Wednesday May 21. We saw the Pope today. It was raining so they moved the papal audience inside St. Peter's, which was good and bad. On the one hand, we were there so early we were in the fourth row, much closer than we would have been in the square, plus the setting of the basilica is much better. But, instead of having a seat to wait for 2.5 hours, we had to stand in a crowd of pushy, rude (sometimes smelly) people. By hour 2.25, I was doubting whether it was really worth it - then the pope came out, dressed all in white (including brilliant white hair) with red shoes, and blessed the crowd. He walked along the front row shaking hands with people putting us about 10 feet from him. Jeff's dad got a close up of his shoes, which I was disappointed to discover were not doc martens.

In high school, I was campaigning for a pair of black Dr. Marten boots. My parents thought they were too expensive (and hideous) and wouldn't give in. Then I was reading my mom's catholic digest and found a tidbit that said that 300 pairs of doc marten boots were delivered to the Vatican every year. The author jokingly concluded this must mean that the pope wears doc martens so I put the article on the fridge and incessantly reminded my parents that the pope wears doc martens. They finally gave in and bought me the boots for Christmas my junior year and I continued to wear them for the next 5 years until they died. (BTW, the boots were for the Swiss guard that polices the Vatican. Another FYI, the British army also wears doc martens, at least they did in 1995.)

After seeing the pope, Tony, Brenda and I went back to the Forum to see more ruins. We have a history of seeing ruins together because the rest of the family is fairly uninterested. We just can't understand why everyone else isn't fascinated by these ancient leftovers. It was still raining but luckily we found some yellow poncho's near the Vatican because we thought we'd be sitting in the rain all morning. Next time we travel in such a large group, I might make everyone wear bright yellow poncho's, rain or shine, so its easier to keep track of the group.

Thursday May 21. The Menniti's (except me) catch the early train to Florence while the Stallard's head south to Sorrento.