St. Peter's Basilica and the guy himself

We are outside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and taking time to reflect on the amazing feeling we each felt within the church. Would you believe we've visited St. Peter's everyday we've been in Rome? We saw the Pope last night, too, driving away with his entourage. None of us is Catholic yet we were so excited to spot his little burgundy cap as he drove by we collapsed on the ground in uncontrollable laughter. We heard the choir there yesterday and saw two masses. Nuns and priests were singing acapella in a small side chapel and honeslty I wanted to be one of them with all my heart. How pure and peaceful their voices were. The church is absolutely breathtaking. At 1pm we were supposed to leave for Brindisi, Italy, where we were to catch the ferry to Greece, but we found out the ferry doesn't run on Monday night. We;re glad to have one more night in Rome! Our trip is almost over and I'm feeling depressed about it. I've had the greatest time and have so many memories. Our time in Rome has been so fun. We arrived Friday night at 9pm and got hold of a friend of Amy (Giovanni) with whom we made plans for dinner. We also called a pensione to get a room. Well...we got lost looking for our meeting place with Giovanni and ended up having the policia drive us to the correct spot. Thank Godness the police were there. We had walked about an hour to reach what we thought was the right location and we could have been in danger had they not been there! We met Giovanni and his two friends for dinner and reached the pensione at 1am - only to have the owner tell us he had given our room to someone else! I'm glad we didn't stay there, afterall. It was dirty and in a bad area, we were told lately. Giovanni and the guys and Amy and Nancy (a great girl from NYC who's been travelling with us) and I went all over before finding a hotel at 3am! Thank Godness that Giovanni was able to drive us to various locations until we found room at the inn. The hotel we chose was much more expensive than our budgets but we like it (a little tase of luxury) and we stayed there three nights! Each night we were treated to dinner, we went to a party at an Italian apartment and were given a great walking tour by our hotel desk clerk, Benito. We've been to the Colesseum, Forum (almost, it was closed), Panthion, Trevi-fountain (where groups of Italians were singing), catacombs, the top of St. Peter's Basilica. Tonight we are staying in Plaza Narvonna which is located near the Pantheon and are going to celebrate our last and extra night in Roma together. It's our first night without the guys. Giovanni was a kind and tall host. How he fit into his little car I'll never know. The Italian people are so lively and their culture, so diverse - from amazing art to the mafia. We saw Venice, Florence and Rome. I threw a coin into Trevi fountain so I'll be back - I know it.