And it Begins… Preamble to ‘A Year in Vorarlberg’ Blog – Eighteen months ago in a very, very cold, dark and wet Alaskan day, Ursula and I sat in the Islander Bar reviewing our last year and half since retirement and trying to figure out if we’d done the rightRead More →
Finally! Arriving in Feldkirch Video Log – it’s been a busy and fast few weeks with travels and dramas and events and fun…and all sorts other stuff. It hasn’t been a period filled with any blogging or reflecting….as the ‘here and now’ is too demanding. Soon, I plan to takeRead More →
A Year in Vorarlberg A blog about an American guy and an Austrian gal taking a year off away from home to travel and explore Vorarlberg, Austria and all over Europe. This blog will capture some of the adventures and challenges (and pictures) along the way; cats in transport, learningRead More →
Completo 19 May – Santiago. These closing notes have been quite a few days in the making. The Camino was a challenging thing to do, physically. Reflecting on the experience and trying to capture its value is important and equally difficult. The difficulty in writing about it is to notRead More →
Albergues vs hotel (group rooms vs individual rooms) You’ll find many purists on the Camino who come with a prescribed vision of what it is to be on a ‘real camino’. In their view, any variance from the way it was done hundreds of years ago is not the genuineRead More →
Post Camino Blues The walks are done, the camaraderie is now a Facebook/WhatsAp phenomena, and the care-free living is in the past – this is living the ‘Camino Blues.’ Leaving the Camino is no difference than returning from a military deployment. The constant euphoria of living on the edge, inRead More →
Paradigms We all see the world based on the way we’ve seen it in the past, plus new experiences. Our new experiences mold our evolving perceptions. A simple experience many, many days previous caused me to reflect just how filtered we are by our paradigms and just how useful itRead More →
Camino Food It’s a subject I’ve held off on writing about because each region that we walked through is slightly different. What was similar, was the dreaded ‘Pilgrim’s Meal’. I’ve ranted about that enough that the only thing I’ll say here is that it was the staple. From there, onceRead More →
Azzura Leading the Hoards 17 May – A few days ago, a friend that is traveling a few days behind us, asked if the the trails were congested from Sarria onward (due to the 100Km Caminoites). I told him there was no significant change that we could see and thatRead More →
Absolutely Magical 12 May – This is a tough day to recap in writing, it was so magical it defies my ability to capture it in words. But, I’ll give it shot so I can share the experience. (O Cebreiro) Today I glided through a mystical place of closely knittedRead More →
The Iron Cross So I made it up to the Iron Cross: Of it’s own physical accord, it’s not too impressive, just a very tall pole supporting a small Iron Cross on top a rubble of stones. However, it’s simplify can be disarming. The pole is wrapped with paper prayers,Read More →
Templar Castle 10 May, Today I finally saw an honest to god Templar Castle. Not the ones you see on TV or the movies or one of those ancient places that everybody claims was one….but doesn’t really know. It was basic, not much to it. Just like a modern dayRead More →
Back to the Foothills 8 May – Finally, the trail is leading us out of the Meseta – the miles and miles of wheat fields that turned into roads, city suburbs and industrial parks. What started out as a beautiful and contemplative trail (dirt Yellow Brick Road) turned into asphaltRead More →
Rest Day 3 6 May – Two nights in one of Castile-Leon’s biggest cities (Leon) provokes insightful contemplation of a brutally stark contrast between life on the Camino and life. As a Caminoite, one floats through time and space as a mere observer, effected by neither. (Lost in Leon) One’sRead More →
It’s all about your feet! 3 May – Last night before turning out the lights I noted my left foot was still swollen. Normally the swelling goes down after a few hours off the road….the fatigue and tightness in the foot doesn’t. Naturally, I took some Motrin, shrugged it offRead More →
Spaniards 2 May – The Spaniards I’ve come to meet are some of the most generous, gracious, distinguished and happy people I’ve met. I don’t know if it’s because I travel in a bubble along the Camino and the only ones we meet are those dedicated to the welfare ofRead More →
The Meseta 29 April- Short posting today extracted from my Face Book posting of the same day. I was half delirious from a long, hot day on the trail and was enjoying the moment after a bellyful of beer after finally finding the town and a bed to sleep in.Read More →
The City of Burgos 28 April – My last posting about all cathedrals blending together was premature. I’ve met one of the original ‘Shock and Awe’ religious sites on the camino tour – the Burgos Cathedral. Words and photos can not do it justice. Regal, beautiful, ornate are descriptive termsRead More →
St Dom, Belorado, Atapuerca 24 – 26 April – Atapuerca, It’s where Camino heaven and hell collide. I arrived in this non-descript little village after 18.6 miles of humping through the rain and snow flurries and finally, finally found a place to stay; the previous villages were ‘completo’ (booked). WhenRead More →
Estella 18- 20 April Time to catch up on the Blog as I sit here in a cafe in the ancient Camino town of Estella with it’s three churches, all representing the separate and distinct interests of its mixed inhabitants. I’m consuming the ‘Menu del Dia” of Pallela, Pollo conRead More →