LoyalK's Blog

"Lucy, I'm HOOOOOOME!!!"

The heat, good music, and the Pope...

Whoooooooo haw! I'm back! I just got back last night from my pilgrimage to see Pope Benedict XVI on his visits to Washington D.C. and New York. I went as a member of a group/community that is a movement in the church. There were about 200 of us in my particular group on 4 separate buses. The group I traveled with had members from Illinois, and Arkansas, but as far as total members from just that particular movement alone, I can't even begin to guess. We had people representing groups (or "communities") from two or three different cities in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois alone, plus at least one group to represent the states of Texas, Minnesota, Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, Virginia, California, and many others. The people representing just that particular movement in the church totaled in the thousands. ^__^ After a long bus ride to D.C. my particular group set up shop in the back of the White House but, after being told that that specific space was being reserved for the protesters, moved farther down Pennsylvania Avenue where we sat and waited for the Pope to come by. After about 4 some odd hours of waiting which actually wasn't as bad as you might think because we got groups together of people who would play music while the rest of us sang and danced (yes, on the sidewalk in the middle of Washington D.C. XD) we finally got in our positions to watch him come by. I was as close as you could possibly get, which was probably about a good 30-50 feet away. I was standing right on the street pushed up against the barricade. I heard a bunch of screaming coming from farther down the street, and looked up to see a whole fleet of police cars, motorcycles, and vans coming. Right in the middle was none other than the "pope-mobile." There he was! He was waving to both sides of the street as he went by. I was close enough that I could see him clearly and saw he had a big smile on his face. Whew! From there we moved on and did some things amongst our different groups. We then went to the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (also in Washington D.C.) where he was supposed to move next. We were there as he came down the street and entered the Basilica. As he was coming up the street they began to ring the bells in the bell tower and wow, if you've never had a chance to hear that sound........ it's amazing. I was able to get on the actual lawn of the Basilica to witness him at a fairly close distance again a little later on the same trip. At night we followed him to the location where he was to stay the night. (he was staying with the "Nuncio"). His 81st birthday was on the 15th so we learned "Happy Birthday" in German to sing to him. For the three nights we were in Washington a Jewish Synagogue opened it's doors to us and allowed the group I was traveling with (all 200 of us) to stay in their temple. It was awesome. Thanks Temple Beth Ami!!!!! On Friday the Pope departed from D.C. for New York, and we followed. At 2 in the morning XP. After having been up until about 12:30AM. Wee haw. lol We arrived in New York and once again set up our banners on 5th Avenue. Yes, THEE 5th Avenue. =D I saw the statue of Liberty (from afar), St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Trump Tower, and a load of high end stores with price tags that would make your head spin (including Rolex and FAO Schwartz). I once again just by chance ended up on the street as close as you could possibly get. He passed by between 1:30PM & 2:00PM. He again waved as he went by. Saturday morning we went to Ground Zero and said our morning prayer their. Saturday night we went to the Prudential Center in New Jersey and went to Mass, and Sunday morning we got back on our buses and headed for home. It was a true pilgrimage. We slept on the floor (thank God it wasn't outside), ate whenever we could find time, some of us didn't shower for 5 days, some for 7days, we had very very little sleep no more than 5 straight hours at a time, and most of us ended up getting sunburn like you wouldn't believe, but it was worth every single minute and I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. You might ask yourself why someone would go through all of that , or think it's crazy but think about it, people do it all the time for rock stars, actors, even Criss so why not the Pope? ;) Loyal for Life -LoyalK