Papa walked briskly out of the large aircraft hangar, with security men and police keeping up with him on either side. He soon reached the white Brazilian air force helicopter and boarded on the side we couldn't see. Next to it was a camouflaged air force helicopter. Papa's plane took ages to get ready, but finally set off for the short taxi along the runway and then lifted off gently, followed by the other air force helicopter.
Weather was overcast with what looked like lowering cloud. But there was no rain and no sign of any "nasty" weather to hinder the next short flight to the place where Papa will spend the night and have a much needed sleep. According to one press report his Alitalia Boeing 777 200 didn't have a couch or bed; he merely had his front seat as usual. I do hope he was able to get some sleep, as the time lag [clocks back] was about seven hours from Rome.
EWTN's commentator told us to pray for Papa's safe journey - so I said a Hail Mary as I watched the white helicopter disappear. That was the end of EWTN's coverage for today......
Sogni d'oro, Papa!
![[SM=g27838]](https://im0.freeforumzone.it/up/0/38/3841644.gif)
==============================================================
Mary - I am almost 100% sure that the Vatican doctors would have asked Alitalia to configure a 'room' for the Pope during a 12-and-a-half-hour flight. No doctor in his right mind would let an 80-year-old man not have as much comfort as he can on that long a flight!
It doesn't take much to do that - the first class and business-class seats already stretch down to be beds - so all they need to do is curtain off a compartment or even put up provisional walls. It's done for heads of state all the time!
He looked beautiful and rested and relaxed at the airport ceremonies, so he must have had a good flight. And now, he'll have the whole night to make up for the jet lag.
TERESA
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/05/2007 0.01]