On our recent trip to the Nordics, we went to the fjord area in Norway where my husband's ancestors are from and we made a pilgrimage to the small farming village in the middle of nowhere in Denmark where my great-grandfather was raised before coming to America. My grandparents never made it to Denmark and while my parents visited Denmark, they never went to that village. So there I was, a 3rd generation-born American, finally standing in the village where my great-grandfather lived (and several generations before him). There was nothing in the town worth seeing...except...the town church, which was closed. We strolled the church grounds (including the little church cemetery) and I felt this amazing connection. My great-grandfather was baptized in that church and this village was where all of my Danish roots can be traced. After knowing of my Danish heritage all of my life, that short pilgrimage to that little village was one of the highlights of our trip because it gave me a deep sense of place and connection now when I think of my heritage. It was worth every bit of that out-of-the-way drive to see that little village in the corn fields of Denmark.
I think every single trip I've ever been on has been a pilgrimage, I'm always following a muse. In Paris I went around looking for Edith Piaf-related sites (before the trip I spent months memorizing the lyrics to all her songs, it was kind of the catalyst to make me want to visit). When I climbed Desolation Peak, I was following after Jack Kerouac, he wrote about working in the fire tower there in Desolation Angels and Dharma Bums. In Los Angeles I did a tour to see all the places relevant to Charles Bukowski. On a road trip through Kansas I went through Wichita just because of the White Stripes Seven Nation Army lyric. In Las Cruces I drove by the jail because of Las Cruces Jail by Two Gallants. I've chased Billy the Kid all around New Mexico (the jail he escaped, the courthouse he was charged in), Butch Cassidy around Utah and Wyoming (his childhood home, the hole-in-the-wall hideout, etc). I went to Gibsland Louisiana to pay tribute to where Bonnie & Clyde died in the ambush. And then the actual walking pilgrimages, all the long distance hikes. I definitely think having some sort of inspiration for why I choose to visit a place is something that keeps me extremely motivated to travel, I always have a specific mission.
For a C.S. Lewis pilgrimage, I highly recommend Oxford instead. You can call ahead to arrange a tour of The Kilns, his home for many years, where he wrote all the books. And he’s buried not far away. Extremely emotional for me.
Some years ago I visited Paris and viewed the original of an impressionist picture that, as a child, I had had a small print of. I didn’t expect to be moved to tears….it was wonderful though. Now I more actively seek out things, it’s a joy of travel and a privilege to see amazing things for me. Loved this post 😁
I'm guessing Loch Ness and Liverpool were more satisfying because they were the actual places where the people/events you care about had actually been. Whereas some statues of Narnia characters aren't really the same thing. Now, if you had been presented with a wardrobe that had belonged to Lewis and inspired the first story, that might've been a different situation ...
These transitions from music we've heard at home, or stories we've read on a page, to the real 3-D world, can indeed be powerful!
What makes you fascinating to read and learn about is that your eclectic interests in so many different arenas help the rest of us with lack of imagination open up to new ideas and places we can't dream up on our own. For this I thank you.
Great story !! Pilgrimages are amazing :)) Pre-emotional attachment to a place brings so much more interest to the visit, I reckon... I went to Cairo in 1998 after reading Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock and the overwhelm was intense. Had I visited without reading that book, the pyramids would have just been one more stony monument.... This is just another way to tour the world and its wonders :))
I also think it's okay to sometimes be disappointed in locations (as I often have been with shooting locations from TV shows and movies, which I never seek out but I often find myself in. They never look like they do on TV. But books They paint a picture in our heads which is much more powerful, i think.)
Absolutely, with all the descriptive details and historical anecdotes :)) and yes, sometimes they make it out to be more than it really is.. that's the beauty of travelling, you get to find that out ...
Love this. I saw a short doc on Paul going back to Liverpool, standing in front of the Penny Lane sign (I'd always thought that Penny was a girl) the pub, etc. It was great. Re pilgrimages, I'm all for them. I think they're transformative even if just to tell us that that particular thing is no longer of importance in our current state of mind. Keep 'em coming!
The closest I ever got to a pilgrimage was when my wife and and went to 221B Baker Street (which isn't anywhere near the real 221 Baker Street!) to see The Sherlock Holmes Museum in London. I grew up reading Conan Doyle's stories, which were some of the first "grown up" books I read....
I'd like to say it was a transcendent experience, but it was...a tourist trap, basically, with "Dr. Watson" as a tour guide who more closely resembled Oliver Hardy than any version of Watson I knew of or conceived, and who rotely took us through parts of Holmes and Watson's apartment that I knew by heart.
The best part was that I got a picture in front of 221 Baker Street, which Substack Comments won't even let me paste here!
ohhhh noooo. Yes, I think I have been to many "tourist traps." I'm also not a big fan of locations from most movies or TV shows. I have been to many (often accidentally), and they are ALWAYS a major disappointment. They don't even look like they do on screen -- plus, they are often very tourist trap-y.
Sort of like the "Middle Earth" locations in New Zealand?
I laughed when a NZ cop series, THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, lampooned all the touristy crap Peter Jackson's movies had brought to their country by having the show's shady local publican and his even more criminally-inclined sister hosting a scammy "Lore of the Ringz" tour in and around Brokenwood....
I loved this post. And I can so relate to being non-religious yet feeling what a pilgrimage is all about. I was moved by how unexpectedly moved you were in Liverpool. Great writing!
Oh, I totally get this feeling! I've done it in a few places, going to Wales because of the The Dark is Rising books, travelling to Oxford and other places because of Tolkien and Lewis, and basically treating NYC as one giant literary pool 🤣 It's such a *connected* feeling ❤️
On our recent trip to the Nordics, we went to the fjord area in Norway where my husband's ancestors are from and we made a pilgrimage to the small farming village in the middle of nowhere in Denmark where my great-grandfather was raised before coming to America. My grandparents never made it to Denmark and while my parents visited Denmark, they never went to that village. So there I was, a 3rd generation-born American, finally standing in the village where my great-grandfather lived (and several generations before him). There was nothing in the town worth seeing...except...the town church, which was closed. We strolled the church grounds (including the little church cemetery) and I felt this amazing connection. My great-grandfather was baptized in that church and this village was where all of my Danish roots can be traced. After knowing of my Danish heritage all of my life, that short pilgrimage to that little village was one of the highlights of our trip because it gave me a deep sense of place and connection now when I think of my heritage. It was worth every bit of that out-of-the-way drive to see that little village in the corn fields of Denmark.
That's really lovely!
Beautiful! I love this idea of a connection to place we have never been before (except maybe in our collective past?).
I think every single trip I've ever been on has been a pilgrimage, I'm always following a muse. In Paris I went around looking for Edith Piaf-related sites (before the trip I spent months memorizing the lyrics to all her songs, it was kind of the catalyst to make me want to visit). When I climbed Desolation Peak, I was following after Jack Kerouac, he wrote about working in the fire tower there in Desolation Angels and Dharma Bums. In Los Angeles I did a tour to see all the places relevant to Charles Bukowski. On a road trip through Kansas I went through Wichita just because of the White Stripes Seven Nation Army lyric. In Las Cruces I drove by the jail because of Las Cruces Jail by Two Gallants. I've chased Billy the Kid all around New Mexico (the jail he escaped, the courthouse he was charged in), Butch Cassidy around Utah and Wyoming (his childhood home, the hole-in-the-wall hideout, etc). I went to Gibsland Louisiana to pay tribute to where Bonnie & Clyde died in the ambush. And then the actual walking pilgrimages, all the long distance hikes. I definitely think having some sort of inspiration for why I choose to visit a place is something that keeps me extremely motivated to travel, I always have a specific mission.
Love it! I agree, it's a great way to travel. I suppose I've done it before too, but I've never quite seen it exactly this way. It's a good thing!
Yes! If I ever go to LA, all I really know to visit is Bukowski sights 🤣
Esotouric does a cool bus tour to see them, or at least used to
Ooh 👀
For a C.S. Lewis pilgrimage, I highly recommend Oxford instead. You can call ahead to arrange a tour of The Kilns, his home for many years, where he wrote all the books. And he’s buried not far away. Extremely emotional for me.
Ha! Already on my list. I'm sure it would be.
Some years ago I visited Paris and viewed the original of an impressionist picture that, as a child, I had had a small print of. I didn’t expect to be moved to tears….it was wonderful though. Now I more actively seek out things, it’s a joy of travel and a privilege to see amazing things for me. Loved this post 😁
Beautiful! I love this reconnection with the past.
And thanks!
I'm guessing Loch Ness and Liverpool were more satisfying because they were the actual places where the people/events you care about had actually been. Whereas some statues of Narnia characters aren't really the same thing. Now, if you had been presented with a wardrobe that had belonged to Lewis and inspired the first story, that might've been a different situation ...
These transitions from music we've heard at home, or stories we've read on a page, to the real 3-D world, can indeed be powerful!
Oh good point, yes. And, of course, the brain always confounds us, doesn't it? hehehe
What makes you fascinating to read and learn about is that your eclectic interests in so many different arenas help the rest of us with lack of imagination open up to new ideas and places we can't dream up on our own. For this I thank you.
So nice if you to say! Thank you and you're welcome. 🙂😍
Really enjoyable read, thank you. Isn’t a pilgrimage a personal journey? It’s what we make it out to be? I plan on my first next year.
You're welcome!
Very nice and good luck with your own personal journey!
The process, the internal approach to the place, object, meeting is what matters. Devotion.
Makes sense. 👍
Great story !! Pilgrimages are amazing :)) Pre-emotional attachment to a place brings so much more interest to the visit, I reckon... I went to Cairo in 1998 after reading Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock and the overwhelm was intense. Had I visited without reading that book, the pyramids would have just been one more stony monument.... This is just another way to tour the world and its wonders :))
Enjoy your pilgrimage tourism phase !
Thank you! I love that story about the pyramids.
I also think it's okay to sometimes be disappointed in locations (as I often have been with shooting locations from TV shows and movies, which I never seek out but I often find myself in. They never look like they do on TV. But books They paint a picture in our heads which is much more powerful, i think.)
Absolutely, with all the descriptive details and historical anecdotes :)) and yes, sometimes they make it out to be more than it really is.. that's the beauty of travelling, you get to find that out ...
Love this. I saw a short doc on Paul going back to Liverpool, standing in front of the Penny Lane sign (I'd always thought that Penny was a girl) the pub, etc. It was great. Re pilgrimages, I'm all for them. I think they're transformative even if just to tell us that that particular thing is no longer of importance in our current state of mind. Keep 'em coming!
I saw that charming video too. Wonderful!
Thank you! glad you enjoyed.
The closest I ever got to a pilgrimage was when my wife and and went to 221B Baker Street (which isn't anywhere near the real 221 Baker Street!) to see The Sherlock Holmes Museum in London. I grew up reading Conan Doyle's stories, which were some of the first "grown up" books I read....
I'd like to say it was a transcendent experience, but it was...a tourist trap, basically, with "Dr. Watson" as a tour guide who more closely resembled Oliver Hardy than any version of Watson I knew of or conceived, and who rotely took us through parts of Holmes and Watson's apartment that I knew by heart.
The best part was that I got a picture in front of 221 Baker Street, which Substack Comments won't even let me paste here!
ohhhh noooo. Yes, I think I have been to many "tourist traps." I'm also not a big fan of locations from most movies or TV shows. I have been to many (often accidentally), and they are ALWAYS a major disappointment. They don't even look like they do on screen -- plus, they are often very tourist trap-y.
Sort of like the "Middle Earth" locations in New Zealand?
I laughed when a NZ cop series, THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, lampooned all the touristy crap Peter Jackson's movies had brought to their country by having the show's shady local publican and his even more criminally-inclined sister hosting a scammy "Lore of the Ringz" tour in and around Brokenwood....
I loved this post. And I can so relate to being non-religious yet feeling what a pilgrimage is all about. I was moved by how unexpectedly moved you were in Liverpool. Great writing!
Thank you!
Pilgrimage is incredibly powerful, no matter what the purpose! And a Beatles pilgrimage is extra special. 😎
I agree it should be highly ranked. 😍🙂
Love this! I haven't thought about pilgrimages outside of the religious sense. Time to expand my way of thinking!
I'm glad I did! Unexpected, this is. 😉
Super fun!
Thank you!
Oh, I totally get this feeling! I've done it in a few places, going to Wales because of the The Dark is Rising books, travelling to Oxford and other places because of Tolkien and Lewis, and basically treating NYC as one giant literary pool 🤣 It's such a *connected* feeling ❤️
Haha, nice. Yes! We're the TRUE fans. hehe