I have posted some of the photos to Flickr. Patti (if your name ain't Patti then you don't need to read this part) look at the huge 18th century pipe organ photos. There is a person playing the organ to give you some indication of its size.
This concludes the broadcast for this trip. We have another trip pending in mid-December to California for a couple months. So, stay tuned for that that trip.
Hogs and kittens,
Al and Deb
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Raleigh, NC Home
We are home. We arrived Sunday afternoon late. I will post some more about the trip later today. I just wanted to say we are home.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
London Airport
I had to get up at 3 am this morning. That's right I said 3 am. We walked outside the hotel and drunks were everywhere. It seems the kids come out in masses after dark and drink in the bars as well as the streets. Yep, I said in the streets. The plazas and streets always smell of urine and many of the streets are full of can, bottles, and trash from the nightly drinking matches. When we walked out some of the patrons were deeply in the throws of a full blown drunk and the street was surrealistic. The scene reminded me of a zombie movie but instead of the zombies drunks are walking around screaming and falling down. I am getting old.
Here are the pictures I promised yesterday.
Here are the pictures I promised yesterday.
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| Winston Churchill playing the pig-o-phone |
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| Aqueduct in Segovia |
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| Deb picking the nose of King What's His Name IX. |
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Madrid, Spain Last Day.
Today was fun. We took a out-of-town trip to Segovia and Avila Spain. Avila is one of the oldest cities in Spain and is the birthplace of Saint Teresa. Segovia has a huge castle and a cool 2000 year old aqueduct. You can guess which I'm going to talk about the most. Wrong guess.
Saint Teresa is not Mother Teresa. But she was a nun that ruled a monastery that she bought with her own money and ruled it with an iron hand Now you know that there isn't going to be a Catholic lesson via me. The reason I mentioned her at all is because they have a "most important of all her relics" located conveniently in the gift shop next door to where her "house" is located. Before I tell you about the relic I should tell you what a relic is. Catholics believe that prayers are conducted via a priest to heaven. Prayers can also be channeled through a holy person like a saint to God and a relic of a holy person "supercharges" (my words) a prayer and brings special status to the prayer. You Catholics that read this shouldn't get all bent out of shape over what I just said and throw sticks and stones at me. Sticks and stones may break my bones but please don't throw sticks and stones. Okay let's kiss and make up Catholics. Great. Anyway, a relic is a piece of a holy person's body. That's right, they used to bury them in shallow graves and distribute the bones later to wealthy or holy people. We saw many human bones today of different people used as decoration in a Catholic church. Well, I said bury them didn't I? Well they didn't do quite that to Saint Teresa. Instead after she died they hacked her up and distributed the pieces intact or so I am told. She was more popular that calamine lotion at a poison ivy convention. It seems every town she lived in, worked, or whizzed in wanted a piece of Saint Teresa when she croaked off. Now Avila was high up in the pecking order and "got the most best relic". Can you guess which piece? Head, foot, ear, eyeball, butt cheek, or what? Get this, Avila got her ring finger. Avila "got the most best relic" of a ring finger. Yep in the gift shop they had the find in a glass cage behind the wax Sister Teresa dolls. The finger is mummified and stuff not a bone. Dude that is nasty and super, super, super creepy. Nasty.
Segovia didn't have any nasty fingers but it did have a really cool old aqueduct that the Romans built of course you already know that. Yep, the pictures are below. The aqueduct was mostly underground but this thing was constructed with no mortar at all just precision cut stone blocks. Too cool. It was almost so cool that it erased the creepiness of the mummy finger but not enough. Anyway this thing was cool.
I have to get up in 3 hours to get to the airport for a 6:45am flight. Time for bed. I'll see Yall soon.
Hogs and kittens,
Al
P.S. The photo is taking too long to upload. I'll post it from home.
Saint Teresa is not Mother Teresa. But she was a nun that ruled a monastery that she bought with her own money and ruled it with an iron hand Now you know that there isn't going to be a Catholic lesson via me. The reason I mentioned her at all is because they have a "most important of all her relics" located conveniently in the gift shop next door to where her "house" is located. Before I tell you about the relic I should tell you what a relic is. Catholics believe that prayers are conducted via a priest to heaven. Prayers can also be channeled through a holy person like a saint to God and a relic of a holy person "supercharges" (my words) a prayer and brings special status to the prayer. You Catholics that read this shouldn't get all bent out of shape over what I just said and throw sticks and stones at me. Sticks and stones may break my bones but please don't throw sticks and stones. Okay let's kiss and make up Catholics. Great. Anyway, a relic is a piece of a holy person's body. That's right, they used to bury them in shallow graves and distribute the bones later to wealthy or holy people. We saw many human bones today of different people used as decoration in a Catholic church. Well, I said bury them didn't I? Well they didn't do quite that to Saint Teresa. Instead after she died they hacked her up and distributed the pieces intact or so I am told. She was more popular that calamine lotion at a poison ivy convention. It seems every town she lived in, worked, or whizzed in wanted a piece of Saint Teresa when she croaked off. Now Avila was high up in the pecking order and "got the most best relic". Can you guess which piece? Head, foot, ear, eyeball, butt cheek, or what? Get this, Avila got her ring finger. Avila "got the most best relic" of a ring finger. Yep in the gift shop they had the find in a glass cage behind the wax Sister Teresa dolls. The finger is mummified and stuff not a bone. Dude that is nasty and super, super, super creepy. Nasty.
Segovia didn't have any nasty fingers but it did have a really cool old aqueduct that the Romans built of course you already know that. Yep, the pictures are below. The aqueduct was mostly underground but this thing was constructed with no mortar at all just precision cut stone blocks. Too cool. It was almost so cool that it erased the creepiness of the mummy finger but not enough. Anyway this thing was cool.
I have to get up in 3 hours to get to the airport for a 6:45am flight. Time for bed. I'll see Yall soon.
Hogs and kittens,
Al
P.S. The photo is taking too long to upload. I'll post it from home.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Madrid, Spain
We went to the Royal Palace (Real Palacio) today. It was huge and divided into four main sections, of which I found the armory, apothecary, and bedroom area worthy of discussing here. The armory was full of stuff you would see in a 17th century armory (I guess) like a couple dozen suits of armor and swords out the ying yang, and armor for horses and a dog. How the horses moved at all with its armor and a short guy (all of them were short) with armor on, and the short dude was carrying something heavy like a sword or jousting pole. I'll bet the horses topped out their speed at about 1mph.
The other notable area of the palace was the apothecary with lots of urns with cool stuff in it or rather I imagined it was cool stuff like eye of newt, grasshopper knees, and blond hair of Abba. I was disappointed to read a few labels with titles like (translated here naturally) carbolic acid, carbon, acid, etc. I thought kings' apothecaries were supposed to do spells and incantations. But noooooo, it had to be regular chemistry. Boring.
The bedrooms or whatever they called the private areas were pretty kingish as a person would expect. The throne room was garish to the point it was funny. Somebody has been watching The Game of Thrones too much around here. Anyway, the drawing room and other areas were pretty much straight forward king crap. What I did notice was the paintings of the people in this area. There was a painting of King What's His Name, King What's His Name V, and Duke What's His Name dressed in drag to look like Queen What's Her Name. Oh man the women in these painting were not happy at all. I guess having to sit still with all that hot (temperature wise) dress on and makeup applied with a shovel would not have been comfy. All of the women in the paintings looked like they had crabs or too tight underwear or something. They all kind of snarled at me as most women I've known did. Stupid paintings.
We went to The Prado Museum. The Prado is a Spanish version of The Louvre in Paris. The artist Goya was pretty interesting in his Dark Period where he was going stark raving loony while dying of syphilis. It seems he painted these really weird things on the wall of his house and when he croaked off the folks that bought his stuff removed them from the wall using some technique by renaissance rocket scientists and framed them.Now if this had been somebody in my family I would have gotten out the Wagner Sprayer and went to town on nutty boy's paintings. But nnnooooo, they framed them and now the whole world knows Goya was loony tunes while dying of a sexually transmitted disease. That must have been some friends he had.
The rest of the Prado was full of painting depicting Christ in some form either crucified, baby, last supper, etc. I'll bet over half the paintings were of Christ in some fashion. You would think that these geniuses could have picked something to paint like a kid's birthday party, dogs playing poker, or velvet Elvis. But nnnoooooo they picked Christ. What gets me is how they copied each other too.
Tomorrow we are touring a couple cities nearby. I wont talk about them until tomorrow. The day after tomorrow (Sunday) we head home. See Ya.
The other notable area of the palace was the apothecary with lots of urns with cool stuff in it or rather I imagined it was cool stuff like eye of newt, grasshopper knees, and blond hair of Abba. I was disappointed to read a few labels with titles like (translated here naturally) carbolic acid, carbon, acid, etc. I thought kings' apothecaries were supposed to do spells and incantations. But noooooo, it had to be regular chemistry. Boring.
The bedrooms or whatever they called the private areas were pretty kingish as a person would expect. The throne room was garish to the point it was funny. Somebody has been watching The Game of Thrones too much around here. Anyway, the drawing room and other areas were pretty much straight forward king crap. What I did notice was the paintings of the people in this area. There was a painting of King What's His Name, King What's His Name V, and Duke What's His Name dressed in drag to look like Queen What's Her Name. Oh man the women in these painting were not happy at all. I guess having to sit still with all that hot (temperature wise) dress on and makeup applied with a shovel would not have been comfy. All of the women in the paintings looked like they had crabs or too tight underwear or something. They all kind of snarled at me as most women I've known did. Stupid paintings.
We went to The Prado Museum. The Prado is a Spanish version of The Louvre in Paris. The artist Goya was pretty interesting in his Dark Period where he was going stark raving loony while dying of syphilis. It seems he painted these really weird things on the wall of his house and when he croaked off the folks that bought his stuff removed them from the wall using some technique by renaissance rocket scientists and framed them.Now if this had been somebody in my family I would have gotten out the Wagner Sprayer and went to town on nutty boy's paintings. But nnnooooo, they framed them and now the whole world knows Goya was loony tunes while dying of a sexually transmitted disease. That must have been some friends he had.
The rest of the Prado was full of painting depicting Christ in some form either crucified, baby, last supper, etc. I'll bet over half the paintings were of Christ in some fashion. You would think that these geniuses could have picked something to paint like a kid's birthday party, dogs playing poker, or velvet Elvis. But nnnoooooo they picked Christ. What gets me is how they copied each other too.
Tomorrow we are touring a couple cities nearby. I wont talk about them until tomorrow. The day after tomorrow (Sunday) we head home. See Ya.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Madrid, Spain
Hmmm, let's start with our walking tour of the Plaza Mayor area. Yep, we walked around , up, down, and around Plaza Major today. Some of the walking was from a tour and some was not. The tour started with the history of the plaza then progressed around the area. Each place we stopped we could just about predict what was going to be said. I made a chart so you can play too. Okay, first pick a building around Madrid then decide who lived there and what happened to them. Okay, let's play.
1) Pick a building from this map
2) Who built the building?
1) Pick a building from this map
2) Who built the building?
- King What's His Name
- King What's His Name III
- Earl Poopy Pants
- Moors (now called The Muslim Brotherhood)
- Tribute to God.
- Tribute to themself.
- Tribute to themself.
- Tribute to themself
- The Moors burned it to the ground then built a mosque on it then the Christians burned it down and built a church on it.
- Captain Krunch burned it down for the King of Boogey Woogeyland.
- Duke of Earl burned it down and built a statue of himself on it.
- Dukes of Hazard burned it down to put up a statue of Queen Latifah on it.
- He/she was beheaded.
- He/she was exiled to Bora Bora (meaning booted out) then executed later.
- He/she died of athlete's foot and was buried in the front room under the statue of themself.
- He/she died from domestic violence and didn't get a statue for 400 years.
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| King What's His Name III Gets His Head Squished |
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Barcelona, Spain
Well, today was more laid back than most. We went to the Picasso Museum and I can positively say that Picasso was mentally disturbed. His "blue period" was troubling. But because he painted pictures he was a genius and not disturbed or so I've heard. After the Alice in Wonderland Picasso Museum, we went to Montjuic which is an fortress overlooking Barcelona. I got some neat photos that I will post later.
Tonight we went to a flamenco show. It was spectacular. The band and dancers did a nice job. As most of my friends know I love flamenco.
I wish I could elaborate more but I need to go to bed. We leave for Madrid very early in the morning. I'll elaborate tomorrow.
Tonight we went to a flamenco show. It was spectacular. The band and dancers did a nice job. As most of my friends know I love flamenco.
I wish I could elaborate more but I need to go to bed. We leave for Madrid very early in the morning. I'll elaborate tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Barcelona, Spain Gaudi Designs
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| Parc Guell Gaudi Design (Entire park with this style architecture) |
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| Unfinished Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona (construction started 1882) |
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| Casa Batllo Gaudi Design in Barcelona (note the columns that look like bones on first floor) |
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| Casa Batllo Ceiling in Barcelona |
Barcelona, Spain
Well where do I start? We toured Gaudi's masterpieces today. Gaudi was a very famous Spanish architect than started modernism in architecture. But he started it the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. Dude, we were just recovering from the civil war then. Daudi's works are incredible and insane at the same time. We really enjoyed the tour.
We took a boat tour of the harbor and saw a few cruise ships that had dumped out several thousand people into the city. It was crowded everywhere due to the ships. Whatever. We went to the open market which is a farmer's market of sorts. We had lunch at a place that was a bar around an outside kitchen. It was pricey and crowded. Whatever.
I'll try and post more pictures. Today is Tuesday and Thursday we fly to Madrid then to home on Sunday.
We took a boat tour of the harbor and saw a few cruise ships that had dumped out several thousand people into the city. It was crowded everywhere due to the ships. Whatever. We went to the open market which is a farmer's market of sorts. We had lunch at a place that was a bar around an outside kitchen. It was pricey and crowded. Whatever.
I'll try and post more pictures. Today is Tuesday and Thursday we fly to Madrid then to home on Sunday.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Barcelona, Spain
It's pronounced barth al own a and it is beautiful and that is where we are now. I can actually speak some of the language and the city is incredibly beautiful. We flew from Lisboa which is literally covered in spray paint graffiti to Midrid then to Barcelona. I'll talk more about Barcelona tomorrow, but for now let's say that Barcelona is heads and shoulders (whatever that means) above Lisboa with this Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy.
Dude, airports in Spain are screwy. When we flew into Santiago de Compostela a couple weeks ago, the airline had two luggage claim areas for the same flight. Of course they only published one of the areas and after we awaited forever then decided to ask the conveyor belt dude where the Big Ole Dumb Gringo and the The Bleach Blond Gringo's bags were they told us they were over the river and through the woods to a place behind a door that said some craziness on it and with folks with guns inside. It turns out that was the international baggage area. You would think they would tell the Gringos on the Big Ole TVs huh? Noooooooooo. Well anyway today in Barcelona we tried to find our bags and found a baggage claim TV that said Belt 00. Well we walked into the room and wham goes the doors behind us locking us out of the stupid main baggage claim area. The stupid TV said Belt 00 but nooooooooo that was for somebody else. So we figured out the stupid TV was wrong and had to walk most of the way through the airport and walk backwards through security checkpoints that I thought was surely going to land us in Spanish prison. It turns out the stupid TV was wrong. But I try to look on the bright side of most situations. So if you want to walk through Barcelona's stupid airport through stupid security checkpoints backwards and not land in Spain's stupid prison then just ask me. Good ahead ask me. I'm not sore at all. Go ahead and ask me. Oh so you don't want to know. Good.
So after we got our stupid bags we got into a cab to go to the hotel. The driver gets in and starts the stupid meter at 8.40 euros which is like $11.40. What is the Sam Hill was the idjit doing? It seems the airport charges 4.20 euros per person for the convenience of catching a cab. Then the idjit charges us 2 euros to put our bags in. The stupid short cab ride was 32 euros which is like $45. I wanted to drop kick me some idjits today. But I didn't because I would have pushed my luck since I didn't go to the stupid Spanish prison to get our stupid bags. If I had drop kicked that stupid cabbie through his stupid goal posts of life then I might have pushed my stupid luck to the point where somebody would have written a future book about Big Ole Dumb Southern Gringos in Stupid Spanish prison, and that ain't gonna happen Yall. Idjits
We are in the Novotel Hotel on the 16th floor. Holy guacamole. The stupid birds don't fly this high. If I squint I can see Albuquerque, New Mexico. They speak Spanish in Albuquerque you know, that's why I can see it from Spain. I really hate to point out the obvious but someone has to do it.
We took the subway to someplace Deb suggested and had dinner. The dinner was at a tapas restaurant in the touristy part of town. Anyway, tapas means roughly translated in Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy Spanish as little plates. Yeah it was little plates with little food but with a huge, huge price. I finally got tired and threw my stupid wallet at them and told them to get me something to eat other than a green bean (one) sauteed in fusioned extra virgin olive oil and garlic in a earthen pot that cost $10. I kid you not. These were little plates with very little food that cost an arm and a leg. Dang, a Southern Boy can't get a break in this town.
So, it is bedtime in Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy Land. Yall have a good day. Tomorrow we start touring Barcelona and I'm sure I'll have a few stories to share
ABye for now.
Dude, airports in Spain are screwy. When we flew into Santiago de Compostela a couple weeks ago, the airline had two luggage claim areas for the same flight. Of course they only published one of the areas and after we awaited forever then decided to ask the conveyor belt dude where the Big Ole Dumb Gringo and the The Bleach Blond Gringo's bags were they told us they were over the river and through the woods to a place behind a door that said some craziness on it and with folks with guns inside. It turns out that was the international baggage area. You would think they would tell the Gringos on the Big Ole TVs huh? Noooooooooo. Well anyway today in Barcelona we tried to find our bags and found a baggage claim TV that said Belt 00. Well we walked into the room and wham goes the doors behind us locking us out of the stupid main baggage claim area. The stupid TV said Belt 00 but nooooooooo that was for somebody else. So we figured out the stupid TV was wrong and had to walk most of the way through the airport and walk backwards through security checkpoints that I thought was surely going to land us in Spanish prison. It turns out the stupid TV was wrong. But I try to look on the bright side of most situations. So if you want to walk through Barcelona's stupid airport through stupid security checkpoints backwards and not land in Spain's stupid prison then just ask me. Good ahead ask me. I'm not sore at all. Go ahead and ask me. Oh so you don't want to know. Good.
So after we got our stupid bags we got into a cab to go to the hotel. The driver gets in and starts the stupid meter at 8.40 euros which is like $11.40. What is the Sam Hill was the idjit doing? It seems the airport charges 4.20 euros per person for the convenience of catching a cab. Then the idjit charges us 2 euros to put our bags in. The stupid short cab ride was 32 euros which is like $45. I wanted to drop kick me some idjits today. But I didn't because I would have pushed my luck since I didn't go to the stupid Spanish prison to get our stupid bags. If I had drop kicked that stupid cabbie through his stupid goal posts of life then I might have pushed my stupid luck to the point where somebody would have written a future book about Big Ole Dumb Southern Gringos in Stupid Spanish prison, and that ain't gonna happen Yall. Idjits
We are in the Novotel Hotel on the 16th floor. Holy guacamole. The stupid birds don't fly this high. If I squint I can see Albuquerque, New Mexico. They speak Spanish in Albuquerque you know, that's why I can see it from Spain. I really hate to point out the obvious but someone has to do it.
We took the subway to someplace Deb suggested and had dinner. The dinner was at a tapas restaurant in the touristy part of town. Anyway, tapas means roughly translated in Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy Spanish as little plates. Yeah it was little plates with little food but with a huge, huge price. I finally got tired and threw my stupid wallet at them and told them to get me something to eat other than a green bean (one) sauteed in fusioned extra virgin olive oil and garlic in a earthen pot that cost $10. I kid you not. These were little plates with very little food that cost an arm and a leg. Dang, a Southern Boy can't get a break in this town.
So, it is bedtime in Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy Land. Yall have a good day. Tomorrow we start touring Barcelona and I'm sure I'll have a few stories to share
ABye for now.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Lisboa, Portugal
Yes, I said Lisboa again. Yes we are still in Lisboa. Yes Lisboa is
the correct way to spell Lisbon. Yes, we are soon to leave Lisbon--well
sorta kinda. Yes I have eaten cod fish so many times I am growing gills.
Yes our apartment is the height of The Tower of Babel--they speak
Portuguese at the bottom and Swiss yodeling at the top where our "tree
house" apartment is located. Yes you ask too many questions.
We are planning to leave Lisboa on Monday and fly to Barcelona (bar c loan a) where the Spaniards pronounce the name differently as in barth e loan a or bartz e loan a or some hairlip way in that general neighborhood. Don't get me wrong I love Spaniards but they pronounce their Spanish a little differently. But what do Spaniards know about talking Spanish anyway? Geez here you go with the questions again.
Deb and I took a boat "cruise" around the harbor today. It was cold and windy. I thought it was going to rain on us but Deb liked it. Deb liked all 30 Euros of it ($41). The "cruise" took 1 hour and was okay. Oh well.
So I was running low in a medication so I walked into a drug store here and told them the name of the drug and the man walked in back and brought me out a box of the drug. No questions asked. It seems the druggists decide which drug you need when the doctor tells them what ails you. When I told him the name of the drug it was a drug that an old fart like me would normally take, so he didn't ask me squat. Dang I want one of these. Now drugs involving things that make your head all funky is a different manner or so I am told. I don't take stuff like that anyway unless I have a broken skull (had it), AC shoulder separation (had it), broken bones (had it), cut off fingers (had it, had it--had it twice) and a few other little problems. Okay I have been known to take fuzzy headed drugs once, twice or 400 times in the past. Why in the living Garner am I off on this tangent. It must be Alzheimers. I wonder if that druggist dude can help me out with that too.
I guess I should post some photos. I promise I will when I can.
Hogs and kittens,
Al
We are planning to leave Lisboa on Monday and fly to Barcelona (bar c loan a) where the Spaniards pronounce the name differently as in barth e loan a or bartz e loan a or some hairlip way in that general neighborhood. Don't get me wrong I love Spaniards but they pronounce their Spanish a little differently. But what do Spaniards know about talking Spanish anyway? Geez here you go with the questions again.
Deb and I took a boat "cruise" around the harbor today. It was cold and windy. I thought it was going to rain on us but Deb liked it. Deb liked all 30 Euros of it ($41). The "cruise" took 1 hour and was okay. Oh well.
So I was running low in a medication so I walked into a drug store here and told them the name of the drug and the man walked in back and brought me out a box of the drug. No questions asked. It seems the druggists decide which drug you need when the doctor tells them what ails you. When I told him the name of the drug it was a drug that an old fart like me would normally take, so he didn't ask me squat. Dang I want one of these. Now drugs involving things that make your head all funky is a different manner or so I am told. I don't take stuff like that anyway unless I have a broken skull (had it), AC shoulder separation (had it), broken bones (had it), cut off fingers (had it, had it--had it twice) and a few other little problems. Okay I have been known to take fuzzy headed drugs once, twice or 400 times in the past. Why in the living Garner am I off on this tangent. It must be Alzheimers. I wonder if that druggist dude can help me out with that too.
I guess I should post some photos. I promise I will when I can.
Hogs and kittens,
Al
Friday, October 11, 2013
Lisboa, Portugal
Hmmm. Me thinks me have had enough cod fish. Dude, Portuguese menus have two columns. One side of the menu has cod fish dishes on it, and the other has pork dishes. I have now discovered some of the Portuguese desserts have pork in them. This Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy did eat pork once on the last unsuccessful trip to Spain because I actually could not get any food without pork in it. It seems God will still grant me 72 virgins even though I ate a piece of ham because I was forced to do so by the infidel goys. For you humor impaired people, the last sentence is heavily encrypted with a joke so feel free to laugh. Anyway, Portuguese eat a lot of cod fish. Every restaurant serves cod fish in every possible manner of cooking. Now this Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy loves fish but I am full up on cod fish and especially cod fish with the stupid bones intact. Somebody needs to show these people how to debone fish. As expensive as cooked fish is here they could debone the stupid fish or at least give me a hug and kiss on my fish bone gouged lips. And what idjit came up with the idea to put pork into desserts? Nasty and double nasty. If I had gotten a piece of chitlin chocolate care or whatever that mess is called, I would not have been too happy and might have crammed a bone-in cod fish up someone's Portuguese butt seconds before I dropped kicked them Jesus through their goal posts of life. Pork in desserts? Nasty. Oh you nasty boys.
Man every old building has some significance to the Moors (African Muslims) kicking their butts then the Portuguese would take back their whatever and kick out the Moors, then the Moors would clean their clocks again and then the Portuguese would clean the Moors clock. Repeat as necessary.
Well it is late and Deb is ready to do a Moors whoop butt on the Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy if I don't shut off the light. Have a great day and don't let the pork be with you.
Man every old building has some significance to the Moors (African Muslims) kicking their butts then the Portuguese would take back their whatever and kick out the Moors, then the Moors would clean their clocks again and then the Portuguese would clean the Moors clock. Repeat as necessary.
Well it is late and Deb is ready to do a Moors whoop butt on the Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy if I don't shut off the light. Have a great day and don't let the pork be with you.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Lisbon, Portugal
Hello from Lisbon. I would say hello in Portuguese but I have no idea how to say anything in Portuguese. As a matter of fact none of us do. We can occasionally make out words or phrases because the words sometimes resemble Spanish. No, I no have plans on learning Portugues because I have enough trouble with Spanish. Ramsey you should come here. You would like it.
Lisbon is built on hills, lots and lots and lots of hills. It is a challenge to walk and a tremendous challenge to drive in. The roads are not logical and were not planned nor wide enough for modern travel on anything but a goat or came. Our GPS loses it electronic mind all the time. Our "hotel" is not a hotel but an apartment that is located on a street that ONLY specialized vehicles can drive on of which cabs are one. The nearest parking space is 200 yards DOWNHILL from the apartment. So we put the bags into a cab to take them to the apartment. Our apartment is on the 4th or 5th floor with the steepest stairs I have ever been on. The stairs resemble a ladder. Holy moly.
We visited Fatima today which is one of the 3 miracles sites for Catholics. It seems 3 kids around 1916-17 were visited every month from May to October on the 13th day by the Mother Mary. Now pilgrims come here every month on the 13th but the largest group occurs on October 13th which is in a few days. I am told it will be around 100,000 people with a 1.25 million being there on the Pope's last visit. The area where they congregate is several hundred meters wide and long and barren. The crowd must be something to see. I wondered where 100,000 + people all stay and eat for 3 days because the town can't support that many people. i guess it is a Catholic Woodstock of sorts.
Yesterday we visisted Coimbra, Portugal where thee University of Coimbra is. UC started in 1290 and is one of the oldest continuous universities in the world. I must admit it was cool to see.
It is bedtime. See Yall tomorrow.
Lisbon is built on hills, lots and lots and lots of hills. It is a challenge to walk and a tremendous challenge to drive in. The roads are not logical and were not planned nor wide enough for modern travel on anything but a goat or came. Our GPS loses it electronic mind all the time. Our "hotel" is not a hotel but an apartment that is located on a street that ONLY specialized vehicles can drive on of which cabs are one. The nearest parking space is 200 yards DOWNHILL from the apartment. So we put the bags into a cab to take them to the apartment. Our apartment is on the 4th or 5th floor with the steepest stairs I have ever been on. The stairs resemble a ladder. Holy moly.
We visited Fatima today which is one of the 3 miracles sites for Catholics. It seems 3 kids around 1916-17 were visited every month from May to October on the 13th day by the Mother Mary. Now pilgrims come here every month on the 13th but the largest group occurs on October 13th which is in a few days. I am told it will be around 100,000 people with a 1.25 million being there on the Pope's last visit. The area where they congregate is several hundred meters wide and long and barren. The crowd must be something to see. I wondered where 100,000 + people all stay and eat for 3 days because the town can't support that many people. i guess it is a Catholic Woodstock of sorts.
Yesterday we visisted Coimbra, Portugal where thee University of Coimbra is. UC started in 1290 and is one of the oldest continuous universities in the world. I must admit it was cool to see.
It is bedtime. See Yall tomorrow.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Porto, Portugal
Alright, this is nasty. Yes I am going to talk about toilets again just like I did in Japan and China. I went to the little pilgrims' room (toilet) in Spain and in Portugal. Yes even I go to the bathroom, I try not to but try as I may sometimes it gets the better of me. So I went to the bathroom in the bus station in Spain and the train station in Porto, Portugal and I noticed they don't put toilet seats on the throne. Dude, they have toilets but no seats. What in the world? Deb confirmed the women's toilets were seatless too. Hmmm. I thought maybe the Iberian Peninsula folks had arrived at the age old problem of why men don't put the toilet seat down. So I cranked up my powerful mind and deduced the toilet seat problem would not bother other men so my logic was severely flawed thinking it solved the toilet seat being left up by men. So I am at a loss. I started to give you pictures of topless crappers but that would be gauche which hasn't stopped me in the past. Hmmm.
So we went and had lunch at the "best restaurant in Porto". Dern lunch cost $60 for two people. Holy guacamole batman. Dude, we had relatively normal dishes and it was $60. This restaurant was visible from all of Porto by a huge sign on the roof that said "Taylors" but Deb and I had a huge problem navigating on foot to this place. The roads would end in a building and we would have to backtrack, or the road would loop around and climb up Mt. Everest then go back down then climb up again. Geez Louise. We finally found it and Taylor's found our wallet. Whatever. Taylor's makes port wine but as Yall know this Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy doesn't drink. Of course that doesn't stop the Queen of My Doublewide who has a hollow leg.
We went into this church here that had wooden boards all over the floor. Now you must be saying what is so special about that? These boards are the same size as a coffin lid for a good reason. Up until the 18th century the people buried their dead under these wooden doors then they took out the bones later and put them in crypts in another part of the church. I have a photo of a glass cover of a huge, mass style crypt that they threw in the bones if the family couldn't afford a private crypt. Deb sort of summed it up in that the stench inside that church of rotting humans must have been mighty powerful. After I heard that they put their dead under those doors I didn't much care about the missing toilet seats. The rotting dead thing really and truthfully trumped the missing toilet seat thing as being nasty. Mega, mega nasty. Vomitorium nasty. Nasty, nasty, nasty. It seems they didn't bury their dead outside the church at all until the 17th or 18th century when somebody passed a law saying it was nasty and they couldn't do that anymore. Now I know that rockets hadn't been invented yet so rocket scientists wouldn't be a part of that algorithm, but don't you think somebody would have noticed grandma didn't smell very good a month after they put her "downstairs"? Nasty, nasty, nasty.
Dang I should have mentioned this before about restaurants in Portugal. It seems they have a habit of putting out food on your table when you arrive and charging you for it if you eat it. You know like bread and butter or whatever. It seems they also charge for tap water they give you. Last night they charged us for the guy playing the piano in the restaurant. Man these people are thieves. We haven't been charged for the air we breathe or the chair we sat in--yet.
Tomorrow we are taking the train for a day trip to someplace Deb and Sandra said they need to drag Waguih and me. Whatever. See Yall later.
So we went and had lunch at the "best restaurant in Porto". Dern lunch cost $60 for two people. Holy guacamole batman. Dude, we had relatively normal dishes and it was $60. This restaurant was visible from all of Porto by a huge sign on the roof that said "Taylors" but Deb and I had a huge problem navigating on foot to this place. The roads would end in a building and we would have to backtrack, or the road would loop around and climb up Mt. Everest then go back down then climb up again. Geez Louise. We finally found it and Taylor's found our wallet. Whatever. Taylor's makes port wine but as Yall know this Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy doesn't drink. Of course that doesn't stop the Queen of My Doublewide who has a hollow leg.
We went into this church here that had wooden boards all over the floor. Now you must be saying what is so special about that? These boards are the same size as a coffin lid for a good reason. Up until the 18th century the people buried their dead under these wooden doors then they took out the bones later and put them in crypts in another part of the church. I have a photo of a glass cover of a huge, mass style crypt that they threw in the bones if the family couldn't afford a private crypt. Deb sort of summed it up in that the stench inside that church of rotting humans must have been mighty powerful. After I heard that they put their dead under those doors I didn't much care about the missing toilet seats. The rotting dead thing really and truthfully trumped the missing toilet seat thing as being nasty. Mega, mega nasty. Vomitorium nasty. Nasty, nasty, nasty. It seems they didn't bury their dead outside the church at all until the 17th or 18th century when somebody passed a law saying it was nasty and they couldn't do that anymore. Now I know that rockets hadn't been invented yet so rocket scientists wouldn't be a part of that algorithm, but don't you think somebody would have noticed grandma didn't smell very good a month after they put her "downstairs"? Nasty, nasty, nasty.
Dang I should have mentioned this before about restaurants in Portugal. It seems they have a habit of putting out food on your table when you arrive and charging you for it if you eat it. You know like bread and butter or whatever. It seems they also charge for tap water they give you. Last night they charged us for the guy playing the piano in the restaurant. Man these people are thieves. We haven't been charged for the air we breathe or the chair we sat in--yet.
Tomorrow we are taking the train for a day trip to someplace Deb and Sandra said they need to drag Waguih and me. Whatever. See Yall later.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Well we are done. We walked over 120km which is about 75 miles. We had a couple problems (Waguih's feet) and tweaking of my medication but that was all. The walk from Lavacolla was a wet one and quite foggy too. My feet were wet almost immediately because my boots were not quite dry. We made it to the church a little late for pilgrims mass but made it to the 7:30pm mass where the botafumera flew. The service was very nice. I took part in part of the pilgrim rituals but not all of them . I wont bore you with the details.
Santiago de Compostela has a tremendous work of architecture called the City of Culture. This is a modern marvel that is not finished and Spain has discontinued money to finish it because Spain is broke which you should already know if you follow the news. The library is open but has about 10% of the books it was designed to handle. The entire campus was deserted. I felt ashamed for Spain.
We are heading for Porto, Portugal via bus. Porto sounds like fun.
Santiago de Compostela has a tremendous work of architecture called the City of Culture. This is a modern marvel that is not finished and Spain has discontinued money to finish it because Spain is broke which you should already know if you follow the news. The library is open but has about 10% of the books it was designed to handle. The entire campus was deserted. I felt ashamed for Spain.
We are heading for Porto, Portugal via bus. Porto sounds like fun.
Salceda, Spain
Boy, today was really long. We covered 25km (15.5 miles). The terrain
was somewhat hilly with mostly flat ground. We are 25km from Santiago
de Compostela or in other words the end. The walking is much easier
since my medication gotten straightened out. I am so happy. I might be
happy, but I am tired after today's hike. The end of the camino will
bring sadness and happiness. Sadness that I again have to leave the
camino but happiness that I was able to walk a portion of it. I know I
will be back and walk the entire thing next time, but that wont be for a
year or two.
Today, we were passed by a large group of horses with Spaniard riders. Some had on American style cowboy hats and they thought they were cool. I have pictures that I plan to post but frankly can't find the time right now. Besides I don't know how to get photos off my phone. These cowspaniards' horse left pretty little piles of horse offerings over several miles of the camino that complimented the cow poop all over the camino. I guess the horses will get the certificate and not the riders. Whatever.
We also met a huge contingency of Irish people today. Good Lord there must have been 100 of them and all of which were from 5 different groups that didn't know anyone outside their group. It was pure luck they were in the same area at the same time. There was lots of English spoken on the camino today. What was funny was an Irish guy said that he loved my accent. I simply told him I don't have an accent because where I am from we all speak like me. Of course he mimicked what he called my accent and over emphasized how I pronounced certain words. I told him that he watched too much TV. I stared to tell him that he sounded just like that cartoon character on Lucky Charms serial commercials. He must have seen the commercial with all the TV he watches. We walked over 2 Roman bridges today--that is bridges from when the Romans occupied Iberia. I am sure that we walked over a couple portions of the original Roman Road however I can't be sure. Geez this place is slam full of history.
Deb and Sandra went to the beach and drove around and ate more octopus. Yuck. I'm glad they are having fund.
I may be in Santiago de Compostela tomorrow. Don't change that dial. Same bat place, same bat channel.
Al
Today, we were passed by a large group of horses with Spaniard riders. Some had on American style cowboy hats and they thought they were cool. I have pictures that I plan to post but frankly can't find the time right now. Besides I don't know how to get photos off my phone. These cowspaniards' horse left pretty little piles of horse offerings over several miles of the camino that complimented the cow poop all over the camino. I guess the horses will get the certificate and not the riders. Whatever.
We also met a huge contingency of Irish people today. Good Lord there must have been 100 of them and all of which were from 5 different groups that didn't know anyone outside their group. It was pure luck they were in the same area at the same time. There was lots of English spoken on the camino today. What was funny was an Irish guy said that he loved my accent. I simply told him I don't have an accent because where I am from we all speak like me. Of course he mimicked what he called my accent and over emphasized how I pronounced certain words. I told him that he watched too much TV. I stared to tell him that he sounded just like that cartoon character on Lucky Charms serial commercials. He must have seen the commercial with all the TV he watches. We walked over 2 Roman bridges today--that is bridges from when the Romans occupied Iberia. I am sure that we walked over a couple portions of the original Roman Road however I can't be sure. Geez this place is slam full of history.
Deb and Sandra went to the beach and drove around and ate more octopus. Yuck. I'm glad they are having fund.
I may be in Santiago de Compostela tomorrow. Don't change that dial. Same bat place, same bat channel.
Al
Lavacolla, Spain
When it rains it pours and it certainly did both today. It rained
really hard and the wind was very gusty today which made for a very long
day, and we stopped short of finishing for that reason. We stopped in
Lavacolla, Spain which is 10km (6.1miles) from Santiago de Compostela.
We have a few hours to go tomorrow.
Not a lot of fun things occurred today other than meeting a couple fun pups to scratch their ears. We did spend a lot of time walking through water and dodging creeks flowing down some fairly steep hills. My boots are "waterproof" but that merely means from rain and not standing water. I did use something called a gaiter to to keep water out of the area top of the boot where your feet enter the boot. But the gaiter fought a good but losing battle in keeping my socks dry. Wet socks equate to blisters so we stopped short of finishing today.
Tomorrow we go to the church and will do all of the rituals. I'll tell you all about the rituals tomorrow. Stay dry.
Not a lot of fun things occurred today other than meeting a couple fun pups to scratch their ears. We did spend a lot of time walking through water and dodging creeks flowing down some fairly steep hills. My boots are "waterproof" but that merely means from rain and not standing water. I did use something called a gaiter to to keep water out of the area top of the boot where your feet enter the boot. But the gaiter fought a good but losing battle in keeping my socks dry. Wet socks equate to blisters so we stopped short of finishing today.
Tomorrow we go to the church and will do all of the rituals. I'll tell you all about the rituals tomorrow. Stay dry.
Melide, Spain
We had a productive day today. We walked a little over 20 kilometers
which is about 12.5 miles yet 52 kilometers remain. I really think we
have my health problems under control. Waguih (who is a doctor) saw
first hand what was happening to me and changed a medication I take and I
didn't recognize myself today. No more excessive sweating. I now know I
must eat a little of certain foods regularly (like every 1-2 hours max
due to another problem) and I have a tremendous amount of energy. Life
has changed for me but Waguih's feet are really blistering due to the
walking. Each day brings another blister for him. It hurts to just hear
about it. I guess I suffered during the first part last month, and he is
suffering now.
We were walking through Palas de Rei today, and we saw this really beautiful church that was open, so we decided to go inside. We collect stamps along the way on this thing called a credencial that is used to prove you actually walked the camino so you can get a certificate proving you walked it. The stamps are available at churches, places to sleep, places to eat, shops, etc. The certificate is a very, very big deal for pilgrims so getting these stamps is of paramount importance. Anyway, as we were going into the church in Palas de Rei, I saw a sign that said the church had a stamp. We we went inside and walked around this beautiful church and then walked into this backroom where this old guy was stamping pilgrim credencials. So I waited my turn and the guy stamped my credencial and as soon as he finished he pointed to the money jar sitting on the table meaning I was supposed to give a donation. I guess everything has its price.
Deb and Sandra are keeping themselves busy and having fun. I'm not sure what they are doing but I know they aren't riding around throwing water balloons on pilgrims because somebody would tell me. Like the saying goes, if it ain't broken don't fix it.
I'm sorry I don't write more. We don't seem to have a lot of free time. Talk to Yall tomorrow
We were walking through Palas de Rei today, and we saw this really beautiful church that was open, so we decided to go inside. We collect stamps along the way on this thing called a credencial that is used to prove you actually walked the camino so you can get a certificate proving you walked it. The stamps are available at churches, places to sleep, places to eat, shops, etc. The certificate is a very, very big deal for pilgrims so getting these stamps is of paramount importance. Anyway, as we were going into the church in Palas de Rei, I saw a sign that said the church had a stamp. We we went inside and walked around this beautiful church and then walked into this backroom where this old guy was stamping pilgrim credencials. So I waited my turn and the guy stamped my credencial and as soon as he finished he pointed to the money jar sitting on the table meaning I was supposed to give a donation. I guess everything has its price.
Deb and Sandra are keeping themselves busy and having fun. I'm not sure what they are doing but I know they aren't riding around throwing water balloons on pilgrims because somebody would tell me. Like the saying goes, if it ain't broken don't fix it.
I'm sorry I don't write more. We don't seem to have a lot of free time. Talk to Yall tomorrow
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Porto, Portugal
Just a quick note to let everybody know that we finished the camino and all went extremely well. I have been posting accidently to another blog and will move the entries to this blog soon. We left Spain today and are in a nice hotel in Porto, Portugal. I'll provide more when I can tomorrow.
It is very late now and I need to sleep.
It is very late now and I need to sleep.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Palas del Rei, Spain
OK I lied. We are not in Palas del Rei but in a town 2 km away that would not show up on your map. Waguih and I walked 18 kilometers today of which 80% was a slow climb uphill. Just as I remember from my prior visit, there is a lot of cow poop everywhere. If we are not walking through it, then we we are smelling it and preparing to step in it. Today went well. I am thinking I want to return in the future and walk the whole thing. Deb has already said I can't come alone, so if I do Yall can't tell her. I guess if I just snuck out she might miss me if I don't show up for a month of dinners. Let's just call this our little secret.
Deb and Sandra are running around Spain doing all kinds of stuff while their hubbies are suffering. Today they went to a pulperia which is a Spain restaurant that only serves fish bait. She calls it calamari but I call it fish bait. I would rather walk uphill all day than eat fish bait. Geez, the best fish bait she ever forced me to eat looked, smelled, and tasted like an inner tube. Yuck. She probably hates it too but wants to act fashionable by eating in a Spanish fish bait store. Oh well.
Tomorrow is a flat walking day for the most part. We have 75 kilometers until we finish and I am loving very moment of this.
Bye for now.
Deb and Sandra are running around Spain doing all kinds of stuff while their hubbies are suffering. Today they went to a pulperia which is a Spain restaurant that only serves fish bait. She calls it calamari but I call it fish bait. I would rather walk uphill all day than eat fish bait. Geez, the best fish bait she ever forced me to eat looked, smelled, and tasted like an inner tube. Yuck. She probably hates it too but wants to act fashionable by eating in a Spanish fish bait store. Oh well.
Tomorrow is a flat walking day for the most part. We have 75 kilometers until we finish and I am loving very moment of this.
Bye for now.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sarria, Spain
We arrived in Sarria Saturday, Sep 28,2013 with no problems at all. Today, Waguih and I walked about 18km+ without any problems. I do believe we have found out health wise what was wrong with me before in Spain. Today's walk was a clear indication that we found it out.
We finished the walk in Porto Marin (I think that is the name) with Deb and Sandra picking us up and driving us to the hotel which is an hour drive from the camino. Deb says that closer hotels are few and far between. While we walked Deb and Sandra rode around and went to Lugo, Spain to see the Roman walls built in the third century. Then they went and got liquored up on cheap wine at some bar. So tomorrow they have to walk and Waguih and we get to ride around and get liquored up.
It has been really nice returning to the camino. My heart was broken when I left to come home a month ago. I smiled all day today while walking. Today we walked to the 90km remaining point which means we have five more days of walking left.
Well, it is bedtime and I need to rest. I'll write more tomorrow.
We finished the walk in Porto Marin (I think that is the name) with Deb and Sandra picking us up and driving us to the hotel which is an hour drive from the camino. Deb says that closer hotels are few and far between. While we walked Deb and Sandra rode around and went to Lugo, Spain to see the Roman walls built in the third century. Then they went and got liquored up on cheap wine at some bar. So tomorrow they have to walk and Waguih and we get to ride around and get liquored up.
It has been really nice returning to the camino. My heart was broken when I left to come home a month ago. I smiled all day today while walking. Today we walked to the 90km remaining point which means we have five more days of walking left.
Well, it is bedtime and I need to rest. I'll write more tomorrow.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Raleigh. Preparing to Head Back to Spain (and Portugal)
Well, it has been a few weeks since I returned while licking my wounds (metaphorically of course) from Spain. I have recovered nicely, and I am ready to walk the last 60 or so miles of the camino. I walked 65 miles last week in 5 days and will walk almost that far again by Wednesday, so I don't expect any troubles in Spain. A doctor a few days ago may have figured out what went wrong with me during my last visit to Spain. So, the upcoming trip may be much better. Now that I have the whining behind me, how about I tell you about the pending trip.
Deb and I are flying to Spain on Sep 27th and will meet Sandra and Waguih from Montreal Canada. You may remember Sandra and Waguih who were formerly known as The Nice Canadian Couple from our Russia, Japan, and China trip a couple years ago. Sandra and Waguih will meet us when we arrive in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. We will drive to Sarria, Spain where Waguih and I will walk the last 105 kms (~60 miles) of the Camino de Santiago ultimately arriving in Santiago de Compostela, Spain which is the end of the camino. Sandra and Deb will chauffeur Waguih and myself around and do whatever two women do whenever their husbands aren't around in Spain--just don't ask me I have no idea. I am sure Deb and Sandra have every single minute of that week all plotted out with such precision that would make a man's head explode. Sandra and Deb have been sending each other web articles, Powerpoint presentations, log books, GPS coordinates, and satellite imagery anticipating their week of male-free days in Spain.
After we (all four of us) leave Santiago de Compostela, we are taking a train to Porto, Portugal. Where we plan to spend a day or two then off to Lisbon for a day or two. Sandra and Waguih will fly home from Lisbon then Deb and I will fly to Barcelona for 3 days then fly to Madrid for 3 days. We will end the trip in Madrid.
Deb and I are flying to Spain on Sep 27th and will meet Sandra and Waguih from Montreal Canada. You may remember Sandra and Waguih who were formerly known as The Nice Canadian Couple from our Russia, Japan, and China trip a couple years ago. Sandra and Waguih will meet us when we arrive in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. We will drive to Sarria, Spain where Waguih and I will walk the last 105 kms (~60 miles) of the Camino de Santiago ultimately arriving in Santiago de Compostela, Spain which is the end of the camino. Sandra and Deb will chauffeur Waguih and myself around and do whatever two women do whenever their husbands aren't around in Spain--just don't ask me I have no idea. I am sure Deb and Sandra have every single minute of that week all plotted out with such precision that would make a man's head explode. Sandra and Deb have been sending each other web articles, Powerpoint presentations, log books, GPS coordinates, and satellite imagery anticipating their week of male-free days in Spain.
After we (all four of us) leave Santiago de Compostela, we are taking a train to Porto, Portugal. Where we plan to spend a day or two then off to Lisbon for a day or two. Sandra and Waguih will fly home from Lisbon then Deb and I will fly to Barcelona for 3 days then fly to Madrid for 3 days. We will end the trip in Madrid.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Raleigh. August 28,2013
I am home and will go see a doctor tomorrow. The trip from London was pretty uneventful. Deb has been overly worried. Thanks for all the concern. I am glad to be home and back to our health care system. I have met Spain's socialized medicine and would rather pay higher costs than put up with mediocre care.
I plan to return to Spain the end of September to walk the last 100 kms with a friend Waguih. Our wives will have a car and Deb won't likely let me out of her sight. Waguih, The Camino is incredible and you will be glad you walked the last portion. Now I have to figure out how to convince Deb to let me walk from Pamplona to Sarria some time in the future. Spain is a beautiful country.
I plan to return to Spain the end of September to walk the last 100 kms with a friend Waguih. Our wives will have a car and Deb won't likely let me out of her sight. Waguih, The Camino is incredible and you will be glad you walked the last portion. Now I have to figure out how to convince Deb to let me walk from Pamplona to Sarria some time in the future. Spain is a beautiful country.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
London Heathrow (Via Deb)
Al is on his way home.
I'm afraid there was not much of a selection of flights when I booked them yesterday. He flew from Pamplona to Madrid to LHR today arriving late tonight. He is staying in an airport hotel then catches a flight tomorrow morning arriving in Raleigh at 2:30.
Everything is taking him 3 to 4 times as long as usual as he is very dizzy and has to stop to rest often to keep from fainting/passing out. I wish I could be there with him to help him get through this.
Al's doctor recommends I take him directly to the emergency room from the airport. Al does not think that is necessary. We shall see! Tomorrow can not come soon enough for either of us.
Please keep Al in your prayers.
I'm afraid there was not much of a selection of flights when I booked them yesterday. He flew from Pamplona to Madrid to LHR today arriving late tonight. He is staying in an airport hotel then catches a flight tomorrow morning arriving in Raleigh at 2:30.
Everything is taking him 3 to 4 times as long as usual as he is very dizzy and has to stop to rest often to keep from fainting/passing out. I wish I could be there with him to help him get through this.
Al's doctor recommends I take him directly to the emergency room from the airport. Al does not think that is necessary. We shall see! Tomorrow can not come soon enough for either of us.
Please keep Al in your prayers.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Pamplona August 26, 2013
I went to a doctor today which God only knows how much money it cost to have a doctor confirm what I expected
. However she the doctor gave me some medicine. A medication that i take for hypertension was driving my blood pressure extremely low. Try 85/50. Recent weight loss and lots of exercise have caused my normal blood pressure to be lowthe last few times Ive seen my doctor
So now I need tocome home and discuss this with my doctor and recuperate. Getting older is like walking in a mind field.
. However she the doctor gave me some medicine. A medication that i take for hypertension was driving my blood pressure extremely low. Try 85/50. Recent weight loss and lots of exercise have caused my normal blood pressure to be lowthe last few times Ive seen my doctor
So now I need tocome home and discuss this with my doctor and recuperate. Getting older is like walking in a mind field.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Pamplona August 25, 2013
I should start by saying I am safe and in a hotel in beautiful downtown Pamplona. I walked 15 km today and it felt like 100. 15km is about 9 miles which I walk quite often in about 3 hours however today it took me 10 hours. My sickness has gotten far worse and I will see a doctor tomorrow
I just called Deb and I am returning home after I am well enough to fly. Whatever is wrong with me is not going to correct itself quickly. That is for sure. So I plan to fly home when I can fly then return the end of September with Deb and some friends from Canada to walk the last 60 miles together and for a vacation in Portugal. It is much too dangerous for me to continue now. I plan to complete the remainder of the camimo in the future but not near future.
When I have firm travel plans I plan to post them here.
I tried really hard to continue but clearly doing so now might cost me more than a man should pay. I have gone past many memorials on the camino to fallen pilgrims. That is a price I don't wish to pay. The last week has been simply incredible and I am cut of the fabric to complete it if I am healthy. For now my camino ends-fin de camino. For those following this from The Camino --Buen Camino.
I just called Deb and I am returning home after I am well enough to fly. Whatever is wrong with me is not going to correct itself quickly. That is for sure. So I plan to fly home when I can fly then return the end of September with Deb and some friends from Canada to walk the last 60 miles together and for a vacation in Portugal. It is much too dangerous for me to continue now. I plan to complete the remainder of the camimo in the future but not near future.
When I have firm travel plans I plan to post them here.
I tried really hard to continue but clearly doing so now might cost me more than a man should pay. I have gone past many memorials on the camino to fallen pilgrims. That is a price I don't wish to pay. The last week has been simply incredible and I am cut of the fabric to complete it if I am healthy. For now my camino ends-fin de camino. For those following this from The Camino --Buen Camino.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Larrasoana Spain Day 5
I think today is day 5 walking if it isn't then look it up. I don't have time for such matters I'm too busy jumping over, and walking through cow, horse, sheep, and dog poop. I'll bet there's some monkey and yack poop on my boots as well. Good Lord I have walked through some poop. It is all over the camino.
I walked well over 20 km today but unfortunately it was only 15 km in the right direction. I left my hotel this morning and walked 35 minutes before I realized that I left my batons (walking poles) at the hotel. That loud cursing you heard at about 3am was me. I am not well but better. But I have to progress so I only walked to Larrasoana today which is about 16 km closer to Santiago. Let's see, I only have 10 million more miles to walk and at my current rate should be Christmas 2099. But, I am doing what I decided to do when I was 22 years old. If you can top that then bring your butt on over here. The walking isn't so bad if you don't mind climbing every dern mountain and hill in Spain carrying the equivalent of a 6 year old child on your back while climbing every stupid mountain in Spain.
I love my walking poles and my boots. However, I at some point will set fire to me backpack along with the fully grown monkey that is riding in it. That backpack is asking for it and buddy I'm going to give it.
With God's mercy and blind pilgrim's luck I should be in Pamplona tomorrow. Of course I can't guarantee the backpack will make it. I plan to stay another full day in Pamplona to recouperate, site see, and find a place to set fire to the backpack and monkey. I really do need the rest due to this "bug". I'll bet setting fire to backpack will do me the most good.
I will try to post pictures soon. Seems all I get done is walking, eating,showering, stepping in poop, or trying to arrange the fore-mentioned thing or at least all but the last thing. Oh if you need to find me in person you can fly to Spain, get a car, and drive to the last place I was three days ago. Believe me it would take you an hour by car what took me three stupid days to haul that stupid monkey up and down and up and down evey stupid mountain in northern Spain and lower France Dude let me tell you right after the monkey and backpack get what is coming to them then the editor interface for this blog is deadmeat.
I am going to walk slowly tomorrow too in between soaking my clothes with sweat. It ain't easy walking the camino but don't try it being sick.
Happy bday Dwight. Good night sweetie I love you and really miss you. I know if you were here you would help me carry that dern heavy backpack with that God forsaken monkey in it. xxoo.
P.S. I almost forgot, Waguih, as part of your preparation you should find a 10 story building and walk up to the top25 times a day until you get here. Of course carrying a monkey on your back is optional. If you walk up all those stairs each day then your pain level in Spain will merely be totally intolerable.
I walked well over 20 km today but unfortunately it was only 15 km in the right direction. I left my hotel this morning and walked 35 minutes before I realized that I left my batons (walking poles) at the hotel. That loud cursing you heard at about 3am was me. I am not well but better. But I have to progress so I only walked to Larrasoana today which is about 16 km closer to Santiago. Let's see, I only have 10 million more miles to walk and at my current rate should be Christmas 2099. But, I am doing what I decided to do when I was 22 years old. If you can top that then bring your butt on over here. The walking isn't so bad if you don't mind climbing every dern mountain and hill in Spain carrying the equivalent of a 6 year old child on your back while climbing every stupid mountain in Spain.
I love my walking poles and my boots. However, I at some point will set fire to me backpack along with the fully grown monkey that is riding in it. That backpack is asking for it and buddy I'm going to give it.
With God's mercy and blind pilgrim's luck I should be in Pamplona tomorrow. Of course I can't guarantee the backpack will make it. I plan to stay another full day in Pamplona to recouperate, site see, and find a place to set fire to the backpack and monkey. I really do need the rest due to this "bug". I'll bet setting fire to backpack will do me the most good.
I will try to post pictures soon. Seems all I get done is walking, eating,showering, stepping in poop, or trying to arrange the fore-mentioned thing or at least all but the last thing. Oh if you need to find me in person you can fly to Spain, get a car, and drive to the last place I was three days ago. Believe me it would take you an hour by car what took me three stupid days to haul that stupid monkey up and down and up and down evey stupid mountain in northern Spain and lower France Dude let me tell you right after the monkey and backpack get what is coming to them then the editor interface for this blog is deadmeat.
I am going to walk slowly tomorrow too in between soaking my clothes with sweat. It ain't easy walking the camino but don't try it being sick.
Happy bday Dwight. Good night sweetie I love you and really miss you. I know if you were here you would help me carry that dern heavy backpack with that God forsaken monkey in it. xxoo.
P.S. I almost forgot, Waguih, as part of your preparation you should find a 10 story building and walk up to the top25 times a day until you get here. Of course carrying a monkey on your back is optional. If you walk up all those stairs each day then your pain level in Spain will merely be totally intolerable.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Biskarret Spain. Day 3
Hello from Biskarentta which is only 12 km from Rtoncesvalles. I sort of got sick and shortened the day's walk. I have a virus or something that is causing me to have a fever and I drenched my clothes very quickly. I am sort of kinda ok now but we shall see in the morning. I had to climb a couple hills that were around 50 to 100 meters in elevation change that forced me to stop several time on each hill. I slept the rest of the day and recover some. Enough whining.
Ramsey you did well preparing me for Spain. I was so proud of myself when I communicated with the owner of the hotel who speaks no English. Then I went to the la tienda de comida (food store) and got by fairly well with la senora that runs it. Ramsey you did good. Surprisingly I think I understand Catalan well. Catalan is the language of Spain and not Spanish they are similar but not the same.
I should apologize for the Paris post which was meant to be funny but turned out mean spirited. I love Europeans having lived in Germany for 2 years. Americans generally don't understand Europeans however I do.
Speaking of speaking the camino is absolutely incredible. It is really tough on me but absolutely incredible. The official language of the xamino is English more or less. There are many languages spoken here and one minute I speak English then German then Spanish then few words of French. It is amazing. I have never experienced anything like this before.
My posts are being typed on a cellphone and do/will contain grammatical errors since I can't spend the time proofreading and correcting the mistakes. The editor really sucks using a cellphone.
Good night Deb I love you and really miss you. xxoo
Ramsey you did well preparing me for Spain. I was so proud of myself when I communicated with the owner of the hotel who speaks no English. Then I went to the la tienda de comida (food store) and got by fairly well with la senora that runs it. Ramsey you did good. Surprisingly I think I understand Catalan well. Catalan is the language of Spain and not Spanish they are similar but not the same.
I should apologize for the Paris post which was meant to be funny but turned out mean spirited. I love Europeans having lived in Germany for 2 years. Americans generally don't understand Europeans however I do.
Speaking of speaking the camino is absolutely incredible. It is really tough on me but absolutely incredible. The official language of the xamino is English more or less. There are many languages spoken here and one minute I speak English then German then Spanish then few words of French. It is amazing. I have never experienced anything like this before.
My posts are being typed on a cellphone and do/will contain grammatical errors since I can't spend the time proofreading and correcting the mistakes. The editor really sucks using a cellphone.
Good night Deb I love you and really miss you. xxoo
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Roncesvalles (via Deb)
This is a quick update posted by Al's wife Deb
who is at home in Raleigh. Internet is pretty spotty so he asked that I post
this for him.
Al reached me today via Skype from Ronesvalles. This is the location at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains on the Spanish side. His journey took him a 4000 foot increase then 1,000 foot drop over around 25 km. He said the trip down the mountain was far more treacherous than the trip up. Al expected trial by fire for the first few days but he said this portion of the walk was more difficult than he had anticipated. I do hope the worst is over.
He has already met some great people. Doug and Maddy from Prescott, AZ travel at his speed while 2 guys older than him are faster walkers - Theodor from Germany (who is tolerant of Al practicing his rusty German) and Hans from Holland. Although they walk at different speeds they meet up along the way for breaks and are at the same alberge (hostel) for the night.
Al's Spanish SIM card has not worked and he is around a week from Pamplona where he expects he can have the problem solved. If any of you need to reach Al I have his old cell phone with his US number on it and I can convey a message when he calls.
It's only been 4 days and I miss him. It seems it's always me who leaves town and Al at home with the dogs. Now it's my turn. 5 weeks is a long ways away!
Al reached me today via Skype from Ronesvalles. This is the location at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains on the Spanish side. His journey took him a 4000 foot increase then 1,000 foot drop over around 25 km. He said the trip down the mountain was far more treacherous than the trip up. Al expected trial by fire for the first few days but he said this portion of the walk was more difficult than he had anticipated. I do hope the worst is over.
He has already met some great people. Doug and Maddy from Prescott, AZ travel at his speed while 2 guys older than him are faster walkers - Theodor from Germany (who is tolerant of Al practicing his rusty German) and Hans from Holland. Although they walk at different speeds they meet up along the way for breaks and are at the same alberge (hostel) for the night.
Al's Spanish SIM card has not worked and he is around a week from Pamplona where he expects he can have the problem solved. If any of you need to reach Al I have his old cell phone with his US number on it and I can convey a message when he calls.
It's only been 4 days and I miss him. It seems it's always me who leaves town and Al at home with the dogs. Now it's my turn. 5 weeks is a long ways away!
Monday, August 19, 2013
Paris
Hello from gay Paris. And a gay one it is. I arrived this morning from JFK New York. I would rather be a sex slave to a bunch of rabid gorillas than fly through JFK. JFK airport is usually a zoo. Paris is far more calm but far more gay. The Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy is presently lying on a bed watching his laundry dry. Yep I am emulating an European.
With all best laid plans troubles arise as has happened with google voice that I had such high hopes google voice would allow me to dictate this blog instead of typing it out on this tiny keyboard on my smart phone. Yeah right this is a smart phone. If this phone were a child I would swear its mother drank vodka and smoked crack during the gestation period. Those smart folks at google decided I was French and changed all the logon screens into French. I studied French for a few months and I speak about 10 words and that is about 10 words more than this quad lingual Dumb Southern Boy cares to speak. But I tried to speak some French here because it is easier than sticking my middle finger up at all these gay people.
Tomorrow I fly to St Jeab Pied Du Port. Then I stay the night at Espirit du Chemin alburgue then walk 8 km to Huntos France for the night. Deb wanted me to bust up the first day which is exceptionally tough. She knew I would be tired from sticking my middle finger up at all of the fine folks here.
If this blog entry looks like a third grader typed it then you best keep it to yourself or I'll give you some of what I've been dishing out to these gay smelly Parisiners.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Well, today is Saturday, August 17 and I am ready because tomorrow I leave. My pack is carefully orchestrated and packed. I wanted the weight of the pack to be 20 pounds but it is running closer to 25 pounds without any water or food. Of course the pack will lighten as things are consumed like the medications, soap, emergency food, etc. However, I have trained with a 35 pound pack for several weeks and have adjusted to the weight. At the end of the training sessions with 35 pounds of pack, I would take the pack off and I felt my legs would propel me into the ceiling but didn't. The pack is really good about placing the load onto my hips due to an internal frame and a thick belt that goes around my hips. I would have liked to have less weight in the pack but my shoes (Teva sandals), sleeping bag, pants, etc added up. Oh well.
I am really sad I have to leave Deb (my wife) behind for 6 weeks. We haven't been apart this long ever in 18 years. I have a Spanish cell phone number via a SIM card that I bought online. When I arrive in Spain the SIM card is supposed to work without any fiddling or at least I am told. I have a minor data plan and texting but both are a little pricey-- a little. It costs 11 cents USD /minute (plus 39 cents/call connection charge) to call another number in Spain and 2 cents USD/minute (plus 39 cents/call connection charge) to call the US. Yes, I said it is much cheaper to call the US than another number in Spain. Go figure. I have Skype too when I can find a WIFI connection. I figure I wanted to talk to Deb every day so I found ways for us to talk.
I am amazed at how many people have lined up to help me make this journey. Some people have helped for a couple years like my Spanish teacher Ramsey (muchas gracias Ramsey), and others that are more recent like a gentleman at Walmart's pharmacy that helped me downsize my medications to smaller containers (for free) so I could carry them in my backpack. To all of those people that lined up to make my trip possible, I salute you. To all of those people that are helping my wife while I am gone, I am indebted to you. In the last few months I have found I am blessed in so many ways. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart that is buried under a 25 pound backpack.
I am really sad I have to leave Deb (my wife) behind for 6 weeks. We haven't been apart this long ever in 18 years. I have a Spanish cell phone number via a SIM card that I bought online. When I arrive in Spain the SIM card is supposed to work without any fiddling or at least I am told. I have a minor data plan and texting but both are a little pricey-- a little. It costs 11 cents USD /minute (plus 39 cents/call connection charge) to call another number in Spain and 2 cents USD/minute (plus 39 cents/call connection charge) to call the US. Yes, I said it is much cheaper to call the US than another number in Spain. Go figure. I have Skype too when I can find a WIFI connection. I figure I wanted to talk to Deb every day so I found ways for us to talk.
I am amazed at how many people have lined up to help me make this journey. Some people have helped for a couple years like my Spanish teacher Ramsey (muchas gracias Ramsey), and others that are more recent like a gentleman at Walmart's pharmacy that helped me downsize my medications to smaller containers (for free) so I could carry them in my backpack. To all of those people that lined up to make my trip possible, I salute you. To all of those people that are helping my wife while I am gone, I am indebted to you. In the last few months I have found I am blessed in so many ways. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart that is buried under a 25 pound backpack.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Preparation for the Start of the Camino
I am preparing to leave Raleigh on August 18, 2013 and fly to Paris arriving on Aug 19, 2013. I am staying in a hotel near the Orly Airport for the night to adjust to jet lag and to get a morning flight to Bayonne, France the following morning (August 20). In Bayonne, France I have arranged for a shuttle ride to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France which will be my actual starting point for the pilgrimage. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (SJPP) is the traditional starting point for the Camino Frances (French way) of the Camino de Santiago. I will stay in SJPP overnight at L'Espirit du Chemin which is a fairly famous place to stay for the start of "the camino". L'Espirit du Chemin is an alburgue which is a hostel for pilgrims only. The first day of the pilgrimage will be August 21 and the day will be a trial by fire as the elevation goes from 579' to 4719' then down to 3036' in Roncesvalles, Spain where I will spend the night. This elevation change occurs in about 15 miles. Here is a video that someone shot of the first stage. This is the route that Napoleon took on his march into Spain.
Most of the log entries in the future will be done via a smartphone and may lack proper grammar due to the difficulty entering and editing text. I will likely switch to kilometers in my posts in the future as most distances are measured in kilometers in Europe. 1km is equal to 0.62miles. So, 10km is about 6.2 miles.
Most of the log entries in the future will be done via a smartphone and may lack proper grammar due to the difficulty entering and editing text. I will likely switch to kilometers in my posts in the future as most distances are measured in kilometers in Europe. 1km is equal to 0.62miles. So, 10km is about 6.2 miles.
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