Sunday & Monday in Paris

Sunday was a hoot.... we got to visit the Arc de Triumph took the stairs to the top and saw some amazing views. We walked down the main drag all the way to the Louvre and did some shopping. Shopping in Paris was so much fun. We got home early and rested because later that night we were all invited to dinner with Jasmine's uncle Alvaro who lives here in Paris. We took the metro (subway) to dinner and the first train we got on Brian got pushed out of the way and couldn't push his way through the fast closing doors so he didn't make it on the same train as the rest of the group. Jaz and her family got off at the next stop to see if he got on the next train and waited there. They didn't see him get off so Jaz and her dad took the next train back and found him sitting just where they left him. We were all so happy to be reunited and Brian was a bit embarrassed. The rest of the train ride was a hoot... we got off too early and ended up having to walk to our location. We ended up being about an hour late and didn't have a phone to inform Alvaro. We couldn't help but laugh it off and thankfully Jaz's uncle was still there. He and his friends Laura and Sergio had a beautiful candle lit dinner for us on the side of a church. We enjoyed some amazing dishes like meat/veggie empanadas, potato salad, fresh raddishes and some of the best salmon we have ever had. We had a great time and finished our night off with a coffee down the street at a cafe.

Monday...(today) TOP OF THE EIFFLE TOUR!!! Enough said. It was amazing. We only waited in line for about an hour and a half. We were entertained by the street vendors selling to the tourists and then running from the police who half heartedly chased them down streets. We enjoyed a glass of champagne at the top of the tower and saw some amazing views. It was a great way to end our trip on a high note.

Later we cooked up some pork chops in our loft and made sure we ate everything in the fridge. Jaz's parents took Alvaro out to dinner to thank him for his generous hospitality. Jaz, Sebbie and Brian all decided to go out for our last stroll in Paris. We ended up taking the metro again and decided to see the Moulin Rouge. It was a quick trip. We took pictures... and decided to get back on the metro.

Tomorrow we get on our plane to head back home. We feel so blessed to have been able to experience, enjoy and grow closer during this trip. We want to thank everyone who has been following our blog and hope to see everyone soon in California.

Until next time....

Hasta luego,

Brian & Jasmine

Friday & Saturday in Paris

Yes everyone we have been here in Paris for the last 4 1/2 days... We have accomplished so much and can't believe we fly home tomorrow.

On Friday we were able to hit quite a few land marks here in Paris. We walked to the Notre Dame stood in line for about 20 minutes and toured the church. We feel blessed to have been able to visit such beautiful churches on our journey and in so many different pueblos and cities. After our visit at Notre Dame we walked over a few blocks picked up some sushi for the first time in almost 6 weeks and shared a meal at the Jardin du Luxembourg with Jaz's family. It was a sunny afternoon and the garden looked beautiful. We got to visit the original Statue of Liberty that is much smaller than the one that was gifted to the U.S. and watched a group of college art students who were sitting around the statue drawing in their sketch books. We walked a few gardens over and watched groups of older men playing a game known as petanque.

By 3pm we had visited Les Invalides where Napoleon Bonaparte was buried, and in the garden right in front of the Eiffel Tower. We took another rest and took plenty of photos. The lines were very long and by that time we were getting a bit restless so we decided to save it for another night.

Saturday we both stood in line with Jas' lil bro Sebastian and visited the Louvre Museum. It started to rain on us for a bit while waiting in line Jaz decided to buy an umbrella from the guys who constantly are going around selling different items to tourists. We were astonished to see and learn how but the Louvre really was. It went on for days... and up about 4 floors. There was no way we could possibly see everything. We decided to work our way around the 2nd floor and visit some of Leonardo De Vinci's masterpieces. After about an hour of walking around we turned the corner and saw the Mona Lisa. This room was so crowded it was hard to get photos. Such a neat painting to say we have seen..... but quite small. We got to view paintings from Lorraine & Rembrant. It was Jasmine's Dad's birthday so that evening we all went to a nice restaurant down the street and ran 3 blocks through the pouring rain. Yes, it was raining again. Rain....has been following us.

Arrived in Paris on their Independence Day!

After having an amazing 3 days in San Sebastian we have made it to Paris. Let us catch you up a bit....

After we last updated you from an internet cafe in old San Sebastian we decided to hike Monte Urgull after the rain thankfully died down. The views from the top of this mountain at the end of the bay were absolutely amazing. Because the clouds cleared a bit, we were able to take great pictures and see some amazing views of the bay. The weather was humid enough for us to want to go for a swim. We walked back towards our hotel, (Hotel Europa) stopped in at a near by grocery store and picked up sandwich meats along with warm veggies, and pulpo(octopus) with potatoes. After enjoying a great lunch on our balcony we got dressed and ready for the beach.

We didn't hesitate to pull out our beach mats and get set up for a game of paddle ball. The beach wasn't too crowded which allowed us to have quite a bit of room for a good game. We were able to enjoy our last day in San Sebastian soaking up some sun. Later that evening we went back out and did some shopping and had our last plate of tapas in Espana. We couldn't have asked for a better time. We will post pictures of the beach and San Sebastian tomorrow.

Today was definitely one of our longer/tougher travel days yet. We woke up at 4:30am ready to get to the train station early enough to catch a train by 6am. When we got there we were informed by a worker that there were no trains going to Hendania (where we needed to buy tickets to get to Paris) and that we could only go to Irun. So we got tram tickets to Irun. Once in Irun at around 6:45am we noticed this stations was a bit too empty and sure enough noticed that the ticket booths weren't even open until 7:15am. Jaz then asked another lady who was working the station by herself to see if this station even sold tickets to get to Paris. (We were told that both Irun, Spain & Hendania, France did). The lady at the Irun station told us we were at the wrong station and needed to get to Hendania. She told us to walk through town and find another subway that took us to Hendania and then from there see if we could get tickets to Paris. Brain wants to mention that he is truly greatful for Jaz speaking spanish because if she didn't we would have had an even harder time getting around. So we made it to the subway just within a minutes time of the train coming, got into Hendania and were able to make the 8:01am train to Paris, France just in the nic of time. (If this was too wordy just understand that we did a lot of train hopping)

The train ride was smooth sailing after that and we definitely did our best to get some shut eye. However it was a bit hard to sleep because we did have a newborn baby in our coach.

Once we got into Paris we looked for the nearest Metro station to take us to the Louvre Museum. We both knew that Jasmine's parents were blocks away and felt like we would be able to wing it. The metro took us straight to the Museum. In fact, we came up from right under it and the moment we walked out from under ground were surrounded by the amazing structure.

After about an hour and a half of getting in contact with Jas' parents and looking for we got to the loft and relaxed/showered. The loft is literally two blocks from the Louvre and minutes from the Eiffel Tower. After catching up with Jas' family and Brian calling his family (Shout out to the Gosney's) we were back out and headed straight for the Eiffel Tower. Jas' parents and brother had mentioned they were able to see a parade early today and they informed us it was France's Independence Day.... well little did we know that we got the firework show of a life time that went off at 11pm sharp. The Eiffel Tower Sparkled in the darkness as we stood a block away while the two ton amount of fireworks went off just to our right over the Seine River. It was a spectacular event and definitely one way to welcome us into their city. Or at least we like to think so. =)

Anyway... you may notice the long blog entry. Well, that is because we have internet now and its Free!! No more Internet Cafe's for us. It's almost 2am here time to sleep for us.

Miss everyone back home and talk to you all soon. It truly means a lot to hear from everyone following our blog. Thanks for all of the emails and kind words.

Brian & Jasmine

San Sebastian

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long delay between updates. We are in the beautiful beach city of San Sebastian. Our first day here was perfect weather. We spent a day on the beach. Enjoying the sun and swimming in the ocean. Unfortuantely, the weather yesterday and today has been rainy. We have made the best of it by shopping, eating tapas, drinking wine and claras and enjoying the city.

Tomorrow we leave for Paris. We were not able to make reservations on the train, but we are confident we will be able to get there tomorrow to meet Jasmine´s family. We can´t wait to show everyone photos and see everyone in the states. Hasta luego.

Leon!!

Hi Everyone... We are having a blast and can´t wait for the next chapter in our trip. We have finished our Camino for the time being. We have walked over 280 miles in two in a half weeks and have no blisters! On our last day of walking we both were talking about how amazing this entire experince has been. We stopped at a cafe/bar a little bit before 8am and grabbed our usual cafe con leche and espresso. The owner of the bar had the tv on and were were able to watch the San Fermin festival of the running of the bulls live with other pilgrims along the camino. Everyone was excited and couldn´t believe the poundings some of the runners were taking from these bulls. Some of the other Spanish pilgrims were laughing at us because of our reactions, they probably thought we were more entertaining.

Yesterday we arrived in Leon and spent our last night in an albergue. At 9:30 the nuns from the church had a special pilgrim mass and gave all the pilgrims a blessing. As much as we love staying with 50 other people, we are happy to not sleep on bunkbeds for the next week. Leon is a beautiful city we have enjoyed walking around town and finally started doing some shopping. We have also enjoyed some gelatto and even ate at a pizzeria!! We walked around downtown Leon and made reservations on the train for San Sebastian on Sunday. Today has been a nice day of rest and we are excited for tapas and drinks in a few minutes. Thanks for following. See you guys soon.

Hasta luego,
Brian y Jasmine

Sahagun to Calzadilla del los Hermanillos

Terradillos de Templarios

We have gone 47 km since our last post. Two days ago we arrived in Carrion de los Condes. We stayed and an albergue run by the nuns of Santa Maria. They were very welcoming. We learned that a few were from Peru and others were from different parts of Spain. During the evening the nuns sang and invited all of the pilgrims to join and litsen. The singing was beautiful and one of the nuns played a mean guitar. Jasmine recognized and sang many of the songs and Brian hummed along here and there. We attended mass after singing and made our own dinner for the first time on the trip.

We kept our tradition of resting on Sunday. We were able to watch the Wimbeldon final from our room. Brian was very excited. That night we had rain and hail showers and Jasmine ran through the streets to get dinner.

Today we walked 27 km. We left early and beat the heat as we arrived in Terradillos de Templarios at noon. That is all of the time we have today.

Our 3rd Day on the Maseta

It has been a few days...... However we have truly been blessed with the alburgues we have been able to stay at. Since we stayed in Ages and were in the middle of a huge rain storm we have been to:

1. Burgos: This city was absolutely amazing!! We arrived around noon and checked into our alburge. We right away looked for a place to eat and found a restaurant right next to the Cathedral de Santa Maria. This Cathedral was absolutely gorgeous. We got tickets to go in and took plenty of photos we hope to post soon. We spent at least two hours touring this Cathedral. Later Tueday evening we went out in the town. It was a very popular week we happen to visit and they had a huge Festival de Burgos going on everynight. We happen to be the the eve of the biggest day of the year. While we walked the Plaza Mayor and Paseo Espolon we got to listen to a Brazilian band play amazing music, watch trapeze artists swing in the air and entertain children and walked from booth to booth tasting numerous tapas. It was a cold night in Burgos but we had a blast laughing and soaking in the culture. At a half past ten (thats how they say 10:30 over here) we walked back to the alburge where we tried to fall asleep. The alburge was so warm we couldn´t fall asleep. At just about midnight we both heard the loudest noises coming from outside. The streets were filled with locals partying at pubs and dancing in the streets. We went to bed because if we didn´t we would get locked out of our Alburgue and that wouldn´t be good. Finally fireworks began going off and we thought they would never stop. We walked over to a corner window and got to enjoy the most amazing firework show both of us had ever seen. It went on for just over half an hour and was literally about a block away right above the Cathedral. AH-MAZING!!!

2. Wednesday morning we woke up at around 5:30am and left the alburgue by 6am. The streets of Burgos were still filled with locals partying and enjoying their morning. A few were even looking for rides home and wishing us a sarcastic ´Buen Camino´. We passed the next main village about 21k out and decided to go about 5km more to a town called San Bol. We had heard from the pueblo before that there was nothing in San Bol but an alburgue... no homes, no restaurant no food. So we made sure we took 4 sandwiches to go. When we made it into this small remote valley of San Bol we were an awe its beauty took us by surprise and we proceeded 200 meters off the camino to check out the alburgue. We were a bit afraid there wouldn´t be any more room for us to stay but thankfully the host was very welcoming and even informed us they were making a pilgrim dinner for the guest. We were stoked because we were getting Paella. This Alburgue was gorgeous and so refreshing. It is said that the stream and pond below this alburgue has healing powers for sore and aching feet. We both enjoyed the ice cold water and dipped our feet in (like the cabin). We learned the host and her husband were from Cuba and moved to España to start a better life. She was such a sweet lady.


3. San Nicolaus - Thursday morning we took off through the Meseta on a very windy and sunny morning. We have been very lucky with this morning weather. We weren´t sure where we wanted to stop for the next evening until we came across this charming Alburgue just before Intero de la Vega. This alburgue in San Nicolaus was restored by an Italian Confraternity who retain candlelight as the source of light which adds to the healing atmosphere of this secluded alburgue. Space was limited and we got there just in time to get beds (not mattresses on the floor). We were welcomed with open arms and this confraternity has special riturals where they washed our feet with healing water on their altar. The meal was delicious a shared pilgrim meal with pasta, bean, egg, and tuna salad and vino. We both slept very well last night and woke up with a smile. They wished us a good bye with a prayer and hugs with lots of photos.



We are in Fromista right now at a local Bar who had internet. We decided to only go 14km today and make it an easy day. Jasmine tends to start feeling more pain about 1 to 2 km outside of whatever Pueblo(town) we are going to stop at. Its a bit of a metal thing she thinks. We have been sitting here in this bar for about three hours now enjoying Maxibon´s (Ice cream bars) and Cervez y Claras (beer with carbonated lemonade).

Brian is making sure he is keeping up as best he can with his Fantasy Baseball even though he is slipping in the standings. Jasmine can´t wait to see emails or messages from family and friends.

We miss everyone and can´t wait to update you soon.

Ages

Thunder storm! We are in a middle of a thunder storm. Luckly we are safe and dry in our hostel. We were enjoying a very cool (almost cold) and quiet church when we had to run back to the hostel and save our damp clothing. Now we are patiently waiting for dinner in a couple of hours. All you can eat pallea, chicken and salad and all you can drink wine.

Today we walked 28 km. We were planning on stopping 4 km earlier in San Juan Ortega, but we were feeling so good (after Jasmine had her Coco Cola) we kept on going to Ages. We are getting closer to the maseta, the desert. We are two days away and are planing on starting our day 4:30ish am. We will leave early and end early to avoid the heat as much as possible.

Tomorrow we will stay in Burgos, which is one of the larger cities we will pass through. We may even stop to get a haircut...We both need one. Hasta luego.

We are in Belorado

Yesterday we walked from Torres Del Oro to Belorado. It was a hot morning and Jaz wasn´t having it.... Well...she was a little more quiet than usual. But we made it through it. About a mile outside of our destination we stopped in a town for a Sandwich con Jamon y Queso. At around 1pm we finally made it to Belorado. The first hostel we were going to stay in was full... this was our first experience of having to be turned away. So we walked two blocks and found this charming hostel ran by a local family. The host was very helpful and began speaking English to us both. She informed us that they made Pilgrim dinner for their guests if we wanted to attend. Right away we both agreed and went to shower.

Brian right away noticed the pool and said let jump in for a dip after we shower. It was so refreshing and it cooled us down right away. There was a little boy named Gabriel who was around 2 years old who´s grandmother was watching him play in the yard. Right away Gabriel was amused that we were wetting our feet, he too wanted to join in on the fun. He began to wet his feet and play hide and go seek with us. Brian even started speaking spanish with the little boy saying ¨Donde esta Gabriel¨ ....

We took naps and got our clothes washed and at around 7:30pm we were headed upstairs for a delicious three course meal... salad, pasta and lemon chicken with potatoes... we also got flan with a bottle of wine oh yes and lets not forget our dessert shots that were offerd to us after our meal. We were also treated to a surprise performance from fellow pilgrims who sang a french song. We have no clue what they were singing about, but they did a fine job.

We had a much needed and enjoyable rest day today in Belorado. It was filled with food, Spanish TV and snacks from the fruiteria. Tomorrow we will be walking again and by Tuesday we should be in Burgos. Hasta luego...

Logrono to Najera

Yesterday in Longrono we had lunch in the plaza. We ate pulpo con patatas bravas (octopus with potatoes) and bbq pork ribs. They were wonderful. We definitely over ate (we have pictures to prove it). We finished off the meal walking around town with postachio gelato on a surgar cone.

Today we walk 30 km from Logrono to Najera. While walking we discussed how we haven´t shared the terrain we have been walking through. The past 3-4 days we have walked through country that has reminded Brian of the central coast: lots of vineyards. The Riojo Valley is famous for its wines. We are facinated with the stone huts and old farm houses we pass on our path. One of todays highlights was passing two donkeys (we took pictures).

One of the great things about the Camino is reconnecting with people we met earlier. We met a lady named Sylvia from Florida who is walking the Camino for her fourth time about 4 days ago. We had not seen her since, but we saw her again during lunch. We walked with her for a few km and we parted ways again. This scene replays itself time and time again with other pilgrims along the Camino.

We are tired, but not nearly as tired as we were last time we walked 30+ km. We have our first blisters. Not bad for walking for 8 days. Small blisters on our toes. We bought new ¨special¨ lotion for our feet and we think that it over softened our toes.

We just finished dinner at a cafe on the river. Jasmine had pasta with a red sauce, albondigas (meat balls) and Brian had green beans with ham and trout and crispy ham. Of course we shared a bottle of wine.

Until next time...