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October 12th, 2013

10/12/2013

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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)
1 Comment
Marianne
10/12/2013 11:44:19 pm

As the song says, "climb every mountain...til you find your dreams."
My thoughts are with you and Tom as you climb today, and I'm eager to read about your journey tonight...you're amazing !

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    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.

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    The sequel to "Equal and Opposite Reactions" in which a woman discovers the naked truth about herself.
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    "Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
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     A romantic comedy of errors.
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    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
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