Marian apparitions at Lourdes In the evening of February 11, 1858, a young Roman Catholic girl, Bernadette Soubirous, reported that she went to fetch some firewood with her sister and another companion when a Lady who was indescribably beautiful appeared to her at the Massabielle grotto. Although the Lady did not tell Bernadette her name…

Manresa Saint Ignatius of Loyola went to a cave to pray and do penance during his journey to the city from March 1522 to February 1523. It was here that he wrote the Spiritual Exercises after his pilgrimage to Montserrat. Saint Ignatius, with six companions, founded the religious order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Montserrat

Strasbourg Cathedral. Mass here this morning was beautiful! Reims Cathedral

We flew across Europe to go to our digital nomad temporary residence visa meeting. The meeting was successful. We are officially Portuguese nomads and are allowed to stay through May 2024, if we want. On Madeira, we were closer to New York than Vienna!

We picked up the car from the Volvo factory on Tuesday the 19th and put it to work on the 20th. The factory tour was actually pretty interesting. Rolls of sheet metal come in one end and cars roll out the other. The assembly line is over a mile and a half long, uses lots…

The hills are alive with the sound of music! We met up with Joe’s brother, Mark, and his wife Jenny for dinner in Vienna! We ate at restaurant famous for its schnitzel and generally meandered around Vienna seeing sites including Mozart’s memorial.

We flew from Newquay to London to Copenhagen and took a train to Gothenburg.

The Skellig Islands are two uninhabited, rocky islets off the southwestern coast of Ireland. Skellig Michael is known for its well-preserved early Christian monastery. The site, reached by more than 600 steep and monk-hewn rustic steps, includes stone beehive-shaped huts, oratories and crosses. Thousands of puffins breed on Skellig Michael during the warmer months. To…

Pretty much a travel and rest day! Lots of sitting at the airport because of a delayed flight and then a 4+ hour drive to Portmagee.

St. Michael of the Needle Aiguilhe had more sites than we could visit in a day. We visited the Chapel, Cathedral, and, of course, the statue of Notre Dame. This is a place I would like to return! Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe (St. Michael of the Needle) is a chapel in Aiguilhe, near Le Puy-en-Velay, France. The chapel is reached…