Isn't it great that we can fly around the world, return home and in a matter of a few days be just like we never left? The same old things keep happening whether we want them to or not. Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have all of your time to do with as you please? What would you do? The luxury of time. Time to think. Time to be.

I looked back on my thoughts while on vacation and I noticed that tourism was not something that we enjoyed. That's actually kind of funny because I desired to see these things, yet once there I don't enjoy the act of tourism. It's kind of a double edged sword. A special sight is singled out and tourist come to see it. The local infrastructure expands to provide services for the tourist. Soon the location grows to accommodate more tourists. Then it becomes touristy or a tourist trap.

In the past couple of years my husband Rob and I have traveled to Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Spain and now Italy. We've learned a great deal from our travels. Now that I see how it really is it's kind of funny. I've dreamed of the opportunity to see for myself the many treasures of our civilization. We walked (many hours/days) on Roman built roads in Spain. We were amazed seeing the famous Pont du Gard aqueduct in the south of France. We went to Rome and saw the ruins of a civilization that we based our government upon. We spent time in Ireland, where the Christian religion was cloistered during the dark ages.

Our country was founded by people of the Western World. The immigrants brought America their knowledge and from them we have the best part of each culture to become American culture. We are fortunate to live in a time when we can travel fairly easily and relatively inexpensively to distant lands as we desire. Seeing the land of our ancestors has been an opportunity to better understand why America is. For all our imperfections America was the dream of the people of Europe and the British empire. And it still is.

Back in Paris again. I have a small problem using this keyboard. I do not know where all of the symbols are and the keyboard is not QUERTY. And I have no idea where to find the period but keep using the numpad decimal. This trip did not turn out like I had expected but it was pretty OK.

I have learned many things and I think it will take a couple of years to digest. France is such a nice place. I was surprised to learn that I really like it the best of the counties that we went to. Spain is rural and likes it that way. The Spanish would be happy for their culture to remain the same but for the tourist dollars. The Italians are very kind to the tourist and English is a second language there. Although the organisation skills need improvement. I understand why Americans like Italy, no language barrier to speak of.

We leave in the morning to return home.

Au revoir!

We have spent the day killing time, waiting to leave on our night train to Paris. I have again been unsuccessful at uploading photos so we will have to wait to post them until we get home. Home. We have had a great time but now we are tired and ready to get on the plane. We'll be home on Friday with a little luck.

Florence is a tourist city too and we are weary of tourists and tourism. A villa would be nice for a week but not needed I think we have many places to see and stay at home.

See you guys next week.

I thought I would begin this by saying, Hi, we are in Florance. Yes, Florance, Italy. We had a good time in Rome but it got old after a few days. Too many tourists. So we decided to move on.

Rome would be good to explore in a week, a few days were overwhelming. We toured everyday but started a little later on Sunday. Early today we went to the Vatican Museum to see the Cisten Chapel then caught a train to Florance. I only have a few minutes today to finish this up so I will try to start up in the AM to bring you up to speed.

We are having a great time. I wish all of you were here!

We must backtract now that I have time to explain. From our starting point in Estella the path was flat most of the way to our first stop for the night, in Los Arcos. I mentioned the alberque that we stayed in there that was ran by Austrians. It was very nice. With all services available. It is hard to imagine that after spending 6 or more hours walking with your belongings on your back that you would not have a place to shower and sleep but it is very common during the busy times on the Camino. So it makes it twice as enjoyable to know that you not only scored a bed but a nice one.

From Los Arcos we walked up and down in hills all day and came to rest in Viana and the heat was more then we had expected. We spent the night in the church alberque in Viana, the town prior to Logrono. That was very pilgrim like. We slept on mats on the floor but we were given dinner and breakfast, all for donation. We went to mass that evening and at the end of the service all pilgrims were led to the altar where we were blessed individually by the priest. Dinner was simple but filling with gaspacho as a first course and salad and lentil soup for the main. After,we divided and went around the table,each country grouped together, and sang a song. There were Spanish, of course, French, German and North America. We had a lone Canadian so we banded together. Deciding on a song was not hard. I suggested a nursery rhyme, Mary had a Little Lamb. So we sang that. And the kid from Chicago did not know there was more than the first verse. Kids!

The night was truly awful. Everyone snored in the room. Earplugs worked a little but the guy behind me was making a sharp clicking noise that he thought would make the snorers quit. That noise was worse then the snorers and woke me up over and over. Not much sleep for me and Rob, when he wasn't snoring to remove the paint from the walls, did not sleep well either.

The morning walk to Logrono was quick and being sleep deprived our spirits were not high. But our sassy Canadian walked by and said "It's not easy being a pilgrim", changing my whole outlook!

And here we are to the part where I tell you what has happened since. You know that we went to Burgos by bus. The heat was like walking at home in August so you can guess we opted out. The mega-alberque was again very nice with washers and vending machines and nice bathroom facilites. We did plan to go to Galacia the night before however when we got to the bus station, we found that it would take 8 hours to get to A Coruna, near the start of the Camino Inglis. Santiago de Compostella was 5 days walk from there and we were told it would be a bed race everyday. So we switched plans and flew to Rome. Yes Rome!

So my Camino has changed up a bit. More to follow. :)

Today we are in a mega-Alberque in Burgos. 6 stories and elevator. People every where are walking around talking in a mixture of German, Spanish and French. One guy called it pidgeon. There are a lot of Germans walking now. We walked to Logoño yesterday morning and decided it was way too hot to walk further. So we took a bus to Burgos to see the beautiful cathedral here. It is a beautiful city! This morning we are trying to decide to where to go next. We are thinking about walking the Camino Inglise but it will take a 8 hour bus or train ride to get there. It begins in Ferrel, about 100km to Santiago from there.

It´s only 2 hours to Madrid by bus so we are wondering about where to go from there. The transportation here is a little slow especially when you are used to jetting across the country in less time. Still we are in Europe so we could go anywhere if we could just get out of Spain...

Day 2, let me catch you up.

Paris. It was pretty and I´m sure it is nice if you speak French well and understand their history. We enjoyed the first day but after day 2 we were finished. We spent all day Saturday in the Louve. Ate 1 nice dinner and caught a train to Spain at 11:10PM.

Sunday we went to San Sebastian, Spain on a night train form Paris. We got to Irun,Spain around 7:30 AM and caught regional train to San Sebastian. It´s a beautiful half moon bay that is protected by an island at the inlet. It has a fortress that is on top of the hill that borders the mouth of the inlet. We walked up and around. The fortress is over 1000 years old, originally build during King Henry II when that part was France. Apparently this place was fought over many times. The last time in the 1800´s. Anyway it is a nice expensive seaside resort. We took a bus to Estella that late afternoon and spent the night in the hotel we spent our last night in before we left last year.

Yesterday we walked from Estella to Los Arcos. Mostly it was flat. We stayed in a nice Alberque ran by the Austrian Santiago group. We are seeing alot of the same people that we walk by during the day when we stop for the night.And so I have 2 minutes to save this post so I´ll close up till tomorrow. We are in a church refugio tonight in Viana. They will feed us both dinner and breakfast for a donation. On to Logoño in the morning.

1 week to go. I feel more relaxed about this camino then the one last year. My first experience on the trail was a heady mix of uncertainty coupled with eagerness. Now that I've taken the first steps I feel a bit bolder. I want to take the time to see the sights. Last year we were all about getting from Point A to Point B. We saw a few things in route but we did not stray far from the designated path. This year I want to let my feet take me to the places that are worth seeing. There are so many place to see in Northern Spain so why not do it in a leisurely way. I am a pilgrim but who says that I cannot take the time to take in the world around me. I may not pass this way again.

From France & Spain

¿Dónde está el Camino de Santiago?

That is a good question. I think about the Camino often. We left Spain knowing that we would have to go back. The Camino calls. You hear it when you are in the middle of your daily grind. You hear it early in the morning during your walk. I know that it is an escape, an opportunity to walk away from the "American Dream" of 2.4 children, a house in the 'burbs, and jobs for everyone, for just a little while. If you walk the walk and become the pilgrim for that time, the Camino lives in you. However there are other places to look for the Camino. Through others we see it too. The forums and the blogs, books and journalism. We want to share that feeling of companionship and belonging. Everyone can travel this journey and be rewarded for it.

We will be on the trail in 1 month, beginning where we left off in Estella, Spain.

We decided to quit walking on October 29th. The temperature continued to fall and me being the fair weather outdoors woman that I am decided that we were not equipped to continue. Rob deferred to me because he was only still there for me and would have left from the beginning as he likes to point out. We only had 2 days left before our planned departure from the Camino anyway. Leaving early was a bitter disappointment but in the long run we did not regret it. The weather did only get worse and further up the Camino they received a couple of inches of snow.

We made it to Estella and spent the night. The next morning we caught a bus toward Madrid. We did not consider that we could have gone to Pamplona and caught a train. I guess that is for the next time. It took 6 hours to get to Madrid and upon arrival we had no idea where to go. We skulked around the bus station for an hour trying to figure out our destination and then made our way to the city center, near the museums.

Thank God for the metro! We took the first hotel we found on our return to street level, it was quite nice, and very near the front of the party district. We checked in, dropped our packs and went for food. After spending 2 weeks traveling we knew that meals were always an adventure because of our poor language skills. We chose to skip the fun and grabbed a bucket of chicken from KFC and went back to our room armed with chicken and a bottle of wine.

We spent another day in Madrid. Then spent 2 days at the airport trying to catch a stand-by flight home. Again, thank God for the Metro! We were not the only people attempting the stand-by from Madrid. We learned a great lesson. Always have return tickets from Spain.

So at last we made it home. Weary and sore to be sure, but time heals the body as well as the mind. We have been caught up in the allure of the Camino de Santiago. And we will go back.