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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