Buona Pasqua from the Vatican

I officially completed another one of my "honors adventures". Only one more to go!

Just after I got here, I faxed in a ticket request to the Vatican to attend Easter mass in St. Peter's square! I was so excited to receive a yes in response and went last Thursday to pick them up at the Bronze Doors. Even better, my best friend, Catherine, came for the weekend from studying abroad in Florence!

We woke up at 4am to arrive at the Vatican at 6:30. It was an early morning, but so worth it! Walking along the river was beautiful.

When we arrived, there was only a small crowd of people. You can't even see them here! That's definitely not usual...

We thought we got in line to get in, but in fact there was just a mob around each gate. Discovering that, we joined the crowd and waited until 8am when they let people in. It was absolutely insane when the guards finally opened the gates! I think my feet almost left the ground as people closed in so tightly.

I clung on to Catherine and we spilled into Piazza di San Pietro, almost taking out the security guard! I ran ahead with her waving me on to secure us seats in the seventh row! We were so close to everything. Mass didn't start until 10am so after a few pictures to prove our awesome experience, I wrapped up in my scarf and put my head down for a small cat nap :)

[Couldn't help a selfie while we waited...]

[And a real photo!]

The day turned out to be beautiful, a choir serenaded us, and a parade marched in. Following along with the mass wasn't too bad as the beauty of Catholic churches is that they are the same all over the world. We had a guide to follow along, too. Part of it was in a variety of languages with native speakers each reading a section which was really cool to see and hear.

For communion, lots of priests walked through the aisles handing out wafers, followed by a man carrying an umbrella. It was funny but went pretty smoothly considering all the people! I have now eaten the body of Christ blessed by the Pope.

After mass, Papa Francesco rode around on his "Pope-mobile" so we stood on our chairs to wave and cheer with the crowd! A few minutes later, he went up to the window in the front of the basilica and spoke. We were totally awestruck. We honestly could not believe we were actually at the Easter papal mass!

We finally made it home around 2 or 3pm to make some Easter brunch with Alayna. Stuffing ourselves with banana pancakes, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit salad, and the chocolate we had bought to celebrate, we napped [again]!

Refreshed, a few hours later we headed back out. We made a random stop and had a really great cappuccino. Not sure if we just really needed it or if it was actually that tasty! Either way, it was pretty!

[Hint: Always get your cappuccino "con cacao". It means they sprinkle some chocolate powder in it. Now you may not even need the sugar that Italians love to put in their coffee. Total game changer. You're welcome.]

I took Catherine to climb up Aventino for our evening adventure.

We peeked through the keyhole at where we had spent the morning! I'd never been at night, but it was incredible to see St. Peter's glowing in the night sky. The best part is that it's only a memory - you can't really replicate the view. Google it. Maybe a professional captured a little bit of the beauty. We spent some time in the park up there, too, taking in this view of Roma, talking about life, and simply spending time together. It was perfect.

It didn't quite feel like a holiday as I've never been away from my family, but it was so great to have my best friend there to eat chocolate with me :)

That's all! Buona Pasqua tutti!