Cold at the Vatican

Thursday morning I woke up feeling a lot better, finally! I actually did a partial morning workout for the first time in a couple of weeks, walking up six floors of stairs a couple of times. Just after 10:30am I dropped the girls off at the Jonio subway stop so they could head down for their afternoon guided tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, a fitting way to end Chiara's visit here. From there I went into the mission office for a general tech support visit. I helped the Willeys with a few small things, setting up her iPhone hotspot, opening an account at Amazon.it, and showing them how to use WhatsApp web, which is awesome. They are very sharp and catch on right away. Now that they have an Amazon account here, they can do purchasing for the office and other seniors, which has been our occasional job.

Then Anziano Millet and I went to the Wind/Infostrada store at the mall, where the traffic was surprisingly high. This is still holiday season in Italy, up through Epiphany on January 6. Fortunately, there was no line at all in the store, which is unusual. He got his fiber internet through them, and that all works great, smoother than with anybody else I have helped. As part of the offer, they also give a 100GB data-only SIM card, which is great and can be used if the wired internet ever goes out. He had understood that, once his internet was running, he could go back and get a 4G hotspot device for free. I was somewhat skeptical -- since he doesn't speak Italian and the clerks usually don't have the greatest English skills, I thought maybe he had misunderstood. However, I wanted to see, since that would also work for the Willeys. In fact, he was right: there was a free (with the two-year internet service contract) hotspot device. Very nice! That call it a "saponetta" (little bar of soap), which is a cute name and describes the size well.

Alcatel / Infostrada 4G hotspot device

We left the staff there some temple open house invitation cards, which they seemed pleased to get, since it is right next door, and we thanked the sales associate for his extremely helpful service. Then we drove back to the office, where I installed the SIM card and configured the device, explaining how to use it to Anziano Millet. I think he got it, which is quite impressive for someone in their mid-70s! Missions keep you young: this is their third one.

I was back home by mid-afternoon, feeling pretty good after being out and about. I did some bookkeeping and other things for home, and just enjoyed more time to rest and feel better. The girls were out most of the day, going to the Vatican area and shopping a bit before their 2pm tour. They both said that the guide was excellent, which has been our experience with the official museum group tours there. Unfortunately, I messed up and bought the wrong ticket, excluding the last part of the guided tour: St Peter's Basilica, which is right past the Sistine Chapel. However, the girls were able to go in on their own and see it; not as good as having a guide, but still it is a very impressive place. It was very cold (below freezing overnight) and they had been outside much of the time, so they were ready to come home. I picked them up at Jonio again, just after 6pm. My illness had me miss a bunch of time with Chiara, but Dee has done great, covering a lot of ground comfortably in her new Gore Tex boots. I had done most of the touring with past guests, so I guess it was her turn.

Dee made us a nice riso al telefono dinner (rice with cheese and ham), which she used to cook as a young missionary. She doubled the recipe, which was a mistake, as there were tons of leftovers. Fortunately the four Sorelle downstairs were very happy to take most of them off our hands when they got home just after 9pm.

Chiara started packing, and Dee printed up a list of contents of the extra suitcase we are sending home with her to show to US Customs. Friday will be an early morning, leaving here for the airport at 6am. It's hard to believe her Chiara's visit is already over so quickly, but we have done well by her in only eleven full days (including three national holidays) in Italy: Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Naples, Pompeii. Not bad! Her visit has been a nice change of pace, but we are excited to get back to work loving our YSA kids next week.