The lovely nuns from our Monastery were not only the most sincere and humble women but were first class tour guides and knew the city of Rome inside out. We arrived on a Tuesday and they let us know that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI appears in St Peter’s Square for a general audience every Wednesday. They gave us invitations to attend and we planned our day.
St Peter’s Square was bathed in sunlight the next morning as we sat surrounded by 140 saints peering down on us from high above the marble colonnades. The Swiss guards were resplendent in their colourful uniforms and chiselled jaws. We sat alongside the Forbes family waiting for His Holiness to arrive and, right on cue, not a minute late, the Pope in his gleaming white Popemobile cruised down the left wing ramp and continued to glide up and down the aisles getting close to the cheering crowd. He was every part the noble leader and full of grace, gave his attention to the adoring congregation.
We listened as the Pope and then other clergy spoke in the most heavenly voices of travel, wisdom and gratitude. Just being there was brilliant. I felt like a little girl reaching up to the angel on the tallest Christmas Tree.
Pope Benedict is just a new and fairly young Pope in the whole scheme of Catholic history but his presence was commanding and the sight of him was powerfully memorable.
The next day we started at the Spanish steps for a perfect coffee at Café Greco and then went back to the Vatican to first tour the Museum (which Maisy posted a blog about) and then spend time inside St Peter’s Basilica. 
Although there were many people inside the church, its immense size was able to make you feel as though you were quite alone in there with the memory of 2000 year old Saints.
HoLee
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