Church and the best Gelato EVER!

Makenna had to go to church early this morning to rehearse with the choir, but she and Christina came back afterwards to pick Heidi and I up. We had to take the Metro since it would have taken too long to walk. There was a huge line to get the tickets so Christina went to some stand outside and bought them for us. On our way to church we passed the Spanish Steps again. I just think that's so cool! We'd just be walking through town and then bam! there's a famous landmark! We got to church a few minutes late so we couldn't all sit together. Makenna and Christina had to go up and sing a few times so it really didn't even matter. Per their request, I filmed their songs because how often do you sing at a church in Rome? We talked to Pastor Dave (from Oregon) for a few minutes after church and then saw Steve too! I met some of Makenna's other church friends and they were really nice. It took us quite awhile to make it outside and then once we were out there it was awhile before we actually headed off to lunch. Right outside the church there was this large square on the ground and within a few minutes this man came and danced in it! I'm thinking it was some kind of modern interpretive dancing. Interesting is the only word to describe it! We watched in confusion for a few minutes and then headed off to find somewhere for lunch. Most of the people who went to lunch were Americans, but there was one girl from Finland named Tina. We found a relatively inexpensive restaurant and of course got pizza again. Cheapest thing on the menu! This pizza was really good even though it was just Margarita again. We found out that it was Tina's birthday so we bought her a dessert. I think she chose orange tiramisu. Looked pretty great!!

Steve, Makenna, Heidi and I all went for Gelato after lunch. This place was called Della Palma and it had 100 different flavors and candy everywhere! It probably took us about 10 minutes to make our decision on what to get! I chose lemon and mango and they were so flavorful! We tried to eat it slowly and really savor it, but it was just so good that it was gone before we even knew it!

Afterwards we headed toward the Spanish Steps for some pictures. We sat down for awhile and people watched. There were so many people there doing very interesting things! We saw this group of people dressed in clown clothes and they had signs around their necks that said "Free Hugs!" Heidi went down to one of the guys and gave him a hug! It was so funny! They stood and talked for awhile and Makenna and I just laughed and made a video of it! We decided we needed a hug too so evenutally we went back down there too and got a hug and also pictures! Makenna took us up to this beautiful park that's above the Spanish Steps and it was just beautiful. We walked around for awhile and had the best view of Rome! Great pictures! Then we even got to see the sun set over the Vatican! This was one of my favorite things we did all weekend. So pretty! Makenna also showed us the first Roman telescope. It is inside a random statue. Pretty dang cool! It took us awhile to decide what to do next and we chose to walk home instead of taking a bus. Now that was a long walk! When we were almost to Makenna's this Italian guy stopped us on the street asking where some Piazza was. Heidi and I didn't understand a word so thankfully Makenna jumped in and used her awesome Italian skills. He ended up asking all of our names and laughed a lot at Heidi's. It was really funny. He told Makenna that he wanted to take us to get hot chocolate, but Makenna said we were going to meet friends for dinner and were already late. He responded with "It's only 6! Why are you eating now?!" We're Americans said Makenna!! Since we didn't have time for hot chocolate, he wanted to take us for tea instead. Crazy man. He also wanted Makenna to give him her number. He said that he would give her his but he left his phone in his vespa up the street. She said she didn't have a number and that we really had to go. It was kind of hard to get away from him, but she did it. What a funny little encounter! After that we walked to a grocery store and picked up some Tortellini and sauce. I just love these little Italian grocery stores! The Christmas cakes that Julia had told me about were everywhere. I was tempted to buy one, but decided against it since I knew we'd be getting gelato again later!

It was just Makenna, Heidi and I for dinner (fine by me!!) and we laughed so much! We taught Makenna some German and it was the cutest thing ever! She was actually really good and caught on quickly. She made everything more gutteral than it really is, but that made it even funnier. Her favorite things to say are "Ich bin ein Freund von Gott" and "Es ist wunderbar!" aka I am a friend of God and It is wonderful! So so funny!

We were all really tired but decided to head back out for gelato one last time! Debbie and Greg (Makenna's parents) and her grandma and papa were arriving later tonight so we figured we might as well go meet them at their hotel! We wanted to go back to Della Palma again because it was just so good. When we got there, it looked like it was closed because nobody was in there and a few girls were standing outside. We thought that they tried to get in but the doors were locked so we headed off to Giolitti to see if they were open. Makenna went the wrong way which turned out to be a great thing because we had to walk past Della Palma again. This time there were customers inside so we walked right on in and got some more Gelato! This time I got banana and some kind of crispies with nutella. Really yummy! One of Heidi's flavors was Raspberry and it was amazing. Even though you don't get quite as much here as at Giolitti, the flavor of everything is just phenomenal!

Debbie called and said that their flight was 40 minutes late out of London so we just walked around for awhile trying to keep warm. We even went to the hotel to see if we could wait there, but the man who opened the door didn't seem like the type to let us do such a thing. So we found a bench in a well lit area outside a gelato place and snuggled up! Finally Debbie called and we ran to the hotel. It was SO exciting to see them! It was almost like seeing my own family! We all talked for a little while inside (too loudly according to the mean reception man) and Debbie even gave Heidi and I advent calendars. Too cute. It was about 1:30 at this point and Makenna had class in the morning so we decided to head back to her place. We wanted to take the night bus back, but it took so long to come we decided to walk. It wasn't a bad walk at all and we were back before we knew it. Makenna wrote us directions for the next day and then we all crashed!