Roma, Day 2

Day two was a bit of shock to the system for this family who have been staying up late mand sleeping late each day.  While Damian was here for the Canonisation of Mary McKillop, he had met a number of lovely priests who live in Rome.  We got up at 5.50am so we could be at the Vatican for 7am Mass at St Peter's.  Fr Mark Withoos, an Australian priest who's been based in Rome for 4 years, and is passionate about his studies in Latin, says Latin Mass in St Peter's each day and had invited us along.  It was challenging to keep up but amazing to be in St. Peter's with such an initimate sized group of people (great photo opportunities before the hoards of tourists arrived). Finbarr wasn't quite in the spirit of things - he fell asleep on my handbag on the marble floor, but as Fr Mark pointed out, the benefit of saying Mass in Latin means he has his back turned to us and can't tell if he's lost his congregation! Fr Mark was so lovely - he's only just in his 40's and is so great with kids and adults. After Mass he took us around the Basilica for a while and then took us to the special area where he works to the side of St Peters. He showed us the fishpond in the centre of the court - the big white fish is named "The Pope", then out a private door and back to Rome where we had breakfast together.  The kids thought it was hilarious when he explained the different sirens heard around Rome - the ambulance siren sounds like, "Already dead, already dead" and the police siren means "Too late, too late".  After brekky, he took us back into St Peter's where he'd arranged for us to go to the roof and up the top of the Dome. It was a really hot and humid day, so we struggled a bit with the 500,000 steps (I'm sure someone counted that many) but it was completely worth it - anyone who's made it up there will know that the view across the roof of St Peter's and out to Rome is 

amazing. The breeze was very welcome too but Fr Mark says the best bit is he saved us about 55 euros! We went home for a quick rest and morning tea in Campo Di Foiri before heading back to St Peter's at around 12.30 for a tour of the Vatican Gardens and lunch.