We woke up " in the garden" at the Abbey, thanks to Friar Cyrille and this is what we looked like to the other pilgrims who stayed inside in the dorms...
This is the Abbey, it is beautiful and filled with energy and love...
The kids are known by everyone, even while in the shower last night I heard someone say, " have you seen the Americans?" :)...
This is what we look like close up...
Snug as a bug in a rug...
This was our view... and we would climb that view 24 hours later...
As we left this fella was in the stone walkway, stone everywhere and had spiderwebs all around his feet and couldn't move. I wish every two year old would hold a non stinging, biting bug with antennas in their hands and watch them clean themselves, move their antennas and see how truly beautiful and inquisitive they are. Karsh gently removed the webs, found a patch of grass and we watched as this fella stretched out and up his back legs feeling his freedom...
We went to the campsite, a wonderful spot along the river and decided we were going to stay put. Last night Father Cyrille approached a young guide and asked her to give us a tour of the cathedral this morning at 11. We almost forgot about it, and honestly it could have been easy to miss it as we were now down a rocky road out of the town relaxed on a river. I knew this would not be fair to our guide and we quickly ran up to town to have a tour that would be a highlight of our Camino. I am so very thankful to my young guide, Sofia, who works for a group called CASA that I think work on donations only. Her tour was second to none, she was excellent, missed no details and made us marvel over the tiniest of details.
This town revolves around Saint Foy ( Faith) a young twelve year old martyred in 303 for her Christian belief. I wish I had the time to share pictures and stories but she'd have to be proud of this cathedral that might be my favorite ever! It has huge ceilings and glows from inside.
Her relics...
The gates made from prisoners chains that broke upon the relics arrival ( so the stories go....)...
The mural of her story, much like the stages of the cross...
Jesus clothed on the cross...
A little mischief in the artwork...near the base of a column...
The Visitation, here Mary is shown with her hand up ( which I always jokingly say she might be saying," no thanks, I'll pass, that's a lot of responsibility"). Behind her stands a woman assigned to her and she is shown passing her a spindle of thread, going from an average woman to Holy.
The masterpiece of the cathedral, the tympanum of the Last Judgement, explained last night to a crowd of pilgrims that seemed to laugh non stop I couldn't understand all the humor as my French is weak. Today after Sofia no stone was left unturned and I want to do a Charlotte Mason picture study for all of my Charlotte Mason mommy friends! There is so much awesome humor in this!
I wish I could share it all, but if you ask me to I promise once home I will, I even bought the brochure on it, I must love it if I did that, no pilgrim adds an ounce of weight to their pack if given the choice.
This is a Tympanum meets "Where the Wild Things Are"...
We ran into Enayet and Patricia who joined us on the tour, we love them dearly! They offered to treat the kids to crepes and ice cream, I really insisted not, there can not be a more expensive city on the Camino to dine in, they wouldn't take No for an answer and I have to say the kids were beyond thrilled!!!!
You both are awesome, and our time with you always lifts my thoughts! They are recent empty nesters and I value their friendship!
Kids using Enayets Google app to actually hover over the menu and translate in the same text what is says!!!!!!! Amazing!!
Then back at the campsite we had dinner with Maureen and Frank at their cabin!!!!
Frank like Steve can cook up a storm with minimal ingredients and produced a wonderful dinner- we love you guys so much!!!!!! Maureen and I both needed this rest day and admitted being tucked out of town for some required rest was a good thing.
We did go back out to the cathedral to hear the friar play the organ, a much bigger pilgrim crowd, I recognized no one. Hearing the Animals " House of the Rising Sun" played in such a cathedral is just amazing. We saw Friar Cyrille again, he is so good to the kids, he said he will pray daily for us and insists we tell him when we reach Santiago!
I fear I might not see John Michael anymore on the Camino, he went ahead and is a strong walker. We love him dearly, I found out several nights ago that he is busy kicking the butt out of cancer, we both teared up, you'd never know.... But I do know he is going to win!!!!! He loves the kids!!!! He said last night," they get it!", " they understand the World".... I think I will always remember that moment and how proud I felt.
Tomorrow is a difficult climb out of Conques...
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