D Day-1

This is the day before we start the camino. We have our pilgrim passport, our shells tied on our backpacks, and are ready to go. You know what you have read about the alberques - well forget that. We have a charming room in the hotel Ramuntcho which is nestled at the 'foot of the pass' to Roncevalles in St Jean Pied de Port. It is right on the camino in the walled heritage district just up from L'Eglise. Our balcony has a lovely view of the Pyrenees and the cobblestone Rue de la Citadelle below. Last night we sat on our balcony marvelling at the view, enjoying a glass of bordeaux wine from the St Emillion appelation and contemplating the journey ahead. This is the festival week in St Jean Pied de Port so the city is bustling with Basque revellers bedecked in red and white in addition to the multitudinous peregrino's. There are marching bands and celebrations of all sorts. Very exciting.

We had a lovely holiday in Iceland with our son Kristjan at the start of our journey. Iceland is a fascinating country of mountains and valleys and sheep.  Most of the country is covered in lava. Some of the lava is black and barren and you feel like you've landed on the moon. Some is covered in moss. The mountains are covered in gravel. There are geothermal areas with boiling mud pots. There are lush valleys of hay with farms located at the bottom of waterfalls. The water here must be the best you can get in the world.

We hiked 24 km, climbing 1,100 metres, between two glaciers in the volcanic region of the 2010 eruption around a crater it created which is still warm and steaming. We were drinking the water straight from the waterfalls and streams, which was cold, pure and delicious.

We spent two weeks driving around the circle road, visiting museums, waterfalls, hiking, and generally sightseeing. We hiked on a glacier, took a boatride in a glacial lagoon, soaked in the blue lagoon and myvant baths, and cruised out to an island in the atlantic to watch the puffins.

It was a great holiday. Then we waved goodbye to Kristjan and went to Paris for 5 days. We flew out of Iceland at 1am and arrived in Paris at 6am. We successfully found our way on the RER and metro to our hotel in Montparnasse, then went and picked up our Paris Pass. Then we spent our days going to museums, special events in Paris, and went to Versailles. It was wonderful and a quick calculation showed we spent the value of the pass, not to mention the time saved not queuing up for everything.

So that puts us here.