Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Interlaken

After leaving Barcelona, we had the adventure of getting to Interlaken, Switzerland. This adventure included the metro, five trains and a bus. We left Barcelona at 8am and got into Interlaken at 11pm. It was quite the day. It seemed like every few hours we had to lug all of our stuff and race to the next train. We also learned what it means when three destinations are listed for one train...it means that at some point, the train splits off into three parts and you need to be on the right part. At one point, we had to run to our specific section. Running with a backpack and a duffel bag as well as swollen feet (yah....they still hurt) is just not that easy.

When we booked our bed and breakfast here, we forgot to write down directions to get from the train station to the b&b. But the world was on our side for this one, when we got off the bus in Interlaken, there was a wonderful sign that listed all of the hotels and had a map next to it. You pushed the button that corresponded to the hotel you were staying at and it lit up the path to get there. After an easy little 5 minute walk, we got to the b&b to find a note taped to the door for us. It had our keys, room number and a little welcome note for us. Once we got settled, we pretty much crashed and went to sleep. We didn't get up until 1pm the next day! I suppose we were tired. We did manage to get up and walk all around though after that. Interlaken isn't that big so we took the afternoon to see the town.

Today we made a much bigger effort to actually do things. We came down for breakfast and the lady who runs the b&b gave us some brochures of things to do. One of them was for Paragliding. After a little debate, we decided that would be a perfect way to see the great views from up high and it sounded much more fun than taking another train to the top.

So, off we went up to the top of this mountain, strapped into a big harness that is attached to a guy. Kirstin took off first and then it was my turn right after. You run until you get to the edge of a cliff and then the wind picks you up and off you sail. We were both up in the air for about 20 minutes. It was honestly one of the most amazing things I have ever done. It was so beautiful up there and the guides were so good about pointing things out. They also took pictures and videos of the whole thing, which of course we bought. After we finally landed, I dont think we stopped smiling for an hour. It was incredible.

After that, we took a few trains and another bus to these waterfalls. The waterfalls are inside of a mountain so you take this life up, inside of the mountain and it lets you off to explore the walk ways with all of the beautiful waterfalls. There were a lot of stairs to climb to get to all of the waterfalls but it was worth it. Just as we were leaving, about 500 school aged kids were getting off of buses to go in. We decided we had gotten there at the perfect time. It would have been really loud with all of those kids.

Tomorrow we are setting off for Berlin. The exciting thing about this is it is only ONE train. Yep...Interlaken to Berlin. Another exciting thing is I found a Nicholas Sparks book at the b&b to read on the train as well, plus we bought chocolate to snack on.

Barcelona

We left our cozy little bed and breakfast in Porto and took the longest train ride of my life. It was hard to leave Porto, even though we really didnt explore it as much as we could have...we had a really nice time relaxing. But on we went! The first train was for about five hours which wasn't so bad. We ended up having to a 6 hour layover in this town Vigo. It is the same town we changed trains in to get from Santiago to Porto, so I can say for certain, it is a pretty nice train station with a good candy store. I took a very uncomfortable nap on a bench so they could improve their seating options to be more accommodating to my napping.

After the wait, we got to board the night train to Barcelona. There were six people in each little cabin but to start, it was just Kirstin and I. We thought it was going to be very nice. The cabins have six bunk bed style beds, so three on each side, stacked to the top. The top beds were already set up but the bottom two fold into to make a bench for everyone to sit on during the day. As the train made its way through its stops, we gained a few people in our cabin, two older couples to be exact. They did not speak any English but they had a very lively discussion in Spanish about who got to sleep on the bottom bunks. The conductor (we named him Evan because he looked remarkably similar to our friend Devin) came in at some point and told us it was time for bed so we all shuffled out and he made the other two beds. Then we shuffled back in, Kirstin and I climbed up to our very high beds and I slept pretty well.

When we got into Barcelona, we met up with Hannah and Jess. It was so nice to see them again! The first day, we just wandered around a bit, did some shopping and then stayed in and hung out at the hostel that night. There was a bar in the hostel so we met some nice people.

The next day, we met up with our friend Cecilla from the Camino. She lives in Barcelona so she was our own little tour guide. She walked us around, pointing out things and then took us to the most amazing lunch place. It was this really crowded hallway of a place with no tables or chairs, just standing room and all they served was sandwiches and champagne. It was really cheap and simple but so much fun. So everyone is crowded together, holding champagne glasses and sandwiches in a tiny little room. It was one of those places we wouldnt have been able to find on our own.

Cecilla took us out that night as well. We met for dinner at a tapas place and shared about 6 different kinds of tapas (small little dishes that are about the quarter of a size of a regular meal). Then she took us out to a few other bars. All in all, it was just a really fun night.

The next day, we went and toured around a bit more, seeing a lot of the Gaudi buildings. I was in Barcelona about a year and a half ago and so it was neat to see everything again as well as some new stuff. That night, we met back up with Cecilla when she took us to this little bar for mojitos.

In the morning, Hannah, Jess and Kirstin and I went out for an early breakfast and to say goodbye. It was really hard to leave them, they were our last Camino goodbye. It seemed a little strange at first for it to be back to just Kirstin and I. We have been traveling in a big group for so many weeks now. Its been amazing though how tired we all have been. The four of us had such little energy to go out and do things. After all that walking, I feel like I am crashing a bit. It will be nice to get home and relax a little bit.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Porto Porto Porto

Well we made it! We ended up not getting a train until 4 and finally got into Porto around 10. After a quick little cab ride, we pulled up to our bed and breakfast. Not really knowing what to expect, we walked into this beautiful lobby with a giant spiral staircase. Kirstin and I looked at each other and just smiled. It was so much nicer than I could have expected. Getting into our room was no problem, they let us move our reservation back a day for no extra charge.

There isn´t too much to report mostly because we havent really done much =). We spent most of the day laying in bed and reading. It feels so nice to just relax and not have to walk. We decided to just go to the grocery store to pick up dinner. We got our usual camino food and came back to our room to eat it. I don´t think we even made a quarter of a dent into it. We both had zero appitite. I suppose when you don´t walk 15 miles a day....it makes a difference.

Tomorrow we are planning to venture out a little bit more and have some Port wine Porto is so famous for. Then, we have a 24 hour train ride to Barcelona! We are going to be very well rested when that time comes.

Monday, October 13, 2008

To the end of the world and back

Well geez...its been a long few days.

On Thursday, we started walking to Finesterre. Even up until the minute before we started walking, we were talking about taking the bus. After some debate, we decided to just walk it. The first day was luckily a short one, only 12 miles. We didn´t start walking until 10 and took a long lunch about half way there. When we only had about 3 miles left, we came around a corner into a small town and saw the most beautiful river and bridge. There were people laying all over these big rocks down by the river so that seemed like the best way to spend an hour. We just layed on these rocks, soaking in the sun. Since it was just Kirstin, Hannah, Ben, Jess and I, there was no one to meet up with at the end in the albergue. There was just no rush to get there at all. This turned out to be an awful mistake...

We got into the town, walked to the albergue to find it was full. There was no where else to stay but this guy told us this guy named Bart had a tent we could sleep in. So we looked for Bart. Bart did in fact have a tent for us so we set it up and then made some dinner. When it came time to go to sleep, it didn´t seem so bad. We layed two blankets on the ground of the tent for a little mattress and snuggled in. I read for a bit and then fell to sleep. I think this lasted for thirty minutes. I woke up freezing and really really uncomfortable. I don´t think I got more than 2 hours of sleep the whole night. No one in the tent slept and at 6, we finally just got up. At this point...Kirstin and I talked about maybe just taking the bus. But we convinced ourselves to walk and started out on our way. 20 miles later...we finally reached the town we had to stay in. I have never been so exhausted in my entire life. They luckily had some mattress left for us to sleep on and that may have been the best sleep of my entire life.

So then came our last day of walking!! We had all slept well, had a good breakfast and it just seemed like such a better day. The weather was warm, the sun was out and we walked almost 12 miles before we stopped for lunch. The first time we came over a hill and saw the coast, we all just stopped and looked out for a few minutes. It was an incredible feeling to look out over the ocean and know that I had walked there. We continued along the coast until we were just outside of Finesterre. The tradition is to go out to this lighthouse at sunset the day you get in. As we were walking in to town at 6 after almost 20 miles of walking, we decided sunrise could be just as good since it was another 2 mile walk up there. We checked into an albergue and went to the grocery store to buy some dinner and breakfast for the morning.

We rolled out of bed and made it up to the lighthouse just in time. The five of us sat on there, watching the sun rise, drinking memosas and talking about all of our favorite moments of the trip. It was a beautiful, unforgettable morning. That was it, I was done walking. We took pictures of the ocean, the final marker that said we had 0 km to go and each other. Everyone, including myself, forgot to take a picture of the actual lighthouse...opps.

The rest of the day, we just layed around town and relaxed. Hannah and Jess are going to come to Barcelona with us which will be really fun! Kirstin and I took a bus back to Santiago last night and after some exhaustive walks around the city, finally found a place to stay the night. We were close to paying €50 each for this nice hotel as our Plan D if nothing else worked out but luckily we found a place much cheaper. We both slept in today and are going to take a train at 4 into Porto.

A lesson we have learned however is to book transportation first, hotel second. We had originally planned to get into Porto yesterday but since the trains and buses don´t run regularly on Sundays..we were stuck. We tried to contact our bed and breakfast but who knows if they got any of our messages. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a place to sleep tonight.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008


Here is Mom's try at adding the girls photo from the Cathedral in Santiago!

Mom

Soaring, Flying...There´s not a star in heaven that we can´t reach

So...I made it!!!!

We all woke up at 5:30 and were out the door by 6 which was pretty impressive for a group of 11 or 12. The start of the morning was raining and very dark. We walked in almost silence for the first few hours, each of us in a line down the trail. It was hard to see where we were going but what we could see were the lights of Santiago lit up over a hill. It was sort of symbolic to be walking into the light. After we stopped for some coffee around 8:30, we all perked up a bit. The rest of the walk was only about 6 miles. I spent most of the time walking with two boys, John and Ash and singing along to Ash´s ipod. It was just silly and fun and so perfect.

When you walk into any town, there are these big white signs that say the name of the town you are about to enter into. When we got to the Santiago sign, we all just stood there and smiled for a minute and then took loads of pictures in front of the sign. We were there...it seemed sort of unreal. The cathedral was still a few miles into town so we kept on walking. I couldn´t help but walk quickly. It was so close, I was almost there. As soon as I got into the square, it was like this overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I just stood there in awe of where I was and how I got there. Kirstin was a little bit behind me and when I saw her come around the corner, we both ran to each other and had a huge hug in the square. It was raining but no one really cared. Once our entire Camino Family had arrived, we had a huge group hug. Everyone was standing in a circle with their arms around one another and then we all just started jumping up and down and cheering. It was one of those unforgettable, once in a lifetime moments that will always stay with me. A group of people Kirstin and I didn´t even know existed a month ago, and now we were all hugging and sharing such an important moment together.

We went into mass at noon which felt like such a great place to end the walk. Going up to get communion was a bit emotional for me. It was incredible to look around this giant church and maybe not know everyone´s names, but recognize so many excited faces. There was so much love and happiness in that room. We were lucky enough to see the monks swing the giant incense pendulum. They only swing it on days where someone has donated €300 so...thanks to that person, we all got to see it. It was pretty incredible. It took five monks pulling the ropes to make it swing from side to side. We were right under it too. This was a little difficult because of my asthma...I couldn´t really breath with all of the incense but once it stopped, it was back to normal =). Once the mass was coming to a close, I started to tear up. I am a bit of a crier anyways but I couldn´t help but just be so happy in that moment. There are very few times in our lives where everything just feels perfect. Standing in that church, surrounding by all of my new friends, it felt perfect.

After mass, we went and got our compestellas. We stood in this long line and they checked our pilgrim´s passports then gave us our certificates. It just felt so accomplished to get that piece of paper. It was raining pretty hard and we were all starving so in the mess of everything, we missed going in front of the webcam. It was hard to figure out where it was without knowing beforehand but Kirstin and I did take a picture using Hannah´s blackberry and sent it to our parents. If my mom can figure it out...she might be able to post it =).

Once we got into our hostel, the shopping began. We bought lots of new clothes and makeup. Kirstin and I spent so much in the make up store, the lady gave us some free makeup and bags. We both have this favorite mascara, Dior Show. We decided we were both worth it and bought it here. It seemed like a perfect luxury. I also bought some jeans, sweaters and shirts. I bought a pretty cheap pair of shoes too. I was worried to buy any good ones because my feet are so swollen, I don´t think they would fit when my feet hopefully go back to normal.

It feels really good to be a girl again. Tomorrow though, it all goes back to the Camino look.

Yesterday we spent the day walking around Santiago, shopping and spending the last few hours as a big group. At night, everyone went and got tattoos. I got a pretty big sea shell on foot....just kidding. I just watched. I am not really a tattoo person. They all look really beautiful though and it was a fun experience to be there with everyone as they got them.

This morning, we all got up and had a long breakfast in a cafe across from our hostel. As the time got shorter, everyone started to get more and more sad that some of us were leaving. After breakfast, the people who were leaving packed up and we said an emotional goodbye to each other. It was hard to see them walk away. Everyone was crying, it was hard not to. We all became such a close family that its hard to see them go. I just know though, in my heart, I will them all again. We are already planning our trip to Vegas =).

So a group of 12 is now down to a group 7. Kirstin, Hannah, Jess, Ben and I are going to start walking to Finesterre tomorrow. We were going to go today, but it felt so rushed and we wouldn´t have been able to say a proper goodbye to everyone. The luxury of having a flexible schedule is the ability to spend an extra day with these friends. It was so hard seeing the others go this morning, it is nice ot be able to do the goodbyes in stages.

I am really looking forward to walking tomorrow. I think it will be a very different experience. The faces will not be as familiar and it will only be the five of us. Kirstin and I started out not sure who we would meet and we have both gained such a loving, wonderful group of friends from all over the world. It will feel different to not see them all as we head out in the morning tomorrow. We always started the mornings together leaving the albergues so it will feel strange.

Thank you all for your comments throughout my walk. I loved reading them and hearing from everyone. I´m sorry the webcam didnt really work but hopefully my mom can get the picture up.

3 more days of walking....

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Possible time change for webcam

From Jenny's Mom:
I just talked to AriZona who has made this trek before.  Her suggestion is for Jenny and Kirsten to wait and go to the webcam later in the day when the town square will not be so crowded.  She said when she has been there, the area in front of the cathedral is very crowded after the Pilgrim's Mass.

I haven't talked to Jenny to ask her about an alternate plan, so for now, she is still planning to be there at 4am-4:30am Tucson time.  If I hear anything different, I'll post it tomorrow morning.

My understanding is they are very hard to see, so mostly what you're going to see are 2 figures jumping up and down flailing their arms :--)  That will be our girls!

Jane