St. Mary's Theotokos Youth Group

Friday, July 11, 2008 Our Tour of the City

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Friday, July 11, 2008 St. Patrick Catholic Church

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On Friday, we started our day with Mass at 7:00 AM at St. Patrick Catholic Church. It was also, Fr. Alberto's Birthday so he was able to celebrate the morning Mass. St. Patrick is the oldest parish in Sydney. It is staffed by the Marist Fathers (Society of Mary). We were fortunate that the parish was three blocks from our hotel. Prior to the World Youth Day events, we attended daily Mass and Sunday Mass at St. Patrick. The parish reminded us very much of home, our parish in Brenham - St. Mary's.

Thursday July 10, 2008 Our First Evening Meal in Sydney

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Thursday, July 10 After Checking in at the Hotel

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Thursday, July 10 Arrival at the Hotel

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Since we arrived in Sydney early in the morning, unfortunately our rooms at the hotel were not ready. So we left our luggage at the hotel and went to visit St. Pactrick Catholic Church which is about three blocks from our Hotel. We were scheduled to attend Mass later in the afternoon at 5:30 PM. However, the free time we had gave us the opportunity to get to know the area where we are staying.

The Rendezvous Stafford Hotel where we are staying is located in Rocks district of Sydney. This is considered to be the oldest section of Sydney. Apparently this is the area where the City of Sydney was first established. The Rocks is located near the harbor and most of the beautiful sites of Sydney are within walking distance from the Hotel. The famous Opera House is approximately 15 minutes walking distance and the Harbor Bridge as well.

The hotel staff so far has been very gracious in welcoming us to Sydney and have been very accomadating. While waiting for our rooms to be ready, Katrina was the receptionist on duty when we arrived. She was very helpful in giving us maps and informing us some of the sites in the area that we can visit while waiting for our rooms. Although many of were tired from our long trip, we were just excited to go out and venture into the city.

As you may know, it is winter here in Sydney. When we arrived the weather was a bit brisk and chilly but we were able to manage.

Thursday, July 10 From the Airport to the Hotel (Sydney in the Morn

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Going Through Customs

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After going through customs we had our transportation waiting for us at the airport to take us to our hotel. It was about 8:30 AM when we left to airport; it was the morning trafic in Sydney that we encountered when we arrived.

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After a long flight from San Francisco (approximately 14 hours in the air) we finally arrived in Sydney. We arrived approximatey 6:30 AM Sydney time (which is Wednesday afternoon approximately 3:30 PM Central time).

During the flight some in our group were able to meet other pilgrims from other parts of the United States.

We were very fortunate that we went through customs with ease and no problems. The customs agents were very helpful and welcoming to us as well as to other pilgrims.

The photo above shows the group at the arrival in the Terminal in Sydney. Pictured with the group is our captain who flew the plane we were on.

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After a three hour flight from Austin, we arrived at Chicago O'hare International Airport. We are now waiting for our connecting flight to San Francisco where we will board another plane that will take us to Sydney Australia.

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Arrival at the Airport in Austin, TX

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Our journey started this morning. We all gathered at the parish to celebrate the Eucharist and a special blessing for the pilgrims attending World Youth Day 2008. Interesting enough, the local news station KBTX in Bryan, got word of our little group attending World Youth Day and wanted to a new piece. Sylvia and Jordan came by to interview our group. They would show the piece at the 5, 6 or 10 PM that they would try to televise the news piece about our group. You may want to check their web page for mo

Afterwards we gathered for prayer before making the journey to Airport in Austin. Well everyone (ya'll) we arrived to the Airport in Austin. We hope to post pictures as we journey on our pilgrimage.