We arrived in Lourdes on Tuesday after a long, uncomfortable plane ride to Paris and then a 5 hour layover to our flight to Pau which is about 50 Km from Lourdes. There were no taxis at the Pau airport. We waited at the taxi stand in the cool wind for 40 minutes to get a ride to the town where the train would take us to Lourdes. After checking into the hotel we walked to the Sanctuaire de Notre Dame to look around. We had little sleep over the prior 40 hours but wanted to see where Bernadette Soubirous had her many apparitions with Mary, the mother of Jesus. We spent a little time there and went back to the hotel for dinner and to bed at 8:30. We had a very good sleep.

On Wednesday we woke up at 8:00, almost 12 hours of restorative sleep. After breakfast and washing our clothes and hanging them up to dry we went out to visit the Sanctuaire which is celebrating the 160th anniversary of the first apparition. We walked with thousands of pilgrims. Among the pilgrims were hundreds of people in wheelchairs who were there to take the waters in hope of a miracle cure or a spiritual cleansing.

We went to the Grotto where Mary instructed Bernadette to go and drink from a spring and, while there had not been one there before, a spring of pure water appeared. Bernadette understood that the water was placed there to confirm to her that Mary HAD appeared and spoken to her. We prayed at the Grotto and meditated on her conversations with a simple peasant girl and the healings that occurred there, including 63 medically certified miraculous cures. We went to the Fuentes and filled a bottle with this spring’s water. We drank some of the holy water and said a prayer there.

After a late lunch we went back to the Sanctuaire for Mass. We were there when the 5:00 pm procession was starting. The procession wound over the river, through the Sanctuaire’s extensive grounds to large underground basilica. There were 100+ people in wheelchairs and 1000+ people in the procession, accompanied on the loudspeaker by a choir singing hymns in many languages. It was a humbling sight to see so many people with such strong faith asking Mary and her Son to help them in their distress. I will attach a video showing the procession when we get back to the US.

We were able to secure our Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrim passports at the Sanctuaire. Our Camino has officially started.

The pictures show the Grotto and the niche where Bernadette prayed with and spoke with Mary, Notre Dame.