Vanderbilt Cup Races

In August 1997, Roz and I and our wonderful two teenage daughters took a family vacation to London, Paris and Amsterdam. Here is Debrorah and Dana at Place de Trocadero near our hotel. Note the 866-day countdown to the year 2000 on the Eiffel Tower.

As soon as we reached Paris, it was clear that there was a special event taking place during our Paris stay. Hundreds of youths were parading on the streets singing and waving flags from all around the world.  Pope John Paul II had arrived on the same day as us along with 1.2 million people for World Youth Day 1997. Pretty exciting!

The next morning, I went for a walk to a newsstand at Trocadero Square to purchase USA Today to find out how the Mets did the prior day (the Internet would not be born for another 6 years.)  I observed several trucks dropping off barricades on the street. Remembering Madame Lee's French class 101, I asked "Quoi de neuf?" (What's up?). The response was an excited "Papa, Papa'! I took my place on the first row behind the barricade in front to the Ecole de Chaillot, a post graduate architectural school founded in 1887. Within minutes, hundreds of people joined me behind the barricades.

And then Pope John Paul II arrived in the Popemobile with his hands raised  blessing us  all.

A described in the August 22, 1997 issue of New York Times, "the Pope went to the Square of Liberty and Human Rights on the heights of Trocadero Square, looking across the Seine to the Eiffel Tower, to pay homage to the memory of Joseph Wresinski, a French Roman Catholic priest who supported the right of humanity in the poorest countries to the dignity of decent existence."

The event was captured in this YouTube at around the 1:26 mark.

That afternoon we watched Pope John Paul II being welcomed by over 500,000 people at the Champs de Mar.

I always felt it was ironic that so many people had traveled so far to see and hear the Pope that day and I accidently ended up five feet away from him. A memorable moment!