Day 2 pre-Camino LOURDES!

After the 4 hours in Paris we set south for   Lourdes. I'm happy to say that the French people I spoke with actually understood what I was saying when I pronounced "Lourdes" which never happened before when I was here!  

We arrived at 11:30pm, not the best time to find a place to stay so we figured we would just crash in the train station for a few hours and then hit the grotto at the break of dawn.  Good plan, except the train station was already locked for the night when we arrived.  Luckily Lourdes is a very safe place so we headed out in search for a cheap hotel or good place to wait it out till morn.   Come to find out the grotto and basilica grounds (including bathrooms!) are open all night!  It was so peaceful and beautiful there I even forgot how cold it was... for the first hour.  

(Sorry the photos are poor quality!)

When we arrived there were about 15 people praying... By 3am it was just me and Emily, very cold, and looking quite homeless.  About 4am we started walking around to keep warm, at 5am went in search of something warm to drink, at 6am gave up and went back to the grotto for Mass.   

Here are some photos around the basilica and grotto at 5am:

Here is the statue of our Lady of Lourdes at the entrance of the grounds.  She's all lit up so you can't see her well, but I took the photo to show all the flowers placed on the fence below her.

Here are the candles people light for their petitions. 

The giant one I lit for all the people and their intentions I'm bringing with me on the Camino.

Tomorrow starts El Camino de Santiago! I'm excited but I also wonder what in the world I've gotten myself into!