May 8, 2010: We left Paris at 11:00 pm the previous night after our well spent three days tour around the surrounding area. We took a taxi and had us dropped off at the train station where we will start our long trip to the Pyrenees mountains where Lourdes is located.
It was funny though because I left Paris drunk from our last dinner at that fab hole-in-the-wall pizza restaurant which offered us this very tasty and excellent wine I've ever tasted which prompted us to ask for another help. It was really crazy and I celebrated too much.
Doreen had bought tickets in advance before my trip to Paris and she took the one with bunk beds for us to get comfortable and rest for the whole seven hour trip. The train was very clean and appears very modern. The train ride was very smooth and uneventful.
We arrived at Lourdes, France at 7:30 am. The weather was very nice and the sun was out heralding a very good day for us to roam around the place. It was nippy there because the place was situated at the base of the mountain surrounded by the snow capped mountains of the famous Pyrenees.
We took a taxi and instructed the driver to drop us off at our hotel. When we got at Hotel du Cavalaire we were greeted by the very hospital owner who introduced himself as Peter and his beautiful Malaysian wife Laura.
They instructed us to leave our luggages at the lobby and led us to the dining hall for a very much unexpected welcome breakfast. We ate French bread, croissants, fruit jams, butter, and cheese as well as French yogurts and sipped hot and palatable French coffee. It was a very hearty breakfast! That was a good welcome party for us.
After the breakfast we went to the front desk and signed in for our room. We then went upstairs to our assigned room and took a warm shower, changed, and then started our tour of the place heading to the Basilica of the Immaculate Concepcion taking pictures of everything we can see and perusing the whole church in every level as well as praying at the same time.
After touring the whole church we went up the hill beside the church and did the way of the cross. There were a lot of revelers and tourists around which were mostly comprised of old people showing their devotion and faith to the Mother Mary. There were no place where we cannot see anybody praying and showing their spiritual connection to the place.
Lourdes is a small town at the base of the Pyrenees mountains. It looks progressive and was relying on the tourism drawn by the people who came here for a pilgrimage to see the place of Saint Bernadette, the Basilica of the Immaculate Concepcion, and the famous Grotto where the Mother Mary appeared. All in all it was a very nice and beautiful place.
The town was been teeming with stores selling religious items and nice restaurants that offers good food. We strolled the whole town and took pictures of the famous and strategic places around town like the birth house of Saint Bernadette (which was been carefully preserved for the tourist who comes here) and her second house where the Mother Mary had appeared several times to her and had summoned her to pray a lot.
We went back at the church in the afternoon and lined up ourselves for the famous bath and cleansing offered by the church volunteers to the first 100 people who fall in line the bath area near the river.
The bath symbolizes the baptism done by Saint John the Baptist were I was immersed in a tub of cold water three times after uttering my intentions and prayers. It was a very cold bath but miraculously when I got out of the tub I didn't even shiver and I felt really good after that.
After the bath we went to look for the chapel beside the basilica where they will held the English mass. The mass was led by an English priest and there were a lot of people who attended it. It was a very solemn mass and I was touched by it.
After the mass we then continued to see some of the beautiful places around town. We went to see the Notre Dame Church where Saint Bernadette was been baptized and also the town plaza near Saint Bernadette's house.
We also took pictures of the Chateau du Fort situated on top of the hill and decided to tour it the next day for it was already dark and nippy.
We went back to where our hotel area and looked for a good restaurant to eat dinner. We ordered a pottage soup and grilled cheese bread which was very delicious.
After the dinner we went back to our hotel and took a short nap to prepare ourselves for the procession of candles to be held at 9:00 pm. We went back to the church quarter to nine where it was also packed with a lot of people of all walks of life waiting for the mass and the procession to start.
The mass was long and was been held in different languages. The choir sang songs in different languages also. It was a very solemn mass.
After the mass a procesion of candles was held were people were following the statue of the Mother Mary chanting songs and uttering prayers. The churchyard was very crowded with a lot of people, young and old, sick and well.
After the procession we went back to the hotel and took our rest for we had a very long day that day.
May 9, 2010: We woke up early at 8:00 am and started our day with another hearty breakfast held my the hotel's owner.
After breakfast we went back to the church and visited Saint Bernadette's church and uttered some prayers then roam around the church yard. There were still a lot of people coming and going the basilica praying and chanting, fetching holy water, and doing their pilgrimage. It was really a very busy place.
We then went back to town and headed to Chateau du Fort. We bought tickets at the entrance door and took the elevator in going up the castle.
We toured around and took pictures of every corners of the castle as well as the aerial view of the whole town of Lourdes. The view was very stunning and beautiful. We see to it that everything were documented well in our pictures.
The chateau has a rich history dated the era when Charlemagne was still alive and was being used by the latter against the barbaric Germans. It also beamed the reputation of the most unconquered castle in the Pyrenees and had won a lot of battle.
It was a very small castle but everything was been inside. From a little church, beautiful small house, cemetery, market, playgrounds, etc. It was a memorable tour for me because I dropped my sunglasses from the top and had never got it back.
After the tour we went to the church to fill up our container with the holy water blessed by the Virgin Mary at the side of the Grotto then we went back to the hotel and fixed our luggages and paid for our hotel dues.
We took a taxi going to the train station and waited for the train headed for Toullouse where we will transfer for another train heading to Marseilles. We left Lourdes at 2:20 pm then took a two hour train ride to Toullouse and a four hour ride to Marseilles. We arrived in Marseilles at 21:05 pm and took a fifteen minute bus ride going to Aix-en-Provence where Doreen lives.
All in all our to trip Lourdes, France was a very memorable one full of meaning and lessons to me. It was my first pilgrimage and a very unforgettable one.
I hope to be back there again to reminisce all my memorable experiences as well as visit it again, the seat of our Immaculate Virgin Mary. How I wish to do that again if God-willing!
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