Trip to New York
I'm back from my trip to New York! It was lots of fun.
Friday night I went to pick up Ethan in Tewksbury. We fill up on gas then leave for New York. After a few hours, I started nodding off so Ethan convinced me to let him drive. I fall asleep for 10 minutes to be woken up by a cop that pulled us over. I asked Ethan what the hell he did and he said don't worry about it every cop in Conneticuit is a homosexual. Uhh... what the hell is that even supposed to mean? The cop comes up to the car and says "Are you aware you were going 96 miles per hour?" And Ethan says "No sir officer I thought I was going 62 mph, 67 at most." Which is complete bullshit of course, Ethan is a dumbass. After he got a $75 warning ticket instead of the full out $250 ticket, I started driving again. I didn't let him drive for the rest of the trip haha. We finally got there at about midnight and drove through NYC to New Jersey where we had reserved a cheap hotel.
Saturday morning we drove into the city and parked on the street. We got breakfast at dunkin donuts and headed towards 5th street, where the Pope would be traveling down later that day at 1:15pm. We went to tourist attractions along the way, including the Empire State Building and Times Square. Ethan was a genius and brought a pocket knife so they almost didn't let him into the building. Then we kept walking up 5th avenue to where the Pope was. About 10 blocks away from where he was, the police blocked off 5th avenue. We had to walk over to 6th ave and find a way into 5th ave further up. I was starting to get worried because it was about 12:45pm when we got to the blockade. We kept walking up block after block, and it was all blocked off. We finally got up to about Central Park and found out it was unblocked. At that time it was 1:10pm so we got back to 5th ave as quickly as we could. There were tens of thousands of people crowding around the street, if not more. I said "We'll never get a picture from here" so Ethan said "Just follow me" He shoved people out of the way and I followed him and we got pretty close to the street, about 30 feet. Which is pretty close considering we shoved our way through 30 feet of people to get there haha. After about 10 minutes we started to hear the shouting of people from up the street, signaling that the Pope was coming. Everybody started cheering and yelling and I could barely see the top of the popemobile as it drove by. I raised my camera over my head and started blindly taking pictures, hoping to get a good picture of the Pope. I got some pretty good ones, but even the best picture I got had someone's hand in the way. As it drove away I could see a little bit of the Pope himself. It was a thrilling experience. To be that close to such Holiness is an honor. It was almost as if God Himself was there in person.
For the rest of that Saturday me and Ethan navigated the New York subway system. It's pretty much the same thing as the Boston subway system. It wasn't really that complicated, it just took a little while to get all the way back downtown where we parked. After that we went back to the hotel in New Jersey and decided to go to a White Castle. I've never been to one, or even heard of that movie with White Castle in it. It's like a Burger King with wicked small burgers. Midgets would feel right at home there.
Sunday morning we were going to try and venture to Ground Zero where the Pope was going to bless those grounds. But we overslept. I don't mind so much though, I saw it live on tv. From what they said on the news, people on the street couldn't see into Ground Zero anyways. So I wouldn't have seen anything. Still, I would have liked to be there. Pope Benedict XVI's prayer was compassionite. I don't know any other way to describe it. It probably helped many of the victim's families.
Sunday afternoon me and Ethan got something to eat in New York then decided to head back to Massachusetts. It was a long drive back but we finally got back at around 9-10. A good ending to a good trip.
After going on this whole trip, it's changed my view of the Pope. I wasn't really sure what to think of him, he had big shoes to fill. After seeing what he has done in his trip to the United States, my view is totally changed of him. He's brought a very human face to the papacy and he's very humble. My first impression of him was that he was a bit self-righteous. I didn't have anything to base that on of course. He's brought hope to me. When he went to the youth rally at St. Joseph's Seminary (me and Ethan didn't go.. too many people) he connected with the youth very well. He put his hand on some of the children's heads. That'll be a story to tell when they're older. He connects very well with people on a personal level. He looks people right in the eye when he's talking to them. I'll admit he's not as good of a public speaker as Pope John Paul II but he's gone a long way toward my liking. Vive il Papa!
Friday night I went to pick up Ethan in Tewksbury. We fill up on gas then leave for New York. After a few hours, I started nodding off so Ethan convinced me to let him drive. I fall asleep for 10 minutes to be woken up by a cop that pulled us over. I asked Ethan what the hell he did and he said don't worry about it every cop in Conneticuit is a homosexual. Uhh... what the hell is that even supposed to mean? The cop comes up to the car and says "Are you aware you were going 96 miles per hour?" And Ethan says "No sir officer I thought I was going 62 mph, 67 at most." Which is complete bullshit of course, Ethan is a dumbass. After he got a $75 warning ticket instead of the full out $250 ticket, I started driving again. I didn't let him drive for the rest of the trip haha. We finally got there at about midnight and drove through NYC to New Jersey where we had reserved a cheap hotel.
Saturday morning we drove into the city and parked on the street. We got breakfast at dunkin donuts and headed towards 5th street, where the Pope would be traveling down later that day at 1:15pm. We went to tourist attractions along the way, including the Empire State Building and Times Square. Ethan was a genius and brought a pocket knife so they almost didn't let him into the building. Then we kept walking up 5th avenue to where the Pope was. About 10 blocks away from where he was, the police blocked off 5th avenue. We had to walk over to 6th ave and find a way into 5th ave further up. I was starting to get worried because it was about 12:45pm when we got to the blockade. We kept walking up block after block, and it was all blocked off. We finally got up to about Central Park and found out it was unblocked. At that time it was 1:10pm so we got back to 5th ave as quickly as we could. There were tens of thousands of people crowding around the street, if not more. I said "We'll never get a picture from here" so Ethan said "Just follow me" He shoved people out of the way and I followed him and we got pretty close to the street, about 30 feet. Which is pretty close considering we shoved our way through 30 feet of people to get there haha. After about 10 minutes we started to hear the shouting of people from up the street, signaling that the Pope was coming. Everybody started cheering and yelling and I could barely see the top of the popemobile as it drove by. I raised my camera over my head and started blindly taking pictures, hoping to get a good picture of the Pope. I got some pretty good ones, but even the best picture I got had someone's hand in the way. As it drove away I could see a little bit of the Pope himself. It was a thrilling experience. To be that close to such Holiness is an honor. It was almost as if God Himself was there in person.
For the rest of that Saturday me and Ethan navigated the New York subway system. It's pretty much the same thing as the Boston subway system. It wasn't really that complicated, it just took a little while to get all the way back downtown where we parked. After that we went back to the hotel in New Jersey and decided to go to a White Castle. I've never been to one, or even heard of that movie with White Castle in it. It's like a Burger King with wicked small burgers. Midgets would feel right at home there.
Sunday morning we were going to try and venture to Ground Zero where the Pope was going to bless those grounds. But we overslept. I don't mind so much though, I saw it live on tv. From what they said on the news, people on the street couldn't see into Ground Zero anyways. So I wouldn't have seen anything. Still, I would have liked to be there. Pope Benedict XVI's prayer was compassionite. I don't know any other way to describe it. It probably helped many of the victim's families.
Sunday afternoon me and Ethan got something to eat in New York then decided to head back to Massachusetts. It was a long drive back but we finally got back at around 9-10. A good ending to a good trip.
After going on this whole trip, it's changed my view of the Pope. I wasn't really sure what to think of him, he had big shoes to fill. After seeing what he has done in his trip to the United States, my view is totally changed of him. He's brought a very human face to the papacy and he's very humble. My first impression of him was that he was a bit self-righteous. I didn't have anything to base that on of course. He's brought hope to me. When he went to the youth rally at St. Joseph's Seminary (me and Ethan didn't go.. too many people) he connected with the youth very well. He put his hand on some of the children's heads. That'll be a story to tell when they're older. He connects very well with people on a personal level. He looks people right in the eye when he's talking to them. I'll admit he's not as good of a public speaker as Pope John Paul II but he's gone a long way toward my liking. Vive il Papa!