And here's to you Mrs. Robinson

Well, here I am. Back in Moratinos, and lo and behold... there is Internet! (And it is good)

So back to updating my blog on a regular basis as I've finished my Camino across Spain to Santiago de Compostela. I got my certificate, I hugged the Apostle, and I had a few beers. Good times.

I'm glad to be back in this place; it feels like home to me. I'm also sad that I'm done walking, but know that I've made some amazing friends and lived through some incredible things along my journey that I will never forget. While I'd really like to share my Camino with all who read this, I've decided against publishing my Camino Memoirs, as I might call them, for varied reasons. I'd be more than pleased to share the adventure with others through the photos I took, and stories I can tell.

As for now, I need to plan the rest of my trip, and at the moment I'm not entirely sure where that will take me. I'm really itching again to do a "Grand Tour" of Europe and hit a dozen or so major cities (Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Budapest, Sofia, Prague, the Transylvania area...), though arranging that seems to be increasingly costly and aggravating.

So right now I'm going to focus on getting a train to someplace in France, hopefully Paris, try and visit one or two other places I'd like to see there, and then head to Italy to walk the Cinque Terre and see Rome, Venice, and Florence. Beyond that I can't fathom right now. My brain doesn't seem to be able to process something that complex currently.

I need to do some major CouchSurfing searches and find some people to stay with along this first leg of the adventure, then once that's through I'm supposed to try and get to Sofia in Bulgaria to meet a relative of one of my mom's employees. We shall see.

Today was my first full day back at Rebekah & Paddy's. There is no roof on the main house any longer as a team of builders have finally arrived and gotten a head start on the construction. I need to take some pictures, because it's really surreal.

I got back into Sahagun yesterday afternoon by a train from Santiago, and Reb picked me up from the station. We came back, the dog was ecstatic, we talked for a while, Paddy showed me his chickens. He is utterly delighted by them. I love it. We had a nice dinner of Spaghetti Bolognese, and I did some Interneting before going to bed.

Slept in past 10 this morning, had coffee, and James happened over with Africa, who has literally tripled in size. She is massive, and not yet done it seems. He brought her over to see if Reb could remove ticks that he'd found. Glad to see him, though things over at the house haven't seemed to progress much, but this is just speculation from the outside. Paddy says he'd done a lot inside. Sebastien seems to have buggered off after supposedly going to meet his family but never actually arriving. I can't say I'm disappointed.

Some Camino friends of Reb's were coming by this afternoon so we did a little surface cleaning in the kitchen, obviously not bothering with the layer of dust outside, as the builders are going to just come and make more tomorrow. It's chaotic but wonderful. I'm glad to see things getting done. We went to mass where I got to see most of the town people, and much to my amazement can understand much more of their talking than before I left. I'm pleased with how my rudimentary Spanish conversation skills are coming along. If only these people would let me come by and order cafe con leche, I'd be set. Tuesday is a fiesta here in town so there will be a special mass and then a community luncheon. That should be fun.

We had a brilliant seafood pallela that Paddy made for lunch, and then we all took naps on a somewhat rotating schedule. I'm stuffy and my throat is sore so I've been taking Benadryl which makes me drowsy.

Tino and his American wife arrived just past 6, they got the tour, and we sat around talking over a beer. Once they'd gone Paddy and Rebekah made a wonderful dinner of steaks, potatoes, and green beans. Then we sat around listening to music from my iPod. I'm working on getting all my photos from the Camino uploaded to my family's Walgreens account.

I think that's all for today. I'm up way too late, and really need to get to sleep. Ah, and Reb has taken up a Blog of her own here on Blogger to report life in Moratinos to the masses. Please check it out at http://moratinoslife.blogspot.com/

Cheers!