Today was the day I've been looking forward to the most on this trip. We woke up bright and early, around 5:20, and left home a little before 6 with two angry kids. I barely slept the night before, I kept waking up, thinking we missed the alarm. On the way we walked past the Trevi Fountain and stopped for a quick selfie, because the hoards of people weren't around.
By the time we go to St. Peter's Square, there was a long line waiting at the entrance we were at last time. We decided to go to the entrance in the opposite side, which still had a lot of people, but unlike the other side, people were clumped together and not waiting in a line. I think the line wouldn't have mattered in the long run, because a crowd would've gathered but we couldn't have negated the line so early in the morning. It was about 6:20 when we got to our spot. There were maybe 50 people already there. The kids held it together but it wasn't easy. Both wanted to be held and they're heavy. I kept giving the kids snacks (vanilla crackers with a chocolate filling, like Oreos, for Caroline), hoping to keep them closer to happiness and further from toddler tantrums. Eventually Caroline fell asleep and I bribed Bennett with some new Hot Wheels cars. (Caroline is eating said reverse Oreos in each picture)
The guards started arriving at the security points around 7. Last time we weren't let in until after 8, so it was a surprise to us when they opened the gate before 7:30. We weren't ready in the least and to make matters worse, they changed the security point, so that the gates are more organized, funneling people through the metal detectors one at a time, instead of the crowding surging forward and going to whichever check point they wanted. Last time I made it through the metal detectors less than 3 minutes after they opened the gates. This time we waited closer to 15 minutes, obviously getting more and more anxious as the time ticked by. Plus our stupid metal detector kept not working, so they needed to reset it. Soooo annoying. But according to plan, Caroline and I made it through first, without bags, and went to find seats. The last time we sat in the front section, but I could see the edges of that section were filling up. Unlike last time, all the sections were open for seating so I went to the next section, with plenty of barrier seats and took our seats. I had been thinking about it a lot and decided to do 2 seats in one row, and 2 seats behind those, if it was an option, so that we'd have two seats next to the barrier. I really put a lot of thought into this. I had to fend people off of our chairs, but Caroline and I held our seats. It was hot and sunny, so Caroline didn't feel like taking a picture, obviously.
It took a while by eventually Joel found us. He was looking for us in the first section, and it's just too big of a place to start yelling for him like a crazy person, but we found each other. Truth be told, while it is a huge space with how many thousands of people, it's also aconfined space with so many places to go, so it wasn't that hard to find each other.
Bennett actually did a pretty good job of entertaining himself by people watching. I mean, in toddler time, 15-20 minutes is pretty good! I was on umbrella duty, which did seem to help keep the kids less angry.
Finally it was showtime. Prior it seemed like something was up because the cardinals started doing some readings, giving shootouts to the groups visiting from their countries. But then there was a lag in time from when the pope came out. But when he came out, he started booking. He stopped once initially, where groups of disabled people were sitting, but then flew past the crowds. It was clear he wasn't stopping. But I waved Caroline around anyway and he did a drive by blessing. Totally not as amazing as Bennett's experience but the sentiment cannot be denied so it was still pretty cool.
Blessing Caroline:
He ended up looking around and driving out is a second time. Joel was able to capture some of the waving of Caroline. At least she can look at the pictures and know we desperately tried.
What can we say? If he's not stopping, he's not stopping. Looking back at the video from his motorcade he did stop for two babies total, one was located with the disabled people, and he other near the end of his route located inside the barrier, so I assume they're both special babies. I think I'll always be happy to know we tried, than to have never tried and wondered if she could've had the same experience as Bennett.
Then we had to sit through the long program, mostly in Italian. It really made me wish I knew Italian because the pope spoke so passionately and thoughtfully, I would've like to hear his message.
Soon Caroline started melting down. Full stiff body screaming, so Joel took her to the restroom, which was in the shade, where they could still watch. Bennett stayed with me.
As Joel was carrying a screaming Caroline away, I told him to meet me near one of the big columns. After the program finished, I attempted to get near the columns by the restroom but they weren't letting people back into that area. Great. How was I supposed to find him now? To make matters worse, Bennett needed to poop. Super great! We tried to find Joel for a few minutes, then I gave up and tried to find a bathroom... When I couldn't, we went back to find Joel again. This time we found each other, and a restroom, so then we were reunited and no more emergencies. Only the kids were over tired and crabby. We went to a restroom to eat. Bennett actually ate a piece of pizza. Caroline is on a strict gelato and crackers diet, so she ate nothing. She literally only eats crackers and gelato. But her tantrums have been so bad here, especially being overtired (I bet they have been 2-3 hours short on sleep each day we've been here) so we let her have what she wants. Yes, it's a horrible habit to get into, but sometimes you have to pick your battles. Gelato is high in fat and dairy, so I'm sure it's like drinking whole milk. St Peters Square was shut down until 1 so we tried to find a park for the kids to play in. Eventually we ended up at a bus terminal with some play houses. The kids were happy about this. Of course when it was time to leave, Bennett had a meltdown. Then he found out we were leaving to go to St Peters Bascilica and was even more angry. He wants nothing to do with churches, for some reason. It's really annoying.
Since this year is a Jubilee year, the Holy Door into the Bascilica was open. This happens about once every 25 years so that was pretty cool, and we went through it. Caroline actually likes to look around churches. She likes to see the cherubs, which she calls 'babies' so we hear that a lot from her. Then she'll point out animals, or mommies, but she calls a lot of things mommies, so I'm not sure if she means female statues or what. She does seem to have a fine attention to detail.
Bennett was 100% done with the Vatican, and insisted upon being carried (we didn't bring the stroller). Luckily for Joel, we had the carrier so it actually isn't too much work.
Then we mailed some postcards from the Vatican.
Then not a minute after we finished, they came to collect the mail.
Then we went back to the hotel for naps. Joel got takeout for us and we are at the hotel. Then we went out for a night walk.
We saw a famous toy shop, Pinnochio's birth place, I believe.
We ended up wandering over to the pantheon.
There was some level ground for the kids to run.
Then we made the slow walk home.
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