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| Rheaume and Cheryl at the window of the apartment, saying "Ciao, from Roma" |
We're off to see the Pope. Every Wednesday morning the Pope comes out to greet those assembled outside St Peter's Basilica. He also gives a blessing to all those present. So we decided we would go and see what happens and then venture on to see the Vatican Museums. We arrived about 9 AM and were able to get good seats. We were in the front half of the quadrant of set up chairs, near the center back of that quadrant.
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| Picture taken from the jumbo tron showing the crowd gathered. We are in there too, can you see us?? |
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| Swiss Guards |
It was like a big party waiting for the Pope to arrive. There were visiting choirs singing and drummers, drumming. Then the Pope appeared in his Pope mobile - it was like a rock star had arrived - people started shouting and clapping, and then everyone, young and old were climbing onto their chairs in hopes of getting a good glimpse of him. (So much for "good" seats) - We couldn't even see the big screens half the time because of people standing on the chairs. The Pope toured around all four quadrants giving lots of opportunity to see him. Rheaume was fortunate, he saw the vehicle headed back down the road immediately behind us, and with only one person in front, so he quickly went to the barricade , climbed on a chair and was able to get a good view, from about six feet away.
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| Rheaume's close encounter |
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| From the jumbo tron, the Pope addressing the faithful |
Lots of people were handing baby's and small children to be kissed, and someone gave him a Slurpee drink, which he graciously took, had a sip and handed it back to the person. This act, brought up a cheer in the crowd. His speech to the crowd referenced Canada a couple of times and he made mention of scandals several times, being obviously upset by what he was talking about.
The weather was beautiful when we started out in the morning, but just about the time the Pope had finished, the rain started, and became quite heavy. We could not gain entry to the Basilica until 1 PM, so we decided to go and have lunch. By the time we had finished eating the rain had almost stopped. The crowds were long waiting to get in the Basilica, so we opted to try for another day.
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| Christmas creche or presepe as they are called here, in St Peter's Square |
A little grocery shopping on the way home, a light supper of antipasto consisting of tomatoes, cheese, pickled vegetables (giardina), pickled mushrooms, seafood salad and cold cuts, all washed down with several glasses of wine. Then it was bed time for one and all.
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| Sign seen in a bathroom |
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