“Well, that’s not a ship you see every day,” I said to myself. A rope went from the bow up over the three wooden masts and down to the stern, the entire thing festooned with flags from a variety of countries. Ropes crisscrossed every which way. It reminded me of the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor….

“Do you want anything?” Michael asked as I looked at the piles of sandwiches and pastries sitting on the counter of the bar. “No, just coffee,” I said. “We make the croissants ourselves,” the barkeeper said. “Everyone who tries them likes them.” “Well, in that case. . . I’ll share one with you,” I told…

Ten years ago, a boyfriend told me I wore too much black. At first I thought (and said), “So what?” My funeral attire became a running joke between us. I’d show up at his house for dinner, pull off my jacket, and he’d say, “Ah. Black tonight, huh?” Having been on my own for so…

When 83-year-old Grandma Gallo wondered who would care for her very spoiled chihuahua should she predecease him, the only taker she had was my brother Jeffrey. But as Grandma got to 95, then 97, then 98, we worried she wouldn’t, in fact, die before her beloved Nicky-wicky (named after her deceased husband Nick because, she…

Camino invierno Day 10: Depending on whose calculations you trust, at one point in today’s journey, I was either 57.1 km or 60.512 km away from our destination (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). I saw the faded wooden sign first. Directly across from it sat a more modern trail marker: one of the stone monoliths that…

Camino Invierno Day 9:Today’s Camino wisdom is thanks to Joe, an American I met yesterday with whom I walked most of the day today. When people ask him what a Camino is like, he says, “Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? It’s kind of like that. You keep doing the same thing over…

Camino Invierno Day 9:Today’s Camino wisdom is thanks to Joe, an American I met yesterday with whom I walked most of the day today. When people ask him what a Camino is like, he says, “Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? It’s kind of like that. You keep doing the same thing over…

I spotted them ahead of me–easily identifiable by their hiking shoes, walking sticks, and the telltale scallop shell hanging from their backpacks. Pilgrims! I thought excitedly. They paused, the man checking something on his phone, the two of them conferring over whatever was on the screen. This is my chance! I thought, picking up my…

Dear Asturias, Michael and I know your secret. We’ve seen your glossy ads in travel magazines: lush, green hills under blue skies; a tagline encouraging visitors to “Return to Paradise.” And like so many others, we’ve heard–and believed–the rumors about what it takes to create these verdant landscapes: rain. Lots of rain. In the winter….

Many people that walk the Camino de Santiago dream of one day living on it. And some are lucky enough to make that dream a reality. I write this post today from my living room a mere one block away from the Camino de Santiago. Were there pilgrims walking the Camino del Norte route, I…