The Story Behind This Photo - Rome, Italy

I have been very fortunate to visit some amazing places since I started working as a music director on a cruise ship. One of our stops was Civitavecchia, Italy which is only 51 miles from Rome. If we (the ship's orchestra in the main theater) were lucky, there would only be one late show that night so we would have all day free to take the train to Rome. I always went to Rome when I had the opportunity. On this day, I got off the train and went visit the Vatican. I saw thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square and was wondering what was going on. Eventually I saw the Pope riding around the area on his Pope mobile. I had lots of people in front of me so I couldn't get a clear view of him because peoples' heads were blocking my view. Thankfully, my Sony F828 camera had a feature that would let me see the screen while I was holding the camera as far as I could above my head. The Pope's vehicle eventually drove coming towards me so I was able to get this shot when he was close enough. I took this pic on June 16, 2004. The Pope passed away one year later on April 2, 2005.

We had no idea the Pope was going to be in St. Peter's Square on this day. It was just pure luck that we got a chance to see him.