1.) Favorite cathedral/church and why.My favorite worship space was in Fromista (I believe) where the interior of the building was quite simple compared to many places we had seen. I enjoyed its simplicity with the plain walls and only carvings near the top. A German group was touring at the same time as us and begin singing a hymn. It made this place of worship real to me.Favorite spot/place and why.
2.) My favorite place is a tie between standing alongside the water in the fishing village at night watching the lighthouse and peaceful village, listening to the waves crashing AND sitting on top of the rock formations at the 'end of the world' and (again) watching and listening to the water. It may seem ironic that these were my favorite places since we spent so much of our time touring churches and cathedrals throughout southwestern France and northern Spain...but nature has always been able to make me more introspective of myself and more at peace with what is around me. It seems fitting then, that these places were my favorite because I was able to really transcend the most here.
3.) Favorite food/drink.Everyone on the trip will laugh because they will know this answer...but any of the bread I had was FANTASTIC! I got dubbed the 'Bread Queen" because I was almost always the first to grab a piece when they set in on the table. There was never a meal where bread was served and I didn't eat it! My favorite drink would be any number of the red wines I tried.
4.) I really enjoyed the fact that so many old buildings remain and that everything hasn't been comercialized in the parts of Spain and France that we were in. Most of the churches and cathedrals are local worship spaces for people who live there. Thinking of all the people who had worshiped in one place blew my mind. As a business student, I was also intrigued by the spiritual tourism industry, especially in Lourdes. I don't think there was a street in Lourdes not lined with shops employed by spiritual tourism. Not to mention people EVERYWHERE in these shops. I related it very much to the Minnesota State Fair, because I've been there virtually every year I've been alive. So many people everywhere that it is near impossible to navigate a small group like our class, much less a vehicle, along the streets. But this place is real, and people believe. That is a concept that I am still in awe about.
1.) My favorite church was in Muret. It was our first day and we just happened upon a small little town church and went inside. Compared to everything else we saw it wasn't big, or ornate, or significant. But it was a piece of history that also was quite obviously a church still in use. While we were there two women were singing a mass and there was a combination of historical architecture and modern electronics. Very cool and very real.
2.) My favorite place was the End of the World. I love the ocean, and I'm originally from the east coast, so to see the Atlantic from the other side was amazing. There was also a similar feeling of eternal and historical that could be felt in the cathedrals and historical places we visted, but the ocean is nature's timeless entity.
3.) My favorite food was probably the bread and sausage sandwiches we had nearly everytime we went hiking. It was always amazingly wonderful, but also gave the meal an atmosphere of pilgrimage.
4.) I was stunned by Lourdes. It was amazing for me to see so many people believing so strongly that which I could not comprehend. I even tried to figure out if the miracle of the Virgin’s visit to Bernadette “really” happened or not. Were there historical records of no spring existing before the event? How did no one else see the vision? And eventually I had to just let myself be okay with the fact that the people who believe believe and that makes it real. I
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