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Andrew Nelson, campus minister at
Trinity High School
in Manchester, NH, is the correspondent for the Diocese of Manchester during the papal visit. Andrew will share his experiences as well as those of the other New Hampshire pilgrims throughout the Holy Father's visit to the US.
DAY SIX
Sunday, April 20th
6:30 am
Wake up.
7:00 am
My Aunt Susan and Uncle Jimmy are brilliant hosts in their suburban New Jersey home. They cook a great breakfast and continue to treat us as if we were the Pope!
7:45 am
My Uncle drives us to the Metropark train station.
8:15 am
Depart for NYC.
8:50 am
Arrive at Penn Station.
9:20 am
Take the B train to Yankee Stadium.
9:50 am
We arrive, follow barricades to the entrance point.
Heavy security, a few crazy protestors saying we are going to hell….
10:15 am
Clear our way through gate 4.
10:25 am
Oops wrong gate.
10:45 am
Clear the gate for section 49.
11:15 am
Yikes the souvenir line is 10 wide and 50 deep. There is no way to get around them and no one wants to move to let us by.
11:26 am
Wonder why all the Yankee stadium staff does not create an aisle so we can get by.
11:30 am
In our seats.
Look up to discover, to my horror, we have a great view of the wall behind the Pope. Too bad it is not glass, we can see nothing!
11:45 am
“Oh look, there are all the snipers on the roof.”
12:10 pm
Enjoying the amazing Concert for Hope.
Not sure who Jose Feliciano is but he is popular and quite good.
1:00 pm
Amazing children’s choir called “Libera” sings. They sing like angels, no joke! Not that I have heard angels sing before, but none-the-less they were good.
1:30 pm
Harry Connick Jr. sings; crowd loves him.
2:00 pm
The Papal orchestra, amazing, plays beautiful song and children enter controlling birds (kite like paper ones). In an artistic masterpiece worthy of Olympic opening ceremonies, the ballpark field is filled with these white heavenly creatures.
2:10 pm
Doves are released and fly throughout the stadium, crowd goes wild, moving start.
2:15 pm
The Holy Father arrives, the stadium erupts!
Moving site, 60,000 people cheering and waving yellow and white handkerchiefs.
Feel lump in throat and pride in heart.
2:20 pm
Realize we are part of something special.
2:25 pm
Mass begins, crowd sings together, loudly.
3:40 pm
Pope Benedict delivers a powerful homily.
However, his accent is hard to understand on giant speakers and many struggle to understand him.
4:10 pm
Communion distributed.
4:30 pm
60,000 people have received communion in less than 20 minutes.
4:40 pm
The Holy Father thanks America for being good hosts. America thanks the Holy Father.
4:50 pm
The Pope travels Yankee stadium in the Pope Mobile, crowd goes wild.
4:55 pm
The Pope passes by the television press riser. In a remarkable moment the announcers, cameramen and photographers leave their posts to wave wildly to the Holy Father, even the big time media got swept up into the frenzy! Remarkable!
5:10 pm
Start writing my story for the
Union Leader.
5:25 pm
Computer battery decides it hates me.
5:30 pm
Depart in search of Starbucks.
5:40 pm
Load the subway in remarkable time.
6:00 pm
Arrive at 34th street and head to nearest Starbucks, in Macy’s.
7:30 pm
Finish story, go to bring up the wireless to send it in, realize I am in the only Starbucks without wifi service!
8:00 pm
Arrive at another Starbucks after running through the city worried the newsroom would kill me. (They were great, patient and incredibly understanding all week, including today. You guys rock!)
8:30 pm
Grab dinner.
8:55 pm
Meet up with brother in Penn Station.
9:01 pm
Catch train.
9:45 pm
Arrive back in NJ.
10:00 pm
Brownie sundaes with my Aunt Susan and Uncle Jimmy.
11:00 pm
Start blog.
11:30 pm
Finish my final Papal blog! Thanks so much for reading.
If you enjoyed, it please let us know. ( Contact us )
DAY FIVE
Saturday, April 19th
6:00 am
Alarm rings.
6:10 am
Still ringing.
6:25 am
Wonder if I ignore if it will go away.
6:30 am
Realize must leave in ten minutes.
6:45 am
Leave for Trinity to pick up two students headed to the Mass and Sarah Jane Von Haack from
Parable
Magazine.
7:04 am
“Mr. Nelson where are you? We are all here and waiting for you.”
DAY FOUR
Friday, April 18th
5:45 am
Too early, zzzzzzzzz.
6:00 am
Five more minutes, zzzz.
6:05 am
Five more minutes, zzzz.
6:10 am
Five more minutes, zzzz.
6:15 am
Five more minutes, zzzz.
6:20 am
Five more minutes, zzzz.
6:25 am
Five more minutes, zzzz.
6:30 am
AHHHHHHHHHHH, where did all the time go, must get to school.
6:45 am
On the road.
7:15 am
Back at school; 24 hours till I am on the road to see the Pope again.
DAY THREE
Thursday, April 17th
5:00 am
Alarm clock rings, pretend not to hear it.
5:05 am
Still ringing, probably not the best idea considering I am spending the night on an extra bed in a friend’s D.C. hotel.
5:15 am
Time to rock & roll.
5:30 am
At the press center, boarding the bus to Washington Nationals Stadium.
DAY TWO
Wednesday, April 16th
7:45 am
Monsignor John Quinn, Father Maurice Lavigne line up outside the White House to be part of the Official Formal welcome.
8:45 am
I wake up late, did not realize how tiring the previous day was!
9:00 am
I quickly depart from my Maryland hotel, getting lost on the way to D.C. Note: G.P.S. systems are only as smart as the person using them.
DAY ONE
Tuesday, April 15th
4:15 am
I get up and get ready to head to the airport. I am excited to be going to see the Holy Father, but it is 4:15am and wish he was coming to Manchester instead.
5:10 am
I arrive at the Manchester airport. Yikes parking is expensive. I request to get on an earlier flight to try to pick up more of a window in D.C. Thanks to the kind folks at Southwest I am on the 6:20am flight instead of the 7:10am. All is well.