Final Day Full of Unforgettables

Sorry for the delay in posting on the activities of our final day. We were absolutely exhausted from the long day by the time we got back for the night and a short night it would be.

Wednesday morning we arose, ate breakfast, boarded the bus which took us to St. Peter's Square for the Papal Audience. This group was absolutely shocked at the sheer numbers of people that turn out for this event and to think that this happens every week! After our rather poor practice run at the Vatican museum the previous day, we did a little better this day. Our tour guides prepared us to elbow our way through and not to let those nuns fools us -- they will elbow their way to the front with the toughest of them. The weather was beautiful and our group found seats just a few rows in front of the obelisk. Tony and Sue Urich went further up front to see if they could elbow their way through some nuns and plow down some parochial school kids and a few moments later Tony motioned that he had places for us in the front middle section. Some of our group got up and headed up there but a few of us were a little leery about giving up the seats we had for what may or may not be a sure thing. So Father Miller made the "we are a no-go" sign and we stayed back. About half an hour later, Tony came back telling us there were still 8 seats up front but they were going fast. Cindy and I just couldn't let the chance go by to see Pope Francis a little closer and we went for it along with the Arndt's and one of the Minneapolis couples. I have to say it was well worth the move. Although I temporarily had my doubts when a group of youths broke out singing (if you could call it that) "City of God". I really wished at that moment that Father Miller would have brought his cell phone so that I could at least text him all that he was missing! In case you don't know it, that is in the top 10 if not top 3 of Father Miller's LEAST favorite songs and I can name a few other priests who would agree. Anyhoo -- after much anticipation, the pope mobile burst onto the scene amidst shouts of joy. People were standing on their chairs trying to get a picture or even just a glimpse of our beloved Pope Francis. I got a few pictures but while looking at what I shot I felt more like I was playing Where's Waldo. I deleted a lot of pictures of peoples hands and cameras and people's hair, etc. He does have a tendency to vary off his path and randomly go places that he is not "supposed" to go which I hear kind of drives the security team nuts but I guess there can be safety in randomness. He does not speak English but if you wish to read the translation of his message it can be found here -- http://www.zenit.org/en/sections/general-audience

After the Papal Audience was finished a small group of us decided to walk about sightseeing on foot. While we had stopped for a short break, I checked my phone and lo and behold there was a message from Fr. Dellaert. I returned his call and we arranged for Cindy and I to meet him at the Pantheon. I told him I would be the one in the bright orange pants, he laughed and said he would be the one in black! We found our way there and pretty soon that dapper young man appeared. When he asked us what we wanted to do, I asked if there was somewhere we could go that was quiet and we could visit without all the hub-bub. At that he looked absolutely giddy and proclaimed that he knew of just the place. We walked down the street and took a couple of turns and ended up at a secluded little eatery where we sat and ordered up some wine. Cindy and I just stuck with appetizers as we knew we had a big dinner for our going away. She ordered bruschetta and I had tomatoes and bufala mozzarella (go ahead, Fr. Huber, start singing You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd, I know you want to!). Fr. had bruschetta and pasta as I am believing that was probably his lunch. The three of us had a very nice meal and the food was delicious. From there he took us to see his new digs at the Pontifical College including the garden area, chapel and dining hall as well as the Gregorian University across the street where he starts classes on Monday. He was kind enough to walk us to the street we needed to be on to find our hotel once again where we said our good-byes, or should I say see-ya-laters.



While on our walk back to the hotel, Cindy and I passed up the temptation of gelato, even though it came highly recommended by Fr. Dellaert because we had been told we were in for a treat that evening. We returned to the hotel and I couldn't pass up a chance for a little snooze while Cindy went out to try and spend her remaining euros on something special. Before we knew it, it was time to board the bus and go for our last dinner together.

After a long drive, we were dropped off at a restaurant where we were greeted with quaint music and tables set with wine awaiting. There we were fed a five course meal complete with entertainment. Apparently I was the only person there who knew all the words to "Never, Never on a Sunday" and ended up singing a solo with the musicians. All those episodes of Lawrence Welk I watched with my mother really paid off! When dinner was finished we had a long scenic(?) sightseeing tour we got back to the hotel to get our suitcases packed and get a few winks of sleep. We had a 3 a.m. wake up call, bring our bags down and board the bus at 3:45. Father Miller was kind enough to wake up (even though he was staying behind) and send us off -- and then crawl under the covers for some more shut eye no doubt -- ;)

I have to say our trip back was a relative breeze. All the check ins went well -- nobody was pulled aside for strip search. Father Miller's mom was told by security that she was "a perfect 10" -- like THAT didn't go to her head!
I got a little bit of shuteye on the flight to Amsterdam but didn't get a wink of sleep on the flight to Minneapolis. I did watch the movie "42" which is the story of Jackie Robinson. I highly recommend it. Other than that nothing else looked too great. We finally arrived in Minneapolis and went through customs. I called Mike on the cell phone to see where he was waiting for us in the airport. I told him we were on our way downstairs by the doors and so we headed down the escalators with our suitcases. I got to the bottom of the stairs and saw -- nothing. I kept talking into the phone -- "Where ARE you?" all of a sudden he appeared out of nowhere scaring the pants off of me. He is just soooo romantic, isn't he?!?

Once we hit the road we drove for a while before stopping to get some real food as the food on the plane, needless to say, wasn't so great. After that little break we hit the road for home. Even though I've been up for almost 24 hours straight, I was on a roll so I thought I would unpack the suitcase and do a little blogging. My little eyes are starting to get droopy so I had better wind down now and get some rest!