stations

friday night was really fun. we left ariccia on the 620pm train because we wanted to make it to the colosseum around 745pm to get a good spot. we ended up there around 8pm because we kept getting held up, but that was still ok because we made it in and got a really good spot.

the colosseum

the set up

kelly, krystle, brittani, ali, me

we had stopped in the train station at mcdonalds because some of the girls hadn't eaten yet. of course they got burgers, fries, and coke on good friday (i can't say much, i ate a salami sandwich on the train). so all of us american girls were walking in to the way of the cross, surrounded by tons of devout catholics, with mcdonalds.

bad catholics

after they finished eating we started to meet people standing around us. we met a guy named benjamin, who is a brother in seminary in rome. he's from idaho, and had a calling at 14 yrs old to join. he's been in for 12 years, so he has like 5 left or something. but it was really great standing next to him and his friends because they ended up translating the entire service for us so that we could get something out of it (he speaks english, spanish, and italian).

tons.of.people.

they passed out candles for everyone, which is a little dangerous, especially when given to cydney. i am not kidding, she lit herself on fire... twice. we were standing there, watching the festivities, when all of a sudden we smell something burning. what is it you ask? cydney's scarf. luckily she put it out fast enough that only the strings on the ends were singed. then, she relights her candle, and not even 10 minutes later, her paper around her candle was on fire.... she wasn't allowed any more candles after that. i could just see her head going up in flames in the middle of the pope saying the stations of the cross in rome.

me with my candle

so we had a really good view of the pope, but not the stations. i don't know how it works, but i think being in the colosseum would be the best spot. the first 4 stations take place inside of the colosseum and then they move out and head toward the palantine hill, where the pope is, and wrap around until they finish at the pope.

pope

pope holding up the cross after the last station

so take note: just because you're at a religious event doesn't mean that you can't get pick-pocketed. i was standing, listening to brother benjamin, when i turn to look at cydney. all of a sudden i see this blue color literally inches from my shoulder/back. i realized that it was a man standing inches from me! don't worry, my bag was in front of me, and brittani and cydney were starring at him, but he was standing extremely close to me, which was really uncomfortable. so don't let your guard down just because you're at a religious service!