My French Connection - Part 1

I keep telling myself to update my blog but everytime I sit down to do it, my mind goes blank. I was at the point of just shutting down my blog so that it does not have to worry me. I contemplated putting up another sabbatical sign. Then I thought, let's just write anything that comes to mind (as I have been told many times). So, let's see where this goes.

What have I been up to besides keeping busy in the garden? A road trip. More like a pilgrimage and short vacation rolled into one. I felt I needed to go on this pilgrimage for many reasons, one of it was to establish connection with people in the community. See, I am new to the American community here in Germany. I found, in the past, that when I get involved in something at the church it is usually a stepping stone to less lonely Sundays. From there, I get to move on to other activities and soon I feel part of a community. I was so used to sitting alone in a corner of a church that I continued the same pattern yesterday. And one of my new friends (from the pilgrimage) asked me why did I sit alone and away, like as though I was punishing myself. As much as I wanted to join that new friend in a seat behind, it was out of habit that I preferred my quiet corner (and admittedly, I did not want to impose on that person).

Anyway, our pilgrimage started on a Tuesday afternoon. When I arrived at the parking lot of the church, it seemed like everyone was just mingling around and chatting. I thought "well, that's good, I can go put my bags in the bus immediately and find a good seat." The minute I parked, it looked as though everyone moved to the bus immediately. Darn! I thought maybe I should have drove by the bus, dropped my bags off and then looked for parking. :D

When I finally got my luggage bag into the bus and took my hand luggages with me, I found that there were limited seats at the bottom of the double-decker bus assigned to our parish (we were sharing this bus ride with two other parishes). I would have loved those seats with the table facing other passengers. Then I thought, "it is going to be a long journey and I will need to stretch out. I cannot imagine stretching out my legs on the table. That would be rude." So up I went in search for the ultimate butt comforter. I found mine. We had enough seats in the bus where most of us could each take two seats. That was good enough for me. After checking my car for the umpteenth time to make sure it is locked (did the same thing with the house till it drove me crazy with sweat!), up the bus and eventually off we went to the next parish to pick up the rest of the group.

At that stop, while everyone was getting their luggage in the compartment below, a few of us ran off to Burger King to get some bites for the start of our long journey. We left about 6:00pm, I think. The bus driver made several stops along the way and as it went on, I got to know more people around me. Mostly, from around my seat where we shared cookies and chips. By the time it was 12 midnight, the bus became very quiet. Most of us were asleep except for some of us (namely me) who found it hard to get some shut eye. I occupied myself with a movie on my Ipod. I had to watch "Mamma Mia" - I needed something light and happy and musical. The sad part about watching that movie in a quiet bus, I could not belt out the songs as they sang. That was excrutiating! :) Then I thought, maybe if I listened to some songs, that would put me to sleep. Nope! did not work as well. Not a restful sleep anyway. It was more like a repeat of 40-winks session. And each time that I did get to doze off, the bus stopped at some station. Mind you, I never waste a stop. No siree. That is when I dash to the bathroom and then get myself a cup of hot coffee or cocoa. By the way, listening to those songs started taking me back to some memories of the past. Oh yeah, let me tell you that is not a great way to sleep when you start thinking about lost family members, lost loves and funny moments.

We finally arrived at our first destination at 6:00am, one hour too early. It was L'Espace Bernadette Soubirous in Nevers, France. By the way, as a young 14 year old girl, Bernadette Soubirous had 18 visions of the Blessed Lady in a grotto in the outskirts of Lourdes. To read more, go here.

This is a home reserved for pilgrims who come individually or in organized groups and individuals wishing to make a retreat, a spiritual stop. After the gates opened at 7:00am, we got to freshen up in the bathrooms and headed for breakfast. We had cereal, cold cuts, french bread (duh!), hard boiled eggs, butter and a selection of jams. One thing that was odd at breakfast was the way they served coffee. One of the ladies in our group looked for coffee cups and found them in the cabinet below the buffet table but one the helpers in that place said we should use bowls there were set out. I thought that was strange but we just followed her suggestion. So, I had cereal in a bowl followed by coffee in a bowl.

Maybe that sweet lady thought that the French coffee cups were just too little for the American pilgrims. :D

After breakfast, we attended mass celebrated by two priests who travelled with us. Thereafter, we took pictures of the place, walked the gardens and bought some souvenirs. I believe by 11:00pm, we were back on the bus and on the way to our next stop, Avignon. Since Avignon was about 6 hours away, we had to stop for lunch. We were supposed to stop at a McDonald's ... and we did. Only thing is, we saw a lovely restaurant called Buffalo Grill. Needless to say, almost half of our group ended up in that restaurant. Since most of the pilgrims came with families, there were a few 'strays' like singles or married people who came solo. So we, approximately three of us, ended up taking a table and tried to figure out the menu in French.

To be continued ...