A few years ago (chuckle, chuckle) Charla and Roseanna and I went to high school together.  Over the years, we all were married, we all  had children, and we all took jobs at Purdue University, where  the three of us had lunch together weekly for over twenty years.  When we all took early retirement last year, Roseanna moved to Colorado, leaving Charla and I here to continue our weekly lunch tradition.  When we heard that Roseanna was moving back from Colorado, Charla and I began planning a trip to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows for the three of us to celebrate our reunion.  So after lots of anticipation and preparation, the big day finally arrived.  The trees were in full autumnal splendor that day; in fact, beautiful scenery was all around us all weekend! 

The three of us set off with me behind the wheel of Roseanna’s van.  All during the drive we admired the fantastic fall foliage and listened to music on CDs.  I sang along with all of the songs, whether I knew the words or not.  How annoying was that???  We used Roseanna’s GPS, which her brother had named “Richard”, and followed his directions until stopping for lunch at Tuscola, Illinois at a Denny’s restaurant which was a refurbished 1950’s diner.  It was a cute place. 

 

Under Richard’s direction, we drove on to Belleville, Illinois and checked into the Shrine Hotel, where there was a life-sized Nativity Scene, complete with Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, shepherds, kings, and animals, all made of one-million Lego blocks, in the lobby. 

 

 The hotel is very nice, with fresh, spacious rooms and comfortable beds and swirled plaster ceilings.  After settling in, we went directly to the gift shop across the way.  It is quite impressive, divided into areas like music, statues, books, rosaries, Christmas, Confirmation, First Communion, baby gifts, etc. 

We went to dinner at the shrine restaurant after shopping,   It is a very pleasant place; reminded me of the old “Flame” restaurant in Lafayette they way it was laid out. 

After dinner we went back to the hotel.  I kept the window in my room open because the fresh air smelled so good, reminding me of the way the air smells in the early spring.  During the daytime, on the hour, the bells from the Annunciation Garden ring and you can hear them all over the campus; it was a bonus to be able to hear the bells even in my room.  There was a Crucifix on the wall in the bedrooms, although mine was missing.  Hopefully it was only away from the room being repaired or refurbished.  Surely no one would steal it!  I asked Charla and Roseanna to come over to my room and pointed to where the Crucifix had been on the wall.  They were surprised to see only an empty picture hook on the wall.  I said, “Fear not, for Jesus who you seek is no longer here; He has risen, as He said!!”  They thought that was pretty funny.  (So did I!) 

There were also paintings of Jesus and Mary on the hotel room walls and a very nice plaque with words of welcome to the visitors.

That evening, Charla, who is a very experienced knitter, started trying to teach me how to knit.  I was NOT good at it at all.  I could “cast on” until the cows came home but I couldn’t figure out how to do the next step.  Maybe I was just too tired.  By 9:00 I was in bed and ready to sleep the night away.  About 1:00 a.m. some really rowdy ladies came into the hotel hallway and made quite a racket getting into their rooms.  Apparently these particular women were baseball fans who had been somewhere that night drinking adult beverages and watching the playoffs and were not happy with the way the games were going.  After about half an hour they quieted down and all was peaceful again.  The funny part was we had just talked to someone earlier in the evening in the gift shop who was commenting on how peaceful it was in the Shrine Hotel and how nice it was not to have a lot of noise in the hallways at night!

In the morning we all went down to the loft area in the hotel for complimentary breakfast.  There was a huge selection of all different kinds of morning fare.  I had raisin bran, orange juice, a fruit cup, a hard boiled egg and a granola bar.  What a pig!

Then we started our tour of the grounds.  At the main shrine the doors were locked so we could not get in to see some of the mosaic displays; but we did light candles and make prayer requests.  We met a group of folks from Our Lady Queen of Peace Church.  The gentleman leading their group was a former seminarian and very knowledgeable about the Shrine.  He told a story about a 16-year-old boy who had been in a serious car accident and who was miraculously healed through the intercession of Mary.

 

 

 

We continued our tour of the campus, praying the Stations of the Cross at the outdoor displays.  It was a wonderful experience.   We saw the Children’s Memorial Garden, the Agony in the Garden statue, the Millennium Spire, the Annunciation Garden, the main shrine/amphitheater, the Mother’s Prayer Walk, the Lourdes Grotto, Our Lady of Guadalupe Hill, and the Father’s Memorial Wall.  Then at The Church of Our Lady of the Snows, we prayed the rosary.  After that, we went back to the restaurant and had lunch.  They served a number of unusual soups, including beer cheese soup and cheeseburger soup!  Yum yum!

We returned to the hotel after checking out the Fontanini nativity sets in the gift shop and picking up a notebook from the Visitors’ Center.  Charla and Roseanna worked on their knitting while I updated my journal.  Then I actually began knitting, a feat I never thought I could accomplish.  I am working on a scarf to give as a Christmas gift. 

Saturday evening we attended Mass at the Church of Our Lady of the Snows, a modern facility seating about 200.  One young lady played the electronic piano and two others with beautiful voices were cantors.  There was also a woman who played the flute.  The music was modern but very well done.  They sang the Alleluia at the Gospel, the one that I like.  The priest talked about the Gospel -- Mark’s version of how hard it is for a rich man to get to heaven.  He said the direct translation from the original Greek was that “the disciples were extremely shocked,” not just “they were astonished” when Jesus said it was harder for a rich man to get to heaven than to pass through the eye of a needle.  The priest said reading it like that helps us understand how much God expects of us.

After Mass we went to the restaurant for dinner.  Our server, Clyde, was very kind and funny.  I had the St Louis chicken salad on a croissant and onion rings.  I could hardly eat it all; but I did manage!  We stopped once more at the gift shop and I bought some postcards with photos of things I hadn’t been able to take pictures of, because the day was overcast.  Later, we  visited the Stations of the Cross again so we could see the displays lit at night.  Then we headed back to the hotel for more knitting.

 

Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and worked on our knitting for a while.  After brunch at the restaurant, we drove to St. Louis.  We parked at the Luminaire Casino and boarded a Trolley for a nearly two hour tour of St. Louis. 

On the tour we saw Laclede's Landing (historic and entertainment district), the mighty Mississippi River, the St. Louis Arch, the Old Cathedral, the Old Courthouse, Busch Stadium, Millionaire's Row, St. Louis Union Station, Forest Park (Zoo, Science Center, Museums, etc), Washington and St. Louis Universities, the U-City Loop (Blueberry Hill/St. Louis walk of fame), the Cathedral Basilica, downtown St. Louis, and the Edward Jones Dome, where, as the guide said, “the Rams try to play football.”  Our guide was quite a comedian.  In Forest Park there is a shiny chrome-covered metal sculpture of a leaf-less tree.  He said for years he had tried to figure out what kind of tree it was, but without leaves, it was hard to guess.  But he finally realized what it was.  Ready?  It was a SILVER MAPLE.  Everyone on the trolley groaned!
 

After the Trolley ride we returned to Belleville, stopping at a Wendy’s to pick up dinner first.  Back at the hotel we ate, and then packed our bags in preparation for our trip home the next day.

 

We checked out Monday morning after breakfast at the hotel, and stopped for gas before leaving Belleville for home.  Once again I was singing along with the CDs of 50’s music, accompanied by Roseanna, while Charla knitted her way home.  We stopped in Covington at the Beef House for lunch and were a little disappointed that steak is not on the lunch menu! 

We made it home safely Monday evening after we unanimously voted the weekend a total success.  We may make this pilgrimage another one of our traditions!