ever heard of Mariazell? well neither had i, but yesterday we went on pilgrimage there. 15 mile walk!!! from about 745 am until 3ish in the afternoon! that’s a lot of walking. we went through this *amazing* nature trail, through mountains and valley, along roads, up hills, down hills, across bridges, enter giant trees; it gave me a taste of what it would be like to be in a walking culture. i was reminded of the medieval pilgrimages, like the canterbury tales. we were walking but it was more than that. we got to know eachother, said the rosary, told stories, sang songs, and eventually made our ways to mariazell.
anyways, it’s one of the most major marian shrines in central europe and over 2 million people go there every year. the church itself was absolutely amazing, as are most churches over here. we were very privileged to be able to attend a byzantine divine litergy which was absolutely amazing. they’re the greek orthodox branch of the catholic church; a little different style but still united under the authority of the pope. i really liked it because the mass had the awesome reverence and beauty of the latin mass but it was in understandable english and the prayers were just beautiful. you should all go to one if you ever get a chance. longer than regular mass but so beautiful!
anyway, we rode back, no more walking, and then had dinner and did some salsa dancing! move those hips baby…