathedral. I guess I was just not sufficiently oriented yet to have picked it out. Also, it is a little hazy in the valley most days.

I could go on and on about all the wonderful things I got to see in Florence. I think the biggest treat was not to have to pack them all in to one or two days. It is a rare day when you are privileged to see on really beautiful thing. I have always found it just exhausting to walk through a museum and see one beautiful thing after another. The entire city of Florence was like that to some extent, but we were lucky to have allotted enough time to savor a lot of different things. The two that stand out in retrospect are the vestibule to the Laurentian Library, and the museum of San Marco with a lot of frescoes. But then again, there was just so much! One of the most unexpected and delightful gems was the Badia Fiesolenia. We walked back twice to visit it, and kind of just to dwell there for a few moments.

Eventually, and regrettably we got ready to leave for Rome. We rolled into the eternal city without too much wear and tear, took a city bus to our hotel and checked in. I knew our hotel was really close to the Vatican, but nothing could have prepared me for how close it was to the Vatican. When we stepped out on the street, there were Swiss guards at the end of the next block. I got up early one morning to visit St. Peters and stopped to get a coffee along the way, and the Swiss Guards were also stopping in for coffee on their way to work. It was a little odd. It was very touristy, but you could catch glimpses of the day to day running of this enormous religion.

On my second day in Rome, I went over and waited for St. Peter's to open. I want to experience going there as a church just opening up in the morning instead of this huge monument of western civilization. It was an awesome experience. I milled around with a couple of Priests and a couple nuns waiting for it to open. At one point the guys came out from inside and removed these huge antique locks from the gates. I doubt these locks would slow down a modern crook, but still somehow they were substantial and comforting. So were the men who opened them.

Once we had all gained access, the priests all made a bee line to the sacristy and got outfitted for saying mass. I had exchanged greetings with one of the priests, and in retrospect I regret not having just attended his mass. It was really awesome to be in there before the throngs arrived. Within half an hour of the doors opening, I would estimate that 20 masses were underway in various languages at altars all around the church. There is a lot that is impressive about St Peter's. The scale of the place is enough to fill a person with awe. The scale of a lot of the sculptural program is startling, and was unexpected to me (even though I had been there before). The one thing that moved me most on this visit caught me off guard. Off of the nave in a hallway leading to the sacristy... and what a remarkable and beautifully sculpted hallway it is; is a tablet of stone on the wall. Inscribed in this slab of marble is the name of each of the Popes all the way back to Peter. The clarity and the importance of that succession all the way back to Peter was just spectacular to me. I know that there was a little murkiness in this line at times, but this did not diminish it for me. In fact, it strengthened the idea for me that there are people that took the trouble to straighten out the kinks in the lineage, and too inscribe it in stone for me to marvel at.

It is difficult not to reduce our experience of Rome to a mere list of the monuments we visited. We did see some fabulous buildings. We particularly enjoyed the hospitality of the Paulist Fathers at Santa Susanna. Our home parish here in Austin, Texas is staffed by the Paulists. In the past year since I have started to know some of them I have really begun to appreciate them. They have a unique take on the idea of the Church in the American context. In 1921, Benedict the 15th authorized the Paulists to found a National Church for the United States using Santa Susanna. It really is a very important monument in the history of the Church and a transitional building in the history of architecture. The Fathers offer an extensive tour of the building, which sadly I missed. I have heard it said that one should always leave something unfinished in Rome, to hold out the possibility of returning.

On Saturday I got too much sun. We went to see the Coliseum, which was big, and awesome, and beautiful, and well I just baked my head in the harsh sun, and probably got dehydrated. The last few days of our trip were a little rough on me, and I felt bad that Sam was on her own. I suppose the upside is that we were very glad to get on the plane and make our way back to Texas.