Husa Universal Hotel Santiago De Compostela

... the city which contains all the old buildings and churches is pedestrianised and huddles round the grand cathedral. The Cathedral is vast and very ornate. The guide books say that is best seen in the rain so that all the lichens and mosses are highlighted. The weather duly obliged!

The car has decided to have a sick day and has gone to the Ford dealer to recuperate! We collect it tonight and move on to Portugal in the morning.

... kids asleep except Dami who is a night owl) after midnight. Oops the campground closes (and is locked) at 11. A tour of town found a parking lot by the beach. We joined a pair of vw busses and bedded down for the night. Classy. We ARE trailer trash.

             

... Then, after his run, he wanted to have a drink with us... but we left before he got back from his shower. Unfortunately, Saturday night... he recognized us. He brought us cava and sangria and then came and sat down with us, saying nothing and jumping up every few minutes to check on other tables. He again brought us a big plate of food, and more drinks when we finished the first ones. After about 45 minutes, we had found out only that he was from Brazil but was ...

... sunrise yoga. We later planned to go into a caruna for a day trip but thought better of it when we learned of the "end of summer" fiesta being held at the campground from 10-3am. And when I say, held at the campground I mean, held directly in front of our camper ...

Our day went very much according to plan. Nice!! A morning enjoying Sao Joao de P. with pastries and coffee and strolling the tiny streets. An on time depature had us in Santiago de Compostela by 3:30 after enjoying the amazing country side. A quick tour of the amazing ...

... Hand
o BURNIN' LOVE (request)
o BORN TO BE WILD (request)
o My Love Will Not Let You Down
o Waitin' On A Sunny Day
o The Promised Land
o This Life (request)
o Backstreets
o Lonesome Day
o The Rising
o Born To Run
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
o NO SURRENDER (Acoustic)
o Land of Hope & Dreams
o American Land
o Glory Days
o Dancing In The Dark
o Rockin All Over The World
o Twist & Shout
o Born In The USA

Well, after a tough transition to life in the dorms in a foreign country, I was excited to get to class on the first day and have all of my questions answered. The informal "meet and greet" and introductory session didn't happen on Sunday night, so there were quite a few of us who were fish out of water (aside from being English speaking visitors in a foreign country). It was pretty crazy when we got to class the first ...

... long-haired Norwegian guy. Actually, it was quite amazing, the variety of people and nationalities represented. The priest started out in painfully halting English, wondering how he might address so many people of so many languages. We whiled away the rest of the time buying food and eating it in a park, taking photos, using the net bar, and then eating more doner kebap.

... and draws attention away from modernity. It doesn't matter how much glass and metal your hotel is made of if all the houses around it have Spanish roofs and have been there for a hundred years. I'm anxious to see if this plays out in other parts of Spain, but for now, this old city drives on toward neon and steel, its granite past shackled to it like an inseverable, beautiful ball and chain.

Thursday morning found me on a plane on my way to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, a region of Spain above Portugal, with my Italian room mate, Francesco, and my travel buddy, Alejandro of Mexico. Obviously the plane was late - it's Spain - but eventually we arrived. We wandered through Santiago to find a hostel and then headed off to buy umbrellas. Galicia's landscapes are similar to Ireland, rolling green hills everywhere, but this requires lots of rain ...