Skip to main content

Pope Benedict XVI in New York City

On Saturday, April 19, 2008, I took a once in a lifetime opportunity to see His Holiness.  As a result, this crossed off another thing on my to-do list of life, which is to see a world leader in person.  

Pope Benedict XVI was visiting New York City, his first time in the United States as the Pope, and part of his itinerary was to have a motorcade and escorted procession down Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan.  This was the rare opportunity that most average people would have to see the Pope while he was in town.

On a whim, I decided to make the trip down from Albany by car and train to take part as a spectator to this procession.  It was very much like the atmosphere leading up to a rock concert and there was very little protest at all.  There was chanting, music and signing.  There were a good number of Catholics who had traveled from far away to see the Pope, as well as curiosity seekers such as myself.

As the Popemobile came closer, there was a sense of excitement in the air and it was hard not to get caught up in the moment.  As the Popemobile passed by, with the Pope inside, cameras everywhere were taking pictures.  And then, it was all over.  Some people chased after the Pope, but most people went along their merry way, to continue enjoying what was a spectacular day outside in New York City.

Curious to see how the Popemobile is shipped when the Pope visits different countries?  Click on this link.  Also, here are a few photos of my experience.







Comments

Anonymous said…
Congrats on reaching one of your goals. I was standing next to Billy when you called and later texted him.

I got to see Bush 43 in London, Ky. in 2003. I still have the ticket stub from the event, and I have several photos as well. I was sitting far away but still got some decent ones.

A friend of mine actually got to shake his hand.
Laura said…
Those are great pictures! What an awesome experience!

Popular posts from this blog

Old River Lock & Control Structure (Lettsworth, LA)

  The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) and its connecting satellite facilities combine to form one of the most impressive flood control complexes in North America. Located along the west bank of the Mississippi River near the confluence with the Red River and Atchafalaya River nearby, this structure system was fundamentally made possible by the Flood Control Act of 1928 that was passed by the United States Congress in the aftermath of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 however a second, less obvious motivation influenced the construction here. The Mississippi River’s channel has gradually elongated and meandered in the area over the centuries, creating new oxbows and sandbars that made navigation of the river challenging and time-consuming through the steamboat era of the 1800s. This treacherous area of the river known as “Turnbull’s Bend” was where the mouth of the Red River was located that the upriver end of the bend and the Atchafalaya River, then effectively an outflow

Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (Memphis, TN)

  Like the expansion of the railroads the previous century, the modernization of the country’s highway infrastructure in the early and mid 20th Century required the construction of new landmark bridges along the lower Mississippi River (and nation-wide for that matter) that would facilitate the expected growth in overall traffic demand in ensuing decades. While this new movement had been anticipated to some extent in the Memphis area with the design of the Harahan Bridge, neither it nor its neighbor the older Frisco Bridge were capable of accommodating the sharp rise in the popularity and demand of the automobile as a mode of cross-river transportation during the Great Depression. As was the case 30 years prior, the solution in the 1940s was to construct a new bridge in the same general location as its predecessors, only this time the bridge would be the first built exclusively for vehicle traffic. This bridge, the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, was completed in 1949 and was the third

California State Route 203 the proposed Minaret Summit Highway

California State Route 203 is an approximately nine-mile State Highway located near Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Mono County.  California State Route 203 as presently configured begins at US Route 395, passes through Mammoth Lakes and terminates at the Madera County line at Minaret Summit.  What is now California State Route 203 was added to the State Highway System in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 112.  The original Mammoth Lakes State Highway ended at Lake Mary near the site of Old Mammoth and was renumbered to California State Route 203 in 1964.  The modern alignment of the highway to Minaret Summit was adopted during 1967.   The corridor of Minaret Summit and Mammoth Pass have been subject to numerous proposed Trans-Sierra Highways.  The first corridor was proposed over Mammoth Pass following a Southern Pacific Railroad survey in 1901.  In 1931 a corridor between the Minarets Wilderness and High Sierra Peaks Wilderness was reserved by the Forest Service for po