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.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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
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....
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
Watch us on the Webcam
There is a 9 hour time difference between Santiago and Tucson, Az. To watch me on the webcam tomorrow, our plan is to be there between 1:00-1:30pm following the Pilgrims Mass. That would make it 4-4:30am in Tucson.
We will be the ones jumping up and down!
--Jenny
To see me in action...
Here is the website that I talked about in the post below to watch me near the cathedral in Santiago. I am going to talk to my parents tonight to set up a specific time. I will probably have my mom post tonight so that she can say what time we set up.
http://www.caminosantiago.com/web/webcams.htm
http://www.caminosantiago.com/web/webcams.htm
And then we only had 12.8 miles to go.....
To start, I had a really good post last night but the internet cut out and it didn´t post so i will do my best to do a bit of catch up and remember everything I wrote about last night =(
Starting with day 29, we walked from Sarria to Portomarin. This day was really hard for my for some reason. It was near the end, we were close enough to count the days we had left to walk on one hand and i was just utterly exhausted. It was one of the hardest mental days I have had. It was around this time that a lot more casual walkers were starting and it seemed that whenever i came close to just being quiet and walking by myself, a big group of loud walkers would come up and it was hard to shake them. I have come to really enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of walking alone. It feels like you have the whole Camino to yourself. That night, we made a wonderful dinner of pasta and pushed a bunch of tables together in our albergue. We bought two Sanitago Tarts and ate every bite. The tarts may be my new favorite food. It is an almond cake and pretty wonderful.
From Portamarin, we walked 16 more miles to Palas de Rei. I felt a lot better this day, just with more energy and an all around excitment to be walking again. Hannah and I were walking together in the morning and our friend Greg bounced up behind us. We hadn´t seen Greg in about a week so it was exciting to see him again. The three of us walked together for the rest of the day into town. The frienships you have on the Camino are so interesting because there are people I know i will never see again but that made such an impact on my time here. I thought Greg was maybe too far ahead of us so we wouldn´t see him again so it was pretty exciting to have him come back and surprise us. When this is all over, I think the part I am going to miss the most is just walking up to someone and talking for an hour or so. The talks can be shorter or longer but just striking up a conversation with a perfect stranger has become such an important part of my day. I have learned so much from having talks with people I may never see again but for that time, they had an impact on my walk.
That night in Palas de Rei, we celebrated John´s birthday, another guy in our little group. Our plan was to make a big dinner similar to my birthday but when we got into the albergue....there was a kitchen but no pots, pans, plates or cutlery. As with most of our plans we have made on the camino, we had to switch them around. Instead, we went out to a nice dinner and had our traditional pilgrim´s meal. This particular restuarant however was one of the nicest dinners I have had. They brought out an extra big piece of Santiago Tart for John and we all sang happy birthday to him.
From Palas de Rei, we walked another 16 miles to Ribadiso. I had a wonderful post all about this day yesterday....but sadly it is lost. The walk itself was pretty, through some small towns and through some farms and forests. The mornings are the hardest to get started. I think I can honestly say that for the first mile or so of every single morning, I have regretted the decision to walk. Its just cold and hard to get started in the morning. But then, the sun comes up and it becomes wonderful again. I really love seeing the sun rise every morning. Once that happens, I am glad I am here once again. The sunrise this morning was one of the best I have seen. I stopped for about 10 minutes and watched it. The sky was just filled with pink and purple streaks of light (two of my favorite colors). As I was standing on this mound watching the sun, a few other older pilgrims stopped and took a picture of me. Maybe it was because my pink socks matched the sky...=)
Jess and I walked together for most of the day and as we walked through one of the small towns, a very nice but very pushy priest invited us into his church. By inviting....I mean he took my hand and pulled me inside. He gave us these little cards and asked us if he could stamp our Pilgrim´s passports. We looked at each other and pulled them out, letting him stamp them. Afterwards, he asked if we wanted to see the church. I said that we were going to continue on our walk. This wasn´t really the answer he wanted so instead he just took my hand and pulled me into the sanctuary. There was another woman sitting down in a pew so Jess and I sat down. The priest then read a very nice prayer for us and then walked out. By this point, we were doing our best to hold in the laughter. He was such a sweet man but it was just so unexpected and funny at the same time. When we finally got out of the church, we laughed for the next five or ten minutes about it.
The albergue in Ribadiso may be my favorite one. The description in the guide book says
¨This is a wonderful reconstruction of an old pilgrim hospice, with an award for environmental architecture, an idyllic location on the river Iso.¨
It lived up to expectation and we spent most of the afternoon laying in the grass outside . They even had warm showers which makes it rank high on my list. I decided that it would be a good idea to wash all of my clothes because it had been a little while since I had done that. This was a bit of a gamble because if the didn´t dry, then it was going to be a very cold morning. Good news though....they dried. The quick dry feature really held true and I was just fine!
This morning, we walked from Ribadiso about 2 miles into a town, Arzua and had breakfast. We were talking about how once we stop walking, our breakfast habits are going to have to change pretty dramatically. My two pastery breakfasts are not going to go as well if I am not walking 15 miles a day. I think I may have to cut it down to just one pastery once we stop walking.
When we were in the cafe, the tv show Amazing Race was on TV. Kirstin and I watched it really closely to see if the people we know who are on it were still on the show. It took about half an hour to realize that it was an old episode from a few seasons ago... (So, Jake you are going to have to let us know how they are doing).
The rest of the day went really well. I thought my foot was feeling pretty good this morning so I only took one Ibeprophen. This turned out to be a pretty big mistake with an hour left to walk. I am going to need to stick to the two Ibeprophens until further notice from my feet. They are looking very swollen though. They will need to go down in order to fit into my high heels. I can´t come home to Halloween season and not be able to wear high heels with whatever costume I choose!
Hannah said today when we got into our albergue that it is pretty cool that the people who slept in our beds last night are reaching Santiago today. I can´t believe that we will be those pilgrims walking in tomorrow.
So, tomorrow is the day we walk into Santiago. It seems like it came so fast. There were days at the beginning that were too overwhelming to even count how many miles we had to go that day let alone how many until Santiago. As the day went on today, I couldn´t help but feel so proud of myself. The magnitude of how far I have come, both physically and just mentally are huge. I always knew i could do it, but there is just something so special about being so close to actually getting there. Our plan is to wake up really early and try and make it into Santiago for the 12pm Pilgrim´s mass. Our plans haven´t really held up so far but I think we have a good chance at following through with this one. I just can´t wait to walk into the city and know that I have walked over 500 miles in 33 days.
Kirstin and I decided a few weeks ago that we would talk about walking to Finisterre when we got closer to Santiago. Finisterre is considered the end of the world (according to Christopher Columbus). It is an extra 3 days of walking but you end up on the coast of Spain, overlooking the ocean. Today, we talked about it and for some crazy reason, we are signing ourselves up to walk those extra three days. There is something sort of satisfying about saying that we walked until we physically couldn´t anymore because of the ocean. Some postive things about this is we get to spend more days with Hannah, Jess and Ben and continue our two pastery breakfast habit a bit longer.
I think it will also be a little bit more personal to finish in Finisterre. Santiago seems like it will be crazy and busy and really fun. Finisterre is a bit more quiet and there is a tradition of burning your clothes when you get there. It is supposed to symbolize the new you. According to our crazy woman in San Bol (the one who kicked us out) ¨You die as the sun sets and the clothes burn. Then you turn around and are reborn¨. Imagine that being said in a very flowy, over the top hippy voice.
But I am excited to continue on. I think both of us would really regret not walking if we just took a bus there. To answer your question Grandma, Kirstin is doing really well. She had a really big, pretty fantastic looking blister yesterday but once it was popped, it didn´t bother her anymore. It was better than the girl who took her sock off yesterday and her big toenail came off with it. My foot is getting better, well its not getting worse at least!
Arizona posted a link to a website that has a webcam of Santiago. We are planning on getting in around 10:30am tomorrow which will be 1:30am at home. But maybe just take a look throughout the morning because we will be walking around there and spending most of the day in that area.
ONLY 12.8 MILES LEFT!!!!!
Starting with day 29, we walked from Sarria to Portomarin. This day was really hard for my for some reason. It was near the end, we were close enough to count the days we had left to walk on one hand and i was just utterly exhausted. It was one of the hardest mental days I have had. It was around this time that a lot more casual walkers were starting and it seemed that whenever i came close to just being quiet and walking by myself, a big group of loud walkers would come up and it was hard to shake them. I have come to really enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of walking alone. It feels like you have the whole Camino to yourself. That night, we made a wonderful dinner of pasta and pushed a bunch of tables together in our albergue. We bought two Sanitago Tarts and ate every bite. The tarts may be my new favorite food. It is an almond cake and pretty wonderful.
From Portamarin, we walked 16 more miles to Palas de Rei. I felt a lot better this day, just with more energy and an all around excitment to be walking again. Hannah and I were walking together in the morning and our friend Greg bounced up behind us. We hadn´t seen Greg in about a week so it was exciting to see him again. The three of us walked together for the rest of the day into town. The frienships you have on the Camino are so interesting because there are people I know i will never see again but that made such an impact on my time here. I thought Greg was maybe too far ahead of us so we wouldn´t see him again so it was pretty exciting to have him come back and surprise us. When this is all over, I think the part I am going to miss the most is just walking up to someone and talking for an hour or so. The talks can be shorter or longer but just striking up a conversation with a perfect stranger has become such an important part of my day. I have learned so much from having talks with people I may never see again but for that time, they had an impact on my walk.
That night in Palas de Rei, we celebrated John´s birthday, another guy in our little group. Our plan was to make a big dinner similar to my birthday but when we got into the albergue....there was a kitchen but no pots, pans, plates or cutlery. As with most of our plans we have made on the camino, we had to switch them around. Instead, we went out to a nice dinner and had our traditional pilgrim´s meal. This particular restuarant however was one of the nicest dinners I have had. They brought out an extra big piece of Santiago Tart for John and we all sang happy birthday to him.
From Palas de Rei, we walked another 16 miles to Ribadiso. I had a wonderful post all about this day yesterday....but sadly it is lost. The walk itself was pretty, through some small towns and through some farms and forests. The mornings are the hardest to get started. I think I can honestly say that for the first mile or so of every single morning, I have regretted the decision to walk. Its just cold and hard to get started in the morning. But then, the sun comes up and it becomes wonderful again. I really love seeing the sun rise every morning. Once that happens, I am glad I am here once again. The sunrise this morning was one of the best I have seen. I stopped for about 10 minutes and watched it. The sky was just filled with pink and purple streaks of light (two of my favorite colors). As I was standing on this mound watching the sun, a few other older pilgrims stopped and took a picture of me. Maybe it was because my pink socks matched the sky...=)
Jess and I walked together for most of the day and as we walked through one of the small towns, a very nice but very pushy priest invited us into his church. By inviting....I mean he took my hand and pulled me inside. He gave us these little cards and asked us if he could stamp our Pilgrim´s passports. We looked at each other and pulled them out, letting him stamp them. Afterwards, he asked if we wanted to see the church. I said that we were going to continue on our walk. This wasn´t really the answer he wanted so instead he just took my hand and pulled me into the sanctuary. There was another woman sitting down in a pew so Jess and I sat down. The priest then read a very nice prayer for us and then walked out. By this point, we were doing our best to hold in the laughter. He was such a sweet man but it was just so unexpected and funny at the same time. When we finally got out of the church, we laughed for the next five or ten minutes about it.
The albergue in Ribadiso may be my favorite one. The description in the guide book says
¨This is a wonderful reconstruction of an old pilgrim hospice, with an award for environmental architecture, an idyllic location on the river Iso.¨
It lived up to expectation and we spent most of the afternoon laying in the grass outside . They even had warm showers which makes it rank high on my list. I decided that it would be a good idea to wash all of my clothes because it had been a little while since I had done that. This was a bit of a gamble because if the didn´t dry, then it was going to be a very cold morning. Good news though....they dried. The quick dry feature really held true and I was just fine!
This morning, we walked from Ribadiso about 2 miles into a town, Arzua and had breakfast. We were talking about how once we stop walking, our breakfast habits are going to have to change pretty dramatically. My two pastery breakfasts are not going to go as well if I am not walking 15 miles a day. I think I may have to cut it down to just one pastery once we stop walking.
When we were in the cafe, the tv show Amazing Race was on TV. Kirstin and I watched it really closely to see if the people we know who are on it were still on the show. It took about half an hour to realize that it was an old episode from a few seasons ago... (So, Jake you are going to have to let us know how they are doing).
The rest of the day went really well. I thought my foot was feeling pretty good this morning so I only took one Ibeprophen. This turned out to be a pretty big mistake with an hour left to walk. I am going to need to stick to the two Ibeprophens until further notice from my feet. They are looking very swollen though. They will need to go down in order to fit into my high heels. I can´t come home to Halloween season and not be able to wear high heels with whatever costume I choose!
Hannah said today when we got into our albergue that it is pretty cool that the people who slept in our beds last night are reaching Santiago today. I can´t believe that we will be those pilgrims walking in tomorrow.
So, tomorrow is the day we walk into Santiago. It seems like it came so fast. There were days at the beginning that were too overwhelming to even count how many miles we had to go that day let alone how many until Santiago. As the day went on today, I couldn´t help but feel so proud of myself. The magnitude of how far I have come, both physically and just mentally are huge. I always knew i could do it, but there is just something so special about being so close to actually getting there. Our plan is to wake up really early and try and make it into Santiago for the 12pm Pilgrim´s mass. Our plans haven´t really held up so far but I think we have a good chance at following through with this one. I just can´t wait to walk into the city and know that I have walked over 500 miles in 33 days.
Kirstin and I decided a few weeks ago that we would talk about walking to Finisterre when we got closer to Santiago. Finisterre is considered the end of the world (according to Christopher Columbus). It is an extra 3 days of walking but you end up on the coast of Spain, overlooking the ocean. Today, we talked about it and for some crazy reason, we are signing ourselves up to walk those extra three days. There is something sort of satisfying about saying that we walked until we physically couldn´t anymore because of the ocean. Some postive things about this is we get to spend more days with Hannah, Jess and Ben and continue our two pastery breakfast habit a bit longer.
I think it will also be a little bit more personal to finish in Finisterre. Santiago seems like it will be crazy and busy and really fun. Finisterre is a bit more quiet and there is a tradition of burning your clothes when you get there. It is supposed to symbolize the new you. According to our crazy woman in San Bol (the one who kicked us out) ¨You die as the sun sets and the clothes burn. Then you turn around and are reborn¨. Imagine that being said in a very flowy, over the top hippy voice.
But I am excited to continue on. I think both of us would really regret not walking if we just took a bus there. To answer your question Grandma, Kirstin is doing really well. She had a really big, pretty fantastic looking blister yesterday but once it was popped, it didn´t bother her anymore. It was better than the girl who took her sock off yesterday and her big toenail came off with it. My foot is getting better, well its not getting worse at least!
Arizona posted a link to a website that has a webcam of Santiago. We are planning on getting in around 10:30am tomorrow which will be 1:30am at home. But maybe just take a look throughout the morning because we will be walking around there and spending most of the day in that area.
ONLY 12.8 MILES LEFT!!!!!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The final countdown
The last few days have been absolutely beautiful. We are in Sarria right now and have had two shorter days today and yesterday. Three days ago, we walked to O´Comrero which was one of the hardest walks I have had. It was almost 20 miles and took forever but was worth every single step because of how beautiful everything looked. Once we got in, I pretty much collapsed from exhaustion but was just very proud of myself. My foot still hurts and every step is painful but to just put it out of my head and enjoy the day was a struggle. I kept looking up and seeing how beautiful everything was and was just so thankful to be there at that moment. I was walking with Hannah for most of the day and when we finally reached O´Combrero, we just hugged each other. The climb up there was so steep and just kept climbing up and up and up and up and up. It was such a relief to finally get there.
Yesterday we took a slow day because it was only 12 miles. One of my favorite parts of the day was stopping at this blackberry bush with about 10 other people. Everyone was just picking the berries and laughing. They were so delicious, my hands were dripping with purple juice. When we finally reached where we stayed last night, everyone else was laying out on the lawn so we joined them. The rest of the afternoon was spent just laying on the grass and talking. Dinner has gotten much more casual as the days go on and we get more tired. The resturants all offer a pilgrim´s menu that has just gotten old and a bit expensive. It is the same thing in every town so we have started just going to the market and picking up quick stuff. My personal favorite has become crackers with tuna and tomatos, fruit, yogurt and chocolate. Its a pretty good combination.
When Kirstin and I started talking about the Camino, we decided that we wanted to take every detour so we could as much as possible....that hasn´t so much happened but I think its okay. Today we could have walked an extra 3 or 4 miles to this monastary but we decided to take the short day and go the alternative route. It turned out to be just as beautiful. The way we took was through some mountains and we were in fog for most of the morning. It made everything around us look very much like England and the towns were all these small brick buildings that looked old.
My hair is getting really blond from being in the sun all day. I was worried about what would happen to the dye job while I was over here but it is turning pretty blond. Its sort of strange to see myself look so different every day. I haven´t worn makeup in a full month or done my hair. I am looking forward to going back to my normal look though...I miss my normal clothes. I think it has been really good for me though to strip all of that other stuff away, its just not something I am going to keep up with when I am done. My camino look can stay on the camino =).
I heard a rumor that rasberry bushes are supposed to be coming up so I that will be a fun treat! The bed bugs have become an issue but THANK GOD I have not had any problems!!! The albergues have started handing out disposible sheets for our beds and pillows. I sleep much better with the sheet over my bed. Before I tried my best to caccoon into my sleeping bag so no part of me was touching the bed at all.
We are only 5 days away from Santiago and will get in on Monday. I can´t believe how fast it as gone. Tomorrow is our month anniversary of walking. We laughed today about how we are enjoying the shorter days as they are coming up but the shorter days are still 12 and 13 miles. If at home I said I was walked even 5 miles on the treadmill, that would be pretty impressive. But we are walking that with 20 pounds backpacks on and calling it easy...
Today is the town that a lot of people start because we are only 100 km away from Santiago. In order to get your certificate at the end, that is the minimum you need to walk so a lot of people start here. There are a large amount of people with day packs as well and are sending their stuff forward. Its hard to just let that go and not be annoyed when there aren´t as many beds when you feel like you deserve a bed over the person who has only been walking a day, with a 4 pound bag. Everyone does their camino differently but I am also thankful that I have been able to do it in the way I have. There is something really satisfying about finishing a really hard day and just sitting down. Its simple but wonderful at the same time.
Yesterday we took a slow day because it was only 12 miles. One of my favorite parts of the day was stopping at this blackberry bush with about 10 other people. Everyone was just picking the berries and laughing. They were so delicious, my hands were dripping with purple juice. When we finally reached where we stayed last night, everyone else was laying out on the lawn so we joined them. The rest of the afternoon was spent just laying on the grass and talking. Dinner has gotten much more casual as the days go on and we get more tired. The resturants all offer a pilgrim´s menu that has just gotten old and a bit expensive. It is the same thing in every town so we have started just going to the market and picking up quick stuff. My personal favorite has become crackers with tuna and tomatos, fruit, yogurt and chocolate. Its a pretty good combination.
When Kirstin and I started talking about the Camino, we decided that we wanted to take every detour so we could as much as possible....that hasn´t so much happened but I think its okay. Today we could have walked an extra 3 or 4 miles to this monastary but we decided to take the short day and go the alternative route. It turned out to be just as beautiful. The way we took was through some mountains and we were in fog for most of the morning. It made everything around us look very much like England and the towns were all these small brick buildings that looked old.
My hair is getting really blond from being in the sun all day. I was worried about what would happen to the dye job while I was over here but it is turning pretty blond. Its sort of strange to see myself look so different every day. I haven´t worn makeup in a full month or done my hair. I am looking forward to going back to my normal look though...I miss my normal clothes. I think it has been really good for me though to strip all of that other stuff away, its just not something I am going to keep up with when I am done. My camino look can stay on the camino =).
I heard a rumor that rasberry bushes are supposed to be coming up so I that will be a fun treat! The bed bugs have become an issue but THANK GOD I have not had any problems!!! The albergues have started handing out disposible sheets for our beds and pillows. I sleep much better with the sheet over my bed. Before I tried my best to caccoon into my sleeping bag so no part of me was touching the bed at all.
We are only 5 days away from Santiago and will get in on Monday. I can´t believe how fast it as gone. Tomorrow is our month anniversary of walking. We laughed today about how we are enjoying the shorter days as they are coming up but the shorter days are still 12 and 13 miles. If at home I said I was walked even 5 miles on the treadmill, that would be pretty impressive. But we are walking that with 20 pounds backpacks on and calling it easy...
Today is the town that a lot of people start because we are only 100 km away from Santiago. In order to get your certificate at the end, that is the minimum you need to walk so a lot of people start here. There are a large amount of people with day packs as well and are sending their stuff forward. Its hard to just let that go and not be annoyed when there aren´t as many beds when you feel like you deserve a bed over the person who has only been walking a day, with a 4 pound bag. Everyone does their camino differently but I am also thankful that I have been able to do it in the way I have. There is something really satisfying about finishing a really hard day and just sitting down. Its simple but wonderful at the same time.
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