The very wet wait for the the pope Wednesday... And then the rain stopped ...

Taking a break from Rome in ... Lourdes

As people fill their plastic bottles and images of the Virgin with holy water they peel off the Made in the People's Republic of China labels ... 

Msgr. Jerry Vincke of Lansing, Michigan, and the Pontifical North American College in Rome came for the weekend to say mass in the Grotto

Chapelle le Piétat in Saint-Savin at dawn

Wet Rome Waits for a New Pope Tonight

Santa Clauses around Venice this Christmas Season

More photos from Venice last weekend ...

Arriving in Venice

Florian Cafe in the rain

Gondolas through the door of the Europa Hotel

Old Glory in La Serenissima

Christmas tree in a palazzo on Piazza Santa Maria Formosa 

The lobby of the Danieli

Umbrellas ready for sale near the Gritti Hotel

Rain on a small canal

Pigments in a paint shop window

San Marco at night 

Where gondolas are built and repaired, across from Fondamenta Nani in Dorsoduro

Delivering Christmas trees near the Strada Nuova

Clouds rolling in behind the newlyweds

Another view from the Europa and Regina Hotel

The planet Jupiter above a Venetian alley

Jupiter and Orion above the Grand Canal

Lute Player on the Accademia Bridge

Buying wine in bulk

Piazza San Marco in the fog