Jack and Dianne

We made it home after a 25 hour travel day on Tuesday. We woke up at 9 PM Monday night California time and got home and in bed by 10 PM California time on Tuesday - quite a long day. We flew from Madrid to Atlanta then on to Sacramento. The flights and airports were OK and it is nice to fly first class because there is plenty of room. We have been home two days and we are still using Spanish phrases like Gracias and Ola. Jet leg has still got us in its grip even after two days at home. Hopefully tomorrow we can finally shake the last remnants and feel like ourselves again. A nine hour time shift is tough. We should talk about Monday which we spent traveling from Santiago to Madrid on a high speed train. We got a taxi to the train station which was pretty close to our hotel. It was a nice station and the train arrived just a few minutes late. We found our seats and the train headed out at pretty good clip across the Spanish countryside. The first part was in lush gre...

It was Pentecostal Sunday so we were hoping the Botafumeiro which is a huge incense holder would swing for all the Pilgrim Masses but that did not happen. We started our morning very early at the 7:30 Pilgrim Mass. We got there 40 minutes early because we were worried about the crowd but the church was pretty empty and we had no trouble finding seats. A camino friend named Karin who we met 2 weeks ago went with us hoping to see the Botafumeiro swing. After the 7:20 mass we went to breakfast then headed back for the 9:30 Pilgrim Mass. This Mass had an organ playing with the organist also a wonderful singer. The incense did not swing at this service either so we decided to stay inside the basilica and move to great seats for the noon Mass. We were fairly confident it would have the incense swing. After a long wait as we read books on our phones and watched the church fill quickly to standing room only we were rewarded with the beginning of a High Mass and the swinging of the Botafu...

Today was fun because we didn’t have to get up to walk and pack our luggage and get our packs ready. We stayed in bed until 9 and then dumped all our clothes into my suitcase and rolled it down the street to the lavanderia (laundromat). It took 3 washers and two dryers to get it all done. It was so fun to smell clean clothes! We spent the afternoon visiting the Catedral Basilica and shopping for all the things we couldn’t buy along the way due to weight and space issues. We have no weight issues on the plane so we can buy whatever we want. The Catedral was spectacular with so many different rooms and displays and statues and figures. It was built and rebuilt several times and is one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. The altar was gold and silver and very ornate - all centered around Saint James. They believe he is buried in the crypt below the altar. We visited his burial chamber - small but very beautiful. We had a great Italian dinner and went to bed listening to ...

As we walked into the Square today it was hard to believe that we were done - we had finished our walk to Santiago. The walk itself went smoothly with the weather holding off until after we were done. We hung out in the Square for awhile - taking in the experience. The Pilgrims kept coming but the square was never full. We sat on the benches on the side of the Square with the Catedral towering above us - so beautiful in the sunshine. We had seen many pictures but now it was real. Our next step was to find the Pilgrim office to get our Compostela. It was down a walkway then right about two blocks. It was filled with Pilgrims but very organized. We got our line numbers and had less than a hour to wait to get called. The document had our names written in Latin so that was cool - and now we have the paper showing we are Pilgrims. We went to our hotel which is close to the Square - we are staying 3 days so hopefully will get to see the Incense swing in the Catedral on Sund...

We began our day at Arzua at a nice hotel outside of town. Our socks and shoes did not dry but we have backups so hopefully we can get them dry tonight. Right now they are sitting on a hedge in the sun. We didn’t see any churches with stamps so had to get them at a cafe and our hotel tonight. The walk was very smooth with good surfaces almost all the way. We had some rain but not too bad. There were a lot of Pilgrims today and the trail was busy. We heard many languages and several people called out USA when they saw the flag on our packs. We walked 12.5 miles so it was not a long day. Tomorrow we walk into Santiago which will be a very special day. We are very excited about the end of our journey.

We started in Melide today with a quick breakfast of toast and coffee and OJ. There was sun and clouds at the start and the first 4 miles went smoothly. Walking thru Melide we saw a wonderful church and stopped for a prayer. The next 4 miles were uneventful until it started to sprinkle. Then we put on our ponchos and continued waking. We came upon a village that had an old church that was open so we stopped to get a stamp. While inside the rain picked up and the lightning started with a short power outage. We decided to add our rain pants as well because it was pouring down at this point. We braved the elements and continued our walk in heavy rain. The water cascaded down the trail and we quickly got very wet - especially our feet. After another 3 miles we stopped at a cafe with a large tent to take a break. We changed socks and decided to take a half hour to relax. The rain slowed down and just before we left the rain stopped and blue sky came out. We slowly put awa...

Today was a pretty simple walk - again we went thru many small villages with a ton of churches along the way. Palas de Rei was a bigger city but we didn’t spend much time there. The walk was 13 miles so not too long. The weather was good with only a little rain at the end. Once we arrived the skies opened up so our timing was very good. We stopped at a small village for apple pie and saw a kitten playing with its Mom on a roof - very fun. Many churches were open so that made it fun. For dinner we started with chicken noodle soup but this one had large pieces of chicken on the bone in the broth and the noodles had a very special flavor. Main course was chicken schnitzel with fries and that was also very good. It came with salad that was fresh and flavorful. We continue at the wonderful food.