Back from Santiago

[Sue Kenney]

Rosina,

Your insights are enjoyed by many I am sure. Thank you for bringing the memories back to us. It will be 2 years December 6th that I arrived in Santiago and although it was more busy than you described, it was devoid of the crowds. I believe there were 11 pilgrims who arrived on that day and around 340 for the month of December. I was the only Canadian.

Thanks again for sharing your experience. I feel like getting on a plane right now...

Sue
Floral Park, Ontario
sue.kenneyasympatico.ca

Rosina Lila wrote:

> Hello you all,
> I am back from my Thanksgiving trip to Santiago and would like to share some insights.
> First of all, if you are as bewitched (if you pardon the expression) by the place as I, you should most definitely try to go for a visit there at this time of the year.  I cannot even attempt to tell you the magnificent tnchantments of the City viewed in and by itself, devoid of crowds.  Everything looks, sounds and feels differently. The echo of the footsteps of a person or two walking a cobbled street or two away become the almost silent march of those millions of pilgrims throughout the centuries perambulating the city's casco before, or after, visiting the Cathedral. The details of the ancient buildings are striking, and the architectural and artistic harmony of the ancient buildings and monuments form a continuum that composes a perfect one work of art.
> ..... And the Cathedral! To walk into the church from Obradoiro and find that you are the only person there and can admire, and love, every statue, painting and symbol is a unique pleasure that I can only wish for all of you.  It is a rare privilege.
> Sitting in one of the pews, in silence, with only one or two other people in the church, I swear that one can hear in a soft murmur the whispered prayers of those millions who made their way to Santiago before us.
> Going up to embrace "Jimmy" was also profoundly impressive with no one there; one could sit for a long time behind the image wondering and dreaming of the affectionate and hopeful sentiments of those millions of pilgrims as they put their arms around the shoulders of the image.
> The statue, by the way, does not presently have a cape or any other protective cover, and, seemingly, it does not need any.  Viewed from the back, without the cape, it is rather massive and it has some iron reinforcements.  Viewed from the front the image looks rather narrow-shouldered and quite compassionate and human.
> There is so very much to tell!
> The museum-gorgeous city without tourists shows itself for what it is: a University town with immensily appealing students..... How very fitting!
> Now, regarding the CD Rom "La Meta del Camino"; it is, indeed, very beautiful and informative, and it can be "played" either in English or Spanish (the medieval background music is quite lovely).  For those of you who wish to acquire it, you may send an e-mail to
>                 juanmanuelpaaldeasa.es
> he is the distributor; or you may request it directly from the Archdiocese.  As far as I could ascertain the CDRom is only available at the Cathedral store.  It costs 15 Euros (about $20 dollars) and sending it to the US or Canada would cost about $6 dollars more. There was a question as to whether it could also be obtained by requesting it directly from the Archdiocese through their e-mail, and apparently this is possible.
> Sometime next Spring or Summer the CDRom will be released in DVD, but wheras CDRoms can be played anywhere, DVDs released for Zone 2 (Europe) cannot be played in our continent. So far, I myself have not been able to find anyone in New York that can convert Zone 2 DVDs to zone 1 (the American continent).
>
> Nancy Frey's book "Pilgrims Stories", is being translated into Spanish and it is sold in English at the Cathedral's bookstore.  Apparently she had received monetary help from some government agency in Spain to write the book way back when, and she now lives permanently in Galicia (in a Coruna, I think).
> I did not get to see the Christmas lights that were being readied, for which I am grateful as I enjoyed tremendously seeing the city as it must have been seen in ancient times. However, they were readying hundreds of thousands of lights not only for Christmas, but also for the opening of the Holy Door on December 31st.  For some reason or another the door will be open at 4:00 p.m. instead of midnight, and the preparations are not to be believed.
> I was lucky enough to find accomodations in Santiago over New Year's and if I can coordinate flights to Santiago to and from Italy, where I will be for Christmas, I will certainly go. After all, the next Jacobean Holy Year will not be until the year 2016 (11 years plus an additional year because of an intervening leap year [?]).
> The last thing I have time to relate now is that during next year the Botafumeiro will come out every single day for the noon (pilgrims') Mass.
> Last Sunday a large group of Brazilian pilgrims, accompanied by priests, (it is summer now in Brazil and many people are on vacation) attended the 10:30 Mass; quite by chance I was at the Cathedral and much to my delight the Botafumeiro was brought out. There couldn't have been more than 70 or 100 people in the church at that time, and the whizzing of the Botafumeiro as it flew by was unbearably impressive, beautiful and infinitely touching.
> I brought lots of new books and will write about them later.
> Warm greetings,
> Rosina