RenaissanceRebecca – Changes Ahead

Hello Renaissance Rebecca Subscribers and Friends–  You may have noticed that I haven’t posted on this blog since Nov 22, 2024. This is because I’m working on something new and am writing on a different platform once per week.  I want to keep reading your stuff–how do I sign up? What’s this new thing you’re…

The Worst Day on the Camino de Santiago

“How do you know how to do all this?” Dad asked me as we stood together waiting for the metro in Madrid. “Do what?” “This–trains, buses, subways . . .” “On that high school trip to London, Mr. Briggs taught us how to use the subway, and once you know the idea, they’re pretty much…

Camino with Dad 2024: Routines

Dad: Did you check for bedbugs yet? Me: No! (I stop what I’m doing and walk to my bed.) Dad: Though in a place like this, I doubt there’s a problem. Me: Yes–I’ve heard that bedbugs look at how many stars a hotel has and choose accordingly (as I pull up the sheets of one…

Camino with Dad 2024: A Poem

June 15, 2024: Another dayAnother fresh squeezed orange juiceAnother bar giving us a free snack when we order our breakfastAnother medieval bridgeAnother taxi ad in the middle of nowhere in case the 16 miles walk is too much for usAnother napAnother day meeting people from all over the worldAnother day Dad and I are lucky…

Getting In Cars With Strangers

“Is this safe?” someone asked on one of my international Facebook groups. They must be American, I said to myself with a sigh. I’ve had more than a few international friends tell me it’s usually us Americans who ask questions about safety. Whether it’s walking the Camino de Santiago, traveling on budget airlines, or car…

The Best Laid Plans

In December, 2022, I printed out a monthly calendar for 2023 and started filling it in. “If I can just make it ’til August,” I thought. I made it ’til March. Planning my parents’ visit had nearly done me in. Probably because planning trips to New York and California hadn’t been the easiest thing to…

Best Moments of 2023

As usual, they are in no particular order. . . As usual, I’m sure there are many more that I missed. If that was you, I’m sorry. Know that I love each and every one of you and any moment shared with you is a moment I treasure. Much love to you all, Rebecca

Lunches, Liquor and Other Rabbit Holes

“I just finished my small lunch,” Ricardo said. I knew what he meant. He had just finished his almeurzo. If you look up the English translation, it will say, “lunch.” But in Valencia, Spain (where Ricardo lives), it is definitely not lunch. Almuerzo consists of a small sandwich accompanied by a glass of wine or…

Walking Into the Unknown (aka the Camino Invierno)

In Spain, there exists a monthly magazine about the Camino de Santiago. The articles are beyond my level of Spanish comprehension, but the charts and graphs. . . those I can follow. This is how I learned that 438,000 people walked into Santiago de Compostela last year. Seventy-three percent of them arrived via the two…

A Camino Fail

Blog posts written about my first walk on the Camino de Santiago: 32 Blog posts written about my second walk on the Camino de Santiago: 0 —— My second Camino was a disaster. The route I chose was not well marked. Not that I would have seen the trail markers–it was raining so hard I…