Jan 5, 2006 | Christmas and New Years

As I flip through the thick hardcover picture book of the "100 Most Beautiful Cathedrals" bought at a Total gas station in the last few dozen miles out of Paris, I feel a mixed sense of melancholy and relief of a wonderful Christmas and New Years trip spent in the company of my family. From the 22nd to the 26th, for a duration of four exquisite nights and five exhilarating days, we were aboard the MS Royal Gloriana, a 78-room river cruise ship on the Rhine. This is a bit of what I wrote while on the trip:

Our tour guide is French, the crew is German, the boat is Swiss, and the crowd, save us three, consists of spright, old-aged French couples. The trip started with us arriving on the ship at Strasbourg and spending a night on board before going off on a tour of the ciry and spending that afternoon at the famous Marchés de Noël, where everything from pains d'épices, beignets and bretzels to Chrismas tree decorations and Aztec interpretations of the Nativity could be procured without the slightest impendiment.

Rüdesheim followed next, then Mainz (Gutenberg, anyone?), Speyer, Heidelberg, and finally back to Strasbourg on the day after Christmas. What was noticeable at each stop, where we were provided with very educated and capable guides who led us around town, was that we always had the chance to visit the main cathedral or church around which the town was founded. It's pretty impressive to note that on that cruise trip alone, we visited two cathedrals mentioned in the book I mentioned earlier.

Evidently the trip consisted of other things, like wine-tastings, and, perhaps most memorable, a visit to a museum of mechanical instruments, Siegfried's Mechanisches Musikkabinett Ruedesheim am Rhein where a guide showed us numerous instruments which would play on their own accord without the slightest human intervention. I was particularly impressed by the Phonoliszt-Violina, a device capable of playing both the piano and 6 violins, just on its own.

With the trip over and us back in Paris on the 26th, we decided that instead of embarking on our trip to Lourdes as planned on the 28th, we would immediately take off the next day, and thus lies my excuse of not being capable of updating my blog in the meantime and thus, effectively dissapearing for longer than was intended and longer than was confortable for me. (Erps! How could I remain offline for 15 days?!)

Thus began a whirlwind tour of France, with a silver gray Volkswagen Golf rather than a shiny new bike; the itenerary? Here goes:

Paris - Angers - La Roche-sur-Yon - Bordeaux - Lourdes - Albi - Clermont-Ferrand - Bourges - Vézelay/Auxerre - Paris.

When one comes to think of it, the trip was indeed pretty circular, if not like some squished, oblong pizza-esque (and picturesque) road. And while going over the details of each destination would be tedious and perhaps a bit too much for this entry alone, I have to say that the trip to Lourdes was well worth it for my family and in particular for my mum. Lourdes is famous among Catholics as being the centre of miracles ever since Bernadette Soubirous saw the vision of the Virgin Mary at that very location. And while miracles are befitting for those who deserve it much more than we do, I hope that it was the spiritual healing that will work, through our efforts, especially in the following year. It's also interesting to note that on the course of the trip, without expressedly searching for it, we visited another of the cathedrals (at Vézelay) mentioned in the book. I might elaborate on the cathedrals some other time.

I thought I might also write a few predictions for the year ahead, but given that the last was a terribly year in more ways than one, and noting that any prediction that I might make would reflect the dark and grim attitude that newsmakers and reporters take, I think I'll refrain from it and wish you all instead a wonderful and hope-filled, exciting and prosperous 2006.

Also written on this day..

• 2008: Critique: Presidential Candidate Websites
• 2008: Obama Ron Paul 2008
• 2007: Malaise
• 2005: The Elevator