Rome - Day 5

Also known as: The day we stood 2 feet away from Pope Benedict XVI

About a month ago we requested tickets to sit in for the Papal Audience while we were here. If the Pope is in Rome, he gives a weekly speech on Wednesdays out in front of St. Peter's Basilica. So, we got our tickets yesterday, got up super early (by our vacation standards), and went up to the Vatican... and our seats were perfect, but first, here is a shot of all the people who came:

From Rome - Day 5

Then, they bring the Pope in and drive him through the crowds on the Pope-mobile:

From Rome - Day 5

Since we planned our seats strategically, he drove right up the aisle we were next to:

From Rome - Day 5

And no joke, he looked right at me:

From Rome - Day 5

He gave a talk about his recent visit to the UK... here's a link to the speech if you're interested:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100922_en.html

From Rome - Day 5

I'm gonna be honest, I didn't understand a lick of his speech in English... I did much better with the Spanish version, but even then I only understood about a quarter of it.

And then they pick him up in the Pope-mobile and take him away again:

From Rome - Day 5

We spent the rest of the day walking, eating pesto pasta, and then we visited the Basilica St. Clemente. The relevance of this church is that it's multi layered.... church upon church upon church. We couldn't take our cameras (and we had dumped them in the hotel anyway), but the top layer is an 1100s church which was built on top of a 4th century church which was built on top of a 1st century Republican Roman Pagan temple. Here's some more info about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_San_Clemente

Now, we're sitting in our hotel room, watching Italian MTV, eating chocolate, and drinking wine:

From Rome - Day 5

We have an early morning tomorrow (heading back to the Vatican to check out the gardens, museum, and the Sistine Chapel)... so we're actually taking it easy tonight (unlike yesterday) ;)

One day in Rome left!

Lauren & JC