Day 7 (11 June) - NOW We Are In Hell!

The buffet breakfast in the morning helped to make up a little for the lack of air-conditioning the previous day. It was the most sumptuous breakfast we had in France up to then. Being the Ugly Singaporeans that we are, we stole lots of fruit jams and Nutella to bring along for our trip. Luckily we were not discovered, or else it would have been humiliating!

After breakfast, we set off for our next destination - the religious town of Lourdes. On the way, we made a detour and visited Carcassone, an utterly charming medieval fortress town. It was here that Uncle Patrick broke his first chair. I stared dumbfounded as he calmly got up, assembled the broken pieces together and promptly exchanged it with another one at the next table...

Welcome to my castle!

After lunch, we continued on our way to Lourdes. It was almost nightfall by the time we hit town and appropriately enough for a religious city, we checked into the hotel from Hell!


Scary doesn't even begin to describe this place. Aunt Rita declared it the worst hotel room she stayed in her entire life! I shared a room with Dawn and JF and my bed was right beside the window which looked out to a corridor. We felt so exposed that JF woke up in the middle of the night in a panic and asked Dawn to hide all their jewels in the shoes!


Perhaps it was the effect of the hotel but I felt very unsettled the whole time I was in Lourdes. It had that kind of oppressive feeling that gave me the creeps. We witnessed the night procession which up to 10,000 pilgrims carried candles and walked round the square, following a gigantic statue of Mary.

The Nightly Procession

I don't mean to be rude but the whole procession looked like some cult thingy. Imagine deathly silence broken by occasional ghostly chantings. I love France but this was a place I could not wait to get out from...