Praza do Obradoiro

I have arrived. I was only 10kms away so it was a nice easy walk. I wasn’t planning to start until after 8, in daylight, but everyone was already awake at 6:30, so I just got ready to go and was on the road at 7:15. There was a bit with headlamps, but we were close to the city so a lot of areas had street lights.

I stopped for a break at 4kms. I needed to fill out the details of my second credential as I had run out of room on my first one by Sarria. I wanted everything ready when I got to Santiago.

I had mixed feelings coming into town. A bit of my sadness continued from yesterday, missing Jörg, but some of it was joy that it was almost done. I did a lot of talking with Jörg, quite often out loud, but no one nearby.

When I arrived in town, I stopped on a bench about 1km from the cathedral. I wasn’t tired, I just wanted some time to hold onto this feeling. Jörg and I journeyed this together for over 750kms, and that part of the journey was going to be complete soon.

I then continued on and came into town. When Jörg and I arrived in 2009, it was raining, so we just wanted a quick picture and then get our Compostela as soon as possible. So our first picture is around the back of the cathedral. I found the spot and took a picture there. I then decided to go around to the front and view the renovated cathedral. Looks quite different from when I was here 14 years ago.

I didn’t spend much time in the Cathedral square, I wanted to get my certificate first and then come back. So off I went, and the process was very smooth. I waited maybe 10 minutes. When I got up to lady #15, she was very very kind. I told her that I wanted En Vicarie Pro on the Compostela with Jörg’s name. That is when you can add the person’s name on the certificate if they have died and you are doing it in memory of them. She asked me who he was, and she really engaged me in conversation so I told her our whole story. I had in my hand the picture of him holding his credencial from 14 years ago. She was really interested and even talked to me a bit about grief. I was at least 10-15 minutes with her. I am so very pleased that she took the time to make that moment so special.

Then I went back to the cathedral and took out all the photos I had carried with me, and listened to some music on a playlist I created for Santiago, I shed a few tears, but not as many as I thought I might.

Now it was time to find my pension. When I was looking to book Santiago, I was hoping to get something close to the cathedral as that is where Jörg and I stayed. My friend Jenna told me about her place and said she thought there was a room left, so I booked it online and saw on a map that it was close, so all good. So today, I turned on Google Maps to get me to the place, and if you can believe this, it is actually the exact same place Jörg and I stayed. Obviously a different room, but really crazy eh?!

First thing I did was take a nap. Didn’t have enough sleep last night. After I uploaded my blog, I went out to meet Matt at his hotel. We were out on the patio having a drink and started up a nice conversation with Mark and James from London England. They were a hoot so we all went for dinner together at the hotel which didn’t start until 8pm. We had some good times, with the wine and vermouth flowing. I had to leave just after 10 as my albergue closed at 10:30. That is a very late night for a pilgrim. I was lucky that the light was still on and I had organized everything before I went out so it was easy to just pop in bed.

After my nap today, I got in touch with Christina and we had lunch together. We had some Asian food, which was a welcome treat for me. Something different from bread and pasta. She is here tomorrow still so we will probably get together again then. We were making informal plans for me to come visit and meet her family in a couple weeks.

After lunch, I came back to my room for a bit to get unpacked and a little organized, then I met up with Matt for a drink. I convinced him he should really go to the mass, it is all part of the experience and he is leaving tomorrow morning. So we went to the 7:30pm mass and we were lucky to have the botafumeiro. This is the giant insense burner that the cathedral is famous for and doesn’t always happen. Only on special days and if someone sponsors it. Today is a National holiday in Spain (It is like our Canada Day), so it was a good chance we would see it.

We were both hungry so we went for dinner at the Parador. A couple of people Matt met along the trail joined us and it was a very nice evening. We were out until after 11. It was wonderful to see the cathedral all lit up. The next few days call for rain so I am incredibly lucky I arrived when I did.

Ok, time to go to bed now. It is almost 2am and I have a 10:30am appointment with a tattoo artist!

TTYL

Throwback to 2009 from Julie’s Journal

WE HAVE MADE IT !!!!!!!!!!

Today we started around 7:30am. It was raining again and it rained on and off all day. Along the walk today, we kept running into the same people. It was a nice calm steady walk in the rain. About 15 mins from Mount Goto (near the TV station) I took a misstep, twisted my ankle and fell. The ankle hurt but what hurt more was my left knee. I soon discovered that the knee was cut and bleeding.

When we arrived just outside Santiago, I saw the end of a rainbow, then it started to pour down rain and didn’t stop. We went to the church (that walk felt like it took forever), took our picture then went to the pilgrim office to get our certificate.

After that, it was time to find somewhere to sleep. We eventually agreed on a 2 star, right beside the church for 2 nights. It is a small room but it is nice and only 55E each night.

After checking in, we showered and then went out to get something to eat. Then Joerg went back to the room and I stayed out shopping. It was hard in the rain but I bought a pair of pants, top, underwear and umbrella. Something I can wear tomorrow.

The evening was spent in bed. Joerg I think slept for 12 hours total. I didn’t cry when I arrived. I think because I did all my crying yesterday.Read more