Meeting other pilgrims

Sometimes, pilgrims turn up in very unexpected places. Today, I did some last-minute shopping, some cosmetics. The saleslady added some sunscreen samples and I thanked her, saying this was a very good idea because we were going to need it soon.

She then asked where we were going and when I told her, she said "you know, I've been to Santiago di Compostela twice" and we began to chat a little. We departed after an exchange of cards with a "nice to have met you" and "Buon Camino",

Last-minute concerns

Early on Sunday, the news put a question mark to our project: an earthquake had occured in the Emilia Romagna, it was reported. Half of this year's route is in that region, so I was following the news closely.

As the day wore on, it became clear that the area affected was the one we had travelled through last year, and not the one we will walk through next week. So last night, I wrote e-mails to all our hosts, corfirming that we would come. Some have already been answered, confirming that there was no damage in the province we're travelling in.

All done now

I hardly can believe it... I got all the internet work done for this year's leg of the pilgrimage: all accomodations are booked, the data transferred to my journal. I do still prefer the paper journal, I am afraid of what would happen if a smartphone ran out of juice in the middle of nowhere!

We're following the route described here. I've bought the guide book, and of course, I'll need a dictionary to understand everything. But since I have to take a small dictionary anyway, that's not a problem.

To think that even five years ago, I knew next to no Italian and now I can book accomodations, order meals, go shopping and explain to people what we are doing is amazing! I love to communicate, that's probably the key. And people have been so friendly and encouraging all along, even when false friends were leading me astray or my grammar was entirely my own.

I'm very much looking forward to our holiday, we'll leave on the early morning of 26th May to take the train to Bologna and will come home on the 8th of June, full of new impressions (and with bellies full of excellent food, I'm sure)!

Preparations for the next leg

The book mentioned in the last post turned out not to be the right thing for us. The hike was divided into day trips of only 10-13 kilometers, and so would have taken about ten days. But that would have been boringly short for us, in that kind of terrain, we know we can do 20-25 easily.

So I went for a guide book in Italian that takes a different route with legs that are mostly 16-19 kilometers long, and I've managed to find us accomodation everywhere, and train tickets, too

So we will leave on the 26th of May and come back on 8th June, having spent a week on the hike and a week in Fiesole just north of Florence. I'm very much looking forward to it!