Saturday, August 28, 2010

TRIP TO EUROPE CITY OF LOURDES,FRANCE











After we spent a few days in Paris, France, my husband and I took a train ride. Our destination was to visit the city of Lourdes. Lourdes,France is a city where an apparition was seen by a 14 year old girl, Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Bernadette, claimed that the apparition was that of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our intent was to visit Lourdes as it has become a well known city with religious history. The train ride is about 6 hours from Paris. As the train is en route, we see small villages, often with rows of grape vines being cultivated to make wine. Our train ride takes us to the city of Toulouse, where we get a rental car to drive to Lourdes. It's a good thing that my husband is from Ireland as he is familiar with driving in a European city. My husband at times has a tendency to get lost, but for this car ride he has studied over and over the travel route to Lourdes.We arrive in Lourdes with no problem except one, because this city is very old the streets are extremely narrow with numerous one way streets. We kept going around and around until we were able to reach the parking lot entrance for our hotel, Grand Hotel De La Grotto.This hotel was established in 1872, and needless to say, has had many years to become a modern hotel. We are to stay in Lourdes several days.The hotel is clean, but I have to admit I had never stayed at a hotel with small twin beds. I told my husband, I felt we were fighting as we weren't sharing a bed.Another unusual thing I noticed the bathtub was very elevated and I had to pull myself up to get into the tub,also there wasn't a shower curtain. The hotel was indeed unique. A window from the room had a tiny balcony . The benefit of this room was that your view was outstanding. Every evening you can see a large procession of people walking to the grotto of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is a sea of lighted candles carried by the people in the procession. It's a wonderful and very emotional site to behold. It was late so in the morning, we would venture out to explore the area. Unfortunately, Lourdes has become commercialized and there are numerous souvenir shops selling religious items. When Bernadette saw the apparition, there were many who thought this child was making up stories and not seeing anyone. Bernadette kept her faith and eventually a shrine was built as well as a church. There was flowing water from the hillside where the shrine was established. There were some reports that the water had powers to heal the sick. As a result, people came to this grotto hoping to heal their sick bodies. There were some situations that it was believed that the water actually had healing powers. When we were at Lourdes, we saw many individuals in wheelchairs or on crutches. Where the shrine is located, a statue of Mary has been erected and one by one people can go up to the shrine light and leave a candle and pray for forgiveness, healing, and guidance. There a no. of areas near the shrine where a person can buy candles. For Catholics, every day, confession is held in a building with confessional booths and a no. of Catholic priests from different countries will offer confession to English speaking people as well as French,Italian, etc.A large church overlooks the area and at each hour a mass is said in a different language. We went to the mass said in French as we missed the English speaking mass. We had no problem with this. Near the shrine, people can bottle the water that flows from the area surrounding the shrine. It is considered Holy Water to be used in praying. The water is free. In the Catholic church, a parishioner will make the sign of the cross coming and leaving the church where Holy Water that is located near the doors. In Lourdes, I cried, prayed and felt a closer relationship with God.All of this was overwhelming. Now, I have to share my glitch in all of this trip. Being very emotional, jet lag, I made a bad error. I, got my days mixed up and my husband and I left Lourdes a day earlier. We didn't realize there was an error until we returned to the train station to go back to Paris. When this error was recognized I broke down and cried like a baby. My husband was a rock,he suggested we go back to Paris that day. We were fortunate to get a room at the hotel we were planning to stay before we left Paris to go to Prague in the Czech Rep.It turned out that this mistake gave us additional time for us to go on our own sightseeing in Paris. Somebody "upstairs" was watching over us. After Paris to Prague. At this point can you see why our travel agent thought we were brave or nuts for all of this movement. After this trip, I told my husband we need to stay in one place and one country. The photos are from Lourdes. My next post will cover our trip to Prague and eventually meeting more relatives.

25 comments:

  1. More wonderful stories here. Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend!

    Jane

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  2. Wow! What a lovely place and story - so glad everything worked out - I have faith in God that all things do! Looks like you had a wonderful time in some beautiful places - thanks so much for sharing.
    I always look forward to your visits. When life slows down here I can visit more often :)
    God Bless,
    Kathy

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  3. Rose,
    You are fortunate to be able to visit the 'four corners of the world' so to speak. This is a beautiful 'corner'
    Thanks for sharing :-)

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  4. Oh Rose...I so hope to visit this place some time in my life.

    Beauiful~

    xoRebecca

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  5. Thanks for sharing this story, Rose. I've always wanted to go to Lourdes since my dad visited there years ago and brought me back rosaries and a bottle of holy water from there. I love your pictrue of the shrine!

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  6. Beautiful Photos. France looks like an interesting place to visit. ~Ron

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  7. Rose you are one brave traveling girl! Glad you enjoyed since a beautiful trip with your sweet husband. Thank you for sharing. Anne

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  8. Hi Rose, I love hearing your stories... You trip to Paris and Lourdes sounded fantastic --and a trip that you definitely NEEDED... Praise God for that!!!! The pictures are gorgeous --and your hotel sounded unique...

    I do agree that it's much harder to travel when you are going from one place to the next constantly... I enjoy it more when we can stay in ONE place and then enjoy that area... BUT---sometimes, you just don't have that kind of choice.

    Hope you have a great weekend.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  9. I read this with great interest. I saw the movie a couple of times and just don't know what to make of it, but I believe she did see what she says. I clicked on quite a few pictures, the church is something else! They say mass every hour? What about during the night? I cried on my first Ash Wednesday ceremony last year, so I can't begin to imagine how I would cry if I went here! Sorry for your nerve wracking glitch, but it gave you more time to sightsee! You remind me of myself. I am very emotional, and religious things affect me deeply. I'm always looking for the meaning of things that happen, I believe there are no coincidences. I look forward to the next post, you are a wonderful travelling companion, and one I can stay on the couch with!! Blessings.

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  10. I have seen the shrine on tv but your decription gives me a better idea of its setting.
    Sometimes when things get mixed up and a little confusing it can ge the best of us, and it is nice that someone is there to shoulder us.
    This was really a grand trip - looking forward to Prague.

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  11. A trip without a glich makes a boring story so I'm glad you had one! What a great trip and a nonboring story. A friend of ours went to Lourdes because she had a terminal illness. They actually got robbed while they were there...even with all that she loved it and had a wonderful trip also. Can't wait for the rest of the trip!

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  12. Beautiful pictures! Maybe someday (sigh).

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  13. I think the train ride would be fun. Getting to see all of the country sights without driving! Wonder why they had twin beds in the rooms? That is strange to me but I've never been out of the USA. Beautiful pictures!

    Have a Great Day!
    Angela

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  14. Sounds like you had a really great trip and I love your pictures.

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  15. Beautiful pictures! I hope I get the chance someday to travel like this. :)

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  16. I've always loved the story of Lourdes. I hope to go abroad someday just so I can say I've been! Maybe Greece or Italy.

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  17. Enjoy the rest of your trip and don't let the extra day get you down. Just savor the days. Thanks for writing about it all so we can spend a vicarious few minutes with you there.

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  18. VERY INTERESTING ROSE, SUCH A LOVELY TRIP. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SCRAPBOOK THIS WOULD MAKE.

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  19. A trip to Lourdes - thank you. I have always wanted to see it. The blue skies there are so beautiful. I know the story behind it. Nice trip. sandie

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  20. I'm a believer. I know Bernadette and her friends saw what they saw. I can only imagine how I'd feel walking with the crowds to the grotto of the Virgin holding a candle. The narrow winding streets, the old hotel with the tiny beds and raised tub...I'd love it all.

    Haupi

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  21. Rose, I enjoyed this continuing story of your travels. You did a great job of describing everything, and your pictures are beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us. I know that I will never see these things in person, as I hate to travel very far. I laughed when I read about the twin beds in the room :) (Kathy)

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  22. I've come back to see more of your travel.. You tell a story very well and the pictures are grand

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  23. Wow! Loved the pics and that church is gorgeous!
    This post was so interesting, I really enjoyed it.

    Gave a great time and be safe out there.

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  24. Thanks for sharing all this, Rose!

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  25. I am really enjoying reading about your trip! Lovely photos..it seems it was quite an adventure! :)

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