The Grandeur of Reason

On Sunday night a bunch of people who had arrived early for the Grandeur of Reason conference decided to go out for dinner. At about 8pm we set off to cross the river in search of good Italian restaurants. We found plenty, but they were filling up. After a bit of wandering about a group of 6 of us peeled off and I found myself having dinner with John and Alison Milbank (ask Rick) and a couple of other people. I havev graduated from grappa to something very nice called lemoncilla.

The conference the next day was a bit challenging. There were paper sessions which I was able to keep up with, offered by students and academics, and I was able to ask some intelligent questions. But the joint plenary sessions are way over my head. I'm told this is normal for a first theology conference. I plan to have lunch with Tracey Rowland today or tomorrow (Wednesday) to talk about my thesis topic - not too soon, because she's pretty jetlagged.

This morning I took the metro to Roma Termini to get my ticket to Milan, and dropped into St Mary Major. Another beautiful Baroque church, but I am still suffering from St Peter's overload. I recommend that anyone visiting Rome sees St Peter's last.

On Wednesday morning we'll have a Vatican tour and attend the Pope's weekly audience. I'll report again then.