Friday June 11th 2010

Today dawned sunny, bright, beautiful and HOT!!! Lenny went in search of bread at 7 am and came back with yummies from the open air market. Breakfast was leisurely and unhurried. We experimented with the clothes washer and enjoyed being in our own place.
Douglas showed up after 8 and got us all moving in the direction of the Vatican. Today was the closing ceremony for the “Year of the Priest”. All the clergy wore white including Douglas. We needed to split up since we got there a little late. Chris and I were able to move forward, once the restrictive tape was removed. We opted for seats on the far aisle in hopes of a glimpse of Santo Padre. The choir was singing pre-Mass when he arrived -you could feel his presence. People started to applaud, shout and chant. He was in the “pope mobile” and it was truly moving. I didn’t expect to have that reaction, but for all the heat and sweat of sitting out in the piazza for 2 hours, I actually got the chills. During the mass, the priests (all 6,000 of them), renewed their vows. It was uplifting to say the least. After Mass the chant went up – Ben-ne dicto – (clap, clap) – like a Mets chant – it was rock star quality! (again the chills!). THEN – the pope mobile came within feet of us!! What a trip!! Truly a once in a lifetime experience!!!
Then a forced march to Restaurant de Museo (Guilio and Maria’s place) for a hurry up and eat lunch. We had tickets to the Vatican museum at 2, not realizing that the mass would be so long.
We had a spectacular guide who even took us out onto the terrace to look out over the gardens. This was a first for me. We went through the Belvedere Palace which housed the Borgia apartments, a series of rooms named after various popes and connecting corridors that exhibited tapestries, sculptures, 16th century maps of Italy (we found Quaglietta!! – see picture)



and tremendous masterpieces by Raphael. The crowning glory of course was the Sistine Chapel with all of Michelangelo’s greatness! When the crowds lessened (and believe me they were thick!) we hung back and redid the chapel getting our full complement!
We then went onto the Basilica and realized that the crowds were just too much and decided to return early on Sunday. We then went in search of the bus,by which time we heard from Mary Ann Palma that she was in the area of the Spanish Steps. So Lenny and I left the gang and went to meet them. We had some cold drinks and made plans to meet them tomorrow for a morning tour of the Coliseum and surrounding environs.
We reconvened at the apartment and went to dinner at Il Giardino di Albino. Our waiter was dentally challenged, had high energy and brought us antipasto and dictating our meal before we even settled into our chairs. The antipasto was inhaled in a matter of minutes and resembled a feeding frenzy. He (the waiter) insisted on dessert, so I had the watermelon – OMG – it had black seeds!!! And it was big enough to feed 4!! DELIZIOSO! Ciao Ciao!!