In Oakland
After fighting the traffic of the Bay Bridge at rush hour, we finally made our way to Oakland. I was wracking my mind to think of a good church within the city of Oakland to visit. I thought the cathedral, since years ago Giancarlos was baptized there. Maria shared that she had visited the reconstructed cathedral a few years earlier. Unfortunately, the look and feel of the new cathedral was more along the lines of the cathedral of San Francisco, so we decided to not visit.
To be honest, I should have known better than to try and plan where to go. The Holy Spirit had guided us throughout the day and continued to do so at this point. Directly across the street from Fenton's was St. Leo's. The Holy Spirit had guided us directly to where we needed to be for our seventh parish during the day.
To be honest, I should have known better than to try and plan where to go. The Holy Spirit had guided us throughout the day and continued to do so at this point. Directly across the street from Fenton's was St. Leo's. The Holy Spirit had guided us directly to where we needed to be for our seventh parish during the day.
We left our "visit" to St. Leo's until after our visit to Fenton's. If you have never visited Fenton's, you've missed out. It is an amazing restaurant famous for it's handmade ice cream. It has been an area favorite since the 1950s. And it's serving sizes are extremely large as our the lines to get in. We got lucky and found parking in the parking lot and even luckier when we went in. There was a line to sit in the limited number of booths, but when we went to give our name to the host, he pointed out that he had a small table where we could fit, but it was close to the entrance. When we looked at the table, our jaws dropped. Immediately next to the table we were being shown was a smaller table to two people who just happened to be Maria's brother-in-law, Nate, and her nephew, Valentino. Of all of the 100s of places where we could have ended up for dessert (including the two we visited in San Francisco or any other location there where we were), Maria had been inspired to say Fenton's. The last time that we were in Fenton's was about 25 years ago. We NEVER stop in Oakland on our way home from San Francisco. We had NO idea that Nate and Valentino would be there. And here we were being shown to a table right next to them. "Would you mind sitting here?" we were asked. "Well, no, actually, if we could choose any table that is the one we would choose!"
We had a delicious small dinner and then a YUMMY ice cream sundaes for dessert (non-fat of course). Our bellies were quite full, and we were delighted to spend some time with Nate and Val. The only negative aspect was that St. Leo's was actually closed by the time we walked across the street. We couldn't see the interior, but did get to hear the beautiful Christmas songs played by the campanile bells. It was a wonderful ending to a beautiful day filled with prayer filled moments and the three of us got to spend some great time together.
We had a delicious small dinner and then a YUMMY ice cream sundaes for dessert (non-fat of course). Our bellies were quite full, and we were delighted to spend some time with Nate and Val. The only negative aspect was that St. Leo's was actually closed by the time we walked across the street. We couldn't see the interior, but did get to hear the beautiful Christmas songs played by the campanile bells. It was a wonderful ending to a beautiful day filled with prayer filled moments and the three of us got to spend some great time together.