Wednesday, August 17, 2011

World Youth Day: Travel Day

Dan Johnson - Madrid - August 16, 11:23 p.m.

We arrived in the evening jumped on a bus and headed to the hotel. For the most part it was a travel day. Not a whole lot of excitement. Actually, after the last "excitement" we went through in airports I am perfectly ok with calm, quiet, boring travel. That's not completely true, there isn't much with this group that is calm and quiet. We did play a little soccer in the airport- that is until Connor kicked a German! Don't worry he was very apologetic and she only had a broken ankle (not really.) When we arrived in Madrid we got to the hotel We were a couple of hours late so we missed the earlier mass. This turned out to a be a blessing. We went to dinner and then had a small private mass in a lobby of the hotel.

After mass we walked outside a bit. There were thousands and thousands of pilgrims starting chants and proudly waving flags. There was a lot of excitement among all the youth... the youth of the world! We are very happy to be here and are looking forward to the first sessions tomorrow!







Lindsey, Gaillard, and Callie (collaborative effort) - When in Rome - August 14, 2:10 p.m.

Greetings from room 116. Great golly what a day! Full of laughter, tears, and the occasional sweat stain. Naturally, we kicked off the day with another faith deepening mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Despite our inability to fully comprehend the Italian dialect, we trusted that the priests words in his homily held great spiritual value. Immediately following, we made our way out to Vatican Square where we were able to pray the Angelus with The Holy Father...who was streaming live from his summer home eighteen miles up the rode. Nevertheless, it was an inspiring experience, and we are looking forward to seeing him in person.


After testing the cultured waters of Italy for so long, we decided to dine at a highly recommended Americana cafe, also known as the Hard Rock Cafe. We then skipped on back to our humble abode but not too quick, for we were able to steal some deals at a highly posh boutique in the area. Back at the hotel, cat naps were greatly appreciated and to every one's dismay, pasta was not served for dinner. Later we made our way to the monastery down the rode for a peaceful adoration and ended the night with nothing more than sleep.

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