Rest day in Burgos!

October 20, 2011

I had a great sleep and slept in till 8:45. Breakfast included at the hotel (juice, toast, packaged cakes and cafe con leche). Then off we went to see the Cathedral. Martina and I had to walk back to the hotel to get our pilgrims passport to prove we were pilgrims, and get the discounted rate (2.50 Euros).

I spent three hours in the cathedral, exploring the chapels dedicated to various Saints and taking pictures. What can I say? It was big and amazing. The dome took my breath away. My favourite chapel was the Chapel of St. John and St. James.  Amazing carvings, sculptures, tapestries and paintings. And lots of gold!! I fell in love with the modern paintings done by Teresa Pena (1935 -2002). They really struck a cord with me and it was nice to see such contrast from the paintings of the middle ages.

After leaving the Cathedral, I stopped into a tapas bar and had a great cafe con leche and an interesting tapas. It was deep fried pineapple on a small little toast, with brie cheese and a walnut. Yummy.  I got back to my room at 1:30 and just relaxed for the afternoon. I wrote cards and journaled a bit and had a two hour nap.

Later that afternoon, Hans called my room to see if I was meeting Gerti and Martina before they caught the train home. He said he had seen them in the church. I should have asked which church because I went to the wrong one. Then I got a little turned around in all the winding streets and hadn’t brought my map. I walked in the general direction through narrow cobblestone streets to where I thought was going to get me back to the Camino. If I could find the Camino, I could find my hotel. By now it is dark and the street lights are on and there are many people in the streets. Finally, I find the Camino and turn onto it. In my mind, if I followed the street, my hotel should be on the left. So I walked a few blocks, and there it was...However it was on the right! Whoa..guess I did get turned around.

I was feeling a little, sad because I had not met up with the girls to say goodbye. Hans had found a real Italian pizzeria, so that is where we went for dinner. In the middle of dinner, Gerti called Hans on his cell to see where we were. Within minutes, the ladies joined us for one last glass of wine, exchanges of emails and tearful goodbyes. They were off with their bags loaded with new clothes, sausage, bread, cheese and wine, to catch their 10:30 pm train, for a long ride to Paris and then back to Germany. Goodbye to Gerti, my Beer Angel and Martina, my beautiful German friend. “Chin Chin!”