Pilgrimage

Walked and walked and walked.

Elizabeth and I recently went to Paris. Bob Scott told me he derived as much pleasure anticipating and planning trips as he did taking them. I took his sage advice.

I read several books set in or relating to Paris—Shakespeare and Company by Sylvia Beach, The Great Gadsby, not set in Paris but written by F. Scott Fitzgerald (he and Zelda were in Paris with Hemmingway, Joyce, Gertrude Stein and others). I read through Rick Steves Paris 2020 several times, which I heartedly recommend.

In the course of preparation, I started to say that I was taking a pilgrimage to Paris—that sounded so good. It occurred to me one day someone would ask what I meant and I would be flummoxed.

So, I bought and read The Art of Pilgrimage—The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred by Phil Cousineau. What a gift! Here are a few of the nougats I took to Paris:

If we truly want to know the secret of soulful travel, we need to believe that there is something sacred waiting to be discovered in virtually every journey.

The first step is to slow down. The next one is to treat everything that comes your way as part of the sacred time that envelops your pilgrimage.

Openness, attentiveness and responsiveness are the essence of pilgrimage.

And did those nougats ever serve me well! Elizabeth totally wore me out. We walked and walked and walked. I reminded myself as we trudged along “Pilgrims are a hardy breed. They trudge rough roads, put in long days and stones are their pillows.”

I’m beginning to wrestle with the challenge of seeing the remainder of my life as a pilgrimage.