My French Connection - Final Part

Note: Gosh! A thousand apologies for this late update. Thank you, my friends, for leaving comments. It has been so difficult for me to blog when I had other distractions these past few months.

While I was folding some clothes in the laundry room this evening, I told myself that I have to write the final part, no matter how short it is, and end the story of my journey in France earlier this year.

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We arrived Lourdes around 6:00pm. Once we received our room keys, we dispersed very quickly. Indeed, we were in need of another good shower and change of clothing before dinner.

A brief information about this place:

Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France. It is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that are reported to have occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous. At that time, the most prominent feature of the town was the fortified castle that rises up from a rocky escarpment at its centre. (Read more here)

Scene from the hill where pilgrims pray

After dinner, while some in my group could not wait to explore the town, I was ready to relax. No more exploring. I had not been online for two days by then and I was itching to check my emails and Facebook. I was glad I did not go out because I started feeling the exhaustion from the long bus ride and stops along the way. I was knocked out by 10:00 o'clock that night.

Next morning, I overheard someone say he was going wine shopping and that person knew exactly where to find it. He and his wife have been there before.

Being new to the community and not knowing anyone except he and his family, I asked if I could join them. Of course, he obliged and pulled along others who were interested in walking downtown with him.

By the day's end, I had made friends with a splendid group of people. Our common weakness - the yummiest cappuccino in town. We always found an excuse to end up in that shop (after fulfilling religious activities).

Cappuccino topped with the creamiest of cream I have ever
tasted and served with a piece of dark chocolate.

The weekend we were there happened to be the International Military weekend. It was such a treat taking in the sights and sounds of military from all over the world (well, almost). I have always admired men and women in military uniform and this was all exciting for me.

We left Lourdes tired but happy that we fulfilled our pilgrimage and extras on the way.

One final extra was exploring Carcassonne, a fortified city. More info here.

We arrived there just in time for lunch. While most of us sat down to eat, some of us did not want to miss a thing and had something on the go and explored the whole city.

One of the things that will always stand out in my memory is that one finds many positions to try and get comfortable in a long bus ride. With two seats each to ourselves, most of us did quite well. Towards the end I got tired of letting my legs hang out in the aisle. I contemplated putting them up against the window but that would warrant unwanted attention. So I told myself "a few more hours and I will be back on my comfortable bed." In fact, that was something we all looked forward to - back in our homes for a much-needed good, long nap.