Basque Country

Bill and I are struggling with the French language. Since our first highly successful and delicious meal in Lourdes, we have been unable to really communicate successfully with any of the people. Lourdes is a fairly small town, so it’s possible that the villagers just don’t speak English as they might in a larger city. Our problem, however, is that French just isn’t intuitive to us in the same way that Italian and Spanish seem to be. We don’t even know how to pronounce many of the words. We are cognizant of the fact that we are guests in their country and we aren’t perturbed that they don’t speak English; we are just frustrated that we don’t speak any French.

This frustration, however, hasn’t deterred us from experiencing all things French. Today we got in the car and drove to the Basque country of France via little two-lane highways. We visited St. Jean-de-Luz, which is very near the France/Spain border, and is a coastal community on the Atlantic Ocean. Just as the Barceloneans are connected to their Catalunyan ancestry, so are the people of this area connected to their Basque heritage. They have their own flag and their own language, though most people speak both Spanish and French. For our part, we had an ice cream cone and watched the people wandering around. It had rained for most of our drive up, but the sun came out when we got there. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera, so we don’t have any photos to share.

Upon coming home, we were very tired and not feeling like trying to make a waiter understand what we want to eat. So instead, we went to a cafeteria at a nearby store called E’Leclerc. This store, from what we can tell, is France’s version of Wal-Mart. In fact, they even had RVs parked in their parking lot like they have at Wal-Marts. While we weren’t expecting a grand dinner, we were delighted to find we could get really wonderful food. We had mussels and frites, a pork stew, a small bottle of wine, and dessert. The total bill came to 18 euro! Way to beat the sinking dollar!



One last word about Our Lady of Lourdes shrine: Literally busloads of people come in each day to visit the shrine and pay respects. Apparently many are very sick people who come and check themselves into the hospital that is just down the hill. The nurses take them daily to visit the grotto and they do it as sort of a procession. (When we first saw the nurses, we thought that they were nuns because they were wearing uniforms with caps and veils. We finally figured out that they were nurses and that this was their uniform.) Here is a photo of that surrealistic procession.

Our Lady of Lourdes

I attended Catholic school – and was subsequently taught by nuns – from kindergarten through 12th grade. (What’s more, I’m one of the people who have remained a Catholic throughout my life.) I remember very well the stories told by the nuns of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in particular, Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Fatima. So it was with great joy that I anticipated the visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France.

First of all, let me say that Lourdes is a beautiful town. It is set at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains so the vistas are magnificent. The people are very friendly, and for the most part, very patient with Bill and my lack of knowledge of the French language. They sort of sigh and roll their eyes and figure out what it is that we are trying to say. I’m grateful to them because they really don’t seem to speak a lot of English.

This morning we set off on foot into town about 9:30, and stopped at a café in the city center and had a croissant and café au lait. Yum. We then set off for the grotto. To get there, you must walk through a SEA of consumerism, with merchants selling vast numbers of rosaries, pictures, statues, and various vessels in which to hold the water from the spring at Lourdes. I admit that I purchased a very tacky container in which to put some of the spring water.

For those of you who don’t know the story of Our Lady of Lourdes, here is a shortened (and unsanctioned by the Catholic Church) version: In February of 1858, Bernadette Soubirous proclaimed that a beautiful lady who purported to be the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her. This lady appeared a number of additional times, with her major message being to pray the rosary. At first, the priest of Lourdes didn’t believe Bernadette, but after a couple of visits, Bernadette (who would go into states of ecstasy when she saw the Blessed Mother) convinced him that it was true by (at the request of the beautiful lady) digging into the dry ground and bringing forth a spring of water. That water continues to flow today, and is believed by many Catholics to have healing power. Bernadette never withdrew her claim to have seen the Virgin Mother, and died at the age of about 35 after serving a number of years as a nun. Her story is beautifully told in the fabulous movie, Song of Bernadette, starring Jennifer Jones. Rent it!

In honor of Bernadette’s vision, the priest built a beautiful church on the site of the vision. However, he had no idea of the number of people who would come to visit the church to experience the healing powers. Eventually, a larger church, the Basilica of the Rosary, was built to serve the large numbers of people who visited the grotto. The Basilica has rotundas with mosaics of the mysteries of the rosary. The Joyful Mystery of the Rosary that is "the finding of the Lord in the Temple" has always been my favorite, because as a mother, I have always been cognizant of how frightened Mary must have been when Jesus went missing, and how relieved she must have been to find him amidst the elders who were watching over Him. This photo depicts that particular mystery of the rosary.

And we saw the large number of people today, a Thursday. I can only imagine what the crowds are like on weekends. The really startling thing to me was the number of people who were ill or in wheelchairs who were visiting the grotto, apparently hoping to be healed. Bill and I washed our hands and faces in the spring water, and drank the water from our hands. We also filled up our tacky container to bring water home. You never can tell.

The grotto itself is simple and very beautiful. People approached it in a solemn and prayerful manner, touching the rocks where Mary is purported to have stood. I, too, touched those rocks, and was very moved as I said my Hail Mary. Later this afternoon, we will visit Bernadette’s house and the places where she was baptized and received her first communion. By visiting all of these places, Pope Benedict XVI has stated we will receive a plenary indulgence, which means fewer years in Purgatory. Who knows, but why turn down the chance?

We stopped at a big supermarket which looks to me to be France’s version of a Super Wal-Mart. They had EVERYTHING. We picked up the particulars for a wonderful picnic lunch – meat, cheese, fruit, and wine. We had picked up bread earlier at a boulangerie. It was so delicious. Two things of note: (in keeping with my observations of the various types of potato chips in different countries) we had the chance (but didn't do it) to buy Lay’s Potato Chips in Roasted Chicken and Thyme flavor; and, as we ate our picnic lunch outdoors at our hotel, we were visited by a big yellow dog, who, when Bill tossed him a potato chip, sniffed it, and put up his nose as if to say, “We dogs don’t lower ourselves to eat potato chips; do you have some of that Roquefort cheese that you were munching on earlier?” Perhaps if we had purchased the Roasted Chicken and Thyme flavor…..

I suggested to Bill that we save all of the corks from the wine we drink. He pointed out that we might then have to throw out some of our clothes in order to fit all of the corks into a suitcase!

Goodbye Spain, Hello France

My brother always says the first day of a vacation is the day that is most fun. I think that’s probably true. I also think the first meal you have any place always tastes the best. I think that will certainly be true for our first meal in France.

We left our apartment in Barcelona about 10:30 or 11 this morning. Bill had to run down a few blocks and get a taxi while I waited in our lobby with all of our bags. He was unable to convince the cab driver to come down the world’s narrowest street this time, so we had to haul our baggage a couple of blocks from our apartment to a larger street where he waited for us. He dropped us off at the airport and we went and picked up our little Peugot convertible.

We took off from the airport with Bill’s GPS device telling us how to get out of town. What did people do before they had technology to help them out? Bill had to learn how to drive a stick shift in a foreign country where he knew nothing of the written or (more important) the unwritten rules of the road. He did very well, thank you very much. Nevertheless, it was a very long drive. We filled up our tank with diesel fuel for $1.45 a liter, which comes to something like six U.S. dollars a gallon. Our little car is supposed to get very good gas mileage, and we are hoping that is true.

We pulled into Lourdes about 6:30 this evening. We haven’t seen much of the town as of yet, but what we have seen is very pretty. We checked into our hotel, which is extremely small. Extremely small. However, it is very clean, and oh-so-quiet when compared to Barcelona. It was never quiet in Barcelona.

We figured out that while the room is very small (extremely small), it provides us with free wifi! Yippee! Somehow if I can stay connected with my family via email, I don’t get as homesick. So for the next few days, we should be able to communicate with everyone. And that is important because one son is about to learn whether or not he gets approved for a loan for a house and another son and daughter-in-law will deliver our new baby granddaughter on Friday.

Now, back to the first meal in France. We walked down to the city center of Lourdes about 8 o’clock this evening. We had no idea where to go, but found a cute little restaurant just out of the city center called Quelven-Renaissance. We each had the menu, which is their prix fixe meal. Bill had a salad with a grilled steak and I had pate with cod. Oh. My. Goodness. They were both so delicious. We shared a liter of the house vin rouge (red wine). The wine was delicious, though I have no idea what kind it was. For dessert, we each had a chocolate profiterole. A chocolate-covered pastry filled with chocolate in a restaurant sitting at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Tomorrow we will figure out where the grotto is and spend our day with Our Lady of Lourdes.

Pentecost

We walked around Barcelona all day yesterday confused as to why nothing was open. At first, in the morning, we concluded that the stores must not open until noon. Then, when we were out in the afternoon, we concluded that they were all closed for siesta until 4 p.m. After 4, we didn´t know what in the heck was going on. So we stopped at a tourist information booth and I asked why the stores were closed. It turns out it was a national holiday. I asked what holiday it was. The woman asked her friend what you call the holiday in English. She said, ¨Second Easter." After much thought and with the help of my guidebook, I concluded that it was Pentecost holiday (the day before had been Pentecost Sunday, and the guidebook said that Pentecost was a holiday). That explained why there were so many people on the Ramblas and also why there had been so much partying the night before.

Today we took a bus to the airport and picked up our car. We actually left it parked there, but it is now officially ours for the rest of our trip. It is very cute. Bill is so happy to have the car. He can´t wait to hit the road.

We ate tapas for lunch, and are about to head up to the Montjuic area, which is on the mountain. We want to take the funicular up to the top and see the city of Barcelona from up high.

As we prepare to leave Spain, here are a few random thoughts and observations:

· They have the smallest garbage trucks I´ve ever seen. I´m sure it´s because they have to drive down the narrowest streets I´ve ever seen.
· Today on the bus, I saw a businessman dressed in a suit and checking his paper calendar. I can´t remember the last time I saw a businessman or business woman use a paper calendar.
· Generally speaking, the men and women of Spain are GORGEOUS.
· There are very many scooters, but the drivers aren´t as nuts on them as they are in Italy.
· In general, the bathrooms in Spain (and most of Europe) are interesting. In the United States, it doesn´t matter where you go, you know that you flush the toilet by pressing down on a handle on the same side of each toilet. In Europe, you just never know what to expect when you use a toilet. There may be paper; there may not be paper (in Italy, most likely not). The flusher might be on top, on the side, on the floor; it may be something big that you press, or it may be something you pull. You may or may not have soap at the sinks, and you most likely won´t have paper towels. Apparently the Europeans don´t worry about washing their hands as much as we do.
· And on this general idea of Americans being more careful about everything, I´ve noticed that you are likely to see little kids sort of hanging out of baby strollers, whereas in the United States, babies will be securely buckled into their strollers.
· The food in Spain (from our limited experience) seems very salty. And I have never seen so much ham in my life.

Walking Barcelona

Last night, for the first time on this trip, I really had trouble sleeping. Barcelona is a very urban and noisy city. One of the advantages of living in an apartment instead of a hotel is that we can really experience the feeling of living in a neighborhood. The disadvantage, however, is that we experience the feeling of living in a neighborhood! The people of Barcelona party very late into the night (or really, early into the morning). So I heard noise right outside my window for quite some time. Bill slept soundly next to me in the tiny bed, but I got a bit homesick.

Yesterday was a very busy day. I had on my pedometer, and Bill and I walked 16,000 steps. After attending Mass at the Catedral de Barcelona, we walked through the Eixample, past the Block of Discord, and finally on to Sangrada De Familia. The sheer beauty of Sangrada Familia took me by surprise. In fact, if I was to name three things that you MUST see while in Europe, it would definitely be one of them. It is a cathedral that was designed by the artist Gaudi, and construction began in 1882 or 1883. It is far from done. Apparently people sort of voluntarily work on it as they have time. It is likely not going to be ready for another 100 years. The church is dedicated to the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia) and the facade is magnificent.

On our way home, we stopped at a tapas bar and had tapas and vino tinto (red wine) at about 5 p.m. They filled us up and we weren´t hungry the remainder of the evening. Our plan was to go out later and walk by the Mediterranean. However, we were both so tired from our long walk that we stayed in.

The weather today is overcast and chilly. We are on the Ramblas where we stopped for some breakfast. I had a tortilla espanole (a potato omelette). Bill ordered a regular breakfast with bacon and egg (or thought he did) and got a croissant! Such are the dangers of ordering food when you don´t know the language. This will continue to be one of the challenges of our adventure.

Perhaps in order for me to sleep better tonight, we should stop at the store pictured here to access some sleep enhancers!

Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona yesterday morning, very early. We got off the ship and found a cab to take us to our apartment. By that time it was raining very hard. Our taxi driver spoke virtually no English, and when we gave him our address, he looked panicked and didn´t seem to know where that particular address was. Luckily Bill, who is nothing if not thorough, had printed out a Google map that showed exactly where the apartment was located. The taxi driver was very happy.

Much to our surprise, the apartment is located on the narrowest street I have ever seen. We literally had trouble opening the doors on either side of the taxi because it was so narrow. We had to wait a bit to get the key, because the person who was to meet us to give the key to us was late. We probably got into our apartment near noon.

The apartment is, let´s say simple. It consists of two twin beds, a bureau, and (thank you God) a private bathroom with a shower. The room is literally no bigger (if as big) as our cabin on the ship. Normally that wouldn´t bother me much because we spend so little time in the room. However, the rain that had begun that morning never let up. In fact, it poured rain the entire rest of the day. We tried to not let that stop us. We took off walking Las Ramblas, which is a street that goes down the length of the old city.

We found a restaurant in which to eat lunch about 2 o´clock. Bill and I each had paella, and we really weren´t very impressed with it. It was very salty. After that we walked some more, including a visit to La Boqueria, which is a huge market. It was so crowded, however, that we left there quite quickly.

Finally we couldn´t ignore the rain any longer, and we went back to our apartment. We were both drenched, and we stayed there for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Around 9, we were going stir crazy, so, though it was still raining, we set off on foot once again. We went down Las Ramblas to a HUGE department store that included a supermercado in the basement. We walked around the store a bit, and then went to the market. We bought some Serrano ham, Manchego cheese, potato chips, mustard, bread and wine. One note: the bread was called Pan de Molde. That seems like a funny name for bread. Also, the wine we bought cost about two and a half euros. We can find Two Buck Chuck (or its Spanish equivalent) anywere!

Today (Sunday), the sun is out, though I think it will rain later. We walked down to the old city again and attended Mass at the Cathedral. Those of you who have attended Mass with Bill know how heartily he sings the hymns. You will be happy to know that he does the same in Spanish! We had a book we had purchased that had the Order of the Mass in many languages, so we could follow along somewhat.

Happy Mothers Day to my sisters, sisters-in-law, stepmother, mother-in-law, daughters-in-law, friends, and anyone else I may have forgotten. We miss you all.

Cartagena

Our ship docked early this morning and Bill and I were on the ground in Cartagena between 8:30 and 9 o’clock. The pier is very near the town, so we were able to walk into the old city center.

I had worried that we didn’t have much time because the ship is scheduled to depart at 1:30. In fact, we had plenty of time. Cartagena doesn’t appear to be very big, and we walked through a lot of it fairly quickly.

We stopped at a supermercado to see what sorts of things the local people buy. The most notable things were the large legs of ham hanging on the walls at all of the markets. According to the guidebooks we read, the Spanish people are very proud of the Serrano ham that they eat – so proud, in fact, that they display it on the walls of carnicerias, markets and tapas bars. I was interested to see that they had quite a few American items in the supermercado. In particular, I was amused to see Pringles in flavors that we don’t have in the United States: paprika and jamon (ham). But they also had good ol’ sour cream and onion – apparently a universal favorite!

They sold wine and liquor at this supermercado, and it was fun to see the different types of wine. In addition to wine in bottles, they had wine in boxes like we have in the US. They also had wine in plastic liter bottles, looking very similar to the liters of soda that you can buy in grocery stores in the US. In addition to that, they also sold wine in little boxes that looked remarkably like the little juice boxes that my grandchildren drink. As Bill pointed out, the only thing missing was the little straw. Now, my sisters make fun of me because my taste in wine is so simple (unsophisticated they would say!), so it’s important for them to note that Bill and I did purchase the “juice box wines.” Three little boxes for one euro. What a bargain. And it was quite good. So there Ladies!

We stopped at a chocolateria (chocolate shop) called Valor, where we tried the chocolate and churros. They serve you very thick chocolate in a cup. The consistency is somewhere between hot chocolate and chocolate custard, leaning more towards the custard. The chocolate is served with a plate of churros, which you dip into the chocolate. It is quite good, but very rich. We ordered two and only needed to order one. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Bill leave half an order of anything chocolate. I had been interested in trying this particular Spanish specialty, and now that I have, I don’t need to do it again any time soon!

We were back on the ship by lunchtime, though neither one of us was particularly hungry with our stomachs still coated by the dark chocolate.

Tonight we must finish packing and have our luggage outside out door, appropriately tagged, by 11:30 p.m. Tomorrow we gather in various places, depending on the color of our tag, and must be off the ship by 8:30 or 9. Off to Barcelona!