Ok, first of all, I know the song says "Mother Mary" but I prefer Mama Mary. I thought I should clarify that for any Beatles fans.
So, day 2. We had decided to sleep in so we got up at 9 and checked out of our hostel. We then went to the metro station and had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to get to St. Lazare train station where we had to get our train to Lisieux. But Sarah finally figured it out and we headed on over. Unfortunately, we had missed the last morning train and so we had to wait till 2:45 for the next train.
So, being short on money, we headed to the nearest cheap food place - McDonald's. Now, as ashamed as I am of the fact that I was eating McDonald's in Europe I must say they're bacon chicken sandwich is quite delicious!
We then spent about an hour in the train station which was cold. I don't really have much else to say about that.
But, finally, our train arrived and we headed to Lisieux, the hometown of St. Therese. The train ride was beautiful! I could spend hours just sitting on a train watching the French countryside fly by - it is so gorgeous!
Our first order of business in Lisieux was to find the Basilica so we could make it to 5:00 Mass. Well we certainly had no trouble finding the Basilica - we saw it before we even got off the train. It's pretty much situated at the top of the slope on which Lisieux is located and it is HUGE! So we hopped off the train and were trying to figure out how to get to the other side of the tracks so we could get to the Basilica. So I was just like "Lord, please let us get to Mass on time!" and lo and behold a crossing appeared! So we climbed toward the Basilica just as fast as our little legs could carry us. My favorite quote from St. Therese is, at the end of her life she said "It has come to this, I can no longer suffer because all suffering is sweet." I think she decided to make me live that quote while I was in her hometown.
So, day 2. We had decided to sleep in so we got up at 9 and checked out of our hostel. We then went to the metro station and had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to get to St. Lazare train station where we had to get our train to Lisieux. But Sarah finally figured it out and we headed on over. Unfortunately, we had missed the last morning train and so we had to wait till 2:45 for the next train.
So, being short on money, we headed to the nearest cheap food place - McDonald's. Now, as ashamed as I am of the fact that I was eating McDonald's in Europe I must say they're bacon chicken sandwich is quite delicious!
We then spent about an hour in the train station which was cold. I don't really have much else to say about that.
But, finally, our train arrived and we headed to Lisieux, the hometown of St. Therese. The train ride was beautiful! I could spend hours just sitting on a train watching the French countryside fly by - it is so gorgeous!
Our first order of business in Lisieux was to find the Basilica so we could make it to 5:00 Mass. Well we certainly had no trouble finding the Basilica - we saw it before we even got off the train. It's pretty much situated at the top of the slope on which Lisieux is located and it is HUGE! So we hopped off the train and were trying to figure out how to get to the other side of the tracks so we could get to the Basilica. So I was just like "Lord, please let us get to Mass on time!" and lo and behold a crossing appeared! So we climbed toward the Basilica just as fast as our little legs could carry us. My favorite quote from St. Therese is, at the end of her life she said "It has come to this, I can no longer suffer because all suffering is sweet." I think she decided to make me live that quote while I was in her hometown.
Well we got up to the Basilica and there was no one there. And it was 5 till 5. So we were like what the heck? So I went to the little nun at the information desk and found out that Mass was downstairs in the crypt. So we hurried downstairs and got there about 30 seconds before Mass started. Praise God! It was Palm Sunday so Mass was especially beautiful. And the wall behind the Altar was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen! I'll insert pictures later but it was basically a mosaic of St. Therese holding roses with angels around her carrying garlands of roses and . . . a RAINBOW! I need to explain: two years ago I was at the March for Life with my uncle and cousins and after the March we had stopped by the Church where our diocese always gathers for refreshments following the March. As we were walking away from the Church, heading back to our hotel, someone behind us was like Oh my gosh look! and we turned around and there was a rainbow that landed right on top of the Church! It was incredible and totally pointed to Gen. . Since then rainbows have kind of been my sign. Like God will send me a rainbow when I'm nervous or upset to remind me . . . So I get very excited when I see rainbows especially in unexpected places. So I was so excited to see a rainbow in this mosaic of St. Therese!
After Mass we took a few minutes to look around the crypt which contains relics of St. Therese's parents - Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin! We also saw that there were beautiful statues personifying the Beatitudes.
We then ran up to the main Basilica which is also incredibly gorgeous and managed to get a few pictures before they closed. Pretty much everything in Lisieux closes by 6:00 p.m. But we got to pray in front of a relic of St. Therese! And there was a beautiful statue of her!
We then found a souvenir shop which was definitely on my list of things to do cuz my household sister loves St. Therese and, as usual, Jesus and Mama Mary helped me find the perfect gift for her!
At this point pretty much everything was closed so we just headed back to the train station. It's funny, I didn't get to do most of the things I wanted to in Lisieux, like see the parish Church or St. Therese's house or Carmel, but I wasn't really disappointed. I mean, obviously, I would love to go to those places but just the fact that I was in her hometown was incredible! And I am so thankful just for that! God definitely blessed me with a good attitude throughout this trip!
We took the train back to Paris where we were staying in a different hostel from the night before because apparently everyone and their mother was going to Paris that weekend and there was not a single hostel that had two beds available for all three nights we would be there. So we got back to Paris and, once again, had terrible directions and got lost. But we did manage to procure a map and I improved my French skills. We pretty much went in entirely the wrong direction then headed back and missed the street and went way too far in the other direction. But I discovered that Sarah is a good person for me to be with when I'm in a bad mood cuz we both just clam up when we're annoyed so neither of us was getting on the other's nerves and we just kind of walked off our frustration so by the time we got to the hotel we were back to being happy. We picked up kebaps while we were wandering so once we did get to the hotel (where we had a lovely room all to ourselves!) we pretty much just crashed. It was actually quite lovely, I was snuggled under the covers, eating my delicious kebap, and watching a weird french movie.
And that's day 2.
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