My trip/pilgrimage to Lourdes

Well, I'm back from Lourdes in the pyrinées mountains where I spent 5 DAYS on a pilgrimage with the Sacred Heart Missionaries from Cork ,Ireland. Lourdes is famous as a Pilgrimage destination , as a young uneducated shepherdess, Bernadette Soubirous saw apparitions of Our Lady, on 18 Different occassions 150years ago. My mother invited me to join the group from Cork, in Lourdes, and having hummed & hawed, I eventually decided to go. What a good idea that turned out to be. I had a blast, and though a rich spiritual experience, it was also alot of fun. Much more than I would have expected. For, I met up with alot of beautiful people from various countries as well as the gang from Ireland. and there was much singing and all sorts of high jinks after prayerful, contemplative days, in the various churches & grotto. I sang heartily and gained quite a reputation for myself as the "life& soul" of the party. I  also attended several ceremonies such as masses and reconsiliation evenings. The priests who preached were intelligent & informed & spoke wisely & at length about Peace, how we treat our Planet & other topics. There were processions in the evening and as I had difficulty walking, I got pushed around in a wheel-chair which I informed all & sundry was in fact "a disused Popemobile" . And During the procession , there was much "speaking in tongues" i.e. the texts were read in various languages. And each pilgrim carried a candle, as (s)he walked. At various stop-off points on the procession time was taken to light candles for special intentions, and among others I lit a candle for Clare (anam cara) who had asked me to do so, a candle for members & exmembers of the pod surviving souls and a few more for deserving folks not on Gaia. And I bought sparkling trinkets and souvenirs also.