November 11. Remembrance Day in SJPDP.

We sent Ken off to find a baguette for breakfast while Scott scrambled eggs and made home fries. Ken also came back happily with a take out coffee which is very hard to find here.

First order of the day was to attend the Remembrance Day ceremony.   The ceremony was quite a bit different than at home.  There was no 2 minutes of silence and only one very short speech by the mayor who hoped for peace in the future. There were trumpets as the French flag was raised but no Last Post. The most poignant part was having local school children read out the names of the fallen soldiers – from the two World Wars, Algeria and Indochina.  They finished with the French National Anthem Le Marseillaise.    Before the ceremony I planted a small Canadian flag with a poppy. 

Ken struck up a conversation with a local named Christian who guided him through the ceremony plus suggested Ken read a book about 2 Resistance heroes – he emailed the name to Ken later, which was very good of him.

I was proud of myself for walking by this interesting looking store several times and never once going in. Heavy sigh.

We finally get some crepes – i sent mine back for Chantilly (whipped cream) when I saw Scott had some on his.  Ken had choco-orange and I had salted caramel and Scott had chocolate almond. Vive le Nutella!Ken says I was envious of Scott’s chantilly and that I actually whined at the waiter for some whipped cream. This is very untrue.

Whale beer. They had its story in English on the label – Newfoundland is portrayed as a legendary island on the Canadian coast, the sacred land of Basque fisherman. I’ll have to research that a little more. So interesting to find these unexpected snippets of connection to Canada.

The look of a man who has just levied a zinger of an insult on his wife and has yet to realize that retribution will follow shortly.

A walk along the river where we saw European kingfishers, which are half the size of the ones at home and the most beautiful metallic turquoisey-green colour.

Back up the steep hill to home.

A different cat on the stairs but you can’t approach it.  Ken decided to go up these stairs, despite the fact they were gated, convinced he could access the Citadel above.   Almost but no cigar. He said there was about 10 feet of brambles and roses and nettles you would have to crawl through. In the meantime,  he chased the cat up. You can barely make it out at the top of the stairs.

Very friendly and helpful volunteers in the pilgrim office. The office is open all year and in peak times they help as many as 2500 pilgrims in a week. They had 32000 in 2024. More than 500000 pilgrims have been arriving in Santiago in the last few years, but most people only do the last 100 kilometers to get their Compestelle certificate.

Ken says I fit right in with this tour group of older people.

The municipal refuge for pilgrims. 15 euro a night for a bed in a dorm (bring your own sleeping bag) and access to a kitchen.

That’s our place below with the brown walkway. Ken climbed the stairs beside the fence.

We’ve walked up to the citadel which has a long 1000 year history of castle, military base at various times, refuge for 600 Basque children from Spain during Spain’s civil war, and currently a secondary school.

Ken checking out the top of the stairs he had climbed.

European robins are sooooo much cuter than North American robins.  Little chirping fluffballs. Their singing has brightened up many of our walking days.

Squinting into the sun.

Leftover bolognese sauce on rice with a salad. I have to say Ken and I have eaten far better on this trip than we normally would have by having Scott the Chef along. Ken is actually happy despite what it looks like.

I’ve used up all the cat food I had so I have to make a run to the grocery store first thing in the morning.  This little cat is very demanding and sleeps in the grass outside the door.  Many stores were closed today as Remembrance Day is a public holiday here – although I have to say the crowd was very tiny at the ceremony. But there was a church service a few kilometers away so maybe more people went to that.