A pilgrimage to Lourdes in France

PARIS - Last Friday dawn we flew on a Korean Air Airbus 330 for our familiarization tour to France with the group arranged and led by Aida Lim Uy of Fortune Travel, who brought along her grandson Christian Uy. With the group is SunStar Daily’s Mrs. Nelia Neri (with hubby Atty. Julius Neri), Mr. Allan and Penny Carvajal of Travelways International, Mrs. Cathy Uy (wife of my friend Mitchell) of Manila Fortune Travel, accompanied by Ms. Audrey Tiu, Mr. Nelson and Angelita Dy of Grand Hope Travel, Ms. Cherry Pie Callelero of Grand Holiday Travel, Mrs. Jeanne The of Global Link Travel (wife of Andrew), Mrs. Mila Espina of Amazing Cebu and Gwen Po of Pan Pacific Travel and my tag-alongs, my wife Jessica and daughter Katrina.

 Arriving in Incheon International Airport, we proceeded to the Prestige Class Lounge of Korean Air, which truly pampers their passengers, giving you and idea of that Korean Air’s motto “Excellence in Flight” also means ”Excellence” even if you have not boarded your flight yet. Mr. Hyung Soo Kim Regional Manager of Korean Air also accompanied us with Mrs. Ann Momongan Sales Executive of Korean Air all the way to Paris and the train ride to Lourdes and back. We all watched the breaking news of the killing of Moammar Gaddafi on CNN and Al Jazzera news in the lounge.

 From Incheon, we boarded the fabulous Airbus A-380 the double decker aircraft that so fascinated the aviation industry for it could carry more than 500 passengers depending on its configuration. Our Airbus A-380-800 was Prestige Class for the entire upper deck, while First Class was the front part of the lower deck together with the economy.

 First thing I noticed as we took off was that the Airbus A-380 was very much quieter than all the other wide-bodied aircraft that I have flown. Our route took us from Incheon (avoiding North Korea of course) passing through Dalian in China, Mongolia, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, and Munich and on to Paris. I knew the route we took because of the Skymap.

 Another amazing thing with Korean Air’s SkyMap is that it gives you three outside views of the aircraft. One video camera was focused on the ground, while one was focused on the nose (this is the same view as the pilots) while one camera was placed on the tail of the aircraft where you can see the plane. I just had fun watching this program especially when we landed, where I would know whether our pilot had properly aligned the plane with the runway.

 We arrived at the Charles de Gaulle International just in time for dinner at the Novotel Hotel. We had to sleep early for our early train trip to Lourdes. Of course the first problem I encountered is that the plugs for our cellphones and computers were the wrong ones! I brought the three pronged one that they use in Germany, while France uses a two prong round plug.

 Early morning we went to the Gard Montparnasse Train station to take the Train Grand Vitesse (TGV) the world’s fastest high-speed railway faster than Japan’s famous Shinkansen bullet train, which travels around 350kms while the TGV runs an average of 400 kms. This took the 1,000 kilometer trip only 6-hours from Paris to Lourdes.

 The last time I was in Lourdes was in 1996, where I came from Nice in the South of France. Today, Lourdes attracts six million tourists annually. Things have changed a little bit. There are now more hotels in the area and yes; Lourdes is still a small town where all its shops cater only to religious items. It is like one big Catholic Trade store, except that all the stores here sell mostly postcards, statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 18 apparitions on February to March 1854.

 St. Bernadette was declared “blessed” in 1925 by Pope Pius 1X and declared a Saint of the Catholic Church on 1933 by Pope Pius X. She died at a young age of 33 in Nevers, France where she became a nun. She left Lourdes because her little village has been transformed into a great pilgrimage site, where hotels, shops and stores were erected because of the apparition. Part of the tour is to her original home where she was born and grew up. Her body lies incorrupt in a glass coffin in Nevers.

 On her third apparition, the Blessed Virgin Mary told Bernadette that she was the “Immaculate Conception.” Just four years earlier, the Vatican formalized the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception because too many people had questioned it. But the message of our Mother Mary to all who come to Lourdes is conversion of sinners. Mr. Kim who joined us to Lourdes was the only person who was able to take a bath in the holy spring. He was the only one in the group who had no religion and Lourdes baptized him.

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