Before the start of the Camino we had planned to spend a couple of days in Paris. This was the most convenient point to fly in, and you can't pass through Paris without spending a little bit of time there! Our itinerary was to fly from Portland to Vancouver, Canada, then to Montreal, and then on to Paris. Unfortunately our flight from Vancouver to Montreal was delayed for a number of reasons - and finally the crew timed out and we had to wait for another crew to arrive - and that got us into Montreal with only 25 minutes to spare for our next flight. They greeted us at the gate with "you're too late and we've bumped you off the flight! " This was not what we wanted to hear but we took advantage of the extra day in Montreal by discovering old town. We started our Camino early by doing lots of walking (~ 8 miles) and making some new friends (there were maybe 25 of us bumped) including Theresa from Victoria and Celine from Paris. We visited the beautiful Notre Dame cathedral among many other places.
After a 24 hour delay in Montreal, we finally boarded our flight to Paris, and arriving at 9 AM Thursday morning. We were left with only one very sleep deprived day and one good day. We loved to just walk around the city. ..so much to see! We did visit the Eiffel Tower, took a Seine boat tour, visit the famous Paris catacombs and climb the Milian steps up to one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've ever seen - the Sacre Coure. While there we saw stunning views of Paris. We also spent quite a bit of time sampling Paris cuisine as well. We ate our fill of baguettes, cheese and meringues! And don't forget the wonderful French wines...
At the end of the 2nd day, we boarded a train to Bayonne. Our first leg would take us 780 km (480 miles) southwest across France. We had a sleeping berth but not much sleep happened in the 8 hours we were aboard. Early Saturday morning we arrived in Bayonne and then waited a couple more hours for our short train ride to St. Jean Pied du Port. Finally we had arrived!! After months of planning for, thinking about, reading about and studying the Camino, we are finally here ready to start tomorrow. Unbelievable! We found the Camino office, got our passports and became official peregrinas (pilgrims). The man at the office explained how rough the climb over the Pyrenees will be tomorrow. ..but we are ready! We will walk just a short way and then we will be in Spain and off to Santiago de Compostela!
