His goal was to combine a retreat-center atmosphere with a luxury hotel. The combination, as one might expect, doesn t always work. The television set in my room was handy for me while I was on duty for the Register and kept up with CNN for the first half of my one-week stay. But when I transitioned to pilgrim for the second half, it became a distraction. But the great advantages of service and location at the hotel far outweighed any disadvantage.
Breakfast is plentiful and the help exemplary.
I missed it the day I went to Mass in St. Peter s Square. You need only look out a window to see if the lines have begun forming yet. Colorful Swiss guards were arriving and taking their positions, battleaxes in hand. The location also saves you having to juggle information sources. One evening I heard loudspeakers and headed to the square.