Rocks are not the first things I’d think to bring on a 480-mile pilgrimage walk across northern Spain. Hiking shoes, dry-wicking shirts, sunscreen: yes. But rocks? Though not shown on any packing list, I would wager that many of my fellow pilgrims along the route to Santiago de Compostela (a journey popularly known as the…
Author: renaissancerebecca
This Pilgrim´s Path
Note: This post was originally written by Rebecca Gallo and published on bustedhalo.com. Why would a woman with serious doubts about her Catholic faith embark on a 480-mile pilgrimagetrail across northern Spain? Maybe I’ll know by the time I finish. For now, the answer to that question is this: I just know it’s something I’m…
And She’s Off…Again
While most of you are sleeping soundly tonight, I’ll be 30,000 feet in the air trying to do the same. At 10pm, I leave JFK and head to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. From there, it’s a bit an adventure to get to my starting point for the Camino: St. Jean Pied-de-Port. Thursday, May…
A Test Run
I don’t know that I’ll ever shake that initial jolt of fear that shoots through me when I arrive alone in a foreign country. I follow the crowd through the terminal to baggage claim. Traveling only with carry-on luggage, this is where I abandon them. I look around to find the bus or train I…
On Walking
As we walked toward Piazza Venezia, I flipped open the pedometer on my belt. “How much?” Daniel asked. “Nine miles.” I’d made a mistake earlier of telling him that I set a personal record ten days ago when my sister Jessica and I walked seventeen miles one day in Rome. He, of course, wanted to…
Another Cinque Terre Tale
“This is ridiculous,” I called down to Scott, thirty feet below me on a trail of our own making. “This is the kind of stuff you hear about on Dateline NBC.” With that, he and I started to create the opening monologue of the program that would tell our tale and subsequent demise. It was…
Slip ‘N Slide
Maybe hiking a steep stone trail in the rain wasn’t my best idea. But it was my first afternoon in the Cinque Terre, and I wanted to get out there. So off I went climbing up and up and up towards the Madonna di Montenero Sanctuary high above Riomaggiore. The light rain didn’t faze me….
Serendipity – In a Train Station
I could feel him behind me. He and I obviously didn’t have the same idea of ‘personal space.’ As he got even closer, I wondered if this short, tanned, elderly Italian man was trying to cut in front of me? I stood my ground in line for the automatic ticket machine. He shifted behind me,…
Pack Lightly
I know it went out to the masses, but I feel like he wrote it just for me. And I wanted to share it with you. Here’s a recent post by Leo Babauta. I get inspiration from a lot of people and places. Leo is one of my favorites from the blogosphere:) Empty-Handed, Full-Hearted Posted:…
RenaissanceRebecca 