This morning we left beautiful Astorga, but never mind that city´s plazas, architecture, and historic sites; Astorga has got to be the candy capital of Spain! Maybe of the whole world! The whole city seems drenched in chocolate, and I swear every other store is a candy store or a too-fancy-to-eat pastry shop. I was imagining that, just as people go bar-hopping on Friday and Saturday nights in other places, in Astorga people come to candy and pastry shop-hop. Astorga is one sweet city! But somehow we were able to negotiate our way through all the sugar to find a restaurant where we had a good (have we ever had any other kind?) 10-euro meal. Tom started with a fresh, crisp salad (some are fresher and crisper than others, but this one really was!) while I had the fish soup, full or fish, clams, shrimp, even a crayfish floating around, eyes, antennae, and all! For the next course Tom had fish baked in a sauce with a sunny-side egg on the side. I went with the more conventional pork filet and french fries. The ice cream for dessert was truely a cut above: two slices of vanilla, each with a chocolate ice cream heart and each slice topped with a pecan in a chunk of milk chocolate. A presentation even a non-chocolate-lover can admire! The only problem with Astorga was that I didn´t see the little running man. In every large Spanish city we´ve been in so far we´ve seen the little running man: at many of the urban pedestrian street crossings the "walk" signal is a little green stick man with long feet and a little hat. When it´s time to cross he starts walking with a sort of 1970´s "keep on trucking" style. As the seconds run out he walks faster, and by the time there are only a few seconds left he´s running. Then he turns red and stops, which means the walkers have to, too. I love the little running man. Anyway, when we left this morning the sun was shining but it was miserably freezing cold, and as I slogged along in my four top layers, two pairs of pants, and wool socks over gloves, I found myself longing for the 85 degree weather of a few weeks ago. But as the day went on it got warmer, the layers were peeled and the scoutmaster´s wife stopped kvetching to the scoutmaster about the cold, and we made our way across 22 km´s of lovely, hiils and trees ( we´ve left behind the Meseta with it´s flat, repetitive landscape) to the town of Rabanal Del Camino. We´re in a cute little albergue, very rustic, with a wood burning stove in the sitting room. I know some people say they have radar, or gaydar, or whatever, but I´m thinking I must have laundry-service-dar, since I´ve been on a real roll lately! Anyway, this place has it and this nice computer, too. Tomorrow we´ll have to climb the highest mountain on the Camino, 5,000 feet - turns out that mountain at the beginning was only the second-highest mountain. Everybody says this second mountain, though it´s higher than the first, is somehow easier than the first. I´m still a little nervous about it. But anyway tomorrow at this time I´ll be on the other side. Or I won´t. Keep your fingers crossed for me and stay tuned. And may you conquer any challenges you may face today. Love, Patti 8)
Patti Liszkay
My husband Tom and I will be walking the 490.7-mile Camino de Santiago from St. Jean Pied de Port, France, to Santiago, Spain. We leave Columbus 9/11/13 and return 10/30/13. God willing. ArchivesCategoriesThe sequel to "Equal and Opposite Reactions" in which a woman discovers the naked truth about herself.
A romantic comedy of errors. Lots and lots of errors. "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Kindle: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or in print: http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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