What a relief. Everything worked out and we were not overly stressed. The Camino itself should be easy now. I said everything thing worked out but not necessarily smooth sailing all the way through.
It started when I decided to check the arriving terminal in Madrid, T4S, while waiting to board in Hong Kong. Turned out that the other two flying in from Canada were to arrive in T1. That is not big deal except that we did not talk about it ahead of time. We could be looking for each other in different terminals. Luckily I had about half an hour before boarding. Panic WhatsApp messages ensued and we finally decided on a meeting place. Again, having been in Madrid Airport before helped a lot because we remember some of the places. So it worked out.
We met up at the airport and found the Madrid Metro station quickly (we were there before). We even acted as guides for a group from Mexico who needed to go to the train station for transfer to Sevilla.
Train ride to Pamplona and the taxi ride to St Jean Pied de Port were both easy except for the part when I was hit in the head by a fully loaded backpack falling from the luggage rack.
One more hiccup before we were done. Three years ago, I think we got the last spots in the municipal auberge. This time our luck ran out when we found out that they had one bed left when we needed 4. Maybe we could have the last 4 beds if we were not going around the center of the town trying to get to the auberge on a pedestrian street. Or maybe not.
We were onto the idea that there seems to be many more pilgrims recently. First from a news article about the municipal auberge had to lay out 44 mats for pilgrim overflow one night. And then along this trip making our way to St Jean Pied de Port, we saw many other pilgrims travelling the same way as us. Certainly in much larger number then we saw three years ago. We quickly went to our second choice and they have the beds for us. It worked out.
Finally we settled in. After shopping for supply for tomorrow's breakfast and lunch, we went for pilgrim's menu for dinner. Gigi said she was sold on the nicely done promo outside the restaurant. The head waiter was charming but the assistant was awful in so many ways. I never would have expected such level of service in a French restaurant. It is a restaurant in France and I am counting it in.
I think we are ready to brave the rain expected for tomorrow. It would be a bummer if the climb over the Pyrenees is ruined by weather. We shall see.
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