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Monday, August 15th: On on a boat on the Rhine -- the very boat that B16 will be taking to arrive in Koeln this week. St. Goarshausen was a beautiful and charming town. Very, very little English was spoken here. I met up with some of the Magis group when I got on the local train in Frankfurt that goes to St. Goarschausen. I would have never made the train at all if it weren't for the kindness of a German lady who, much like the kind Italian lady, helped me without even being asked. As I mentioned, I was...

FRIDAY EVENING, Aug. 12 and SATURDAY, Aug. 13th: I don't even know where to beginning. I don't think I'd believe it myself if I hadn't experienced it. I now understand how Mussolini could rise to power in this country. The trains are nothing short of a banana republic nightmare. If it weren't for everyone speaking Italian, I would've though I was in Cairo. This is what that young Roman was trying to tell me yesterday when he lamented the utter absurdity and chaos of their rail and transportation system. And finally, the train itself looks like it was built when...

FRIDAY, AUGUST 12th (from Roma): It's a beautiful day today. I spent about an hour at Termini. The trains do not move on time here! Public service is pretty much a nightmare. But the time went by quickly because I chatted with a charming Roman my age and we discussed politics. He works for an international consulting firm that specializes in urban planning. Boy did he have great things to say about why he loved visiting the USA. He stayed in LA (LA--the worst of the USA) and loved the low crime rate, the services, and free market. I'll have...

From Thursday, August 11th: So finally, I had a meal today.. And I'm not within yards of any "famous site". NYer's advice to avoid eating near any famous sites had me chuckling yesterday. It's all relative. You can't walk a few meters in this city without hitting an historic ruin or a major work of art? ,P. I've heard it said before that Europe is America's museum. Of course, this was intended as a bit of an insult to the "Euro-weenies" (not saying they are all weenies, just explaining the quote's context)-- but there is some truth to this. Rome...

I'd like to back track for a moment to discuss the whole process of getting to the Vatican for the audience and some of the unique moments that you don't necessarily read about in books. As you'll recall, I arrived in Rome late on Tuesday (more on that story later -- I promise it's worth the wait). I didn't sleep well that night, never do when I'm in a strange place for the first time. I booked my "ticket" for the papal audience through Expedia.com when I bought my ticket. Expedia basically acted as a go-between for a day tour...

I am now in the midst of a war of rival WYD chants -- rival countries are chanting. So far the Americans sound the loudest (or at least the fiercest. Hey, guys we're not going to war; we're seeing the Pope. You don't need to chant "USA!" -- that is unless you see the French chanting "Viva la France", in which case feel free to out holler the cheese-eating surrender monkeys) . The Spanish speaking world, South America and Mexico primarily, sound like they're having the most fun (I've noticed from living in Los Angeles for seven plus years that...

With her indominatable spirit, GipperGal's adventure continues. Just a reminder to all, that GG is accompanying a group but has not met up with them yet. Fasten your seatbelts, you're in for quite a ride! Enjoy the adventure! * * * * * Aug. 8, 2005 7PM All I can say is somedays you're the pigeon and somedays you're the statue. Either that or I could fall back on my old excuse. One of my ancestors must have spit in the eye of the village witch. Ever since then my family tree has suffered from Dutch Elm disease. (Or at...

Our very own GipperGal is on her way to World Youth Day and to make this a memorable experience for everyone here at FR, she will be posting live from the event! Each day a new diary thread will be posted to the Religion Forum. GG is outfitted with a state of the art Blackberry that gives her access to the internet - AND - the FR Forum! Connection is slow so GG will email me daily updates and these will be posted to the daily threads. This is as close as we can get to bringing you along on...