The President's wife, Maria Kaczynska's remains returned home to Poland today, Tuesday April 13, 2010.

These pictures were taken just as the procession arrived at the Presidential Palace on the edge of Warsaw's Old Town.

I had attended the ceremony honoring the return of the President's body on Sunday and at the time I thought, as did most of the throng in attendance, that both the President's body and his wife's were part of the processional. Today, as I emerged from the Metro in the center of Warsaw I was immediately aware of the quiet, even before I saw the gathering crowds. The collective power of many people together is always unique, yet I have never been so overwhelmed by grief that was not my own as I have been walking the streets of Warsaw both on Sunday and again today.

As the shrine of flowers and candles in front of the palace has grown, so has a need for its continued maintenance. This job falls to the Scouts. With respect and a demure eagerness these young men and women never stop moving, collecting candles and flowers from people in the crowd and adding them to the sea of candles already there. At the same time, others look for candles that have run their course, removing them to allow for new ones to come. The heat off this area is akin to being near a campfire.