For Parents' Week, we had a three-day weekend to travel, so myself and three friends decided to make the journey out to Paray-le-Monial, a small town in France where Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and revealed to her His Most Sacred Heart. This trip, though crazy at times, was so much fun and very, very blessed.
It began with trying to book trains into France, which was very complicated. We had to settle with knowing that we were getting as far as Zurich, Switzerland, and from there we would have to find out how we could get into France.
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| Booking trains! |
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| On the train from Scheibbs. |
Thankfully, the compartment was spacious, so we all managed to sleep fairly comfortably. And we woke up in the best way you can on a train: to a gorgeous sunrise over the lake in Zurich. *sigh* What a great gift!
Well, after they had shown us the room and told us about breakfast the next day and all, they left us to ourselves. We all exchanged looks and just burst out laughing! It was too random and funny how we walk all this way and we're staying in someone's converted attic! It was comfortable, a great deal, and we really liked it there, not to mention the people who lived there were most hospitable and accommodating, but we couldn't believe our circumstances! Hahaha!
We did find a way to get to France from Zurich. Just a precaution if you travel there by train in the future: be prepared to pay a significant amount of money. :P
We had some time to spare in Zurich before our train to France left. So we wandered into town to take a look at this castle.
It was morning in Switzerland, so my companions wanted some coffee. We shared bread and Nutella and apples. :)
Before leaving the train station, we wanted to use up the Franks that Rachel had received in change for her coffee. So we stopped in a grocery store in the station (it was a large station). We got some yogurt drinks, iced coffee (in juice boxes!), and then decided we should get something really random. The random item selected: a pineapple! We also decided it should be given a name, so for the rest of the week the pineapple was called Friedrich.
The trains we took through France were great, but the views were incredible!! It was so warm and sunny in France. We passed field after field of these yellow flowers. It was gorgeous!
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| Photo credited to Rachel M. |
We had a lot of fun on the trains, too. On the train from Zurich, I listened to Lord of the Rings with Cole while I worked on my Philosophy paper. On the train from Dijon Ville to Paray le Monial, Michaela and I died of laughter while recording Rachel and Cole having a hysterical conversation while Cole used a banana and Rachel used her hand as "telephones." It was so funny!
We finally got to Paray around 1 in the afternoon. First, we walked towards the Basilica. In the afternoon sunshine and surrounded by the spring flowers, it was a beautiful sight to behold!
It was cold inside, but it was very nice. We looked around, and found the Eucharistic chapel where we spent time in silent prayer and then prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy together. When we left the church, we saw signs pointing us toward the Chapel of the Apparitions. We proceeded there and visited the church where Jesus appeared to Margaret Mary, and where she is buried. :) The church was very nice, though a bit more modern in style. It was great to be there, the destination of our journey. :) And St. Margaret Mary's body is incorrupt! That was really cool!
I made an act of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the chapel and lit a candle for my family and friends, especially those with a close association and deep love for the Sacred Heart before I left. I couldn't take pictures inside, but here are a few from the web.
After that, we decided we had better find our hostel. Cole was able to communicate over the phone with the manager because he has some French under his belt. That was very helpful. From there, we followed the map Rachel had printed off and the GPS on her phone to get us there. Well, we certainly hadn't anticipated what followed. We walked for a long while out into the countryside, and kept walking along the side of the road, and kept going on and on until we came to a series of larger stores and a few other hotels. We stopped in a hotel for a moment to see what they were charging for rooms, but it was more than we wanted to spend so we kept going. We were confused because the map was telling us to take the bridge that was an overpass to the highway and that looked like it was only for cars. So we went to a Comfort Inn and asked for directions. The receptionist was very kind in calling the manager and telling us which way to go. Turns out, we still had to walk over the highway. But there was a little sidewalk on the bridge, so we felt a little safer.
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| Poor Cole hit the funny-bone in his shin on the guardrail while trying to climb over it. |
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| Photo credited to Michaela M. |
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| Photo credited to Michaela M. |
So we kept going, comforted by the fact that we were getting close. We kept going down the road we'd been told to turn onto, and suddenly Rachel turns to us alongside this old-fashioned country-style home that looked a bit more like a barn than a house and says to us: "...Guys, this is it." We all looked at each other, confused and surprised.
The man who owned the place met us at the gate. His children and dog were running around in the front yard (cute!). Between his little bit of English and Cole's little bit of French we managed to communicate. He showed us to the room: at the back of the house and up the stairs. Our room was a converted attic/loft of sorts. We had to laugh to ourselves because we were staying in someone's attic in France, but it was very nice and comfortable!
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| This was after we had slept in it. When we arrived, the beds were nicely made and fresh. (Photos credited to Rachel M.) |
Well, after they had shown us the room and told us about breakfast the next day and all, they left us to ourselves. We all exchanged looks and just burst out laughing! It was too random and funny how we walk all this way and we're staying in someone's converted attic! It was comfortable, a great deal, and we really liked it there, not to mention the people who lived there were most hospitable and accommodating, but we couldn't believe our circumstances! Hahaha!
The view was wonderful!
Rachel, Cole, and I decided to go watch the sunset. It was glorious to walk through the grass in my bare feet. :) There was a pasture with two donkeys and a few sheep back behind the house. Rachel and I tried to coax them over, but they wouldn't come. As we sat there, a car pulled up and the people who came out of it started asking us questions...in French of course. We couldn't understand them. But apparently, they were supposed to stay there as well and thought that we worked there or something. We did our best to communicate that this was not the case and that we were staying there. They asked if we were family. We said no. Cole tried to communicate. In the meantime, I hurried to the stairs that led to our rooms. We had walked too long and far for me to be willing to give up our room. Heh heh! Plus, all our stuff was in there, and Michaela was in there, and it would have been very awkward if they had just walked in there and wanted us to leave. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew I wasn't giving up my bed. Haha. It came to the point where we just stepped inside and shut the door to our room.
The owner of the place was very nice and drove Rachel and Cole to a store where they got some food for our dinner. We had decided that it was too long of a walk to go back into town to eat and we were tired and ready to relax. So Cole and Rachel walked back and brought the food. We enjoyed an evening in our room then, watching the best scenes from Despicable Me 2, followed by watching the movie "The Emperor's New Groove," and then part of "The Prince of Egypt." It was a great way to spend the evening. :)
The next morning was interesting. I woke up very early, having felt something touching my feet that, I suddenly realized, couldn't be Rachel's feet touching mine (since we shared the bed). I sat up. There was a cat at the foot of our bed!! I realized it had climbed into the room through the bathroom skylight, which Cole had left open to let out the steam from the shower. I tried to shoo the cat away, but it only came closer. When it laid on my pillow, it had taken it too far, so I picked it up and went to the door to put it outside. But the key wasn't in the door so I couldn't open it! I couldn't see where the key was because it was dark. I turned on a lamp. I woke Rachel by accident, and asked if she knew where the key was because we had a cat in our room. She pointed it out on the TV stand, so I opened the door, released the cat, and locked the door. Rachel closed the skylight, and we went back to bed, laughing at yet another random event of the trip. Haha!
I caught a little bit of the sunrise the next morning. :)
We went down to breakfast around 8 a.m. Breakfast was wonderful!! We had fresh baguettes and croissants, yogurt, fresh jam, juice, tea, and coffee. It was so delicious!! Rachel pointed out to us that, since there were no coffee mugs, we were supposed to drink the tea and coffee out of the bowls we had been given. :) That was fun!
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| Breakfast! YUM!!! Photo credited to Rachel M. |
After breakfast, and paying for our room, we finished our packing and the manager's wife took us into town in her car so we wouldn't have to walk! God bless her! :) (We realized after this that the GPS took us probably the longest way possible to get us to our hotel. Oh Google maps....)
We returned to the Chapel of the Apparitions to take a few pictures outside, since we hadn't taken any the day before.
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| Photo credited to Rachel M. |
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| Photo credited to Cole G. |
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| Photo credited to Rachel M. |
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| Photo credited to Michaela M. |
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| The Rachel twins!! (Photo credited to Michaela M.) |
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| Height photo. (Photo credited to Rachel M.) |
We also found the gift shop next door to the chapel (before we took all our pictures). We spent quite a bit of time there, freaking out over all the awesome stuff we found. :) If only there hadn't been a language barrier, I would have loved to speak to the sister who was running the shop that day. But she couldn't speak English. I was so happy to find some beautiful religious articles relating to the Sacred Heart, since the Sacred Heart is one of my favorite devotions. I bought a statue of the Jesus and His Sacred Heart in the shop! :) I'm so happy with it! The sister wrapped it so well that I haven't looked at it since I picked it out because I want it to make it back to the States safely. But I can't wait until I'm home and can look at it again. :)
We went further into town from there, and found a nice cafe.
Friedrich made an appearance at the cafe. Well, we took him basically everywhere because we had no knife to cut him up with. If we'd had a knife, he would've been eaten long ago. Haha!
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| The cafe where we had something to drink and ate brownies. :) |
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| Michaela reads about St. Margaret Mary outside a cafe in France. |
We spent a good deal of time outside the cafe, chatting about family, theology, and philosophy. I was so blessed to make the trip with such awesome people. :)
We wandered through town, in and out of shops, and found a nice little place for lunch.
After lunch, we found a little candy shop and got some chocolate. Yummy!
And look what we found in a pastry shop window!!! It's a minion cake!
Before we knew it, it was time for us to head to the train station to begin the journey back to Gaming. Our time in Paray was short, but I enjoyed it so much!! What a beautiful little town!
We had a few hours delay for our train from Dijon to Zurich, but we made the most of it. We shared our food outside the train station and had fun with pigeons. Heehee. :)
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| Cole is reading "The Discernment of Spirits," and Michaela is reading "The Diary of Saint Faustina." Are we students at a Catholic University? I think yes. Haha! |
The overnight train from Zurich to San Polten was a very long one, and I didn't sleep much, but we got back to Gaming that morning, early enough for Sunday Mass in the Kartause.
But the adventure wasn't over until we did one last thing on Monday night....
Yup.
It was yummy pineapple! Quite acidic, but yummy! And two of our friends were watching "Frozen" in the kitchen, so we got to listen to that and lip-sync to the songs while we sat there eating pineapple.
Happy Divine Mercy Sunday, everyone! God bless you!
May the Heart of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar be praised, adored, and loved through all the earth.
Oh blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us, I trust in You!
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