I wrote a huge blog on the train to
Florence – then somehow lost it so I’m starting over.
I got up and had breakfast. Met a nice Brazilian couple who now live in Canada. Caught a bus to the Vatican to see the Pope. By 8:30 St. Peter’s Square was already packed. I didn’t get a chair but was standing behind a barricade where the PopeMobile would drive right by. After mote than an hour in the scorching hot sun along with 25,000 of his closest friends, the Pope started his drive. And I started
getting sick. Thought I was going to faint or throw up – or both. I pushed my way out of the crush and got to an area with air and not so many people. Now I was feeling better but so upset I had to leave my wonderful vantage point. Then i looked to my left and there was the PopeMobile turning the corner. He passed 5 feet in front of me and looked me right in the eye! We were
both smiling from ear to ear! I have seen every Pope since 1968 except the one who lasted 6 weeks in 1978.