What do these three people have in common?
They were all part of the reason that the family trip to Rome occurred in August of 2016.
A birthday wish . . .
A Saturday Papal Audience . . .
And a canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta 
All led to a trip to Rome.
How many family members would accept Mom’s invitation?
Mom, her brother and his wife, my two younger brothers, my younger sister and myself.
Any story about our travels would not be complete without Father Marty, our spiritual leader and the center of FUN!
An interesting fact about the members of our group (4 sets of sisters).
And the whole Tour Group . . . 52 Pilgrims
And some of the people we met along the way . . .
A photographer from a Quad Cities TV station who captured film as we left Davenport . . .
And the many faces of the family . . .
Accordion music in the parking garage . . .
An articulate and passionate tour guide . . .
and guards . . .
and cameras everywhere . . .
with selfies as a regular occurrence!
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Lisa, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here.
Introducing “who was traveling” and “why” this trip!!!
Resource - Full 
I’m so glad you shared this. So wonderful to see you and your family (close and extended) in such amazing location. Wowza!
Rome is such an interesting place – so much to see from a historical perspective. Thousands of years of history . . .
It looks amazing — photo essay is a great genre to explore more with kids. We need to remember that!! Thanks for giving us a peek into your trip.
Clare and Tammy
I believe that it’s a powerful tool that could easily be used more often with ipads and / or devices with built in cameras. The whole process of “selection” is interesting!
Thank you for sharing this trip of a lifetime! Sometimes photos do speak louder than words.
So many facets to a trip . . . so many small moments!
Thanks for sharing all these fabulous pictures. I got a little taste of your trip. What an amazing experience!
You are welcome, Margaret. So much to learn about where we were and what we actually saw!
Fun to see these shots and recall my own trips to Rome. I like the less is more attitude:)
Oh, Erika! I love that “trips” – so much to see and absorb. More than one trip sounds like a plan!
Thank you for sharing this. It is amazing to think you were there during a time I only heard about on the radio. I got to live vicariously through you.
Adrienne,
It’s such an amazing time in the world when we can attend or view through the perspectives of others. It’s a biased view – influenced by so many factors – but a definite starting piece!
It looks like a wonderful time, Fran, so special with al the family members.
A once in a lifetime opportunity, Linda, and we were so thankful that the trip was fun for all!
Love the photo essays which provides glimpses into a very meaningful trip for your family. So hard to share the essence of a trip with those who didn’t go, but you manage to do it well with these photos. Perhaps you’d like to visit my slice today of a daughter’s trip to Ireland…also told through photos.
Going there now. . . I’ve been editing on this post for 2 weeks. It was time to post!
Love the pictures, Fran. Pictures often reveal what words can’t express. The accordion player reminded me of myself years ago when I took lessons and played.
Too funny. I’m trying to remember where the family accordion went. It was entertaining! No high level of expertise and yet fun!
Loved your photos and hearing about your trip. Traveling with family is the best! Now I want to go to Rome too.
Probably about a year would give you enough time to study Rome. What a fun place to visit more than once!
I loved every moment of this photo essay tour de force, such great memories!
Tara,
So much fun selecting photos! Collecting, choosing, and then carefully crafting a post. Such JOY! ❤
I can’t believe you were there for the canonization of Mother Teresa! What a great experience for you. I can see all of the family resemblance in that first picture! What a great photo essay.
Leigh Anne, the whole trip was BEYOND amazing! And yes, our family genes do win out! LOL!
What a special, amazing trip! I love your photo essay slice!
It was so much fun to travel with my family!
[…] Photo Essay (another public essay!) […]
[…] posts about Rome are here, here, here, here, and here with this one quick photo from O’Hare before our international […]