hola,

Was anyone who lives in Madrid able to see or hear the Pope y if so what was the atmosphere like.

hello everybody

jeffB, i UNFORTUNATELY couldnt see it. tve internacional didnt even show it. hope he comes to new york someday.

My mother went this morning to the Plaza de Colón where a mass took place. Although I haven't heard the official figures on the news, there should be more than 1 million people.

My mother told me it was amazing and she could follow the mass through the huge tv screens installed on the Colón square.

And yesterday 700,000 atended to a meeting with the Pope in an airbase near Madrid. I followed it by TV and it was amazing...

Fernando

Miketheman - I don't know about TVE in the US, but here in Romania we were watching a good deal of the TVE coverage. Impressive. It was also good timing as our son is going through his first communion preparation and will he'll be going to church in Spain come September.

hello everybody

chrisR, maybe i didnt try "hard enough" to tell you the truth i hardly saw tve yesterday. i bet they did show it,which they did. i must have been a bit gaga while posting my earlier post.

Estimates for today's mass are around a million. I watched it on TV, since I didn't feel like getting up in the pre-dawn to get a good seat. All of Colon was filled, and the streets radiating from it, including Castellana and Recoletos, had seating too. They closed down Castellana from Glorieta Emilio Castelar south. In the afternoon, I took a walk down the median of Castellana (!) to check out the huge operation that is required to do a papal visit. I'm not Catholic, but the mass was moving nonetheless, especially given the Pope's waning health.

It's so nice to see so many Spaniards gathered togeher peacefully. I read about some violence at a recent May Day rally, so I was quite relieved that the Pope's tour has gone on without any violence.

Cheers