Kind of like after a party, when the guests have gone and your feet hurt. The cake is falling apart and squashed, the tablecloth has sauce and pickle juice and cream rubbed into it and there are crumbs and spills everywhere, and there is garbage in places there shouldn’t be garbage.
Kathy and Stephanie and I limped into Lisbon today off the short hop from Madrid, Kathy getting a cart to carry her backpack (her backpack!), Stephanie doing a Frankenstein walk on two badly swollen knees, and me with some kind of stomach bug,covered in a strange sweat. We got into our Airbnb and decided to take a “rest time”.
Since finishing the Camino we have been doing ultra-tourist living. Let me try to summarize:
We spent two days in Santiago and did an all-day bus trip to Finisterre and Muxia with our guide Antonio as well as a guided tour of the cathedral with Sandra. We shopped in the tourist stores and sat in the sun in the square by the cathedral. We saw the last of our free breakfasts and luxury hotels with Portugal Green Walks. We walked everywhere and rode in a little train. We took a taxi to the airport.
We took the bus to Ponferrada and toured the Knights Templar Castle in our one day there. We rode the bus and took a taxi.
We took the bus to Leon and took the mini train around town. We wanted to see the cathedral but it closed at 2 on Sunday. We rode the bus, rode a little train, and took a taxi which dropped us off at 7:30 AM at the train station instead of the bus station. Serious panic.
We took the bus to Madrid where we spent two full days. We took the Hop on Hop off bus around town, toured the art museums, and went to a Flamenco show. Stephanie and I had tickets to a half day trip to Toledo but I cancelled out with my stomach bug and slept for about 18 hours. Stephanie went on the bus tour and it dropped her at Plaza de Espana, about two miles from our place, at 9 PM. She had to limp the whole way home in the dark as no taxis were visible. We walked a lot, took taxis, took the bus, and took a tour bus.
We boarded a plane this morning for Lisbon and limped in about noon. We took an Uber for the first time, after taking a taxi to the airplane and then flying. We have a list of a Must-Do things in Lisbon, and it shall be revealed how much of that we can accomplish.
The party is winding down and hostesses are spent. We can’t take decent selfies because Stephanie is too short unless she jumps or unless we obliterate any background. Because she is the shortest she always has to get in front, which makes her head look really big. We do not know how to resolve these first world problems. Time to come home!