Unexpected Sunday

On Sunday we got up and headed over to St Peter's with the intent of getting in to see the church prior to the crowds arriving and then waiting to see Pope Benedict when he prays the Angelus from his apartment window. We were surprised to find we could not enter the church because there was a special Mass soon starting. We found out that the Mass was being broadcast live into the square so we made ourselves comfy and waited for Mass to begin.
We were very blessed to be able to be a part of the the "Concelebrazione Eucaristica E Consegna Dell'Anello Cardinalizio" - a special Mass where the 23 new Cardinals were given their rings. Even though we weren't inside I felt a part of the Mass and loved being in such close proximity to our Church's leader.

This pic makes it seem like we were really close; this is actually a pic of the live broadcast in the square.
When Mass ended, Pope Benedict did come out to greet the people and pray the Angelus. Notice how much smaller he is "in person"

It was then 12noon so we headed to a Chinese restaurant for lunch (it had been lightly raining during the latter part of Mass so it was nice to get out of the rain). After lunch we went over to Castel Sant'Angelo.

It was a great place to get pics of St Peter's

After Castel Sant'Angelo, we headed back to St Peter's so that we could go inside the church. I took very few pics because the lighting is bad, my camera is not good enough to take in limited lighting and I can't enjoy the beauty if I'm worrying about taking pics. Here is one of The Pieta by Michelangelo.

We were exhausted and headed back to our apartment early. Scott and I planned to have dinner out but made the mistake of heading out the door at 6:30pm forgetting that it would be at least an hour until any restaurant opened for dinner. So we ended up with a romantic meal at the McDonald's at the train station and then stopped for gelato on the walk back to the apartment.