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...