30 Days In Rome: Chasing the Pope-mobile

The crowds were missing from Rome just over a week ago, prior to my last blog post, but since then they have well and truly arrived. And it is a pattern Jenny and I finally remembered from our last few Christmases in the Eternal City – visitors seem to stay home for Christmas then fly in on Boxing Day.

The city is packed! During the three days that gout had me down and out, the entire world descended upon Rome. And it is quite exciting.

Colosseum - backdrop for a family pic

The road to the Colosseum has been closed to traffic several times (usually it’s just every Sunday), creating a wonderfully wide footpath to the ancient, iconic building.

Yesterday we took advantage and explored the old neighbourhood just beyond the Colosseum walls, the area in which Jenny and I used to stay during our first few visits. Ben enjoyed yet another chocolate gelato…

Do I have any food on my face?

A day earlier, we wandered across the bridge to Vatican City and St Peter’s Basilica. We expected fairly heavy security, but what the family experienced was tighter than your typical airport. Jenny, Benny, Sam and I were patted down and had our bags checked at two different stages on the approach to the grand square then, before getting into the main courtyard in front of the awesome cathedral, had to pass through metal detectors and x-ray machines.

Audience with the Pope

It was not clear why security was beefed up to such an extent, but we soon discovered what was going on. The Pope rolled in to the square, standing in the back of his open-air Pope-mobile! He spent perhaps 30 minutes greeting people, driving here and there throughout the crowd, kissing babies etc, then led a service from the steps of the basilica. It was quite magical, even for this not-exactly-religious family. And it means we have seen the last two Popes in the flesh in Rome, which sounds like a punchline to a bawdy joke...

A Roman hospital on an island in the Tiber, close to where we're staying

In the name of research for Jen’s next novel we also spent an amazing morning at Campo Cestio, the beautifully kept cemetery for non-Catholic foreigners. This is the final resting place of John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley and many more literary luminaries and it is truly lovely. The graveyard is the setting for a scene in the novel.

Jenny with a suitably sombre face at the grave of Percy Bysshe Shelley

Benny wanders a perfectly landscaped graveyard

We’ve also biked in Villa Borghese, successfully avoided being face-whipped by hordes shamelessly posing in front of selfie-sticks, played hide-and-seek in the gardens of the Campidoglio next door to Piazza Venezia, wished there were public toilets in Rome as we busted for a wee in minus degrees, and wandered endlessly. And we have eaten every piece of food we have seen along the way.