Buona Pasqua

The choir is warming up right now, and there are even more people in S. Pietro Square than were here last night. The metro had closed by the time mass was over, so we got to figure out the night bus system.

The news media is perched on the roof to my left and the Swiss guards are watching the crowd from the roof on my right. The red-feathered hat and bright stripes don't make for the most discrete uniform. The morning fog has melted away and the sun is shining on our backs.

We're headed back to Castiglion Fiorentino this afternoon in plenty of time for tonight's Easter dinner at Santa Chiara.
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Casino, Casino

It's absolutely crazy here. The line to get into mass wrapped all the way around S. Pietro Square. When the gates opened up at 20:20, there was a roar as hundreds of believers bolted for the metal detectors and x-ray machines. The Swiss guards, in their elaborate uniforms, are herding the flock into the Basilica. There are thousands of people in the Basilica right now, and everyone seems a little frantic to get his hands on a missal, a candle, or both.

We're sitting in the second bay from the rear of the Basilica. People around us have binoculars to see the Holy Father. In my immediate vicinity, I can hear conversations in German, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and English (there are a few languages that I cannot recognize; perhaps one is Esperanto).
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Buona Pasqua

We just got off the metro and are headed to S. Pietro to stand in line for the Easter Vigil. The gates open at 20:30, so we should have no trouble getting in. We were told when we picked up the tickets that sixty-thousand people would be attending tomorrow's Easter Mass, so tomorrow should be sufficiently 'casino.'. We hit a lot of Roma's high-points during our last visit, so our pace this time has been a lot more relaxed.
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Musei Vaticani