In Bayonne

Well, we made it this far. It's Sunday morning, and we're in Bayonne, waiting for the bus to St. Jean Pied du Port (hereafter SJPP). We thought we could get there early today, but on Sunday the only bus is at 3:30. So we scoped out an internet cafe, and I'm learning how hard it is to type on a not-querty keyboard. (If you find lots of "q's" where there should be an "a," that's why.)

Oh my. Did I seriously just post that on Sunday morning I'm sitting in an internet cafe? Uh, oops.... St. Paul people, I'm with you in spirit--really! (Of course, at this hour most of you are still asleep. But you know what I mean.)

The trip so far has been tiring but pretty good, all things considered. By the time we checked into our hotel last night (at 11:00 p.m. ) we were pretty muched zoned, having not slept in a bed for over 30 hours. We had a 7-hour train trip after our flight landed (5 hours travel, with a two-hour layover in the middle; book ahead, Marty, to avoid that little detail), so we ran on catnaps and the kind of sleep one usually gets on a plane. But it's been lovely--so much so that we decided to walk from the train station to our hotel at 11:00 last night, and thoroughly enjoyed the stroll across the river and through Bayonne. And everyone has been most gracious with our American-ness (read: lack of fluency in any language other than English), tho Niles has pulled us through quite a few conversations and transactions in France so far. He also got several hero points for catching the fact that when we purchased our tickets to Bayonne from Paris yesterday, the guy actually booked us to Biarritz.

So--so far, so good. We're down one pair of sandals (broken), and starting out on the Camino Monday instead of Sunday, but I'm thinking that all in all this qualifies as a good start. We're hoping to take the high (challenging) route through the Pyranees tomorrow, so your keeping prayers coming would be appreciated. Blessings.