There is a New Pope in Town!!!

Well, it's official! As of last night there is a new pope in Rome. I think with his new "divine power", he "gave" us a beautiful day to celebrate! And boy is it a beautiful day. I was at home last night when I found out about the pope and it was too late to make it to St. Peters Square to see him give his blessing and what not. So on the way home today, I went on a little adventure! And was it one!!!

I walked from school, through Piazza Navona, to the river, down to Ponte Sant'Angelo over the bridge and down towards St. Peters Sqaure. THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE!!!!!!! It was ridiculous! I couldn't believe how many people appeared over night. Granted I had been avoiding that area of the city since the announcement of the resignation of the Pope but wow... It was madness. I have some pictures to document the beautiful day and the madness that is Rome at the current moment!

This is Piazza Navona in the full swing of things! It was busy as ever and
 the blue skies made for some gorgeous pictures! 

The center of Piazza Navona in all its glory!

And then there was this little girl! How cute is she!!!

A view of the Ponte Sant'Angelo as well as the Tiber River, absolutely full from all the rain and in the background, you can see the dome of the St. Peters Basilica and proof of the beautiful day!!!
(Usually the level of the river is about 30 feet lower)

The Ponte Sant'Angelo and Castel Sant'Angelo!!!
There really is nothing more beautiful than Rome!

I mean, come on!!! Look at this beautiful angel designed by Bernini!
 Where else in the world can you walk over a bridge and see such beauty!
No where!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and then there was the man playing the violin... Seeing this picture, you would think, "oh how sweet and romantic" until I tell you what he was playing and then you'll laugh...
Time After Time, yup that's right. An American song... Pretty funny to sing along to though!

And here is Via della Conciliazione! Leads right to St. Peters Basilica! Right behind where I was standing to take this picture was a temporary structure just for press and camera crews! It was incredible!

I couldn't help myself. They come from all over the world to take pictures of tourists and document the reactions and what not, so I thought, "I'm going to take a picture of you Mr. Reporter Man..."

You can still see the red curtain on the balcony of the basilica from last night!
This is just a small amount of the crowd that was in St. Peters Square! 

And then there is me. I couldn't help myself. If I had to go through the ordeal of being bombarded by tourists and people trying to sell me things just to get here, I was going to act like a tourist and take a picture!

So you see how cool being in Rome is! If you can't tell from the amount of exclamation points, I had an awesome day! This is the first truly beautiful day we have had in weeks and I had a wonderful time enjoying said beauty! I didn't even mind the tourists and I got gelato, which makes everything even better! It was such a fun day! What an amazing experience!

P.S. You can officially comment on these blogs and they will come through, sorry for the confusion. Oh and I'm leaving for London the day after tomorrow so I will be off on another adventure shortly! Hopefully the weather gods decide to give the rain some rest and let the sun get some exercise. Here's to a sunny and wonderful trip to London and Dublin! Cheers! Ciao!!!!