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July 22, 2007— in Roma

We did a little sightseeing first thing again this morning, though we slept in a little. We went to the ancient catacombs just outside the city walls. There are no photos allowed so there's no evidence of it below. They asked us to sing a song in the underground cathedral so we sang Bogoroditse.

Then we drove around Circus Maximus and headed to lunch. Luigi had the idea of going to the Hard Rock Cafe, and though the food has been great here, some have been craving a burger, so we got burgers today.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a rest period, then a warmup then to the Vatican.

We had to go through security then had some time to kill before we were called to sing. Our time was changed from noon to 5:30 mass for reasons that I dont' recall. We had about 40 minutes to kill so we went to the bathroom and watched the people getting turned away at the door because they didn't meet the dress code requirements. We were already in concert uniform, so it wasn't an issue for us. Though it was hot again (there is some debate whether it was over 100, but you get the idea) we decided to dress up after rest period for the mass.

The mass started promptly at 5:30 at the front altar, behind the baldechino. The acoustics actually aren't that favorable and they have everything miked, which in the end makes things sound worse in my opinion. Our sopranos overloaded the speakers and like most miking jobs, individual voices stuck out. But we're at St. Peter's Basilica singing so hey, things could be worse. The mass was on the short side, then they invited us to come to the front to take a photo (or 10).

We hung out with family and friends outside on the way out and then came back to the hotel for packing, dinner, then Head Boy nominee speeches. We've had a great time in Rome and seen a lot. Tomorrow we head to Gubbio where we get back on track with our own concert programs.