Sunday morning, we arrived in Rome for a weekend break booked months ago.
The Pope died yesterday.
The flags of Europe, Italy and The City of Rome are flown at half-mast as a mark of respect to the late Pontiff.
It was quite strange to find ourselves in Rome on such a morning. On the one hand, we were apprehensive about intruding on grief, but with hindsight should not have been surprised that most Romans carried on life as usual. Alongside crowds of tourists, the noisiest, busiest city in Europe still sat in cafe's, shared lunch with their families, drank wine, shopped, and of course worked.
Maybe, it's because this city has seen nearly three thousand years of advanced civilisation. Whatever the sadness of catholics now, Europe, Italy and Rome has seen it all before and much more. So I feel this picture is of a place and a time and an emotion set in the context of history.

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