Papal Arrival Day

Today has been very busy. I started out this morning early, getting some shots of pilgrims eating their rations, then ate my rations. After this, we all filmed in church for catechises sessions. Leaving early to get down to the papal arrival in time, we took the LONG train ride downtown to get to the International Media Center and check mail and blog. because the train ride was so long and we were starving, we skipped IMC and went to get lunch at Darling Harbor. From there we hiked to Barangaroo to see the Papal Arrival. It was very touching seeing the Pope, and many people were overcome with emotion. Some of our pilgrims broke down into tears seeing him. Very powerful. When Pope Benedict spoke, not a single noise was heard from the crowd. At first, we were VERY far away but we used our good looks (and my charm) to get through some gates on the way out to the media area. We got a better view of the Pope as he made his way to the Pope-mobile. Then it was all over, and we hiked back to the International Media Center. All this hiking really adds up. I'm carrying a 20lb camera back with me everywhere along with a large production waist pack full of tapes, batteries, wireless mics and such. I'm starting to get some shin splints from all of the hiking. Likewise I'm starting to get a sore throat from the airplane ride. All in all, the experience of today was amazing. I can now say that I saw the holy father in Barangaroo, Sydney, Australia, July 17th, 2008. I can't say that I was overcome with emotion, however I felt his presence. Tomorrow leads us to more of the same: Commuting, hiking, filming, and trying to figure out what we are doing. I'm going to add some more to the slang list. Check it out. Now many of you may be wondering how I could have gone to a beautiful beach and not fly a kite or windsurf..... I KNOW!!! Believe me, I tried. There was not a single kite in the sky however it was blowing directly on-shore 5mph. There was nowhere to be found any kites, kites for sale, kites for borrow or even for steal. Now surfing was available, however not the wind variety. There is a windsurf shop about 2hrs drive north of Sydney. That's out of the question. Since I struck out on all fun at the beach, i stuck my feet in the water. So now i can say i was in the South Pacific! Thanks for all of your comments. I look forward to reading everyone's comments. G'day