At last, the day has come to actually begin this journey of mine. Lots of preparation, reading, planning and attempts to learn Spanish and tomorrow morning at 8AM I begin.
Yesterday I met some fellow travelers at the train station in Bayonne — the entire train was full of people obviously walking the Camino — and I friended (in person, flesh and blood and everything) a British couple, Lynn and Keith, and a Swedish guy, Freddie, so had company on the train to the bus to the hotel experience. St Jean Pied-de-Port is a charming hillside town in Basque Country, once the seat of military power as it sits at the base of one of the easier passes across the Pyrenees. (It means “foot of the passage”). After dinner with those mentioned above, there was an amazing light show — sheet lightning that went on for about 20 minutes. I tried to capture an image because it was so beautiful, and turns out it was the precursor to quite a thunder and rain storm. All very novel to a Cali girl who hasn’t seen rain in 9 months.
Spent the day today relaxing and exploring, and am now packed up and ready to begin in the morning. Lynn and Keith had broken up the first stage into two, so left today. Freddie and I will start off together in the morning. So tonight I’m soaking my feet in the bidet in the bathroom — that’s what they’re for, right?
A bientot for now.
Have a good time on that challenging first day!! You’ll be great. All is good here in LA.