Sunrise at Iceland
From there we caught the next flight to Paris, Where we arrived in the mid afternoon. That is when the fun began.
I made my last post from the bus that took us from the airport to the Opera bus terminal in central Paris. It was hard to stay alert after being on the go for 24+ hours. When we departed the bus we decided to walk to the Auberge Adveniat as rush hour traffic was impossible and we watched people walk faster than our bus. After some messing around with google apps we made it to the Auberge by foot. We got checked in at 5:30 pm. I really wanted to attend mass at Notre Dame and I knew the Saturday evening mass was at 6pm, so having checked in, I decided to try to attend mass at Notre Dame - which was 45 minutes away by foot. Never to be one to be put off by seemingly impossible deadlines I ser off and in typical, Paul "go mode" cut a trail across Paris along the Seine to Notre Dame weaving in and around the people on the way. Notre Dame is a huge tourist hotspot, that just reopened after the fire in 2019. Like St Marks in Venice there were a ton of people in line to tour the Cathedral. When I told the security guard that i was there for mass and he ushered me right into where the congregation was gathered just as the priest started the liturgy.
Mass at Notre Dame
One of the wonderful things about Catholicism is the universality of the church, so while I did not speak a lick of French, I knew the mass and the universality of the faith, sharing the sign of peace with those sharing in the Eucharist. After Mass I took some quiet prayer time to thank God for a safe journey and all the helpful people I have met so far. Praying the evening office in the heart of a grand cathedral. It was awesome.
At around 8pm exhaustion overtook me so I made my way back to the Auberge at a leisurely pace and, after a refreshing shower I fell into a deep sleep.
Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow, for all peoples and all time,
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