2 days ago we arrived with our friends at our house in Italy. This posting is an illustration of rich pigs luxury. The night before we left, Kath emailed Katia (who looks after our house) to ask her to take the bolognaise sauce out of the freezer. She bough us some beautiful pasta, parmizan cheese and a bottle of red wine as a present.
!!!!
Friday 30 May 2008
Thursday 1 May 2008
Il Papa
Last Sunday was a day to remember second to none. Kath had seen on the internet that the Pope was doing a mass in St Peter's Basilica on the Sunday we were there. It was a mass to ordinate 29 priests and he was doing this as the Bishop of Rome. We went to the Vatican post office and a very nice woman made a phone call and confirmed that we had to go to the bishops church (name to follow) to get a ticket. we went on the tube and asked the information and audioguide man what to do. He told us where to go and when we got there (behind this wonderful church) we encountered two policemen at the entrance of the offices that had the tickets. Fortunately one of them spoke English but we could have managed in Italian. When we explained what we wanted, one of the policemen went off and came back with this huge bloke. I thought we were about to be arrested. He asked how many tickets we wanted. As I was not a Catholic and Kath was, I said "one". He looked at me as though I was crazy. He insisted we had two and I was happy with that although I was worried that if i went, i would not know when to sit, stand, kneel and say stuff. Kath was thrilled. We had ticket numbered about 850. The policeman and the big bloke could see we were pleased. The policeman said that we must look round this beautiful church and we did. the cloisters were magnificent.
The Sunday morning arrived. On the ticket it stated that we could get in at 8 am for the 9.30 service. It was a beautiful day and we arrived at the front of the basilica at 7.45 am. The queue was enormous. All had tickets. It was a slow business as the security is thorough.
We got our seats at the back and about 500 priests and bishops came in down the central isle. The Pope led the main procession and we all moved to be closer to the central aisle and stood on chairs to get a good view. There were lots of photos taken. He turned his head first to the right then to the left and smiled at the congregation as he walked to the front.
The service was lengthy and I could pick up a few words of the Italian. Most people in the congregation took communion and it must have been a marvellous experience for true Catholics (like my wife) to take communion that has been blessed by the Pope.
The highlight for me was at the end. The Pope slowly walked up the central aisle and shook hands with people alternately on the right and left. He came to be about 3 feet from us.
We then went out of the Basilica but the crowds outside were enormous and we could hardly move. They were waiting for the Pope to do his weekly thing from his private apartment window. There must have been 200000 people in front of St Peter's.
Fabulous.
The Sunday morning arrived. On the ticket it stated that we could get in at 8 am for the 9.30 service. It was a beautiful day and we arrived at the front of the basilica at 7.45 am. The queue was enormous. All had tickets. It was a slow business as the security is thorough.
We got our seats at the back and about 500 priests and bishops came in down the central isle. The Pope led the main procession and we all moved to be closer to the central aisle and stood on chairs to get a good view. There were lots of photos taken. He turned his head first to the right then to the left and smiled at the congregation as he walked to the front.
The service was lengthy and I could pick up a few words of the Italian. Most people in the congregation took communion and it must have been a marvellous experience for true Catholics (like my wife) to take communion that has been blessed by the Pope.
The highlight for me was at the end. The Pope slowly walked up the central aisle and shook hands with people alternately on the right and left. He came to be about 3 feet from us.
We then went out of the Basilica but the crowds outside were enormous and we could hardly move. They were waiting for the Pope to do his weekly thing from his private apartment window. There must have been 200000 people in front of St Peter's.
Fabulous.
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