Italians obviously don't know what deodorant is...

In St. Peter's Square

We were so close to the pope as he made his procession!

Top of St. Peter's Basilica!

Katie and I spent the day at the Vatican and surprisingly enough, so many things fell into place! We got up early and hopped onto the metro or "bus" for the first time on the trip and successfully made it to the Vatican! In the security line a lady told us that the Pope was going to have his procession this morning…we couldn’t believe it! We somehow got a very close seat in front of St. Peter’s Basilica where the procession would take place! The Pope came out and rode around the crowd then was lifted up on stage. He read his sermon in Italian and thankfully someone read scripture in English! It all was so surreal!! After the procession/service we went on a guided tour through the Vatican Museum, the Sistine chapel (Michelangelo spent 11 years painting the ceiling and one of the walls…woah.) and St. Peter’s Basilica (the largest church in the world apparently)! Katie and I were given great advice from our friend Hollister to climb everything we can so up we went to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica! After many very narrow winding staircases, we made it to the top! It was so worth the dizziness! We could see all of Rome and most of the monuments from the top! On our way down we noticed a little pudgy foreign girl who was determined to go as fast as possible down the stairs and before we knew it we heard CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK and she had fallen flat on her face down 6 stairs. Her parents came and quickly picked her up and scolded her in some crazy language we didn’t know. At that moment Katie and I were very thankful that we have very compassionate and loving parents…unlike those crazies!! We traveled back onto the metro bus where we confirmed the fact that Italians don’t know what deodorant is, as Katie had an Italian man’s armpit in her face! Disgusting. We got a bite to eat at restaurant near the train station and ended up sitting with a lady named Stephanie who lived in Australia (originally from St. Louis) and who was traveling by herself. I don't think I could ever travel by myself like that. Side note: Katie and I have LOVED traveling together :) We then got to the train station and we somehow made it on our train after a minor panic attack when we couldn’t find our train and we forgot to get our ticket punched. By the grace of God we made it to Florence and met Mary Southgate at our hotel! We walked around Florence grabbed some gelatto and now we are off to bed. Katie and I feel like these past few days have been perfect and we have gotten our feet wet a little bit! Not to be to sentimental or anything but we just feel like God has made it clear to us that he has been with us every step of the way as we have made our way through this country. He has shown himself to us in people and timing, as he put WONDERFUL, loving people in our lives these past few days, he brought us to the Vatican at the perfect time to see the Pope and he got us on that train. Those are just a few of the many ways he has shown himself to us :) I am looking forward to seeing all of our UNC friends tomorrow and permanently setting in our apartment tomorrow!!