P.S. from B

Dear All,

We finally arrived home to Anacortes last night at about 11:30 PM and promptly threw our mochilas on the floor and crawled into bed to sleep after having been on the go for 30 hours from Madrid.

We say thanks to all who have helped us in our journey through their actions, their prayers and words of encouragement. Like in the Oscars, I'm sure we'll miss naming someone but we feel we should try to acknowledge a few folks our there.

Thanks to Bill and Ann Testerman for telling us about their Camino, first in their church presentation then on a few occasions when we met at our house, you lit the fuse in our imaginations that this would be something we'd like to do. Also thanks for all the books and notes you supplied on your lessons learned, it all helped.

Thanks to Steve Miller for talking to us about your experiences on the Camino and especially for loaning Kelli your REI Flash 45 mochila (backpack) AND supplying us with our comprehensive foot care kit, and for loaning your book collection. As you know from the blog, the foot care kit came into play on day two and was used every day to the end of day 34 when we walked into Santiago.

Thanks for Liz and Gene Faulstich for volunteering to be our American Pilgrims on the Camino Seattle Chapter, Camino mentors. The times we met during the monthly coffees in Seattle really helped get us set to go and make this a good experience.

Thanks to John and Weegie Lieberherr for sharing their stories from their 2001 Camino Frances and for giving us loads of email support in response to our various blog posts. Your words of encouragement (ultreia!) and stories of your experiences gave us things to talk about and to be thankful for.

Thanks to all our friends and family who probably were questioning our sanity but jumped in and supported us whole-heartedly once it was clear we were going to do this, and during our actual journey.

Thanks to our church family for getting the word out about our blog and then following us as we trekked through the Camino. Your thoughts, prayers, and comments on the blog were/are greatly appreciated. We knew we were not walking alone in the spiritual context.

Thanks to Jaquie, a Camino friend we met on day one, and to Martha our friend in Anacortes. Jaquie lives in Vancouver, BC and picked us up at the Vancouver airport with balloons, a welcome home perigrinos sign, hugs and food AND then delivered us to Blaine, Washington, where Martha drove us the next 90 miles to get us home. Martha also provided us with hugs, and immediate food needs for breakfast in the morning -- which we needed as we didn't know if there were any "cafe' bars" in town that we could order cafe' con leche y neapolitana de chocolate. 😊

Thanks to Kathi and Jeff, Kelli's sister and brother, for taking time off in your lives to coordinate and schedule week long trips to be here with Mom and Dad, to help them with getting to appointments, and providing friendly family faces after we'd left on our little walk. Muchas Gracias!

Lastly, thanks to Grammy and Ompa (Kelli's parents) for telling us to GO! - six weeks after we helped relocate them from their home city of almost 50 years Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Anacortes. Your words of encouragement were the final thing we needed before we left. THANKS!

Kelli and Brian






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Time to close the blog, we're on our way home

Rising at 5:00 to catch our re-arranged flight at 8:55, we walk over to a quiet Atocha station.





On the "train to the plane", headed home!


At Madrid airport, backpacks are wrapped and ready to go.


B loves the legroom on Iberia Express!


Then a ride on a bus from Gatwick to Heathrow - SO hard to be in England, only for 7 hours! To think that for four years this was home......


A midday meal, and a bit of shopping. Heathrow has certainly grown in 30 years!








Harrods has some new and interesting products, as well!


So, dear readers, as I sit in the Airbus 380 on the way to Vancouver, thank you all for checking in with us (as many as 90 views per day)! We look forward to seeing many of you soon, as we BEGIN our Camino, the Way of the rest of our lives. We thank God for the many blessings that have allowed us this incredible experience.
Peace to all.
B and K, along the Way






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Madrid is a special place - redux

So, all airplane issues aside for the moment, let me take you around just a little bit of Madrid.
B and I slept in, then toddled over to the Atocha station to scope out exactly how to get to "the train to the plane" and grab a bit of breakfast. There is a lovely atrium in the Atocha station where we sat and enjoyed our cafe con leche, chocolate Neapolitan, and orange juice. Have I mentioned how tough it's going to be to give up these eating habits??
At about 10 we started the stroll up to the Prado Museum, which is Spain's national art museum, full of treasures in painting and sculpture. Some of the marble busts dated from the first century and slightly earlier! Simply astounding and wonderful to see all those canvasses from the one art history class I took, up close and personal enough to reach out and touch. Goya, Velasquez, Raphael, Ruebens, Duerer, Tintoretto, Carravaggio, Rembrandt, even a Gainsborough (although not one I knew), and special exhibits of Georges de la Tour and, just opened and crazy crowded, a thorough exhibition of the works of Hieronymus Bosch! As a huge fan of Orff's "Carmina Burana", which Bosch's weird and fantastical pieces are often used to illustrate, the exhibit was a real treat! Unfortunately, of course, no photography was permitted in the Prado, but I'm sure their website can give you an idea. If you're a local Anacortesian and really need to see the Prado Guide to EVERYTHING, I schlepped one home, see me.
I did snap one photo, of a painter working on a copy, hoped that wasn't breaking too many rules. :-)


It was a gorgeous morning - high 60's





After about 4 hours our backs and feet had had enough of standing and admiring, need several mornings for this museum. We found a spot of lunch; a ham, cheese and tomato bocadillo for B and fresh fruit salad for me, chased with clara (beer cut with lemon soda, if I haven't mentioned it, very refreshing!)
Then a stroll across town to the main center square of Madrid, the Puerto del Sol (I'd liken it to Times Square only less dense and more green).


As in any major city, we saw our share of Mickey D's, Burger King and KFC, but Starbucks has captured the Madrid outdoor cafe ambiance


This little shop attracted much attention, especially from folks of a certain age -


And on to the Palacio Real and its adjacent Catedral de la Almudena, which I am guessing is Madrid's major church, but there are A LOT of beautiful, large churches!





Inside view of main altar -


There were several extraordinary side altars -





One side of the cross part, big view


And closer up.


We admired the Palacio Real from outside, but didn't have the umph to pay to go in and admire more art and finery. Truly, two weeks in Madrid are now firmly on this girl's bucket list !! There was a Wyeth exhibit at another museum, and we didn't make time for the modern art (Picasso!!!!) at the Reina Sofia.





As we walked back the way we came, I saw the sign for this Mercado de San Miguel, and, thinking something like the mercado in Santiago or Pike Market, decided to tour in - what a surprise!! We do not have photos to do this place justice, but it's a whole market devoted to small exquisite bites of anything you can imagine. Baked sweets and candies, sushi, olives and other pickled vegetables, meats, cheeses, yogurts, fish and shellfish and caviar and o my gosh it's amazing.........!








Fortunately or unfortunately, we didn't stay to snack 'cause I had my heart set on a last dose of chocolate con churros, and I wanted to visit a choclateria that has been in business continuously since 1894!








Chocolate was yummy! Time for the stroll back home to blog and check in with the rest of the world.
(Actually, this is where we got the news that our BA flight out of Madrid was canceled and BA left it in our laps to fix it. The rest of the afternoon was spent on phones and online, but we will make our London-Vancouver flight tomorrow).
Strolled out for a last Spanish dinner at about 8:00.
Ensalata mixta,


Esparragos con jamon,


And a shared piece of cheesecake.


Early day tomorrow, and last post.


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Madrid is a special place, but blog time was usurped...

We spent most of today's blog time trying to re-work our flights back home for tomorrow, due to a general strike in France that had canceled our flight from Madrid to London. BA just sent a text saying canceled, sorry for the inconvenience, re-book yourself online or give a call................... REALLY???????
Luckily for all concerned, we had a gorgeous day experiencing many wonderful things about Madrid so I'm not going to scream and rant about the French in general or about BA in this particular instance!
Catch you all up tomorrow as sitting in airports and on busses permits - should be a long last post for this adventure!
This is part of the line to buy tickets into the Prado Museum this morning -


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Words from B

So as we leave Santiago de Compostela this morning a rush of feelings surrounds us. Up at 6, packing the backpacks, out the door, grabbing a coffee con leche and a roll, then walking for our next stop. All things we share with the 1000s of peregrinos on their "Way". This morning our Way is to the estatione' de train and to Madrid. Ours is now the Way home. In the last 24 hours we have seen pilgrims that we last saw getting on the train in Madrid on April 23rd and we've seen Camino friends from the past few days. All of us now making room for those who are just stepping out of their doors or their comfort zones and beginning their journeys on the Way. Our memories and daily habits are points in conversations and smiles, mostly. For the new pilgrims our memories and habits are lessons still to be attended and experiences to record and possibly worries yet to be. The "circle of life on the Camino de Santiago", so to speak.

The noon peregrino service at the cathedral yesterday focused on telling pilgrims that this was not the end but the beginning of their new journey, their new Way in life. Essentially this is this first day of the rest of your lives. Several conversations in the last couple days have included "what did the Camino mean to you ,,,,,,,?. I cannot say I saw or learned anything extraordinary, maybe there will be a revelation in a few months, beyond "walking sticks are nice", "long down hills on cobble stone ain't nice", "coffee con leche is nice, a days walking in mud and rain is not so nice". Maybe not. Oops,,,revelation. "Waterproof" breathable boots, gloves, pants, jackets -- yeah,,,, NOT - after several a hours trekking in the rain.


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An afternoon in Madrid

We finally found our way from Chamartin to Atocha station, then went in a 45 minute circle looking for our hotel, but finally stepped out to walk a bit this afternoon. Starting from Atocha station-


Past the plaza Carlos V,


The ministry of Agriculture!


Through the FABULOUS Parque del Buen Retiro -














Past the very ritzy Ritz Carlton Madrid,


complete with Bentleys and Rolls Royces.


Then on past the Prado museum, I think this is a former main entryway, if you expand it you'll see the names of all the Spanish masters -


And, after a small dinner and an ice cream bar, back to our hotel room with the very unique see-thru shower.






Last day tomorrow! Prado and the Royal Palace. Know what's really bugging me? I'm off the Camino and suddenly altogether too aware that I've been wearing the same two sets of clothes for six weeks! Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.............

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A little history lesson while I sit on the train to Madrid

It was familiar to wake up, pack our stuff, and set off in the quiet dark of the city's early morning (6:40) to walk to the train station. Cafe con leche and a bit of apple cake, ran into friends Mikal and MariAnn from Sweden and wished each other safe travels home. It has been amazing who we've run into, yesterday we chatted with an Australian couple we had met in the train station in Madrid five weeks ago - we'd never seen them since!

It occurs to me that for those of you who are not familiar with the Camino I should give you a short "why" of the thing. Long story short, the city of Santiago de Compostela would not exist as it is today if it weren't for a couple of legends (and miracles)!

James the greater, one of Jesus' closest friends and apostles, is said to have preached in Spain after Jesus' death and resurrection. Spain was an outlying part of the Roman Empire at the time. He returned to Jerusalem and was beheaded by the Romans; two of his followers and James' remains set out in a boat and were miraculously brought around the Iberian peninsula to Finisterre. The reigning local queen at Finisterre didn't want to deal with having a Christian martyr's relics making trouble with the Romans or her local holy men, she unsuccessfully tried to thwart the burial of the Apostle. His remains, and those of the two followers, were eventually entombed at Muxia, about 10km from Finisterre.
In the 800's, as the Christians had been losing ground steadily to the Moors and were holding the line in the northern part of the Iberian peninsula, a hermit saw a strange light in the forest, which led him to the tomb of the Apostle. He told the local bishop at the nearby seat of the Church, who verified that the bones in the tomb were absolutely those of the Apostle, buried 800 years earlier. Well! This was big news for the Christian cause! King Alfonso II built a small basilica to honor the relics, and suddenly Santiago (St. James) was making appearances in battle, such as at Clavijo, helping to slay the Moors and win back Christian territory.






AAACCK! After less than an hour's ride, occasionally at more than 200 km/hr, we have suddenly been shepherded off the train and onto buses. No one seems to know what exactly is happening, but I'm really glad we aren't trying to catch a flight out of Madrid this afternoon because I suspect the bus is going to take a LOT longer than the train..........

So, the presence of such significant relics started the trickle of pilgrims journeying to Santiago, which soon became a flood. By 1000 - 1100 there were monasteries and convents serving as and building new hospitals (pilgrim refuges) all along the Way, which followed traditional Roman travel routes. There were already folks making pilgrimage to Rome due to the relics of Peter and Paul, and of course pilgrims to Jerusalem. There were, and are, many routes to Santiago, the one we walked is the most popular, the Camino Frances.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is difficult to imagine, but apparently the same number of pilgrims were on the Way daily in 1150 as are on the Way today. What I would give for a glimpse of that!!!!

So, back to our trip - started the day at the Santiago de Compostela station -


And after we got put into the bus at Ourense we saw this unique bridge and what appears to be an incredibly steep walkway!


So a little update on our bus trip - we turned off the Autopista (big multi lane freeway) about a half an hour ago, now about 2 hours into our bus ride. We are looking out the window at Sergio Leone film-esque scenery and humming to ourselves "do ee do ee dooo, dum DUM dum.. ", repeat as necessary, visualizing Clint Eastwood in serape riding across the scene.


After nearly 3 hours on the bus we got back on a high speed train at Zamorza, and amazingly, we arrived at Madrid Chamartin station at 1:50, about 40 minutes later than scheduled! We never did find out what the deal was, I think it's just Spain!!
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