Day 11

George's alarm wakes us up at 6:30, but of course we don't get up right away. We have to ease into this day of traveling. Once we get moving, though, we are ready to go way before its time. We need to have the beds stripped, room tidied, bags downstairs and off to church for 9:00 mass for Pentecost.  We are ready be 10 to 8:00!! How unusual for us! We bring our bags down and venture out to the Grotto for one last visit. There is mist rising from the mountains and the sky is a mass of clouds, so I guess Luciano's weather prediction from last night is pretty accurate.

Yesterday, Denis carved my family name into a candle and then wiped mud made with Lourdes water into the name to make it show up. George and I light this special candle and take some time to pray for our family. Then we visit the Grotto and say goodbye to Our Lady and to Luciano once again. Then it's off to the water taps to fill a bottle of Lourdes water, and back to the room to meet our mates.

The lady isn't in the office to hold our bags, but just as we decide to leave them in the hall she appears. We lug our cases into the office and set out to Mass. I am so happy to see that Fr. Paul is celebrating Mass. I volunteer for the the second reading and ask the priest if we can sing "As I Kneel Before You" a favorite hymn to Mary that I heard when I first came to Lourdes, and loved so much that we chose it for our wedding. He says he has already chosen that song for Mass today. Mass is beautiful!!  Father has an excellent homily  about how we can see evidence of the Holy Spirit in the world today. The music is great, AND four girls,from Columbus, Ohio sit right in front of us! What are the odds? They just arrived yesterday and are leaving tomorrow, so we give them some advice about what they should do, and how to get information about volunteering.

Fr. Paul gives us a special blessing as we are traveling today, and we get a picture with him. It makes us all sad that after 12 years, the next time we come to Lourdes, Fr. Paul won't be with us.

We decide to have a hot breakfast for a change and go to a pub we frequented my first year in Lourdes. After breakfast, we say goodbye to Denis and Linda (they are staying one more day in Lourdes). Angela suggests that since it's our last day, we should get some ice cream. Ice cream is a bit of a tradition with us here, but we have not managed to get any ice cream this year. So we set off, and...the ice cream shop is closed! No worries, there are plenty others. At the Royale, Angela and I each choose a banana split and George has a peach Melba.  We grab a cab, pick up our bags and make it to the train station with time to spare.

Angela strikes up a conversation with a young man from Ireland. They are both flying tonight and will share a taxi to the airport, while George and I will spend the night in Toulouse. As soon as we
check in to the hotel we are off to watch the last Arsenal match of the season in an Irish pub. They win, and George is in heaven because in this pub in a French city he is surrounded by English and French speakers who love football as much as he does. Meanwhile, I am happy they have wifi and I work on my blog and catch up on emails. A win-win! George and I enjoy a delicious meal at Meet the
Meat, a restaurant suggested by George's football mates from the pub, and have ice cream for dessert, for the second time today. We must be at the front desk at 6:15 for our cab to the airport, so it's straight to bed when we get back to the hotel. I realize it hasn't rained today at all. It was sunny and warm once the mist cleared, so I guess Luciano's weather forecast wasn't so accurate as I first believed.

Tomorrow we will be back in our own bed. This trip has been rewarding, exhausting, memorable and fun. But it will be nice to be home.