Friday, November 30, 2012

Saturday 23 June - Paris At last

 I woke up at around 1230 in the border town of Irun I think where the train was sitting for what seemed like a long time because I woke up again at 1 and 130 still in Irun. There was a conductor or security guard walking to and fro, back and forth, on the platform with a walkie-talkie each time I looked out the window.
I was not sure  at what time we finally started going again, but the room was still stifling hot. I woke again at 2 to darkness and again at 4 in a town but it was too dark to see the sign of where we were.
I used the washroom  at around 530 and I tried to have a shower in the tiniest washroom I had been in for years. I semi succeeded and it still felt good and refreshing.
Off to the dining car at about 545ish and wrote in my journal. It was a beautiful misty morning with clear skies and french trees and villages. They look different than spanish villages. Thier roofs have smaller tiles and the houses seemed to be taller and straighter somehow.
 At around 6ish am we came into a lovely town of some size "Poitiers". The scenery was beautiful. we passed farms and rivers, vineyards and small villages.  I Tried to get photos but mostly I got reflections of me in the windows.
(this is Margie)I was on a plane flying in from Montreal. I arrived at 8:30 and Paul picked me up at Charles De Gaulle airport and drove into Paris. We went to get the key to the apartment but no one was at the office. 
The staff came into the dining car and I had to go as they had to set up for breakfast so I went to the bar car and had a cup of tea. went back to the hot roomette around 720 to see if Maureen was alive. We opened the door to our room. Air! Cool air came flooding in. Relief. We saw Hot air balloons around 730. We had breakfast of toast ,tea and peach jam, around 750  in the dining car and then went back to our roomette around 830 to pack up.
 I wasn't sure of the exact time that we were getting in but thought I would be ready in any case. I was done by 845 and we pulled into the station in Paris at 9. We went into the station and got directions from the lovely assistants who tried to convince us, rightly so, to speak french. Maureen did not agree and complained about having to speak french in France. I have started to ignore her complaining.
I kept speaking spanish since I had been that getting used to it and would find myself starting in spanish and, realizing that I was in spanish but needing to be in french, switching to french in mid sentence, which sounds really silly.

We walked down the road and along the river past a park full of flowers and statues and some people practising some kind of game or play or something on the river walk. There are lots of Bridges in Paris. We went over one and Maureen pointed out Notredam Cathedral. We were on the Ilse de Loius.
As we arrived I saw Maureen and Dennie walking up a side street on the Ile de Louis. Paul drove away to find the people with the keys and I went back to find Dennie and Maureen and they were gone !
The Ilse Louis where our apartment was. Maureen had stayed on this island before and so I let her lead us to the apartment rather than digging out the address for myself. I should have dug out the address.
There was a detour that we had to take as they were working on the apartment on the corner, so we had to find our way around the block to the other side of the island.   This should not be a dificult thing but it seemed to be for us at that moment in time. We found the right side of the island but missed our apartment as Maureen had not pulled up the address either and did not know what address we were looking for either, although we did see the apartment that Maureen really had wanted but it was not good for three people.
 I finally pulled out the address from my backpack and we found the apartment.  When I buzzed the apartment we found out that it was still occupied and that they were not leaving until 11.  We had the code for the building so we left our bags in the hall and walked out front wondering where Margie was as she was supposed to be there at that time too. She was flying in from Edmonton that morning and getting a ride from the airport to the apartment.
I wandered around several blocks and then headed to the apartment and then saw them on the Pont Marie bridge. Hurray!
I walked out onto the bridge  which is right next to our apartment to look at the Siene river and all of the bridges. When who should appear but Margie. The Driver knew that she could not get into the apartment yet, so had taken her to the office  which was only a few short blocks away. We went back and got our backpacks and Margie showed us to the office.
I paid for our stay, as arranged, and we got all kinds of information from the girl at the office. We could get into it at around 2 so that is when they would take us over there. we cold leave our bags in the office until then. Yea! free of backpacks ad we were all in Paris!
Maureen took us over a bridge and  to the restaurant looking at the Notre dame cathedral which is very large and very impressive. My first french meal was vegetarian lazagna, and it was good too. After a refreshing break we were off. Notre dame Cathedral is impressive from every angle. Gardens with lots of flowers around the first two sides that we saw and then the front with its large square in front and the facade with all its intricate stone work.  Wow!
There was a line to get in but we didn't mind waiting in line. Margie was so excited just to be there in Paris. The trip of a lifetime.  I was very excited-I had not slept all night and was not a bit tired!
We took turns standing in line. I wandered around and took lots of photos of the outside and the statue of Charlamane at one side of the square. I asked where the washrooms were and was told they were beside the statue.  I went over there but could not see them. Margie had better luck. Kind of, she was gone so long that we were starting to worry.  when she finally showed up she had tales to tell.
There were only three washrooms and the line was so long that she almost didn't make it. but she did. note to self. go at the restaurant. Paris gets 22 million visitors a year so you think that there would be more than three washrooms but it is an old island.  The line was very long. and there were signs evrywhere watch for pickpockets! There were attendants down below to let you into the washroom-I do not know why? And then they put there hands out for a tip. Nope sorry. I could have probably gotten in sooner if I had tipped them but most people did not.
the Inside of the church is even more impressive than the outside.
Wikipedia says  an historic  Roman Catholic Marian cathedral on the eastern half of the Ile de la cite in the  fourth arrondissement (community) of Paris, France. Widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most well-known churches in the world ever built, Notre Dame is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris; that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra (official chair) of the Archbishop of Paris, currently Andre Vingt-trois . The cathedral treasury is notable for its reliquary, which houses the purported crown of thorns , a fragment of the true cross and one of the Holy nails – all instruments of the passion and a few of the most important first class relics.


Notre Dame de Paris is often reputed to be one of the most prominent examples of Gothic architecture in both France and in Europe as a whole, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture.  The first period of construction from 1163 into 1240s coincided with the musical experiments of the Notre Dame School. 
The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. An extensive restoration supervised by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc removed remaining decoration, returning the cathedral to an 'original' gothic state.
Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave but after the construction began, the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher and stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern. 
Many small statues were placed around the outside. These were crafted individually and served as supports for columns and water spouts. Among these are the famous gargoyles and chimeras (the former of which is designed to run off rain water). These were originally colored, as was most of the exterior. The paint has worn off, but the grey stone was once covered with vivid colors. 
The cathedral was essentially complete by 1345. The cathedral has a narrow climb of 387 steps at the top of several spiral staircases; along the climb it is possible to view its most famous bell and its gargoyles in close quarters, as well as having a spectacular view across Paris when reaching the top.
In 1160, because the church in Paris had become the "Parisian church of the kings of Europe", Bishop Maurice de Sully deemed the previous Paris cathedral, Saint-Étienne (St Stephen's), which had been founded in the 4th century, unworthy of its lofty role, and had it demolished shortly after he assumed the title of Bishop of Paris. As with most foundation myths, this account needs to be taken with a grain of salt; archeological excavations in the 20th century suggested that the Merovingian Cathedral replaced by Sully was itself a massive structure, with a five-aisled nave and a facade some 36m across. It seems likely therefore that the faults with the previous structure were exaggerated by the Bishop to help justify the rebuilding in a newer style. According to legend, Sully had a vision of a glorious new cathedral for Paris, and sketched it on the ground outside the original church.
To begin the construction, the bishop had several houses demolished and had a new road built in order to transport materials for the rest of the cathedral. Construction began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, and opinion differs as to whether Sully or Pope Alexander III  laid the foundation stone of the cathedral. However, both were at the ceremony in question. Bishop de Sully went on to devote most of his life and wealth to the cathedral's construction. Construction of the  Choir took from 1163 until around 1177 and the new High Altar  was consecrated in 1182 (it was normal practice for the eastern end of a new church to be completed first, so that a temporary wall could be erected at the west of the choir, allowing the chapter to use it without interruption while the rest of the building slowly took shape). After Bishop Maurice de Sully's death in 1196, his successor, Eudes de Sully (no relation) oversaw the completion of the transepts and pressed ahead with the nave, which was nearing completion at the time of his own death in 1208. By this stage, the western facade had also been laid out, though it was not completed until around the mid 1240s.
 I took photos of most of the 50 plus large stained glass windows in the place. they are all different and all beautiful.  I loved the cathedral. it was really impressive and beautiful. Everyday in Paris at some point we walked past it and I never tired of its beauty.The most significant change in design came in the mid 13th century, when the transepts were remodeled in the latest Rayonnant style; in the late 1240s Jean de Chelles added a gabled portal to the north transept topped off by a spectacular rose window. Shortly afterwards (from 1258) Pierre de Montreuil executed a similar scheme on the South transept. Both these transept portals were richly embellished with sculpture; the south portal features scenes from the lives of St Stephen and of various local saints, while the north portal featured the infancy of Christ and the story of Theophilus in the tympanum, with a highly influential statue of the Virgin and Child in the trumeau. 
Over the construction period, numerous architects worked on the site, as is evidenced by the differing styles at different heights of the west front and towers. Between 1210 and 1220, the fourth architect oversaw the construction of the level with the rose window and the great halls beneath the towers.

In 1548, rioting Huguenots damaged features of the cathedral, considering them idolatrous. During the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, the cathedral underwent major alterations as part of an ongoing attempt to modernize cathedrals throughout Europe. A colossal statue of St Christopher, standing against a pillar near the western entrance and dating from 1413, was destroyed in 1786. Tombs and stained glass windows were destroyed. The north and south rose windows were spared this fate, however.
In 1793, during the French Revolution, the cathedral was rededicated to the Cult of Reason, and then to the Cult of the Supreme Being. During this time, many of the treasures of the cathedral were either destroyed or plundered. The statues of biblical kings of Judah (erroneously thought to be kings of France), located on a ledge on the facade of the cathedral were beheaded. Many of the heads were found during a 1977 excavation nearby and are on display at the Musee de Cluny. For a time, Lady Liberty replaced the Virgin Mary on several altars. The cathedral's great bells managed to avoid being melted down. The cathedral came to be used as a warehouse for the storage of food.
A controversial restoration program was initiated in 1845, overseen by architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. Viollet Le Duc was responsible for the restorations of several dozen castles, palaces and cathedrals across France. The restoration lasted twenty five years and included the construction of a fleche  (a type of spire) as well as the addition of the chimeras on the Galerie des Chimères. Viollet le Duc always signed his work with a bat, the wing structure of which most resembles the Gothic vault.
The Second World War caused more damage. Several of the stained glass windows on the lower tier were hit by stray bullets. These were remade after the war, but now sport a modern geometrical pattern, not the old scenes of the Bible.
In 1991, a major program of maintenance and restoration was initiated, which was intended to last ten years, but was still in progress as of 2009, the cleaning and restoration of old sculptures being an exceedingly delicate matter.
We stayed there for over an hour. I think I  took over two hundred photos of the stained glass windows, statues and just everything.  On our way back to the office we passed our first street performer doing' la vie en rose'. yea! There were lots of shops on the islands and between window shopping and going in to check things out took us up to the time we were supposed to be getting to the office.
Got back to the office around 2 to pick up our things and the young girl said that if we wanted her to come over and show us things just to give her a call. We told her that we wanted her to come over with out even having to call her. she was good. She came over and quickly explained the rules to the apartment. The washer, the dryer, the telephone, etc. After we settled in and came up with the plan that we would each take one night to cook dinner, we went to the store.
 The office had given us directions to a store off the isle Louis saying it was cheaper so off we trundled, investigating the odd store as we went. We found the grocery store on Rivoli, a main street in downtown Paris, with little difficulty and purchased each purchased what we needed for our dinner and things that we would like to munch on. I got eggplant, eggs, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, pasta sauce and couscous with some broccoli. a little wine to top it off and we had a dinner. easy. 
Found a bank to get some cash and Margie found a washroom that was not working so went into a restaurant and bought a bottle of water so she could use their restroom.  I also bought a little fruit tray which we hardly even touched. We really bought a little bit too much stuff-but we must have been hungry at that point.
Maureen went ahead of Margie and I on the way back. Margie had bought quite a bit of stuff including water so was pretty laden down. I gave her a hand and found out that she was carrying stuff for Maureen too. 
We got back and Maureen had her feet up on the couch relaxing.  I made supper and cleaned up after myself. We decided that each person cooking would clean up after themselves. That way if I used 10 pots to cook dinner I could clean them too.  decided that I was too tired to go out to a show at the cathedral that night so went to bed around 830 and was fast asleep by 9.

movie

Friday 22 june - SdC to Madrid and halfway to Paris

Slept in till 615 and Maureen was already up! Had a bite to eat for breakfast in our hotel cafe and they called us a cab. Trip to the Aeropuerto was quick. The Airport in SdC is quite nice and let lots of the morning sunshine in. Very spacious and white. The lines were moving pretty quickly but I had the bumper car lady behind me who, even though there was no where to go, kept bumping into me to get me to move up, all the way onto the plane and right up to my seat!
 Economy class on Liberia Air means that you have NO leg room. We left on time 935 am. The flight was good, smooth so wrote in my journal and took photos. had some nice iced tea and an hour and a half later we were in the Madrid Air port. I love the Madrid Airport! Rainbow colours and lots of space. Great!
 We bought our day pass metro ticket and caught the metro into town to the Atocha stop, went into the train station and checked our bags at the lockers, when we finally found them, where there is a permanent guard on duty. On the metro there was a lady on her cell phone trying to find a pen. She asked the lady next to her but her neighbor did not have one. I leaned across the aisle and loaned her mine. at the next stop a gentleman got on who was selling pens! I felt bad for him as he could have probably made a sale to the lady on the phone except for me so I bought a pen from him. It was actually a good deal.  We got off at the station closest to the Prada stop.
By 1230 we had found a nice cafe and ordered veggie paella. We figured out our plan for the afternoon. I wanted to to the art gallery, the Thiessen, across from the Prada and Maureen thought that she might go into the retiro park that she had not been to. We decided to meet back at the star-bucks just down the street from the restaurant at around 430 pm which would give us plenty of time to get to the train station for our train departure at 610 pm. the Paella was great. I should have started eating that a lot sooner but I don't recall having seen it on any menus that I had looked at.
There was a group of gentlemen just four or five tables away that were all carrying various instruments. A band? We hoped that they would play but it turned out that they were there for dinner.
 I headed off to the Thiessen.
All along the streets surrounding the Prada were large banners advertising Hopper ( I don't think I know who Hopper is ?) at the Thiessen and I had heard that there were some impressionist paintings there so I was excited to get there.
It was hot out, above 34 I think ,so I stayed in the shade as much as I could on the 4 block walk to the art gallery. There were the usual vendors with thier tables on the sidewalks and a few brave souls dressed up and being statues. they were in the shade too. As I passed one table that I thought was selling crazy wigs the head in the middle screamed at me. I nearly jumped out of my skin! There was a small crowd of people laughing at my reaction and once my heart slowed down to abut 200 beats per minute, I laughed too. Good entertainment that.  I hoped that he had an ambulance standing by for those poor souls who had heart attacks when he yelled at them. I gave the poor fellow sitting under the table in plus 34 weather one euro.
I was about one block away form the Thiessen and was glad when I got inside to the air-conditioning. I went and saw the Hopper show first as the girls at the front desk said that it was larger and would take more time to go through that the few impressionist paintings that they had.

Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an american artist with a realist and cinematic painting style that influenced many peers and brought him fame and fortune. He had travelled in Europe, including Spain. I really enjoyed his show but pictures were not allowed so just bought a few postcards of his work. the pictures here are free domain ones that found on the internet.
 I then went through the rest of the art gallery. It started with the renaissance about the l200's up through the 1300's and 1400's. mostly religious as who else could pay for paintings except for royalty. (where were the impressionists?) I saw paintings and sculptures from the 1500's and 1600's, the 1700's and the 1800's then came the impressionist paintings that were there. Monet, Manet, Vincent, Gaugin, Henri de ToulouseLautrec. I have decided that I like Lautrec, not all but some.
The young girl was right they only had a few but they were lovely. Dali was next how fun and some Picasso ( not my favorite). Then up the stairs to the religious 12 century. I actually found a lovely piece  a  Van Eyk painting diptych of two statues one of Mary and one of the angel announcing. it was lovely. the annunciation. you can look it up on line as they would not let me take a photo so I did not. So honest. then back to the impressionists until it was time for me to go.
 I got back to star bucks at around 345 and sat in the middle of the restaurant waiting for Maureen. I had an iced tea and wrote out post cards. I waited there until 430 and when I finally got up to go back to the train station Maureen called out from the far corner of the restaurant where she had been the whole time. It was too hot to go to the park so she came in and sat in the corner thinking that I would come in and walk all over the entire place looking for her. Oh well, always look for Maureen in corners where her back is protected from the big bad world.
We made our way back to the train station, retrieved our backpacks and still had some time to peruse the few shops that were there. We found our coach with no problem and the conductor took our passports saying that we would get them back when we disembarked and returned the key to the room that we had booked.  The train left exactly on time.
We checked out our room. It had everything we needed. I wrote in my journal and took some photos. At 7 we went to the lounge car, had some pre dinner wine from cute small wine bottles, and watched the scenery go by.  there was a group of young girls travelling, maybe a school group who had a difficult time deciding just what they wanted. chips, pop or the young waiter behind the counter?
At 8 went into dinner which was pretty nice. Omelet with salad and white asparagus. we were seated with an English couple, Jill and Mike, from Gatehouse, just by Newcastle in northern England. He is in soccer and she is a medical receptionist and they have been married just two years. they met in Tuscany, have been to Granada, Seville, and Madrid all by train. they were a lot of fun.  We chatted and drank red wine and watched the scenery go by. We had the late sitting so were not too worried abut having to leave the dining car in a rush.
I saw those lovely round trees with the round shadows again. so fun. Of course it looked different from the last time I had seen them when were leaving Madrid to go to Oviedo, as it was evening and not noon.  At noon the shadows were directly under the trees and it looked so cool. Just like paintings that I have seen and thought that they were a made up landscape because nothing looks like that in real life.
Back to our roomette and the conductor had made our beds. Maureen took the top. There was much laughter and giggling and taking of photos with small bottles of wine and fans but my batteries must have died and I didn't notice til I went to play them back they were not there. Sad as who doesn't want to be reminded of two tipsy old ladies with the giggles acting silly. After that we tried to sleep. It was so hot in the little room. I kept waking up in a sweat and poor Maureen on the top bunk was cooking.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Thursday 21 june - Santiago de Compestella


Woke at 6,  got dressed and slipped out to find a coffee shop. It was misty rainy out but not cold. just damp. I love misty mornings in SdC. the lights shine off of the stone buildings and roads with such a nice glow. Alone in the quiet morning, I went across the big square to the St. Francis hotel hoping that they would have a coffee shop but they did not. They did tell me about a coffee shop around the corner from them which I found with very little trouble.

I ordered a tea and sorted through my purse and wallet collecting receipts from almost every pocket. I sorted them out and registered them in my journal.  Information for posterity. Had my second cup of tea by 7:30. The woman who was running the hotel had a child, a young boy living with her, maybe her son, and he did not want to cooperate with her as quickly as she wanted him to. They had words and she won. I felt bad for both of them. And for me too come to think of it.
Went back to the hotel around 8 and had breakfast with Maureen of toast, tea and 'cafe con perdo', strong coffee.  The toast was sliced day old croissant put through a panini machine. It was very good. back to the room to get organized. The bells were ringing all over the place. Lovely. We headed out around 9 to go to a convent (#11 on the map) and several churches (#s 13,14,15) in town.
The first thing we found was this great park with  an odd but fun statue of the two Marias and enormous 100 year old oak trees lining the pathways. We wandered through the park. there were several views of the cathedral over the roofs of the city and one viewpoint of the cathedral and a reflecting pool with a nice bench to rest at which was lovely.  There were actually lots of benches along the path. Just past the small reflecting pond was a very large 150 year old ecalyptus tree. Beautiful.
The park is well used by joggers, old folks, students,  dog walkers (who pick up after their charges), a few business men with briefcases and tourists but it was not crowded. I am not sure how many acres there are in the park but it was very large.  We wound our way up to a church on the top of the hill and then down the other side. It was nice and quiet in the center of the park and you could hardly hear the city around you.
 I had to use the washroom and went ahead of Maureen. Found one at the edge of the park at the bottom of the hill, beside a souvenir booth that was closed. There was a small building for park admin and park programs across a small square so went in and asked the lady there about the trees with the great bark.
She told me it was Platanus × hispanica.  (you have to imagine that there was a deal of sign language and bad spanish involved on my part but luckily her english was pretty good). I have seen this tree all over Spain. It is a great tree. I went back up the hill and met Maureen coming down.
We exited the park and after checking our map and realizing that we were not sure where we were Maureen asked a lady at a travel agency and  she kindly pointed out where we were. We found and went into a great store to shop in, the Punta Roma store. Maureen bought a shirt and I bought two souvenir scarves made in Italy as gifts for others. The end of one visa card. I am trying not to spend too much so that I have some money for Paris where, I hear, things are quite expensive.
We found the convent using our map.  It is a cloistered convent, you cannot get into it and they cannot get out. Just a small window with a curtain in the wall and a bell. There was a lady at the window so we didn't get too close until after she left. I don't know if I could join a cloistered order. The outside of the building was nice, simple  with a great blue door.
The Church Maureen wanted to see was closed. We went into several different buildings, schools of some sort associated with the university we think.
Up and across the street we went through an arch and down a road,  around a corner into a square or 'Praza' with a few shops and a restaurant, a right turn past the university (it was the Praza Univeristie) and we decided to have have a drink and use the washroom at the restaurant. A little further up the road past the univeristy we found a market.
That was fun. Carne (meat), fruita (fruit) and varienta (cheeses and dairy,veggies, flowers, jams and jellies, gifts, assorted stuff).  I bought 2 euros worth of peas which turned out to be a huge bag of them. There was a very old church more than 1100 years old right beside the market. one of the first churches in the city. It was closed too. We followed our map to the next church that we wanted to see and the lady was locking the door in our face. OKay.... we continued on to a church just down the road. there are lots of churches in this city.
 The front of the building had a fresco of either  a whole group of people walking through red grass, or people burning, or maybe a red blanket at a teen sleepover? on it. It was open and so we went in and did a quick run through. I said some hail Mary's and lit some candles but when I looked for a place to put the money for the candles I could not find a box. I asked the old man who was there and he showed me, he was very nice. As we were leaving he locked the building up behind us and went away probably to his lunch.
We went back to the restaurant by the university and had a lunch of eggs and pickles asparagus which was pretty tasty really.
 After popping into a few more churches, saying a few more hail Marys', lighting a few more candles and walking past a lineup of men getting a free lunch we followed the road back to the cathedral. Maureen wanted to get somethings at a gift shop and I needed stamps to I went into the Correo (Post office) and got 2 stamps for post cards I had written at lunch.
One for Dan and one for Shauna. Nice cards. Dropped my things off at the hotel and got a little bit of a fright as when I walked in, the door to our room was open.(our room was right off the foyer of the hotel) It was OK though as they were just cleaning the bathroom and making our beds.
 I went to the cathedral and found out that in order to walk on the balcony we would have to go on the roof top tour,  the english tour  starting at 7. OK, I bought our tickets and went back to find Maureen.
We went shopping. I bought 2 water colour paintings at the outside post office art gallery walk. The celtic influence here is very strong in their music and decor. We stopped in at several souvenir shops picking up the odd thing  here and there. I found a labyrinth necklace, some little shells with gold trim and a CD of Galicia music which sounded very much like celtic music from the shop where the owner of the shop was baby-sitting his very young son and trying to take care of customers too. We, the customers, took turns amusing the child until it was our turn to pay for our purchases. Maureen and I  then had a tapis break in this very cool quiet restaurant. The gentleman played Van Morrisson's brown eyed girl for Maureen.
They, the Spanish, really like North american rock and roll from the late 60's early 70's or maybe that is the demographic that they are aiming to draw in. We were the only customers in the place. The building had been a storage house about 1000 years ago and they had renovated it into a restaurant with plexiglas over the well and storage bins. very interesting. heard some bag pipes being played and found a young man playing what sounded like celtic music. Gave him some euro change. He was pretty good.
Walking back to the hotel we passed another tapis bar that looked very good and decided that we would go there for supper. Met a crazy lady on the way back who yelled at me, I believe, because I looked at her when she dropped some garbage on the street. It takes all kinds. The streets were very crowded by this time of day. Lots of pilgrims and tourists. Lots of shoppers. But almost everyone was pleasant and happy.
We went back to the hotel room and organized our things (well I organized my things) and ate peas. At 6:30 we headed over to the cathedral for the tour.
we were a little early and so hung around watching the crowds. The sun had been out for quite some time and the day had turned out quite hot. Luckily there was a breeze.
Promptly at 7 the tour began. A young girl whose english was not bad at all herded about twenty of us through a door and into another world of the cathedral. We entered the Palacia de Archbishop and the quiet world behind the scenes. I don't remember it all but Wikipedia will help us out and I will inject my notes as well.

According to legend, the apostle Saint James who had visited spain in 44Ad-ish was beheaded in Jerusalem and his  remains were later brought back to Galicia by angels in a stone boat.  His tomb was abandoned in the 3rd century following Roman persecutions of Spanish Christians. Then this tomb was rediscovered in 814 AD by the hermit Pelagius, after witnessing strange lights in the night sky. The Bishop Thoedomirus  of Iria recognized this as a miracle and informed king Alfonso II of Asturias and Galicia (791-842). The king ordered the construction of a chapel on the site. Legend has it that the king became the first pilgrim to this shrine.  
(The fact that the Holy land was now very dangerous for pilgrims and that this would be a safer pilgrimage for all those Europeans wanting to go on a pilgrimage worked out just fine for everyone.) The chapel was followed by a first church in 829 AD and again in 899 AD by a pre-romanesque church, at the order of king Alfonso III of Leon, causing the gradual development of a major place of pilgrimage. In 997 this early church was reduced to ashes by Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir (938-1002), army commander of the caliph of Cordoba. 
The gates and the bells, carried by Christian captives to Cordoba, were added to the Aljama Mosque. When Córdoba was taken by king  Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236, these same gates and bells were then transported by Muslim captives to Toledo, to be inserted in the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo.

Construction of the present cathedral in SdC began in 1075 under the reign of Alfonso VI of Castile (1040–1109) and the patronage of bishop Diego Peláez. It was built according to the same plan as the monastic brick church of Saint Sernin in Toulouse, probably the greatest Romanesque edifice in France. It was built mostly in Granite. (Every block had a mark on it made by the stone mason who carved it. That was how they kept track of how much to pay each mason. Clever. We went up a narrow back stair case and into a hall overlooking the courtyard we had just been in. at the end of the hall was a room that was once a waiting room for visiting dignitaries. the talk continued.)
Construction was halted several times and, according to the Liber Sancti Iacobi, the last stone was laid in 1122. But by then, the construction of the cathedral was certainly not finished. The cathedral was consecrated in 1128 in the presence of king Alfonso IX of Leon.
According to the church records, the architects were "Bernard the elder, a wonderful master", his assistant Robertus Galperinus and, later possibly, "Esteban, master of the cathedral works". In the last stage "Bernard, the younger" was finishing the building, while Galperinus was in charge of the coordination. He also constructed a monumental fountain in front of the north portal in 1122.
(We entered a large hall with these great vaults separated by carved stone and plaster dividers on the ceiling. There were fancier dividers at the front of the hall and plainer at the rear. It seems that mass was said here and the wealthier folks were at the front and the poorer were at the back. All along the sides were carvings, each one different portraying some activity from life. there was also displays of musical instruments that would have been played 1000 years ago).
The church became an episcopal see in 1075 and, due to its growing importance as a place of pilgrimage, it was soon raised to an archiepiscopal see by pope Urban II in 1100. A university was added in 1495.
The cathedral was expanded and embellished with additions in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
 We went through a door and onto the inner balcony or upper balcony inside the cathedral.  We were looking down the nave and the wall behind us was Romanesque and the facade on the outside of that was Baroque. like a sandwich the front of the cathedral is Baroque and the inside is romanesque. they built a facade to protect the original romanesque front of the cathedral



The barrel-vaulted nave and the groin-vaulted aisles consist of eleven bays, while the wide transept  consists of six bays. Every clustered pier is flanked by semi-columns, three of which carry the cross vaults of the side aisles and the truss of the arched vaults, while the fourth reaches to the spring of the vault. Lit galleries run, at a remarkable height, above the side aisles around the church.
The choir is covered by three bays and surrounded with an ambulatory and five radiating chapels. The vault of the apse is pierced by round windows, forming a clerestory. The choir displays a surprising exuberance in this Romanesque setting. An enormous baldachin (a canopy of state over the altar), with a sumptuous decorated statue of Saint James from the 13th century, rises above the main altar. The pilgrims are allowed to kiss the saint's mantle via a narrow passage behind the altar. (I did not do that)
In the choir aisle one remarks the beautiful lattice work and the vault of the Mondragon chapel (1521). The radiating chapels constitute a museum of paintings, retables, reliquaries and sculptures, accumulated throughout the centuries. In the Chapel of the Reliquary (GalacianCapela do Relicario) is a gold crucifix, dated 874, containing an alleged piece of the true cross.
From our choir loft vantage point we could see a lot of the church. the tour guide pointed out the romanesque and the baroque joinings . Then we went through a small door, I thought to go out onto the balcony that overlooks the big square, and went up some narrow winding stairs for quite a distance and came out onto the roof! I knew it was called the rooftop tour but somehow that had not sunk into my brain that they really meant we would go onto the roof. My stomach was a little queazy. But oh so exciting too! Scary but exciting!
The roof, which has large tiles arranged almost like angled steps, was used by the guards to protect the cathedral from enemies in time of war. It was easy for the guards to run across the roofs from side to side without fear as there is a balustrade so you cannot fall off. It takes a minute or two to get used to the angle of the roof but after that it is so cool. There is a great view in every direction. The roof is the highest point in the city, with a great view of the orangey-red, terracotta roofs that  seem to go on for miles. The whole roof spans 318 feet and is 72 feet high.
From there we went all over the roof to each side of the cathedral. Maureen having a greater fear of heights than myself kept to the walls and lower on the roofs closer to the balustrades. There was an open air violin concert on one side so we had a little beethoven while we wandered. the tour guide was giving us a lot of great information as we went along but I am afraid that I was slightly distracted and so did not remember very much.
The roof is not just one roof  but what seems to be a collection of roofs over each section of the cathedral. There was some climbing of stairs to get to different levels and crossing from one roof to another, and looking in of windows at the top of the cathedral over the altar.  we stayed up on the roof for about 30 minutes before gong back down by way of a different staircase and down into the cathedral proper where we were shown around to the hi lites within. 
After this Maureen and I went out to the tapis bar we had seen earlier. It was packed so we knew that it must be good. We had deep fired chilies and cheese , deep fried cheese with blackberry jam in an almond crust and a ham and cheese croquet for Maureen 
that were all really tasty. The beer helped calm our nerves after our traumatising but very fun expierience on the roof of the cathedral. What a great day! The thing about Tapis is that one is never sure of the serving size. Maureen got two little croquets and I got two nice size almond cheese things and a huge dish of peppers. 


We could not finish the whole thing so when we left we offered the half of the plate we did not eat  to the people who took our seat. I don't know if they ate it but we left happy and full. the streets were still crowded with people going out to eat and some of the shops were still open. we made our way back to our hotel and after much laughter and giddyness we both fell asleep right away.








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