Resurrection

One of my crusty eyes managed to a offer the barest slit to the dim light of our room in Logis Meymard. I just realized that I wasn't home. Funny the tricks the mind plays. It is now day two, and 6:00 am, and we are well ensconced in Le Puy. Yesterday evening, our ever thoughtful hostess, Madeleine Déchaux, had greeted Robin and I, two road weary pilgrims, with a bottle of Chateaux Neuf de Pape that we all shared on her little deck overlooking her garden. We got acquainted, and were enjoying the wine when Madeleine, in the midst of demonstrating how to use some old measuring tool she had on a shelf, managed to puncture her thumb. We hit the pause button on the wine reception, and bandaged up her thumb. No serious damage was done, thankfully. Interestingly, she asked if we were in the medical profession. I guess she was happy with our treatment. Madeleine had someplace to be and we needed a decent meal so accepting her recommendation for a restaurant just down the street from her home, we said goodnight and headed of to what was to become a wonderful dining experience at the cozy restaurant, 5'eme Saison.

Back to today....while Robin slept I decided to make my way to the cathedral, go to mass, and pick up our pilgrim credentials. So at 6:30 I stepped out into the early morning half light, popped my trekking umbrella, and chugged uphill to make the 7:00 am pilgrim mass. There were about twenty pilgrims gathered for the mass, including one Korean. There was a definite focus on departing pilgrims with a special benediction after mass in front of a statue of St. James. The cathedral's sacristy doubles as a gift shop and is where departing pilgrims can pick up their credentials. I picked up the credentials, and managed to be back at our lodging at 8:30 to join Robin, Madeleine, and a husband and wife (Gardara and Klara) from Iceland for breakfast. They are both going all the way to Santiago so we expect to see them along the way. They left today, and we will depart tomorrow. They are very nice people, and we were very pleased to get to know them. Robin and I puttered around with our packs for a bit, and then headed off to do some some tourist stuff. We climbed up to the chapel of St. Michael on the "big lentil" , wandered the streets in the old quarter, went back to the cathedral, and included a visit to the cloister (stunning). Le Puy is a beautiful and interesting city that deserves at least an extra day to wander around. It was now pushing into the late afternoon so after purchasing some food and water for tomorrow we headed off to find a pub with WiFi. That is where we are now catching up on all things requiring internet access (including this post).

 

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