St Jean Pied de Port - Practice Rest Day

Practicing a rest day!
Today was a serious practice day. Having rest days on the Camino revives the body and helps focus on “smelling the roses” and not just the destination. So we put in a big effort.
When we first travelled together for 15 months in 1995, long before iPhones and cheap phone calls we used to write home every few weeks. This morning, Jane’s sister, Louise was reminiscing on those letters and that more than half the content was on the food we had eaten that day. We pretty much tried everything on offer. She begged us for a food day just to make it an even tougher day. So, here it is - a rest and food day. And, because it is a rest day we will let the pictures do most of the talking although some need a little explanation.
In short, we spent the day in the beautiful town of St Jean Pied de Port (founded in the 12th century), the starting point of the Camino Frances. Welcoming, warm people who patiently listened to my broken French and answered me in perfect English, lovely food and daunting views of the Pyrenees mountains which we will tackle tomorrow! The town is filled with Pilgrims like us. We strolled along the ramparts of the old town walls. We sent off our excess Post Camino (PC) luggage to Santiago and ended the day with a Mass in the local church (beautiful 14th-century church of Notre Dame du Bout du Pont (Our Lady at the End of the Bridge), which is made of the local pink Arradoy stone and sits beside the gateway onto the bridge over the river). Mass ended with a Pilgrim blessing for the commencement of our Camino. The priest asked us all to say where we were from, Brazil, England, France, Switzerland, Australia, USA, Canada and Czech! His English was non existent so he called me (Ant) up to read the translated English blessing. He proceeded to issue instructions to me in French so I hope I didn’t exceed my authority!
One of the pictures that might need explaining is the location where I did our clothes washing. The automated laundromat is outside, right next to the car wash! An interesting business model and I’m really glad it wasn’t raining.

Ok Louise - the good bit …
A traditional French buffet breakfast (had to try the normal and chocolate croissant), a ham and cheese baguette for lunch along the river finished off with a traditional cherry Basque gateau (Perhaps there was the odd almond or citrus macaroon in between?? )
After a traditional Basque dinner and local red wine last night (veal stew and chicken) we had a beautiful fresh trout tonight from the local river and tried a different bottle of red. Love the 500ml bottles. Dessert the waitress asked? Why not? Jane had a vanilla basque gateau and I had fresh pear. Honestly there was pear buried under the ice cream and cream!
Our conclusion - we are really, really good at food and rest! Really excited to tackle the big climb tomorrow.Read more