I love it when you call me "il Papa"

Today I woke up at 6am to attend a papal audience. We were told that the good seats get taken really quickly, and we didn't want to end up standing outside in the cold so we left early, but it turns out that no one really goes to see the pope in the winter. So now it's about 3:30 in the afternoon and I'm exhausted! But it was so worth it.

The papal audience was crazy. We had fun admiring all of the Swiss Guards and their fantastically flamboyant outfits. We waited inside for about 2 hours but at least we were warm.
Finally, the Pope came out and he read some stuff in five languages - I had trouble paying attention because I got distracted by the tiles on the walls (there are 294 of them). Then the bishops go through a list of all the groups attending and they get up, cheer, and if they feel so inclined, they sing! No one told us this, so of course we were unprepared. Ah well, I still got to make a fool of myself in front of the Pope. (The polish bishop did not appreciate when people interrupted him to cheer and sing. Where's the love?) A lot of people go to the papal audience in costumes to represent their country or group. There were a few couples there in their wedding outfits because they wanted to get blessed before their weddings, and then there was a group of circus kids with outfits that outdid the Swiss Guards. It was quite an event.













Good news - my computer isn't dead, it's just the charger that's dead!