On Sunday Brooke, Mary, Kyle, and I went to the Porta Portese Market in Trastevere. This flea market goes from about 8 am to noon. We left the JFRC campus at about 7 am and waited for the 990 for about an hour before it actually came. We were extremely cold by this point, and after our trips on the 990 and 280 again we were still cold. So alas, my first purchase was a pair of fleece gloves for €1. They were well worth their value just that day.
This market was huge. I have no idea how far we got through it. I never saw anything that looked remotely like an end. The deeper we went the wider it got though... it was one street wide at the beginning and four by the time we turned back around. This place had really interesting people-watching because it was filled with mostly locals and few tourists. We all had fun practicing our Italian bartering although we didn't buy much. The gloves were the biggest and most influential purchase of the day! :)
Actually, Brooke bought something else very worthwhile. We stopped at this food booth, obviously because they had free samples, which were delicious!!! They offered these little sesame crackers that looked like dog biscuits with this kind of pepper tapenade. It was red, oily, and spicy. They were so delicious that she bought some with the little crackers that they made as well for €5. We ate it for lunch, and it was gone by the next day. We are planning to return to the market simply to find this awesome food.
We left the market a little before 11 to make to St. Peter's Square for the Angelus Prayer. The Angelus Prayer happens every Sunday that the Pope is in Rome. We heard about it at school so we meandered over the Tiber to check it out. When we got there, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. There were (according to the news) over 100,000 people there. It just so happened that we walked into a huge protest. Apparently, according to Catholic Online, the Pope was banned from speaking at a local public university. He was scheduled to speak last week but there was a group of students who threatened violent protests if he showed up. So the Vicar for the Diocese of Rome called "all believers" to show up to the Angelus Prayer to show solidarity with the Pope. Thats why we were slightly confused when thousands of people were waving huge banners and signs all over... I thought maybe there was just alot of school pride. My friend Mary had her camera (I didn't bring mine because the Porta Portese is supposed to be filled with pick-pockets) and filmed a few seconds:
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