Upon hearing of Pope Benedict's resignation from the Papacy today, I am reminded of our one sighting of him. Papa and I, along with our girls, spent the Christmas holidays of 2005 in Italy. A few months before we went, I got in touch with the US Embassy and got five tickets to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in St. Peter's Basilica. The girls arrived in Rome a few hours before we did, and they went to the Embassy to pick up the tickets. Papa and I arrived a few hours later. We stayed in a hotel that was formerly a convent, in Vatican City. Within minutes of arrival, we walked directly to St. Peter's Square, where we stood in line about four hours before Mass began. By the time we were seated inside St. Peter's, we were quite tired. Our favorite family photo from the trip is of Papa sleeping through Pope Benedict's first Christmas Eve address.
We spent a couple of days in Rome, then drove to Pompeii. We stayed on the Amalfi Coast, with spectacular views and a trail to a "Barbarian Gate." The unfortunate part of the trip was the rain. It rained 9 of the 11 days of our Christmas visit to Italy! It didn't slow us down. We bought umbrellas!
