After another long break of writing I thought I’d update my blog finally. One big trip I took was to the Vatican/Rome for Easter and it was phenomenal! I took off on Good Friday and got there around noon. I’ve been to Rome before so I skipped all the sight-seeing traps and did strictly the Easter stuff. So, as soon as I got there on Friday I met up with my friend, Peter, who apparently ends up going on all the same trips as I do. He doesn’t stop following me…HAHA (he’ll get a kick out of this). The weather was amazing so after I was settled we headed to the Coliseum where we thought the procession for the Stations of the Cross were to be held. We stumbled across a small crowd in front of the Coliseum and figured that was the best place to stand since people were already camping out there waiting for things to start. After a few “dot-games”, nuns singing, getting stepped on, and about three hours later everything started to get going.

Down at the bottom of the Coliseum the Pope came out and started the procession. To our surprise, we were directly in front of the 8th Station and the final platform/alter!!! We couldn’t have had better seats! I got great pictures and at one point felt like I could stretch my arm out and touch him. It was surreal. We figured it couldn’t get any better than that. Boy, were we wrong.

The next day, Holy Saturday, we walked around for most of the day and I caught up with a friend, Catherine, who has been working in Rome since graduation. We went to Greece together in 2003 and had a blast so we were able to catch up; we also had her show us to the best gelato and cappuccino places in the city and boy were they delicious. Afterwards, we headed to St. Peter’s to try and get a seat inside the church for the Pope-led mass. To our dismay, we needed to have gotten tickets way in advance and all the time we were waiting in line for (a few hours that stretched all around the Vatican-we were relatively close to the front) was useless. BUT fortunately Peter saw a guy with extra tickets and gave us two! We got really excited to go in except for when the gates opened. When people were allowed to go in, I am not exaggerating one bit when I say that they all turned into ruthless animals! Everyone ran to the front, jumped fences, pushed each other to the side, just to get a seat inside the church! No decency or courtesy…I was seriously appalled and disgusted. Something like that ruthlessness should not be occurring in a kind of religious setting let alone the Vatican during Easter! I can’t believe the way these people were acting. Anyway, we got in and got great seats near the center aisle and, again, basically had the Pope brush right beside us. I have amazing pictures to prove that too. The mass was expectedly long, but awing. It was amazing to be INSIDE St. Peter’s for the occasion. We thought nothing could top that. Boy, were we wrong again.

Waking up around 5am to get to the Vatican early enough to get a seat on Easter Sunday was quite a daunting task considering the potential amount of crowds we were expecting to face. We also were aware that we needed tickets to get a seat inside the square but we accepted that we would just have to stand in the back with most people to watch the mass on the big screens. BUT fortunately my friend Peter again found someone with two extra tickets and we were let in and got seats in the front section below the altar! We couldn’t believe our luck and how things were working out. We knew we had to take a lot of pictures because we wouldn’t even believe ourselves at where we were and how things worked out so well.

I flew out later that evening with a slight tan and an album of memories incomparable to most. Best Easter yet!