Holy Cheese!

Holy Cheese! If ever there was a religious experience along a pilgrimage, I´d have to say I practically levitated last night. Introduced to two new besties from Canada (Alli and Shay) and my new favorite cheese- this whole pilgrim thing is an amazing way of life. We went out for dinner and a beer and Brebis- a delicate cheese that can be out of the fridge and is perfect for the pack, with a consistency slightly more moist than parmessan, is so delicious I wanted to buy a block, and my new Canadian friend was a step ahead of me and bought one for me. MMMMmmmmmm. Cheese!

Yesterday, Daur and I traveled south on the train from Paris to our starting point at st. jean pied de port. Well, first we got on the wrong train, but luckily- and kind of in a sneaky way- it was attached to the train that we wanted which would take us to Bayonne to connect. After realizing our error we walked the interior length of the train looking for la voiture 20. Alas, we could not get there from where we were in the train that we were in- but we found out that it was connected. After my new favorite game, charades, I discovered the train we were on and the train we wanted to be on that was connected would soon split. At the next, and only stop before the split Daur and I got out with our packs on, ran the full length of the train, and hopped back on to the other end, the train we wanted, as it was rolling out. It was pretty sweet, actually. Well, much more sweet once we had pulled it off. Once on the right train we travelled through Bordeaux-
beautiful mustard fields highlighted the hills in yellow. We switched to a single car train that was full of people of all ages and an inventory of recreational outdoor gear. Daur asked if we were on the right train, which given our morning was a valid double check, but when i pointed out that the entire car was filled with folks in zip off pants, she concurred that we were indeed in the right place. It´s a land of zip off pants.

St. Jean Pied de port is a place that everybody should get to in life. It´s an artisan village situated on the side of the foothills to the Pyrenes. The Pyrenes are so majestic and yet loomed with a heavy presence knowing that today we would be climbing through them with great respect. Oi, the burning and wind whipping- i would say it wasn´t that bad, but it was pretty intense! There was sleet, snow, high winds, low temperatures, exposure, MUD and eight hours of climb. te he heee, this was a crazy day and I am so pleased that the only muscles i am using right now are in my fingers. Really, I have never done anything like what we accomplished today. 5000 feet of elevation gain and 16 miles is a doosey of a way to start 500 miles of walking. We were soaked through from the rain and snow when we arrived eight hours after our departure. We are sleeping in a former monastary, and when I walked in I commented to Daur, well, i´ve never done anything like
this before. There are lines of bunkbeds- think Madeline times ten, or maybe shawshank redemption without the jean shirts. There is room for 100 people to sleep in this huge open brick room, and we are at full capacity. It´s a little village of people who get dressed in techwick. As I sat and enjoyed sitting, and watched folks filter into the space, each went about his or her business of getting settled, laying out a sleeping bag, getting shower stuff together, de-mudding, etc. There was a lot of mud today. What´s amazing about walking is that I noticed how many different types of mud there are-red clay, dark and spongey, yellow and sticky, grey and slick. I like the pace of walking. There´s a commonality with everyone on a similar journey and in the same boat, that we all just help eachother out. We share food, drinks, random toiletries, it´s a delightful utopia- with the exception of the B. O. Lot´s of it!

I am so impressed with the people I have met. Just last night in a room with ten beds there were people from 8 different countries, and 6 different languages were being tossed around. What a fascinating collection of people with such a variety of purposes. I am off to sleep off today and dream of the cheeses to come! Basque country- if only for the local beer and cheese, is a must do for everyone.

j'adore Paris!

Blogging is new to me, and 22 minutes into this internet session i have deciphered not only a French based keyboard but also, quite a bit of French on the screen. It's hilarious that it took me so long to sign into my own blog and figure out how to add to it! What an incredible day! We are here, safely , and for that i am grateful. We seem to have a lot of luck finding the school groups as on our flight we were accompanied by oh, maybe seventy five high school students (who stood up to change seats as we were taking off, which made the pilot in me want to tackle them to the floor for their own safety- luckily the flight attendant -who only spoke English to these poor unsuspecting French lovebirds did the dirtywork for me). I didn't sleep on the plane. I am not sure why as I am usually a champion of sleep just about anywhere. Because I anticipated my ability to sleep, in a cavalier moment of stupidity, I refused to offer 5 euro for a headset. Six hours later after 166minutes of Australia- the silent movie, and and hour and a half into the Secret Life of Bees, surrounded by teenagers making out and Daur sleeping in every possible contortion, I found my decision to be quite funny. In short- the first twenty four hours of the trip went something like this: plane, customs, metro, walking, hotel with a really nice lady who made up for our lack of ability to speak her language with many caring gestures, a long walk via the jardin du plantes to Notre Dame, with a walk through the Louvre- that's right- some folks spend days, Daur was done in a mere fifteen minute walk through- down along the river to the Eiffel Tower. We walked all the way home from the Eiffel Tower to where we are staying near the Gare de Lyon. I think we probably walked at least 15 miles. Walking seems to be a theme this trip. My favorite person on public transportation yesterday is the man who was doing pull ups using the bar on the metro. I think the runner up is the man who carried his own Karaoke machine on the metro and sang along. He was amazing. He should be on American Idol, or maybe he should just have his own show- a real justin timberlake if you will. I don't know if i can do a paragraph without posting this- i'll try it now.

Hooray! We both slept for a solid 12 hours, and I feel much, much better- not quite so hung over! Today, I conquered the Paris metro- it was pretty exciting to actually get on the train we wanted each time. Daur is so trusting it makes me double check myself. The metro really sped up our travel time from walking pace, and we did a huge triangle of Paris. Sacre Coeur as breathtaking as ever, three hundred steps to the top. Oh, Anna B how I almost expexted to see Dominique! The calm of the interior juxtaposed with the boisterous street performers- and my next favorite public person- the man singing a mix of Let It Be- a Beatles classic merged without pause into "a kiss from a rose" the Batman classic. It was huge. We wound through montmartre and jumped the metro to Champs-elysees. As we sat in the park with the incredible tulips and ate a refreshing brownie based ice cream, a woman, who really represents all of Paris in a way, rode by on her bicyle. She was wearing a black miniskirt of say 5 inches in length, and stillettos of equal hight. Needless to say, to pull it off with grace was a thing of beauty and nothing short of a circus act. A few moments later, Daur was almost pummeled to death by a charge of speeding mo-ped-ists. This brings us to our first learning opportunity: cross the street against the little red man at your own risk. Accompanied by several school groups we walked back towards the Louvre. To add to the list of things I've learned in the last couple days- don't stand directly over a grate in the sidewalk, and inhale through your nose on the metro at rush hour at your own risk. Also, Paris is a great place to make out with people- I haven't done it myself, but there are people kissing and groping everywhere- perhaps because of my hightened awareness of singledom, or perhaps just because such a large ratio of the population here is so attractive, and therefore I can totally understand why so many folks have decided to kiss the days away, I am reminded of a song... I'm throwing my arms around, around Paris because, only steal and stone accept my love.

We are off to southern France tomorrow with climbing the Pyrenes on the radar for an all day Saturday excursion. I can only imagine the public transportation stars along the way.