Easter Sunday

The Vatican at 6 am. It's actually busier then this picture makes it seem, I just managed to get none of them it. 

Easter Sunday was spent at mass in the Vatican! Sarah had gotten us tickets to the Vatican and when she picked them up they said that they recommended being there at 7. Gates would open at 8 and the mass would start at 10. We decided that in order to get a good seat we needed to be an hour earlier, arriving at 6 am. It takes an hour to get to the Vatican from Sarah’s apartment and so we decided that we would wake up at 4 A.M. We actually managed to follow are schedule and arrived very close to when we said we had wanted to! We at first got in a line that everyone thought was going to lead into the gate where they would check tickets and we could get in. However Italians don’t do lines. So we then just ran up and joined the throng of people at the gate and waited for two hours crushed in the mob. The good news is that being so close to so many people kept us warm!

It was beautiful walking to the Vatican along the river. 

When they finally opened the gates it was a mad rush to get in and get seats. I got stuck behind some people and so I was waving Sarah on (I may also hate running so was going slowly….), it honestly felt like Black Friday and for a minute there I was worried people were going to be trampled.

Only a few people wanted to take pictures....

But we made it! And ended up getting seats very close to the front, 7^th row!! We waited for two more hours for mass to start and between the early morning, the sun beating down on our backs, and a choir singing that really soothing music where you can’t hear/understand any words we were both struggling to stay awake!

Selfies before mass! 

Once Mass started we were both captivated! It was beautiful! And they had a little booklet with an English translation so we could follow along. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the pomp and circumstance that went along with it. It was nothing like what I am used to at home, though Sarah was much more familiar with the different parts of it than I was, but it was an amazing experience that I will never forget. My grandchildren will definitely be hearing about it!

But really... it was no big deal.... 

After Mass the Pope drove around in a little car and waved to the cheering masses (still not sure how I feel about this) but it was fun and we waved and cheered along with the rest of the crowd, standing on chairs to get a better view. Then he went to the window and blessed the crowd. Apparently, if you had brought any holy objects with you, this was the Pope blessing them.

The Pope blessing us :D 

We managed to get home without too much difficulty dodging the crowds and made Easter brunch! It felt like we were back at home cooking together J After banana pancakes, fruit salad, and eggs we took a nap to refresh ourselves having already been up for 11 hours at 3 pm and continued with the rest of our amazing weekend!