Papal Audience

On Wednesday 8 of 2009 at exactly 6am I woke up to be ready to go to the papal audience in the Vatican. I was really happy to have this opportunity especially because I am catholic and I never thought that I was going to be able to see the pope in person so close. So by 7am everybody was ready downstairs and we walk through the Vatican and the first thing that I am not going to forget is that being so early in the morning there were already a hundred of people waiting on the line. After waiting on the line we enter into the auitorium in which the pope gives the audience and we took our seats and waited until 10.30am which was the time that the audience started. It was really incredible to hear the pope giving his conference and also every head priest of each region translating it into their native languages. At the end of the conference they announced all of the groups that were in the conference and was really wonderful to see how every group cheered or dedicated songs to the pope after they were announced, including us, the St. Johns group. After the audience ended we left the Vatican and went to top of the “Il Vittoriano” an astonishing monument made as a tribute to the memory of King Victor Emmanuel II. I heard before I went to that monument that many people do not like it because it is too new for the ancient Rome and you can clearly notice it for its white color of the marble in comparison to the brown of the other statues and monuments. But when we arrived there I was completely amazed to see such huge and remarkable monument. Then we took the elevator to go to the top of it and I heard the words of the person that ran the elevator saying “you are going to a terrace that is close to the heaven”. When he opened the door I could not believed that it was real, the view there was unbelievable. Then I realized why the guy in the elevator told us that. You can see almost all Rome there on the top and appreciate all the beauty of Rome with all their monuments, statues, buildings, roads, churches, etc, in one place. Those images are not going to go leave my mind and are going to remind me that beauty exists and that you clearly can find it in Rome!
Bryan Barrera, Survey of Art and Architecture, Berkeley College