Audience with the Pope!!!!!

Today is our last day in Rome. We found out last night that Pope Francis would be giving an audience At 10:30 Wednesday morning. Tickets were free but you had to previously order them on the Internet. Of course we had not done this. We were told by another guest in the hotel, who had the ticket,  that in order to get a seat she was leaving for the Vatican at 7:30am. Hmmmm, what to do?!
We decided we would have breakfast and leave the hotel at 9ish in a taxi. On arrival at the Vatican we    Breezed around, through the airport style security machine and to our surprise we were soon inside. Not a soul asked for the blue paper that was the ticket. The audience had already started by this time and there was standing room only at the very back. The room held about 6,500 people.
Various cardinals spoke and then the Pope stood from his white chair and spoke in Italian. Afterwards several of the cardinals repeated the Pope's message in English, French,  German and Spanish. It was incredibly hot in the room and we did not stay for the full audience.
We walked to the Castel St Angelo which is beside the Tiber River down the way from the Vatican. There is said to be a secret passage between the two where the Popes could go from one to the other, depending on the danger.
We then walked to a shopping district where Local Romans  shop......Armani, Versace, Coin and others. Romans must be rich! The Via Cola di Rienzo!
Feet were weary from tramping the cobbled streets and we took a taxi to the villa Farnesina which was merely a stones throw from our hotel.  This villa had large paintings by Raphael and others of the     1500's, and a  small formal garden.
We went Grazies and Grazillas for lunch, we had been there a few days previous and liked it. We shared some pastas, grilled vegetables and tiramisu and a bottle of white wine.  The rain was on again and we made our way back to the hotel , a bit of a rest before dinner. None of us were very hungry but after some packing and such we once again went out in the rain to Dar Poeta a delicious and popular pizza restaurant.. We shared a couple of pizzas, beer and a Nutella calzone!!!!! Yum! On returning to the hotel after dinner I went to the hotel reception to ask for another map, a girl we had talked to yesterday about the Audience with the Pope was there. I told her that we had actually been able to get into it as well and asked her how she and her mum and mother in law had enjoyed it. They had gone at 7:30 to get a good seat and were seated about the middle of the floor area, so not too far from the staging area. She told me that when the audience was over the Pope was walking down the aisle and as he was even with their seats a man jumped out of his seat, screamed "For Gods sake" and threw himself on the floor at the Popes feet. Immediately several security persons grabbed the man, but the Pope held them off and spoke with the man for several minutes and he calmed down. She said it was an unreal experience, scary at first and then not. Her mum and mum in law then got to shake hands with the Pope.
We have had such an amazing time exploring Rome and the two towns we visited outside of the city. Our time in Florence and Paris were memorable, we had so many adventures and laughs with all
seven of the Painters!!!! Prosecco and Pearls rule!!!!
Lastly we have to say our Hotel Santa Maria was such a great choice, central, friendly, reasonably priced, we would highly recommend it on your visit to Rome!
Arrivederci  and Ciao !!!!