Santa Lucia Santiago de Compostela

... have been gathering for centuries to visit the tomb of St James. The Cathedral itself was magnificent, and the surrounding buildings where also very impressive. Shopping in the narrow flag stoned streets was a delight. We stayed at were given refreshments in a former hospital dating from around 1513 which is a listed building and is now a first class hotel. It was all very grand.

Ah, getting up at the crack of 9:30, showering, grabbing a wonderful cup of "cafe con leche" and that wonderful goat cheese with manchego for breakfast. This is the life.....I'll have to remember this when I most need it as I'm schlepping my butt from one end of the US to the other most of the year!<br><br>The hotel is pretty nice. Roomy, clean and kinda like a European version of a W Hotel without all that annoying music playing ...

... 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!<br><br>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.

... and then, naturally, real shopping) for a while, then sat at another cafe and got a quick snack, since it was about 7:30. We then changed quickly and went back to the same "Carpe Diem" bar we had been at the night before. When we got there, we saw a waiter we had seen there the night before. Friday night, this dude had been running laps around the block, stopping after each lap to check on the bar and make sure everything was ok, which we found pretty weird ...

... than it sounds (as it always is with them), because one place was too crowded, another too expensive, another didn't have good looking wines, and so on. Finally, we settled on a table in the back of a restaurant, where I got a bowl of Galician "caldo", a delicious soup made with spinach and white beans typical of the region, and we split a bottle of white wine. By the time we finished there, it was around 1am and my leg hurt, so Maureen, Liz and I headed back to the hostel.<br>

... and I stayed together. I write &#8216;security check&#8217; between quotation marks on purpose. I&#8217;ve gone to Spain often, I&#8217;ve had experience with their security control at airports and other venues, but this was hilarious if it actually wasn&#8217;t so sad. I had a fleece jacket in my raincoat tied around my waist and I had a cap attached to my jeans. The pockets of my jackets were filled with sandwiches, bottle of water, a book: just ...

... It seems like a nice relaxing way to finish things up. Of course, we´re not done vacationing yet, as we still have a week in Istanbul and a week in Amsterdam to look forward to. We are starting to miss home though, especially the food as Spanish Gastronomy has lost its novelty and nothing here is spicy. Of course, we also miss our friends and family who never leave any posts on our blog anymore. (A note to Fritz´s parents: ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE!)

... to Porto, this was a nice city as well, for the most part I was very impressed with Portugal. Then after 1 day in Porto I headed up to Santiago de Compestella, back in spain. I have been here now for a few days where I am staying with my Aussie freind that I studied with in Germany, his girlfreind lives here so she had a spare room, so I will be here for a few more days, as its nice catching up with them, as it has been over 1.5 ...

... that looked vaguely familiar. After about 5 minutes of thought, I narrowed it down to an older guy that I had played basketball with at the Corec at Purdue a few times. Forget about it, no way he was in Europe. Once I arrived in Munich I had to head straight to my next plane. It was Munich to O'hare operated by United Airlines, which means, no more free drinks...stupid Americans. Once I took my seat, a man walked up and looked at me funny and ...

... around the streets, looked at the old church, admired the local slating with un-trimmed sheets of slate, and the drystone walling and horizontally bedded stonework in the houses which had not been rendered. The architecture is quite charming, although repairs and extensions in breeze block and clay cellular bricks looked pretty ordinary. Had drinks at a bar, which led into a evening meal in the same bar. Typical menu del dia is soup, main course, dessert, and a wine ...