will i am's delayed diary

As usual, breakfast at the hotel was breads and cold cuts. Left Nevers at 8:00 AM to catch our flight out from Lyon, the second largest city in France. The journey wasn't as long, a little under 260 KM. What we did in the bus was very standard: prayer, hymns, rosary and the divine mercy chaplet. Never in my life have I prayed the rosary so much. A few times I just fell asleep halfway through. The traffic into Lyon was atrocious. The only traffic jam in the whole trip. To celebrate the end of our pilgrimage, mass was celebrated at Chapelle de la Vierge, Basilica Notre Dame de Fourviere. We were greeted by an old priest there who spoke Mandarin. No wonder they have Chinese mass there. A rarity. The main church was a work of art. My mouth gaped open when I walked in. Behind the basilica was an unobstructed view of the city. Not much time was left for sightseeing. Proceeded to lunch at Les Bouchon de Carnivores for a final meal of French pork. The portions we...

Said goodbye to Lourdes early in the morning for a long day of traveling. Stopped for lunch 300 KM away at Restaurant Cote France at Aire-Jardin des Causses du Lot. It was a restaurant attached to a rest stop along the highway. I had duck confit with a coffee cream eclair. Yummy. Continued on for 400 KM to Nevers passing by a couple of villages and a whole bunch of rapeseed fields. Too bad we could not stop to take pictures in the fields. The roads were small and bumpy making for a less comfortable ride ( one lady threw up twice ). The driver also made a few wrong turns. The GPS wasn't good enough so he had to switch on Google Maps as well. Eventually we reached Nevers and checked in to Mercure Pont de Loire, a small two-storey hotel. Exchanged the long distance coach for a city bus ( I suspect cause it was because the driver had exceeded his time on the road-- EU safety regulations! ) to Espace Bernadette for a private mass. In the sanctuary is St. Bernadette's incor...

Wednesday at Lourdes was without any planned activities. Mass was celebrated at 9:00 AM ( at the same chapel ) and we did the stations of the cross together at the hill beside the basilica. Some of the old ladies had some trepidation about the exertion but we did it slowly enough so that everyone could participate. Every station had life-sized statues. To me, the fourteenth station was the best: "Jesus is laid in the tomb". They actually had a natural cave there. And that wasn't the finale as there was a fifteenth station to represent the resurrection, a round rock that is supposed to be the rock that was rolled over the mouth of the tomb. A must do in Lourdes is the holy bath so we quickly went for that. Luckily for us, we caught the tail end of the morning session and there wasn't a queue at all. Outside the baths was a row of chairs to wait and we were given a pamphlet with the history of the holy baths. Before I had the chance to finish the...