Hotel Tryp Leon León

I did´n get to see munch of Madrid exept the metro system. Went to the airport to straighten things with Air Comet/AeroMexico and then back to the train station. Quite tiring.
But Trini was so nice, a perfect host !
Leon is a nice middle-sized city with a beautifull cathedral and narrow streets typical from spain, and of course a good nightlife. I went out this night with Ruth (Trini´s daughter) and her friends, and had a great time !
I like spain, I´ll be back next year.

... puestos. Llegó un sinfín de coches oficiales al más puro estilo peliculero: arrasando y derrapando en el último minuto. Descendieron un montón de guardaespaldas, y le abrieron la puerta. Allí estaba, el mismísimo Presidente de la Nación delante de mis narices. La Ministra le seguía. Nos saludó a todos los integrantes del Consejo de Administración y equipo directivo. Cuando llegó a m ...

... should I refer to them as Catalans?) going with the bikes as well, so we went together a little, they were nice.

to be continued...

We took a bus into Leon today from Mansilla de las Mulas. We had been planning to do this for some time because our guide book tells us that the walk into the city is a ¨soulless and dangerous slog¨. The author may have exaggerated but it has given us a full day to enjoy what is truly a city that is worth spending time in.

The city is about 140,000 in population but it what Saskatoon would be like if it had a ...

... a drink, and I finally had the BEST Sangria I´ve ever had in Spain! The real McCoy! We had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant in the old town called Zuloaga, where the waiter gave us complimentary grappa and tapas - chorizo sausage in a tempura-like batter and drizzled with something like balsalmic vinegar - too spicy for me, but at least I tried it! It was a fun night, but a late night - we didn´t get back to our hotel until 12:30 a.m. More later.....

... som var under oppussing. Pilgrimmene var stuet inn paa smaa sovesaler med saa lite plass mellom etasjesengene at vi maatte bytte plass for aa skifte sokker. 11 mennesker paa et rom som var litt storre enn soverommet vaart hjemme. I 2.etasje, med et orlite vindu som romningsvei og en propanovn med levende flamme utenfor doren der klaer omtrent hang til tork oppaa. - I gangen stod det 4-5 propanflasker. Jeg holdt et oye vaakent det meste av natten - tenkte at her kunne vaert en ...

... some worship music, but I couldn't sing very loud because my roommate was still sleeping, and had a time of prayer. It was really refreshing. After "church" my roommate finally woke up and we talked for a little bit and had lunch then we decided to try to go to the supermarket to buy some food that we still needed because we are supposed to get some freezing rain tonight and it ...

... or cinque cereale. Bouyed by that superb breakfast the next 13 km of empty fields whizzed by and soon I was sitting at yet another red tabled pilgrim bar sipping coke with a dozen other cheerful, footsore peregrinos. This is definitely getting easier. Now I'm here in this quite good sized town (they have more than one shop!!) and staying at a big albergue with at least 70 others. There are A LOT of socks hanging on the washing line.

... spanish girl named Pilu all day - which wasn´t all bad! - flipping between spanish and english and realizing i can speak and understand way more than i thought, and didn´t hardly notice the cold or the rain or the leaking bowels. that afternoon we cruised into SAHAGUN to find the refugio closed and a note from trae scrawled on the door; ´check your email!´ so we went to find the only internet cafe in town and lo and behold, there was T himself! damn ...

... interesting characters: .A guy with one arm hiking 40km everyday .A guy who had walked from Munich .A really huge, fat lady who could still walk pretty fast and wasn't sure she would make it all the way, but she did .Loads of Italians who were all quite flirtatious and nice .Japanese guy who was running the Camino (see picture in next entry) .Old English guy who decided to do the Camino from his doorstep in England during ...