Lourdes…

On Wednesday (07/21), we joined up with our tour group for Le Tour, Custom Getaways, in Toulouse. It was nice to meet some fellow Americans who were just as excited as us about what we were about to experience in the coming days. Unfortunately, due to a strike of air traffic controllers in France today, some folks were delayed with their arrival. I’m so glad that we arrived in Toulouse a couple of days earlier, with the precise intention of doing so to avoid any unpredictable travel delays for our tour pick-up.

We were bused to Lourdes and arrived in mid-afternoon. As we arrived in town, we saw several vehicles from the caravan around town. Apparently, much of the caravan is staying in Lourdes, while the riders are staying in nearby Pau where the stage starts tomorrow. Once we arrived, we had a few hours before our group was meeting for dinner, so K and I headed out to see the sights.

Lourdes is quite the religious mecca, as apparently 5 million pilgrims flock here per year to see the grotto where 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous saw the Virgin Mary in 1858 and to be healed. So, of course, I had to give it a try. I washed my ankle in the holy water and touched the Massabielle rock where the miracle was reported to have occurred.  We also visited the Basilique du Rosaire and the Basilique Souterraine St. Pie X, which is the world’s largest underground church with space for 20,000 people! It was quite a sight to behold to walk through the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. There were many elderly, sick, and disabled seeking a cure for their ailments.

Gave de Pau

Basilique du Rosaire

Seeking healing at the grotto

Basilique Souterraine St. Pie X

 

 

After our relatively quick tour of the city, we joined our tour group for dinner at the hotel with announcements about tomorrow’s schedule. Our guide is actually a woman who was a former pro cyclist, so she certainly has a unique perspective on riding and racing. Tomorrow is the final mountain stage of the Tour, and it has the potential to be a definitive stage. And, we’ll be part of it!