Leon: Rest Day - a few images

Leon is something of a jewel in the rough. The old town is a charm to walk, but eventually it's nice to find your way out of the more touristed area and into the 'living' part of the city. As we walked out to our parador late last night we got a bit turned around in the dark and found ourselves in an area full of simple businesses and day to day life. The Spanish stay out late and it's a whole new world when you find yourself there. Mid afternoon and early evening are a bit slow, you could even say pretty well dead, but after 10 pm things start to get going...for all ages. We think today that we will spend some time walking the outer areas and see what we find. The main item we wanted to see, the cathedral, was taken care of late yesterday afternoon. It didn't disappoint, with one of the finest displays of stain glass that I've seen since Chartes, south of Paris.

There was an organist practicing for a major presentation festival that has being ongoing all month, and the sound from the pipes was amazing! I was able to capture some with video, and in a building of this size the sound simply picked us up and carried us up to the gothic arches...folks were quite stunned!

The cloister was also pretty fair...Annemarie's favourite part of any large church...personally I really like the gargoyles.

This pair of griffins were pretty good...thought they might look good on our house instead of the downspouts!

We sat for a while and watched the kids depart from school at 5 in the afternoon, remembering that they get a 2 hour siesta break mid day. Like kids anywhere the soccer balls came out and there was plenty of energy to burn up!

A few more images from our walk-about...

A Roman papyrus capital with a unique addition...for you Erin to remind you of our wanderings together in Greece and Turkey!

We had a few chores to deal with including finding more bandaging gear for our pieds...somewhat preventative measures, and we also had to each locate a second credentia where our daily stamps have to be placed with date verification as our originals are almost full. We must present these at Santiago in order to confirm our journey and receive our compostelas. We all treat these as carefully as our country passports. I'll post a photo in due course.

Our 'home' leaves a welcoming night light on for the weary traveller...

Well, it's 7:40am, and I've been writing and blogging since about 5, so time to move on. It's still very dark out side and the sun won't make an appearance until well after 8. Will likely post again before we depart...not sure if I want or need a rest day as I want to carry on, but I'm sure the rest will help to heal a few foot things and better prepare us for the major climbs ahead. We are almost finished the Meseta and after that our bodies will get quite upset with us! Steep climbs and descents. Oh my!

Addendum...you should have seen the breakfast we were served this morning! Amazing! You could tell who were the peregrinos from the rich folks...first we are all getting leaner and meaner, secondly, our plates were heaped with food and thirdly the wealthy gave us a wide berth as they were probably concerned they might get trampled in the rush. Too funny! Will take photos tomorrow. Think we have found some gear for Annemarie to make her happy...will find out how that goes tomorrow. Having a slow day today and have connected with many past companions...should be a fun dinner out somewhere tonight! More later...

International Relations

It has been said that the Camino could serve in the place of the United Nations

As a way of improving international relations

I have seen a number of new romantic relationships form

Between people from different countries, it's almost the norm

But the more interesting relationships are those formed at the dinner table

As we explore similarities and differences between our nations as well as we are able

We compare food and traditions but from politics we say clear

We are more interested to know about each others daily lives it would appear

We dispel myths, for instance the Irish know little of leprechauns

But they display their culture with pride when singing songs

Language barriers are managed through hand signals and smiles

Giving us an opportunity to connect even briefly as we walk our daily miles

We have come from far and near to be together in Spain

And we know it's unlikely that we will meet again

But while we are here together we have a wonderful opportunity to learn

About many countries and cultures each in it's turn