Blood, Sweat, and Prayers

Wednesday May 26, 2010 - Pilgrimage to Chartres

Wow! I have been a busy, busy girl! I'm now halfway done with finals and only have 16 more days till I'm back in Los Angeles! As most of you already know, I was lucky enough to have my parents here to visit for a couple weeks about a month ago. I will write a post about that soon enough, but first I wanted to share my first pilgrimage experience with you!

I met a girl, Sandie, here in Paris through a mutual friend by chance one night awhile ago. She is an au pair here in Paris and is from Ottawa, Canada. She told me about this pilgrimage a couple months ago and I thought it sounded amazing...then last week I found out it was the following weekend and I jumped at the chance to participate.

The path that we followed was first taken by pilgrims in the 1300's, however, for many years the pilgrimage did not exist at all until a group of about 10 people decided to restart the tradition 27 years ago. Now, more than 8,000 pilgrims from all over the world come to Paris for the journey.



We met at 5:15am to head to the Notre Dame here in Paris to check in and find the Irish chapter who we decided to walk with. This was Sandie's 8th pilgrimage! She has done 5 in Canada and this one twice before.

There were tons of boy scouts and girl scouts every where! I have never seen so many pairs of short leather shorts!

On our way out of Paris: Crossing the Peripherique

The walk started on the city streets of Paris, continued into nice suburbs, and then into the countryside.

The Swiss chapter was behind us in the long line. We would walk, and walk, and walk until a (seemingly) 30 second pause. I learned many of the traditional Catholic songs along the way, as well as, some entertaining Irish tunes!

I ate bread off the ground, I peed in bushes, I washed myself in a trough along with 50 other girls, I sat in spiders, I never washed my hair, I never put on make-up, and I never saw a mirror. Pilgrimages are kind of intense!

Different members of our chapter would read meditations throughout the day to keep our thoughts focused and our spirits high.

Each night, we had to find our luggage that had been trucked to the camp and then find the Irish communal tent. After walking from 6am to 8pm, dinner and sleep have never sounded better!

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The camp sites were enormous and were in a random field somewhere. Here, you can, *cough, see Sandie sitting on the ground on one side of the tent with me on the other. Talk about roughing it...

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One of my friends, Solange, was on the equipment team for the pilgrimage and so she worked to set up and tear down each of the campsites for us weary pilgrims.

So, my only sandals in Paris are these fancy flip flops...not completely appropriate for a pilgrimage, but my feet needed some air!

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Take a look at my ankles...I could have used a real shower. Or three.

Many of the pilgrims brought their own tents to use...8,000 people!

Since this was my very first pilgrimage, I was very thankful to have Sandie as my guide! I was under the mistaken impression that they would feed us. And they did, but only bread, literally, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a bowl of soup. But, don't worry! I came fully stocked with trail mix, granola bars, apple sauce, crackers, and tuna.

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In the morning, it was dark, freezing and wet, everything was wet! However, we were woken up by the most beautiful classical music played on enormous speakers; that was heavenly! (until you stick your head out of the sleeping bag...)

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They served us hot coffee and hot chocolate in the morning in halves of milk cartons. Here I am, day two, frezzing my buns off, sitting on a pile of fire wood because the ground is wet, in my shorts, before the sun is even above the horizon!

Awwwwwwww, the sun!!!! Here is our chapter with the Irish flag and Celtic cross.

See how many pilgrims there were in front of us?! Incredible!

Lunch time! Thank you Jesus!

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Let's just say I have never seen so many spiders in my entire life and that a germaphobe would never survive a pilgrimage.

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This was the priest in our chapter. They had to walk the pilgrimage in all of their robes, and I was sweating buckets in my linen shorts and cotton t-shirt! Whew!

A red-headed 12 year old in our chapter...I think I would have cried if I was 12.

An old pic of me and Sandie back in 6th grade:

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Just kidding, we only look 12.

Wispy green wheat fields:

Poppies!

The daily essentials. Plus, three pairs of socks per day. I have never been so thankful for a fresh pair of socks!

Lunch time on day 3. Even more spiders. Crawling all over. Everything.

The spires!!! We're almost there! This is approaching the city of Chartres:

The last uphill climb:

There she is in all her glory, mismatched spires and all!!

We were very fortunate to get inside the cathedral for mass. There are so many people that most have to sit outside.

Blessing of the sacraments:

Last parade of the banners after mass:

Our Irish friend Peter. He is a 6'6'' rugby player and is wearing a shirt that says "Gentle Giant Moving Co." on it where he used to work. No joke! Sandie is only 5ft.

I'm a little over 5'9 and I still can't see over his shoulders!

I did it. 75 miles in 2.5 days. I learned so much about traditional Catholicism and feel so blessed to have had this opportunity!

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I was hot, sweaty, sore, and tired, but it was SO worth it and I would do it again in a minute. Never have I experienced the extreme rejuvenation of sleep so acutely. I would hobble into my tent, awkwardly/painfully cram into my sleeping bag so stiff and exhausted and then wake up put on my shoes and do it again. Our bodies are amazing. Our GOD is amazing!

:)