D142 -- Il Papa!

We got up EARLY today (8 am) to head over to the Papal audience. Although a bunch of people were already there when we arrived, we were able to get rather good seats by squirming our way towards the front. We waited about 90 minutes, and were mostly spared the brutal sun by a cloudy sky, although once the Pope showed up the sun seemed to shine a lot more. He rode around in his open Pope mobile, coming within 20 feet of us, which was really cool. After 7 priests read a gospel passage in French, English, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese and Italian, the Pope gave a sermon in each language (!). Various priests gave shout-outs to groups in the audience. A few of the groups were choirs and would sing a short hymn when called (very neat). With the time we’d waited before hand and the lengthy audience (90 minutes) the whole affair was really long, but great.



After a lunch break it was off to the Vatican Museum, where we encountered a HUGE line. In hindsight, it was really stupid of us to go the same day as the Papal audience. The line took about 45 minutes, and after that the madness really began. It was ridiculous. The museum was packed with people, so much so that often you found yourself crushed by tourists and unable to move at anything other than a snail's pace. There were tour groups everywhere. It was impossible to really appreciate the museum's offerings in this climate, and so I headed straight for the Sistine Chapel, which was amazing, especially the last judgment, but the crowds really dampened the experience. I was glad to get out of there, and waited for Elva and Sarah for about an hour and a half (they were more willing to put up with the crowds).

We met up around 5:30 and headed for the crypt, where we saw the burial site for Pope John Paul II. It was very simple and nice, but again the crowds detracted from the experience. Still, it was moving to see the pieces of paper left on his tomb, which contained handwritten messages from some of the passing onlookers.

-Tom