Come è Maggio?

Ciao tutti!

How is it May already? Time is flying so fast!  This weekend hundreds of thousands (no joke..) made the pilgrimage to Rome for the beatification.  I had been warned that over 5 million people were coming to Rome just for this event, but did not really appreciate the magnitude of the influx until I was walking on Via Vitorio Emanule on Saturday night and saw a steady stream of people decked out with country flags from ALL over (from Mexico to Australia), sleeping bags and guitars (I suppose for entertainment while they awaited the ceremony...).

I was so impressed at the dedication of these people to come from so far for this one day. wow.  Check out some pictures.  While I did feel slightly guilty that people were coming  from thousands of miles away to attend, and me, who lives less than 2 miles away, couldn't get far enough away!  A friend and I headed to Via Appia Antica, which on a normal day is an oasis of an escape from the chaos of Rome...but especially today!  We laid on the grass, drank white wine and rented bikes to ride!  So nice!

Also, this weekend it was May 1st, which is labor day here in Italy.  In honor of this day, San Giovanni hosts a huge concert!  We dropped by and it was actually very nice!

Via Appia Antica and my bike :-)

The concert at San Giovanni

(sorry, not too many pictures this time...I was distracted by the sun and wine and kinda forgot to be snapping away...)