the sacred heart of Jesus church

the picture is taken in Viena do castelo, the church at the top of the hill is the temple of the sacred heart of Jesus. Dirk took the fanicular (cable-car like train) , after being shown the way by the two school girls, who insisted they took us there personally, directions in English seemed harder than a fifteen minute walk. I also think they were charmed by Jasper, as the one little girl took his lead and ran ahead with him. Jasper was not allowed in the funicular, so i was shown a stairway of 500 steps to the top. The little girls left me at the foot and headed to their music class. Jasper ran up and I followed, we made it to the summit at the same time as Dirk.

we noticed a man at the foot of the main stairway of the church selling something, I was expecting to be sold a plastic image of Jesus or maybe one of those replicas of the temple that when you shake upside down snows. Instead he had an old camera, complete with a birdie, we paid 5 euros to the man. He had some examples of his work, mostly shots of people in the sixties and seventies. He was weatherbeaten, from spending a lifetime earning a living on those steps. I was fascinated by the process and enjoyed watching him work in his makeshift darkroom in the sunshine.And when he was finished I asked him for a copy of the negative, both are pinned up in our van noticeboard, but here is a copy I took with my camera

So ends this little adventure as Jasper and I took the stairs down whilst Dirk came by on the train. As a young catholic girl, I used to love the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue in ou parish church. And without being very consious of it I was suddenly saying the prayer that we were taught as children. 'Oh Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my trust in you'. On this journey of reflection and time out to recover and have fun together, It did not feel too out of place. Marianne