Sara and I were woken up by a crazy thunderstorm on this day. We're talking thunder, lightning, wind, pouring rain, etc. We had hoped to see the Pope this morning but the storm seemed to be crushing our dreams of that. Since we had nothing specific planned for the day, we took our time getting ready. (aka the other B&B guests were once again hogging the bathroom for two hours AND they stole our breakfast spot...
Sara and I ate breakfast every day in the kitchen because we enjoyed talking with Stefano. Our room came with a table and chairs to use but since we were eating in the kitchen, we kindly gave it up to the other house guests. On this day, they not only stole our kitchen spot, but they also kept the table in their rooms, so we had to wait for them to finish before we could eat. Ugh these people...)
Good news though, they were leaving today. So we would have the B&B to ourselves until leaving Rome. About the time we were finished getting ready, it had stopped storming and it was only raining. Sara and I decided we were going to see the Pope regardless of the rain because this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It is advised that in order to see the Pope, you arrive to the Vatican square about two hours beforehand... which we did. Keep in mind it was raining.
Sara and I had no idea what window the Pope was actually going to appear out of and there were probably 100 windows to choose from. Maybe we should have researched this before heading to the square... Anyway, we figured that the Pope would appear out of the Basilica. So we waited for about an hour wondering why no one was around us...
....and why everyone was standing in masses in a different part of the square...
It has to be one of those windows right??
...when finally a police man walked by, and I asked him if we were staring at the correct window. His reply was a no and that to see the Pope we had to turn to a different building and stare at one of these windows...
To be fair, that red cloth wasn't there until about 15 minutes before the Pope's appearance
So, Sara and I relocated to a better spot. That lasted about 30 seconds because soon it started thundering, lighting, and pouring again. We ran for shelter under those pillars you see in the picture. Except different pillars... ones that faced the window... because we wanted to get it right this time. And we waited some more...
During the wait, some people set up giant screens all around the square. You can see one of the screens in the picture above. And then someone opened the Pope's window and put the red cloth in it. That really got people buzzing. The crowd was acting like they were at a massive concert event. Except no one was drunk. It was complete excitement over simply seeing the Pope in the window. Not going to lie, I was feeling the same energy.
Now this next part still gives me chills. It was finally time for the Pope to make his appearance in the window. Up until now it had been pouring and storming. Sara and I still hadn't left our pillar shelter even though we were farther away than we wanted to be. As soon as the Pope stood in the window, the rain completely stopped. Within a minute or two, the sun started to come out. It was the craziest thing I have ever witnessed. The Pope spoke for about 30 minutes. Even though his speech was in Italian, I was still able to understand the context of his message since Italian and Spanish are very similiar. He also spoke very eloquently. All in all the experience was incredible and Sara and I left with such a high.
But as soon as we left the square, it started to rain again. Oy vey. We were so excited to see the Pope, we didn't even realize how completely drenched we were. Shoes, clothes, everything. So we headed back to the B&B to change. Once there we decided to head for some lunch, so we stopped at a sushi place nearby. The restaurant was always packed when we passed it, and I've been going through some serious sushi withdrawals since arriving in Spain. Before you even laugh at us for eating sushi in the pasta/pizza capital, it was honestly so delicious...
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And now writing about it, I want sushi. Someone send some please???
I should also mention that in the Sushi place, we made friends with an Italian family. The father studied in the United States in Virgina along with traveling to Andalusia, Spain before.
After sushi, we walked to Castle Sant'Angelo. This castle was mainly used by the Popes as a safe haven and fortress. It has undergone multiple renovations over time, but it still holds the feel of a castle.
We didn't take many pictures because of the rain. After the castle, Sara and I headed back to the Gelato place we fell in love with.
And after gelato, we went off in search of dinner. Because it obviously makes sense to eat our dessert before dinner. For dinner, Sara and I each ordered a pizza and split some fried mozzarella and a bottle of wine.
After dinner, we headed back to the B&B to pack up on things for our trip back to Spain.
The next day was pretty uneventful. We took a car service to the airport. We checked in without any problems and boarded the plane. My seat partners were two young teenage lovers who couldn't keep off each other the whole time. I chose to nap during their love fest.
In the end, Rome was a wonderful city and encompassed both a normal city with pieces of incredible history sprinkled throughout. I look forward to my return to there in the future.
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