It’s 5:30 pm Paris time. I have just returned to the hostel after several hours of wandering through the city. I had registered at the hostel at noon and was able to leave my backpack in storage until I was able to access my room for the night. I took my camera and important papers with me while I did the first part of my pilgrimage. I walked from the hostel near the Basilique Sacre Coeur to the Cathédrale Notre Dame where I got my pilgrim passport stamped. I stopped for a while in the Cathedral and sat in a pew. It was my first moment of sitting still since leaving the plane early this morning. This is real, I am really in Paris and doing this. And unexpectantly, silent tears coursed down my cheeks. Were they tears of joy or tears of missing my life at home. I had left the known for the unknown.
I had already received my first stamp at the hostel. On the way to the Cathedral, I passed by the Tour St. Jacques, the site where most pilgrimages from Paris began. From the Cathedral, I crossed the Seine River to walk down Rue St. Jacques. I had mentally transported myself to sometime in the middle ages when going on a pilgrimage was a common event, following in the footsteps of the many who had walked this way before. I reached the Église St. Jacques de Haut Pas where once again, I got my passport stamped. And then I retraced my way back to the hostel Le Village.
Just before I logged on to write this post, I checked my email to find one from my wife. Her email gave me a smile. Tomorrow I will be leaving Paris to reach Le Puy en Velay where I will officially begin the pilgrimage. I need a good sleep as I couldn’t sleep on the plane and had poor sleeps for a few days before leaving Canada. A final note, I somehow got a blister walking down the hot streets of Paris.