Papal Visit, Part I

When Pope Francis announced that he would be making his first trip to the United States for the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, whether you were Catholic or not, the excitement was palpable. It wasn't just that we were preparing for a visit from a pope-- we were preparing for a visit from this pope.

The city and surrounding areas began to prepare for hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the country and all over the world to arrive. Villanova closed for a long weekend so its parking lots could be used, locals left town so their homes could be rented to sojourners, and even the Schuylkill Expressway was shut down for bus parking.  "Popeapalooza" "Popeageddon" and "YOPO" (You Only Pope Once, for those unfamiliar) had become everyday topics of conversation.

We secured train tickets through the SEPTA lottery, scored weekend event passes from our church, and made plans for Grandma, Toni, Nana, and Grandpa to stay with us at the house. Local authorities warned that the lines at train stations would be lengthy and the crowds would be overwhelming. Bring it on, we said.  We're going to see the Pope!

First event of the weekend: The Festival of Families.  At the Norristown Transit Center that morning, we were surprised to not have any trouble finding parking, and to see that SEPTA was more than prepared for the large crowds.  It almost reminded me of being in Disney World-- and not just for the way they queued the lines. SEPTA employees greeted us with big smiles and obvious enthusiasm, and seemed just as excited for this as we were.  As is evidenced below- one employee agreed to take our photo, while another one jumped in to be part of the action!

A SEPTA employee shared his megaphone with Joergen for a picture :)

The trains were all running express, and we got down to the city with no problem.  Once there, we were greeted with music, crowds of people from all over the world, and vendors selling everything from rosaries and flags (which we bought, and later had the poles confiscated as illegal items to take into the Reserved area!) to plush Popes and bobbleheads.  Truly something for everyone.

We were so excited to have Toni, our oldest grandchild, with us for the weekend. It was such a blessing to share the experience with her!

Not long after we arrived, we met up with Uncle Tim, Aunt Jackie, Colin, and Genevieve, who had come in from NJ for the day.  Festival of Families indeed!!

In search of restroom facilities, we stumbled into the Philadelphia Convention Center-- where we found a life-size cardboard cutout of the Holy Father himself.  Laughing, we all took turns having our picture taken with it before finding someone to get one of our whole group, which I then posted on Facebook. I didn't think twice about it until a few hours later when I checked my phone, and saw that people thought we had ACTUALLY gotten our picture taken with the ACTUAL Pope!!  We found out that GG and Aunt Jayne had even printed the photo to show all their friends at Normandie Ridge.  LOL!

When we got to Eakins Oval and found a good spot to set up "camp", we happened to run into the Medina family, who are our friends from church.  What were the chances of that?!  We combined our camps and ended up having a lot of fun together throughout the weekend.  Carlos is a really talented photographer and took some of the photos that follow... I have no doubt you'll be able to tell which ones!!

Liam, Pauline, and plush Pope

 The wait for the Festival of Families to begin was long, but we found lots of ways to pass the time. The kids were especially amazing and we couldn't have been more proud of them!

Three generations- Grandma, Dad, and Joergen 

The view from Eakins Oval to City Hall

And the view ahead to the Art Museum

Anthony talking with Jeanette and Roman

People literally filled in anywhere and everywhere they could to get a good viewing spot for the Papal parade!

Dusk on the Parkway, and the Festival is beginning!

As we waited with anticipation for the Pope's motorcade to go by, Liam was able to finagle a spot along the security fencing, where he stood with Pauline and Toni for almost 2 hours straight!  I have never in my life experienced such a collective surge of excitement across a crowd that enormous-- it was amazing!

I'm pretty sure we all cried when we saw him.  I can't explain it any other way other than to say it was awesome.

As we left the Parkway that night to begin our journey back to the 'burbs, I looked up at City Hall to see William Penn's shadow cast onto a cloud, which seemed like a pretty cool end to a pretty incredible day.

Off to get a good night sleep before doing it all over again for the Papal Mass tomorrow!