Pentecost

Pentecost.

We left the house early for Mass at St. Peter's. We arrived by 8:30 for the 10:00 mass. Already, most of the good seats had filled. I tried to get the kids seated by babies or flocks of nuns: both Pope magnets. There is a lot of anticipation at a papal mass. People get excited over any activity, thinking it signals the arrival of the pope. But if nothing else Benedict is punctual. But cameras start clicking as first the choir processes in, followed a few minutes later by the acolytes and communion ministers. The experienced vatican watchers knows the real procession begins with a cross and lots and lots of cardinals...youngest first. He Holy Father brings up the rear...except for the body guards and the Swiss Guard. Most of the Mass was in Latin, with the first reading in English, the Second in Spanish, the Gospel was sung in Latin. The prayers of the faithful were in French, Tagalog, Swahili and maybe German. I greeted people around me at the sign of peace and am sure there were five different languages. That is the experience of St. Peter's, people from all over the world, celebrating as one family. Pretty awesome. The mass lasted about an hour and a half. Benedict speeds through his Latin! We met in the square after mass and everyone was accounted for. It took 30 minutes to get out of church. The square was already filling with pilgrims coming for the noon Angelus. There was a huge Bavarian contingent with horse drawn wagons with scale models of the various churches in the their villages. They had a band and were in traditional costume. Another day, another parade!

That is when things fell apart. Mr. Julich and I headed for the airport to pick up our reserved vans. Short story...they weren't there. No one could help. They could give us three cars (which made a couple people angry who were waiting longer than we did and were told there were no cars!) The place was a mess and filled with lots of very angry people. And it was every company: Avis, Hertz, all of them. What a mess. I don't know if the problem was Sunday or what. The lady at out place finally was able to talk to another company and get one van. So we decided to change plans, which almost 8 hours later gets us to now. So five hours to and from the airport with lots of waiting around. We decided on plan B.

So it is 8 at night. We boarded the fast train to Florence at 7:40 and will be there about a hour. We are zooming through the Tuscan country side at about 160 miles an hour ...smooth, quiet and comfortable....and I am typing, not driving. AWESOME. Another experience for the kids. The landscape is beautiful. Little villages dot the hills. We are passing everything on the expressway which is a quarter mile from the tracks. It is so postcard pastoral. Flocks of sheep, fields of grain. All is right with the world after a very hectic afternoon. Brother Jerome is going to meet us at the Vecchio train station. We have decided to abandon the vans and take the trains...more local color and no parking.