Pilgrim mass @ catedral

Got up early this morning to go to the pilgrim mass this morning at 7. About 150 people, mostly french, but one other english speaker, an american called  Jane. Neither of us was starting out today so we followed the others out of the catedral and for a few hundred metres and then came back for s leisurely breakfast.

Grande Seminaire St Georges, Le Puy en Velay

A long day of trains and stations but I am finally here. Luckily someone always turned up whenever I needed help and managed to understand me. The Grande Seminaire is amazing..very big, dark and gothic feeling..I had to use a torch to find my room and it is still light outside. Very surprised to find wifi and a power point for recharging.I am very tired and hoping for a good nights sleep..didn't get much last night.

Not the Eiffel tower

View from my hotel window

Paris

Arrived safely at paris but very tired..off to hotel to sleep

Hong Kong airport

I had a 12 hour flight here...sleeping pills are my new friend...and I love airline meals..embarrassing. but true..I just like lolling around while people bring me trays of food at regular intervals. Hong kong is cool and misty (smoggy?) in the early morning and I am lying stretched out across several seats using the free wifi on my tiny phone keyboard. The airport is huge but does't seem crowded. Will have to look for some food soon, before my next 12 hour flight to Frankfurt

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go!

I leave tomorrow evening and will take about 36 hours to get to Paris, and then the next day take the train down to le Puy en Velay... a bit daunting but I am relieved that the volcanic ash issues seem to be resolving.. and that the French heat wave also seems to be cooling off a bit.  I am not expecting to find as much internet as I did in Spain so will probably settle for texting G so he can update this blog with very short posts. If I find wifi, I have a new phone that might allow me to post directly, but again, I don't expect that will happen often. All going well, I should start walking about Tuesday.

Learning French

I have been very inspired by Anna Marie's account of a Korean woman who made it all the way from Le Puy en Velay with only a few words of French. I did spend 5 years at school learning French, but that was a very long time ago and I learnt it more as a written than a spoken language. On my previous caminos I learnt both Spanish and German in university classes in my lunch hour but found that it took a few weeks for me to begin to be able to understand the languages and that I was never able to speak the languages with any real level of fluency. This time I haven't had time for classes but was able to load up an old iPod of Anna's  with 80 free podcasts from Coffee Break French  (lots of fun..French with a Scottish accent, I can now buy haggis in French!!)  and Daily French podcasts and listen as I walk. I have also managed to find some online games to help me learn numbers.  Watch this space to see if I manage to retain and use anything I have learnt!