I took the train again today ! But as I'm too small, I had to stand on tiptoe to be able to see the landscape !
So here I am in Lourdes, our terminus !
Lourdes is situated at the foot of the mountains Pyrénées and the river you can see here is called "Le Gave de Pau".
In 1858, a young sheperdess, Bernadette Soubirous, whose statue with her sheeps you can see here, said she had apparitions of Virgin Mary. Since then Lourdes has become a big pilgrimage city.
Mistigree told me she was totally atheist and thus she did not believe in God at all, but she wanted me to visit this city even if she's not fond of it -she said-
We are welcomed in the Lourdes sanctuary by an angel. It seems it is St Michel as it is written, and hopefully there was a map of the different areas of the sanctuary as it is quite big.
First I went to see the "Basilique St Pie X" which is an underground basilica.
Its entrance is very strange ! It looks like the entrance of an underground parking !
The inside is strange too. There are only concrete walls and it is so dark !
I prefered to go and see the other basilica that you can see here, just behind the calvary.
Oh ?! Who's that woman dressed in white looking at the basilica ?
It is Virgin Mary of course !! Many people were leaving flowers at the foot of her statue.
Here I am in front of the basilica !
It is called "Basilique du Rosaire" and it has a big golden cross on its esplanade.
The inside of the basilica is full of Virgin Mary paintings as you can see !!!
Many walls are full of messages that catholic people left to her (Virgin Mary) to thank her fot having cured one of their beloved.
At the moment we were in the basilica, a mass was celebrated !! You can see 2 priests over there !! (hum... I think I'm the first ToyVoyager ever who attended a mass !!)
Then, I followed this sign...
And I arrived in front of the grotto where Bernadette Soubirous saw (-she said-) Virgin Mary.
Here, you can buy candles (and also medals with the effigy of previous Pope Jean-Paul II...... there are many merchandising items in Lourdes, and that's what Mistigree don't like very much too !!)
This man is adding more candles as there are many people who come and buy one or more !
Then you can light your candle here. A candle represents a prayer. As there are too much people (and thus too much candles and not enough place for them to burn here), someone regurarly comes, picks up the candles and lights them back in a big room just near where they finishe to burn (Mistigree has never seen that room, she doesn't know if anyone can see it besides)
Then I went to the place where we can drink sacred water... Well... Mistigree is quite septic about that... It is said that this water (that comes from a spring of the grotto where Virgin Mary appeared) could cure illness and make miracles...
Anyway, I drank some of this water and prayed to meet with the group TATU one day !!!!
People can bring water at home if they want. Therefore in all the shops around you can buy plastic cans or even Virgin Mary shaped bottles !!
After the sanctuary, we went to see the castle of Lourdes (it is less famous than the sanctuary of course, but I enjoyed it !)
In the courtyard of the castle there where some miniature houses and I found 2 coming from Spain !!! Maybe it is a sign and means I'm going to visit Park Retiro one day ?
We came back home with the TGV (high speed train), it runs so fast !!!!!
