Holiday In Spain

Lourdes… I believe that is where I left off.  A truly religious experience, Lourdes is the home of St. Bernadette.  She was a girl to whom Mary appeared 18 times in the mid 1800s.  Mary told her to drink from a small stream that had sprung up and to do penance and pray for sinners.  Now there is a basilica above the grotto as well as a huge underground basilica, about a mile long Stations of the Cross, and several other chapels and buildings at the sight.  There are also fountains that contain the water from the spring so that you can drink it and collect it in a bottle.  There are also baths to bathe in the water.  Many sick and elderly people pilgrimage there to drink the water, bathe, attend mass, and make confession.  We attended mass there for Holy Thursday along with at least 2,000 other Catholics in six languages.  It was amazing and so uplifting to see everyone come together and celebrate the Eucharist.  The whole Lourdes experience was refreshing and a wonderful reminder of God’s love and forgiveness, especially three days before Easter.

Friday morning we boarded the train once again, headed towards San Sebastian.  We had to switch trains twice.  The first time we had about an hour in between so we ate breakfast at the café in the train station.  We arrived in San Sebastian around 3:30.  It was a little cold and rainy, but the ocean was beautiful.  Our hotel was nice and after checking in we went for a walk to find lunch.  We found a wonderful restaurant and ate salad and calamari and shrimp.  Went back to the hotel and Skyped with the Elevator (always a fun experience!) and took a little break.  That night we went out to a tapas bar for a couple drinks and then went to bed.  Saturday we managed to hike to the top of one of the small mountains before the rain came in.  We did discover a church for Easter mass the next day though and we bought an umbrella.  We did a little shopping.  My mom found 10-euro boots!  We had lunch at a tapas bar.  Probably the highlight of San Sebastian was the tapa bars.  The bar would be covered with plates of food, little sandwiches, bread with different toppings, tortilla, croquetas, tarts with fish fillings, sausage, ham, mini kabobs, etc…  The bartender would give you a plate that you could go around and fill with whatever food you liked.  You would then show the bartended your plate so they could make a note of it for your bill and then you could get your drink and sit down and enjoy.  This was what we did all day Saturday more or less, oh yeah and we stopped at the bakery 3 times!  Sunday it was finally nice again.  The sun was out and we walked along the coast.  We ate breakfast at a small pub and went to church.  After mass we stopped at another bakery for dessert.  I don’t want to see a pastry for at least another week.  At the moment anything with whipped cream will make me gag!

Sunday afternoon we returned to Madrid and went to bed.  We were all tired.  Monday was our final day together.  We went shopping for last minute souvenirs and grocery shopping to stock my cupboards.  We ate a nice lunch at la Finca de Susana, one of my new favorite restaurants here.  And then we said goodbye.  It was a tearful parting.  I truly enjoyed being able to spend so much uninterrupted time with my mom and dad.

It was hard going back to school on Tuesday, but after almost three days of classes again I’m surviving.  I think Kim and I plan to go to Salamanca for Friday and Saturday.  And then if I really think about it I only have two months left in Spain.  It is unbelievable how fast the time goes by.