Uh, I'm back

I got lots of messages from Paul and my parents from people wondering if I'd broken my leg and quit the camino! Not at all... really, the best explanation is that I walked long days (too late to blog) or I was staying in small towns (no internet... sometimes not even a grocery store) and kind of just forgot about it. I had completely forgotten that I hadn't added more details after injuring my ankle, because seeing Spain was more interesting than finding a computer and holing away for an hour typing!!

So I had a wonderful end to my trip. My ankle... I won't say it's fine, because I will be going to the doctor as soon as I get home... It's still swollen like it was 2 weeks ago, and still tender if I stretch it the wrong way. But it's still fine to walk on, and I am unaware of anything being wrong with it 99 percent of the time. It felt fine the very next day, so I walked almost 30km. And then the next day I walked 35. I went up huge hills, saw beautiful vistas, met crazy and cool people, and got bitten up by bedbugs. And I'll have to fill in all the details on that later.

And on August 5th I made it to Santiago! It was so strange to have finished... there was a point a few days before the end where I felt ready to be done, but when I got to Santiago I mostly just couldn't believe it was done. I spent a day and a half there hanging out, seeing the cathedral and the crowds, and celebrating with my "camino buddies," and then took the train to Madrid overnight. It was REALLY HARD to leave the camino behind. It was partly having that purpose, that direction. It was also partly leaving behind the community of the camino, both the people I got to know and the people I would meet every day along the way, both pilgrims and small town locals who recognized you as a pilgrim, who would smile and encourage you, talk to you and share experiences. Leaving for Madrid, I began actually traveling ALONE as many people pictured when I told them I was going to Spain by myself, and it was quite different to be in a big city in a tourist/youth hostel alone than to be hiking. I didn't like being a tourist in the big city alone.

I spent two days and one night in Madrid, revisited museums and parks and cafes, saw a neighborhood procession with all the old people dressed up in traditional Madrid costumes, saw some flamenco, and got reacquainted with the city. Then I took a late flight to Prague.

Our old friend Jan met me at the airport. He was so hospitable and having someone meet me made me feel like I was home instead of a tourist. It was like visiting Minnesota or something, just a little bit! I spent one night there and then got settled in a little apartment before Paul flew in. The "apart hotel" we are in is a clean and simple Ikea-furnished room with kitchenette, quite comfortable and adequate. It's not RIGHT downtown but it's a 15 minute walk from the Charles Bridge or right on the metro and tram lines. I laughed when I got there because it was also within a block of two movie theaters, two bookstores, a mall, a grocery store, several restaurants, an Apple retailer, and even a TGI Fridays. Can you guess who chose the location? :)

It is hard to revisit a place as a tourist where we lived for 3 months before. We have seen almost everything before, but it was 6 years ago and in the winter, so we have done some of the touristy walking tours, etc. to reacquaint ourselves with the places and history. But we have also spent lots of time just walking around our old haunts and hanging around our apartment, just being on vacation and being back together. Traveling is a different kind of vacation...excitement instead of relaxation... so it was perfect to have several days in this relaxing, beautiful place before we embark on our adventures to the east.

The other night we randomly ended up going to a Madonna concert here in Prague. We were actually at the ticket office looking at tickets for Mozart - I kind of wanted to see the theater where Don Giovanni premiered back in the 1700s - but they were expensive touristy prices! $35 for a 70 minute concert with wind trio and soloist, "Best of Mozart's Arias"?? And there was the poster for Madonna's concert that very night, and the guys in front of us were getting tickets, only $50 for the cheap "standing" tickets. It was actually a choice between standing in a HUGE crowd or sitting on a grassy hillside, so we did a little of both. Great entertainment: dancers, moving video screens, lasers, lights, and enough of the 80s classics that it was really fun. Also a touching (Paul says) tribute to Michael Jackson, which the people went crazy for. They did not go so crazy for the Gypsy group that joined in for an acoustic interlude... that might go over great in Romania and in Western Europe, but the people around us were NOT excited. There is still so much racial prejudice against the Roma here. One other thing... we had to take the metro to the concert, and then walk about a kilometer to the concert, along with thousands and thousands of other people! We were ready to wait an hour for the metro to come back, since there were such crowds of people, but it was unbelievable - we just walked onto a train. They must have had them all lined up ready to go - I was very impressed with the organization.

Today we are going to Karlovy Vary (in German, Carlsbad) which we've never visited and just simply have to since I grew up in Carlsbad, CA. Kind of a silly reason but it has to be done! There are mineral spas and a cute downtown, apparently. We'll be back to Prague tonight and leave for Budapest tomorrow, then Romania on Tuesday! I don't know when we'll be back online but I thought I should at least update this much before we leave "Central Europe" toward Istanbul.