The trip went by in a blur, but the photos will help me remember what a great time it was.

Well, not all of it was so great. We had 2:30 wake-up calls and 4 a..m. wake-up calls, but that’s part of the game.

Some valuable advice I was given early on my career was this: eat, sleep and use the bathroom every chance you get, because you’ll never know when another will come. I thought of that when we were reporting from in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and journalists needed a security escort to get to a bathroom in a department store. We were told the escort could only be used for emergency cases!

One of the wonderful things about traveling with the pope is that you always run into friends and colleagues from the past. In Washington I worked with producer Anne Marie Riha, who I had last seen seven years ago in Jerusalem. And while I was reporting at the UN I ran into Sabrina Arena, an old friend from Rome who’s now in New York. Multi-lingual and multi-tasking, Sabrina was doing an interview in Spanish just a few satellite trucks down from me. Sabrina and her husband are doing their best to reverse Italy’s population problems, as they now have five kids. The children were with her parents right down the street from the UN, and I saw the smallest three for the first time.

(From left to right)

• New York’s Finest
• Producers Anne Marie Riha and Stacy Hickman with make-up artist Mary-Ellen Tasillo.
• Nationals Park at the start of the Mass
• Sabrina Arena and Company
• Paul Alvarez, Harriet Taylor and Woody outside St. Patrick’s

I can’t believe the pope’s visit to the U.S. is almost over. It has been an amazing trip for the Holy Father that has been so well received. I was only able to be at two of the events, the visit to St. Joseph’s Church Friday, and to the St. Joseph’s Seminary Youth Rally yesterday.

We had a tremendous staff that worked very hard to bring you the best pictures, give you the most amazing access, and provide educated, well rounded commentary, and I am so proud to have worked with them all on this historic Papal event. I put together a little photo album here, with lots of behind the scenes shots.

You will see New York FOX 5 anchor Dari Alexander, Fox cameramen Tommy Chiu and Rob Ginnane, FOX Religion Correspondent Lauren Green, and FOX’s Father Jonathan Morris in some of the shots. One person I wish I caught in action was our weekend producer Ellen Fleysher – she at times runs around so fast it’s hard to catch up with her, which may be why her nickname is “Flash.” Our coordinating producer Melanie Schuman was also working extremely hard behind the scenes, and was responsible for setting up all of our live shots all over New York, no small task!

I also took a few short video clips from our position inside the media pen — at one point, we had a front row seat for the Popemobile, as it drove right in front of our live shot. Check out all the secret service running with it…

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and just to show you this screaming crowd can go from “zero to 60″ (or the other way around in this case) on the volume scale, listen as the massive crowd pays close attention to every word during the pope’s speech

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It’s only been five days but this visit by Pope Benedict XVI seems a world apart from when he arrived.

On Tuesday, we didn’t know what to expect when he stepped off the plane. Now that we’ve seen him — the Shepherd One, this German nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” — and heard his voice, witnessed his smile and incredible humility, he has become someone so close to us all.

I’m writing this at 8 a.m. from the media positions at Yankee stadium. After getting back from St. Joseph’s seminary at 9:30 last night, we had to be back at the media check in in midtown Manhattan at 3:45 a.m. this morning. The Mass begins here at Yankee in several hours.

The Mass will be the pontiff’s last big event in America. We hope it’s not the last ever, but it could be. Six days ago that fact was just information. Today that same fact saddens my heart, to think that this man who has become one of us may never grace us with his company again.

It’s gray and chilly this morning, almost as if even the weather is mirroring the mood of the moment. A sorrowful sigh at having to say goodbye to a new friend than in a short few days has become a trusted companion.

What a thrill it is to be on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Seminary watching Pope Benedict arrive to the screams of over 25,000 young people. They are waiving their yellow and white scarves in the air in circles, creating a sea of spinning Papal flag colors to welcome the Holy Father.

This feels familiar. Screaming fans … the buildup to the “main event” … it has felt like a rock concert all day, and it has been with over a dozen acts performing for the crowd. A rapping priest, former American Idol star Kelly Clarkson and synchronized dancers have been delighting the masses, but now that the pope is here and on stage … it’s all about the message he brings.

The pope addressed 50 disabled youths and their caretakers before he made his grand entrance via Popemobile — We have heard from the other side of the seminary, that many of the parents on hand were moved to tears. We have amazing team coverage of this historic event

As you’ve been reading here on the blogs… Father Jonathan Morris is here, along with our FOX News Correspondent Lauren Green.

I am mostly behind the scenes here providing color of the event, and am listening to their ongoing analysis and am positively riveted to their words.

This is one memorable moment. I had our Coordinating Producer Melanie Schuman take a picture of us while we were all waiting for the Pope’s arrival… more to come

Update!

The Pope just started speaking… here’s a quick clip..

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Father Jonathan Morris and I are finally on site at the Youth Rally in Yonkers, N.Y. And, I think we can honestly say that we’re grateful to be here, after a wild bus ride from the big media security checkpoint in midtown Manhattan.

What should have been a 20 minute ride turned into an hour and a half journey. The secret service apparently didn’t check the route map well enough and didn’t realize that the West Side parkway bridges were too low for three tour buses (that were carrying hundreds of members of the media) to pass underneath!

The bus tied up traffic for at least 30 minutes as police stopped the flow of cars so the buses could back up about a 100 or so yards to exit and go around the overpass. Then, the narrow access road had no outlet to accommodate the buses. We had to make a U-turn in the intersection to go back to the parkway, enter after the low bridge and then on our way again.

Needless to say, we were late.

There are already thousand of young people from the various surrounding dioceses here.  Stay tuned — I’ll be writing all afternoon.