Hello everyone! I don’t even know where to start. Well, actually I do. With a boring bus ride haha. After 14 looooong hours on a bus, we made it to France, only to hop onto ANOTHER bus, which finally brought us to Lourdes! And let me tell you – it was well worth it. Lourdes. Is. Amazing. I’m pretty sure I could move here for the rest of my life. The hotel we are in, however, is quite tiny so I couldn’t live here forever. But since we don’t plan on spending more time here than to sleep, it’ll be perfect!
Once we checked into the hotel we immediately went to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, which had me holding back tears almost the entire time I was there. This place is surrounded by lush green mountains, open fields, and beautiful Basilica’s + Chapels. There’s so much history the moment you step foot in the Sanctuary (and the town). And there is this total sense of peace and amazement here, no matter how many people are around.
We visited the Grotto of Massabielle where Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, 18 times total. The story is truly beautiful, so please look into it more if you’d like! From there we went to the baths where you can put the water from the spring on your hands, face, and even drink it! There is a giant set up for lighting candles for prayer intentions nearby that we went to, and then we participated in the torchlight procession!
Unfortunately, it was pouring rain most of the day, so when we did the procession you couldn’t see all the candles people were carrying very well, and we were soaked to the bone. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful experience to partake in!
We loved every moment of the day in Lourdes, and are super excited to spend all of tomorrow there, doing + seeing even more! Be assured we are praying for you all, please pray for us! Lastly, all email glitches should be fixed so if you’ve subscribed then you should get the emails! Thanks for you patience!
Buen Camino!
Hannah + Tony
