Tuesday, June 10, 2014

IF YOU HAVE TO NURSE BLISTERS, LEON IS NOT A BAD PLACE TO DO IT (from 6/10/2014)

Leon is a teeming city of 130,000 people, and I think all 130,000 were in the little bar next to our hotel last night celebrating the Roman Festival.  This is a yearly event and seems to give people permission to be untamed and unashamed sort of like Marti Gra.  There were booths everywhere with the shop keepers dressed Roman style. 


(Booths  surrounded the great Cathedral just like in days of old.)

People were in the PARTY MOOD!!  There was a wildness in the air with a VERY thin layer of inhibition.  I'm not sure what the deal was with the young men dressing up in women's clothes and fluorescent wigs, but they were excited about it.  


(Man with yellow hair jumped up on a pedestal ripped off his raincoat to expose his skimpy  women's bathing suit on a very hairy body.) 


(Purple Lady.  Whoops... I don't think so!  He made an ugly woman.)


(Then we had the "Pinkie Twins.  Aren't they darlin'?)


(She must have done something naughty because 
she was behind bars.)

All of it made for a happy atmosphere. The Spaniards came out in force to join the fun. From  1:00  - 6:59 pm, most Spanish Cities, especially the villages look like neatly groomed Ghost Towns because everyone is inside taking a nap.  Then everything bursts into life at around 7:00 pm.  They happily greet us and enthusiastically call out, "Buen Camino!!"

It makes me feel special to be a Pilgrim.  Believe me . . .  You do EARN that title!
Izabela and I stayed in the old section of Leon, right in the middle of all the action.  We were just around the corner from their huge Cathedral. 


(The Leon Cathedral in all it's grandeur and magnificence. )

Since my knee, feet, legs and little toenail were fatigued, I found a masseuse  and got some of the soreness and pain worked out.  Then, I slithered back to the hotel to dress (which consisted of putting on my only other pair of slacks) in time to meet Izabela.  We went to ANOTHER Cathedral to hear our cellist friend Dane Johansen perform.  It was transformational. As he masterfully produced heart swelling music from his cello I imagined my life in pursuit of my "star" and Dane's music took me on an incredible journey of hope, dreams, confusion, passion, sorrow, fulfillment, joy and redemption. He graciously allowed us all to take photos with him. 


(Hearing Dane perform was another magical moment on the Camino).)

So, I went to bed to have bueno sweunos with a heart drenched in beauty.  Walking through this throbbing city on Sunday morning after such a vibrant weekend was almost like being part of a funeral dirge. 


The giant, memorable moment was when we found the Burger King . . . BURGER KING IN LEON!!!! WOW! BAM! BLAST!! YEA!!!  I was moved to tears. 

BTW, this is the Parador Hotel, 5 stars and was seen in the movie "The Way," AND is where we did not stay. We took photos though. One can dream you know. 



(If we had only found the Parador the day we got to Leon 
who knows what could have happened?)

And... For completion... I did operate on the blisters. But that's a story for another day. 


Until next time, with love,  

Sidney/Mom//Grandma

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