La Dolce Vita

Hey everyone,
Here is a quick update of this past weekend which has been nuts. My mom and grandmother and Sister Pat arrived in Rome on saturday afternoon and i met them at the hotel where they are staying. Its a very nice hotel near the Spanish Steps. We didnt do much the first day because they were obvi jetlagged like crazy. But we did walk down and we showed them the Spainsh Steps. Gram went to bed early because she had been up for almost 30 hours straight because she was excited for the trip. Then me and mom and sister pat went to an early dinner of pasta and wine. Then came back to the hotel for the Free Cocktail Hour. Now mom was lovin rome.haha. I took the metro home because they were pretty beat.
I met them the next day, with one of my roomates Rob, for Mass at San Mary Magore. It is one of the 4 biggest cathedrals inRome. We got there early to save seats for Gram up close. We got second row seats but had to scare away about 8 nuns and 4 pissed off old italian women. Mass was great it was a traditional high mass, it was in latin the whole shebang. Grams old friend Cardinal Law was present at the mass and was the whole reason we were there. So at the procession out of mass at the end there is about 30 priests two bishops and the cardinal. As he walked past he did a double take then stopped the whole procession to come over and give gram a kiss. And he said he would be back to get us. Now let me fill u in on what is going on while this is happening.... everyone around us is shocked the cardinal stopped to kiss this women and they are all thinking she is some kind of royalty. haha
After Mass we went with his Eminance to his private residence. Which was unreal to think that we were eating with one of the men who elected the new pope. He was telling stories about Grandad and said that he was the single most influentail lay person in the church. It was a real honor to here my family being spoken so highly of. THe Cardinal's face completely light up when Gram told him that i was going into the same line of work as my Grandad. He said that i had big shoes to flll but with that legacy that I had it wouldnt be a problem.
So we are eating crossants and sipping on Cappochinos but when Gram got up to get hers, She was told to sit down, and THE CARDINAL SERVED MY GRANDMOTHER. It was unreal. He had to go to a meeting but it was great to meet such a man of honor. He was one of the nicest people i have ever met, not to mention one of the holiest. It was a day i will never forget.
Needless to say im taking the metro 20 minuts every sunday to see him. because now he knows me, more importantly he knows that i am John McCarthy's grandson!
As we left the residence the cardinal called a cab for gram and kissed her hand, not the other way around.
My roomate rob goes, "god your family is special. ive never seen anything like that" You know what, he was right.
Me and the fam went our seperate ways and then i met them in the afternoon and we went to the Borghese Gallery. Which is the prize of rome, home to more Berninis anywhere, only second to the vatican. Then we went to a real nice dinner on Via Venato, which is one of the most famous roads in rome.
The following day i had classes but Mom and Sister Pat got a tour of the vatican Museums, which is the most expensive, most comprehensive musuem in the history of the world. then they saw the sistine chapel and the necropolis of the vatican. i met them afterschool and me and mom had the afternoon to ourselves and we got groceries for their hotel and i showed her around my place and my neighborhood. We went back to have dinner at the restuant where we went the first night. today they are touring around then im meeting them after class.

it has been really nice having them here. and to think that my 88 year old grandmother traveled around the world to see me is something i will never forget.

ciao,
John McCarthy's grandson.