We started the day at the Capuchin Crypt, an amazing space decorated with the bones of 4000 dead monks. The morbid decorations covered the floor, walls, and ceiling. A mass of pelvises in one room, skulls in the next. Bones lining the walls and full skeletons lying in small recesses between the bones. Absolutely incredible.

After that we took a cab to St. Peter's Square. It wasn't as crowded as I expected it to be. Today is the second day of voting to elect the new pope. Our plan was to sit around the square all day, just taking in the sights and watching the crowds. The cardinals let off black smoke, for the first voting session, around noon. The next voting session wasn't until 4:00, but they weren't going to let off smoke until 7:00 (or so we thought). So we hung out a little longer, then went to see some local sights. The first was a church where people in purgatory supposedly left their marks. Kinda lame. Then we went to the Castle of St. Angelo, which Abe and I though was great, but Emily thought was boring.

On the way back to the Vatican, we grabbed a quick meal, and returned to St. Peter's around 6:00 (so we could get a good seat while waiting for the 7:00 smoke). Two minutes after we sat down, the chimney started smoking. At first it looked black, but the longer we looked, the lighter it looked. Soon the whole crowd had come to the same conclusion. White smoke!! In no time, the square was packed. As we waited for the emergence of the new pope, it just got more and more crowded. Pope Benedict XVI was announced about 45 minutes after the smoke. He came out looking bewildered, preformed some awkward hand motions and blessed the crowd. It was terribly exciting! Trying to get out of the square, however, was a different story. The entire area in and around St. Peters was completely packed. You couldn't move an inch. People were smashed together like a rock concert. Or worse. Abe hurt his knee trying to jump over a small fence. The crowd helped everyone else, but when Abe tried to get over the fence, they cleared a path for him to fall.

We ate dinner at a beer and sausage house. I was the only one who had a good meal.