Today was a magical day.

This morning was an early rise. So early that they had to open breakfast early for us. I ate some cereal at about 6:30 in the morning, and worked my way down to the bus to make the journey to Medugorje. I loaded on to the bus and lucked out with getting both the seats in my row to myself for our 3 hour bus ride. Its only 85 miles away, but in a bus it always takes longer, and we would be driving along the coast on a road much like Highway 1 in California.

For those who don’t know what Medugorje is, I'm going to include the description from SAS.
        "A small village located in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Medugorje is a unique phenomenon in the modern world. It received international attention when, in 1981, six children who were playing together between the villages of Medugorje and Bijakovici claimed that an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to them. As a result of their claims, Medugorje has welcomed more than 20 million visitors since 1981, thus becoming the second largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world."

We finally made it after the bus ride, and everyone slept on the bus ride. When we got there the first time that was on the agenda was to climb the path that leads to Apparition Hill, the place where the children say their first vision. It was a very rocky and steep climb up the hill. Along the "path" were different images of the stations of the cross. From the top of the hill you could see the entire valley below. Here was a statue of the Virgin Mary as well as a large Crucifix.

I said my prayer to the Virgin Mary and then enjoyed the view for awhile before making my way back down the hill. I love to think about how my grandparents were here back in the late 1980's. Its always a great experience to be able to see things that they have don’t and to walk in their footsteps. The entire time I was there I was thinking about them!

When we got down the hill, the bus drove us back into town and dropped us off for our free time. I went with a few girls to look at the souvenir shops before going to the noon mass. I got my post-card and a small statue of the Virgin Mary (instead of a shot glass) and some other little things for my family.

We then went as a group of girls to the church for mass. We arrived and had no idea what language mass would be in. It was a Sunday so they had masses all day long. They also did them in various languages throughout the day. To our surprise, the mass was in English so we were able to understand everything. It was just like a mass back at home with song, readings, prayer, and lots of standing, sitting, and kneeling. The only difference that I saw was that there were 15 priests up on the alter. Most of them just stood there the entire time, and only about 4 of them said anything during the mass. But it was very helpful when it came time to hand out the communion because there were hundreds of people there.

After mass was over we decided to get lunch before getting back on the bus. We went to a restaurant close by and were shocked by how inexpensive everything was. I got Spaghetti Bolognese and a Sprite and it was only 5.50 Euro! We all enjoyed our meal and then made our way back to the bus.

For some strange reason the bus ride home was miserable. The a/c was not working very well and I was sweating and burning up the entire ride back. I was so thankful when we finally made it back to the boat.

The first thing I did was run into my room and take a cold cold cold shower. It was extremely refreshing. I then went and had dinner as we cruised out of the port and back on to the open sea.