He came, he saw, he blessed, he left. Many of our teammates had sky-box seats for yesterday's mass mass conducted by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI which was celebrated on a specially-built (over the past two months) open-air alter on a brdige over the old Turia in la area known here as the "Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias." A number of team apartments, and those of many other AC personnel here, overlook the venue.

Media reports said there were up to a million people for Sunday's mass. We were happy to watch it from the suburbs on TV. Speaking of which, as usual for papal events, the TV was superb. ACM could learn a few things from the Vatican. As Pope John Paul II is reported to have said, "If it doesn't happen on TV, it doesn't happen."


We are told this photo was shot from the top of the Torre de Francia, the
big white apartment tower on Avenida de Francia in which a number of our
team reside. The apartment building is the tallest residential structure in
Spain, and casts a bit of a shadow.