The pope! and Manhattan.
While our two days in New York were tiring, it was so wonderful to see the Holy Father, it was well worth it. We had "street" tickets to see him arrive Saturday morning at St. Patrick's Cathedral, so a reporter and I went into the city on Friday night, because we had to be in line by 7 a.m. It was a long time standing in line, and although we had a decent place on the street, it was a little disappointing because all we saw was him go by in a limo. However, we were there to cover the events from an "inside" perspective, and I got some interesting photos of people watching the jumbotron TV, broadcasting the Mass. Later, we walked down to 5th avenue so we could see the pope on the trip after the Mass to the residence. Now, that was pretty cool. Not that we saw him for a long time - it was a quick pass in the popemobile, but the "popefest" on the street. People were so excited to see him, that itself was uplifting.

Today, we were on our own going to the Mass in Yankee Stadium, but I think it was better - the media was herded up and contained into particular areas; when we got back to the hotel, the media weren't back, and the people on a bus from the diocese were still leaving the stadium. Mainly the problems were dealing with crowds and more crowds.

Now, on to Manhattan. It seems so odd that I enjoyed myself so much again. The people were on the whole, very nice - cops, employees in the places we went to eat, etc. Now, the traffic will run you over; the horn honking doesn't stop. Ever. Not that I would want to live there, but it was pretty exciting and actually, its not that hard to get around Manhattan. Just follow the signs.

My sign now says - Go to bed :)