Over the past few weeks, I´ve seen lots of posters and pictures advertising the Pope´s trip to Bavaria. Even though I figured I wouldn´t be able to see him, or necessarily get very close, I decided to give it a shot. :) After a relaxing breakfast with the family, I got ready to go into town, and headed out the door about 2:15. I missed my normal bus, so instead of walking up to the Forstenrieder Allee station, I decided to take a different bus and explore a different part of the city. Upon reaching the Obersendling Ubahn station, I got on the Ubahn and headed towards Marienplatz...

   It was a good thing I took the Ubahn I did! They had closed the Ubahn stops where the Pope was going to be, and my Ubahn was the last one to stop at Marienplatz until about 7. Although I thought about walking down Ludwigstraße (which the Pope would later drive down) and finding a good spot to stand, I figured I´d check out Marienplatz first.

   Practically every enterance in the subway station was blocked off, so I headed up a stairwell facing Sendlinger Tor/ the Viktualien Markt. Marienplatz was almost completely full, and it was only 2:45! I walked over to a Journalists´platform, and leaned against the fence. Soon after, I met 2 very sweet older ladies that had been waiting there for a few hours already! They had both purchased little gold-plated necklaces, which the Pope had blessed in Rome, and which had been brought to Munich. One of them walked me over to a little stand and showed me the necklaces, saying “you should buy one! They´ve been blessed!”. I pondered for a while how they had been blessed: Did the pope walk into a room and bless a bunch of cardboard boxes? Was the storeroom blessed, whereby everything in it was blessed automatically as well? I wasn´t sure exactly what it meant, but it was obvious these necklaces meant a great deal to many people.

   The Pope wasn´t due to arrive Marienplatz for about 2 hours or so, so the ladies and I stood there and chatted, watching the huge screens from where we were standing. We saw the plane land, and the crowd went wild!! Little yellow and white flags appeared out of nowhere, waving all over Marienplatz. Many people whistled and clapped, sang, and jumped around. Both of the ladies were incredibly excited that the Pope had landed, and waited with bated breath until they saw him emerge from the airplane. :) It was lovely to see him meet with Angela Merkel, Bundespräsident Köhler, and the “Who´s Who of Germany´s Politicians”, which were gathered at the airport to greet the Pope. The President gave a lovely speech about what “Homeland” meant, and the Pope looked very moved. It was also fun to hear his very Bavarian accent! After this, he met with many other people, including Silke´s boss!, and was greeted by two adoreable children in traditional Bavarian dress. It was really sweet to see him with the little children. :) He then got into a very expensive looking BMW, flanked by tons of policemen on motorcycles, organized into what looked like “migrating bird” formations, and headed off to Munich.

   We watched on the screen as he was wizzed down the highway, and there were occasional shots of Marienplatz, which would ensue the crowd to scream and wave their flags. I loved it that the people were so excited. It was neat to see the different reactions. :) Finally, he arrived at the University, changed clothes, and got into the Pope mobile. The crowd became more and more excited as he neared Marienplatz, and there were probably about 5 helicopters flying around in different places. As all of this was going on, the ladies I was standing next to started using their little papal flags to hit taller people that would stand directly in front of them. It was quite funny. :)

   While all of this was going on, the reporters around me started to film little interviews with the crowd. I had my few minutes on German TV, too, as an interview was shot directly in front of me! I also almost had an interview of my own with the reporter I stood next to, but in the end, they didn´t need to film it. It would have been quite exciting, though!

   The Pope finally arrived at Marienplatz, and the crowd went wild. :) Flags flew everywhere, and my journalist “friends” allowed me to stand on their little stand and watch the goings on. This was incredible, as I got to see the Pope with my own eyes, and not just on the screen. I also saw Stoiber, Ude (the Mayor of Munich, and Merkel. It was quite exciting.

   It was exciting to be part of such an important moment for Munich, as well as for Bavaria and Germany. I was impressed with the honor, respect, and beauty portrayed in various aspects of the day, and was grateful that I was able to be there to witness all the goings on...even if it did take me an hour to leave Marienplatz because of the crowds... :)