Oh what a glorious feeling to lie in bed and know that you don’t have to rush to go anywhere this morning!!! Oh oh, I do need to meet Lisa in the square ( we are having her stay with us tonight in our palatial room… Easier to get a good start in the morning!). Here’s what fluffy white towel rooms look like compared to our regular dorms!

 

Anyway, I digress… We brought Lisa and her pack back to our room and made tea and coffees for all… Yes, this wonderful room even comes with a nespresso machine!!! By 10:30, we were motivated enough to go out for our breakfast, and headed back to the main square to search for food and more coffee… We must have picked the right spot (same place where Sandra met Dan, and we met Sandra!) because Lisa met up with Santiago ( an Argentinian friend she travelled with earlier).  But to our great surprise in walked Francesco!!! Reunited with our surrogate son once again!

Lots of hugs and kisses and pastries later,  we felt it was time to work in a little culture so off we went to the cathedral!  What an absolute masterpiece!  And the most amazing thing was that this cathedral was built when the population of Leon was little over 5,000!

  

As we walked through the choir area Dan found this and wanted to wish Judith a safe and meaningful journey as she continued on her Camino today… Judith, this looks like you can conquer anything!  We miss you already!  Know that we are with your every step in spirit!

 The weather has changed quite a bit today with a high of 17 instead of 27-32… The teeshirts we walked around in this morning definitely were not warm enough for this sudden drop in temperature so we opted to head back to the room for another layer!

After a quick essential laundry ( we were going to send our stuff for laundering at the hotel, but estimated it would have been €100 to have our clothes laundered and pressed… Like my river pants need pressing!), a bit of a rest with feet up and a few quick blog updates, we headed towards the church of San Isadora, where we were to meet Lisa at 4…we arrived at the square about an hour early, so decided to stop for some tapas for lunch… Absolutely wonderful with famous Leon black pudding baked in a crock, baked leeks with cheese sauce and stuffed small peppers (shrimp/lagostino) all of it divine! With a glass of vino tinto to top it off, it was a feast of Spanish tastes!

Now, to meet Lisa for our visit to the church and museum… Our meeting time was for 4:00 at the church, however, Lisa (as we later discovered) thought we were meeting at the cathedral!  Oh well, we waited half an hour, then decided to tour what is called the Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Spain. Before we entered the museum, Dan and I briefly visited the lovely church where Saint Isadore’s bones were brought out of moor occupied Spain to be laid to rest in Christian Spain. Another interesting feature of this church is the archway of forgiveness…

 Here, pilgrims during the Middle Ages who were too sick to carry on to Santiago could receive their indulgence without completing the pilgrimage… I had to touch the arch and stand under it ( I told the front desk guy at the hotel yesterday that I couldn’t wait for my pilgrim stamp because I needed to go up to my room to kill my husband!!!! Maybe a little forgiveness was warranted!)

As we walked out of the museum, there stood Lisa waiting to enter… We waited for her outside and then did what all proper pilgrims do while in Leon, we went for ice cream!!!

…. If you haven’t had Arroz con Leche gelato (rice pudding), you don’t know what you are missing… Served up with a shake of cinnamon on top…divine!

On we went towards our hotel, and to check out which restaurant we wanted to go to tonight, and who do we meet up with but Suzanne and John from Colorado, and Allen from London, living in Munich… Again, we have shared breakfasts, coffees, dinners along the way… Arriving in Leon is like being at a Camino reunion… I can just imagine what Santiago will be like!!!

Btw… Big news today… Dan has tightened his belt to the last notch (down 2 from the start of the Camino)… And it ain’t from lack of beer, fries or desserts!!! He also posted a comment of yesterday’s blog where he apparently tells his side of the “lost girls day!”  I have my doubts about the veracity of the comment, so will have to closely study it to ensure it is appropriate for publishing!!!

We had a lovely dinner tonight with Lisa… Dan had a pork leg… I think the belt might losses a bit tomorrow!!!

Back to the grind tomorrow am… But Lisa has treated us to some lovely pastries for breakfast in our room before we go… With our very own coffee maker, we’ll start the day right… And not too early! We head for Mazarife tomorrow, and with any luck we’ll meet up with Sandra on the trail!  I booked us into an Albergue for the night… This should be interesting as I spoke little Spanish and they spoke no English… The reservation is under Patricia from Canada!!! Gotta love the trust!  Time for one last shower with fluffy white towels, then tomorrow it’s back to:

For thirteen more days!!! Until tomorrow!