We arrived!

And suddenly we feel as though we're on holiday, rather than on a mission!
4/24/16 -


5/7/16 -


We have arrived!! Ultreia!

As we were leaving Lavacolla, this most interesting marker appeared, bright pink!
As I looked more closely I realized it was a small shrine, near ground level but protected from animals and weather.





Soon passed Radio/TV Galicia,


And arrived at Monte de Gozo for our first stamp of the day (peregrinos must have two stamps on their day of arrival in Santiago).


Here's the little chapel at Monte de Gozo


and the big monument celebrating Pope John Paul II visit


But the coolest thing is a sculpture about 300 yards removed from the chapel -





Really tall peregrinos with a perfect view of the cathedral, about 5km distant -


More markers as we got closer -





And they have touring dinosaurs! I wonder if they have MONSTER TRUCKS too??


Anyway, it truly is the Year of Scaffolding here at the cathedral :-)


As we are not Martin Sheen or Emilio Estevez, we are not staying at the Parador -


But we saw a lot of bici-peregrinos finishing their treks,


And the many, many buildings surrounding the cathedral are beautiful!


After a great second breakfast we were off to stand in the great peregrino line to prove our worthiness for a Compostela.





Only took about 2.5 hrs. We could have come later when lines are less, but would miss pilgrim mass.


YAY!! I'm a worthy pilgrim!


Then off to tour the cathedral a bit - the famous bottafumerio -


A spectacular organ,


Gold everywhere,





Saw the casket of relics of St. James, but the glory portal and Jesse tree at the fabled entryway are under reconstruction, so memories from the movies will have to suffice :-/ for this trip.

Sitting in the cathedral at 6:41 for a 7:30 mass, seats are all taken! I squeezed into one row and Brian's shoehorned into the row ahead of me, but we are right in the path of the bottafumerio :-)!
SHUCKS! At about 6:55 they announced "no bottafumerio at this service for safety reasons", but nobody left!?! Hmmmmmm.
Well, mass was in Spanish, of course, but it's amazing how much you can get the gist of if you concentrate, and the song leader for Taize hymns was glorious to listen to. After a great proper tapas meal of cod and raisin empanada,


Scallops,


And garlic shrimp with a bottle of wine with a real sealed cork and a label but I forgot to photo those, it's time to get back to reality (as in laundry), and wish everyone goodnight!


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