Day 5, The Excursion

Crew: Richard, Ave, Susan (different Susan)

Schedule:
0700 Breakfast (optional)
1100 light brunch
1145 – Buses
1530 Mass
1900 Dinner and a show

Day 5, I gave you some update on the podcast in the morning in a previous post. Still a huge privilege for me to do that. Thank you, Deacon Jeff!

This morning was supposed to be relaxing, and we let Richard and Susan and Ave know that we all could relax in the AM, Mel and I went shopping and hung out, it was nice. All this rest was for the afternoon excursion to the countryside. Dun dun dunnnnn. I’ll share some pictures.

Rr9EE0UgTUSWUPrNaZzV7g — *See that snow on the mountains?*

qqUCHWJ7Qjuk74ikdLK+4g — *Small mountain town*

FlEHTi4BQZeZoTrvJ0sR8g — *This is a small but beautiful church in the town that St. Bernadette went to.*

*After mass, in the courtyard of the old casino. I couldn’t keep my eyes open because of the sun. And I had to wear the hat because of the sunburn on my fivehead*

6J8chQi+acWdo6hgT6w — *Richard, our intrepid photographer and companion! (I had my cane, see?)*

wGC3XTy4Tve7NK7qOjz8tA — *Them there are mountains*

vCjV2NvPSie52Wiy14hRgQ — *At the dinner*

For me, the best part of the excursion was hanging out with my crew. Richard and Susan and Ave were awesome to hang with, chat with, pray with, and learn from. This was a bittersweet day as it mostly involved traveling to and fro, and then when we had “aperitifs” there was a fantastic French band playing… loudly…. very loudly…. and there wasn’t much ability for chat. At least for me, anyway, I know Mel was able to have good conversations. When the band wasn’t playing, I was able to sneak in a brief talk with Deacon Jeff, and the crew, but again that was shorter than I would have liked.

So, I’ll be totally honest. I enjoy people. Once I’m out of my shell a bit, I open up and become more extroverted, but I enjoy people’s stories. When they share with me their story I’m honored and hope to be receptive to them because they are sharing something personal. On this pilgrimage there were so many stories to hear, so many people, I could have spent every day talking and listening. But – the bus rides and the music and the long viking tables… kinda precluded some of that. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it!

The talent show was filled with real talent – I mean, dancers, singers, players, poets, brave people that shared their gifts with us. I bet, if they had asked for talent that night after a few drinks, there would have been more. But, and I think the Order of Malta learned this, they got volunteers days before. (Gotta be honest, I think it would have been cool!)

We stayed there I think till 9pm. Then a bus ride back, and back to the hotel. And I wanted to stay out later, and hang with everyone, but I felt that discretion, valor, all that jazz….