[Gocamino] Re: [saintjames] Re: Little guide books

[Blaroli at aol.com]

Hi, Jackie and all,
Which of the little books do you want?
Second, the DVD produced by the French costs about 30 Euros (forty-two dollars) and can only be played on PAL DVD players.  While many DVD players in the US are advertised as having PAL capabilities I learned, the hard way, that in order for them to work one must have a¨"multisystem" TV.  Also, why many techies claim that these DVDs can be played on any computer, they really can´t, not very well.
Last night I watched the DVD version of the 360-degree CDRom. For me, at least, the DVD is much better than the CDRom since it is straight-forward from beginning to end, with some lovely views of San Juan de la Penha (for me, far and away the most beautiful and awe-provoking site in any of the Routes...., far, far  and away).
The DVD follows the French Route, both from its Aragonese and Navarrese starting out points, and it shows at any time where the sites are. The narrative is impressively informative and 
precise.  I don´t think that the most severe nit-picker or would-be-pedant could find a factual flaw in it. The production was gone over, with a fine tooth comb, by Don Juan Jose Cebrian Castro, the head of the Archdiocose´s Sociology Dept., possessor of several PhDs  and author of over twenty five books on the Camino.
Those of us just interested in the visual presentation will enjoy it.... although the continual panning (?) may get distracting. The techies will love it because it has this snaking line moving forward and a lot of such tech things. 
I never saw the actual CDRom to the end, but I was happy to see in the DVD that it shows the crashing down of the stone wall that closed the Holy Door on December 31, 2003.  That was quite something... And it will not happen again.
The DVD also shows the main altar image of the Apostle without his cape  (you will remember that the old cape was replaced by the new one and he was without one for a few months). To my mind, the image seems more apostle-like with just a plain purple tunic over very human burdened shoulders.
Th English narration is vey good, and the speaker is obviosly a native-born bilingual person since his pronunciation of the few Spanish names is very clear.
... Two days ago, on January 6th, at 10:30 a.m., at a special celebration, the Archbishop and a cortege proceeded from the Sacristy, accompanied by those medieval instruments known as "chirimias" to the inside of the Holy Door.  A cement vault, less than two feet high and narrower that the doorway had already been built over the steps; the vault had an opening on the top, about the size of a large brick. The Archbishop placed a bronze coffer containing the keys to the new bronze doors, and some commemorative Xacobean 2004 coins and medals, inside the vault through the opening and then he proceeded to cement the opening up.  Yup! with a little shovel, sealing the `piece of concrete with a cross carved on its top, with his own hands.
... I cannot imagine how the vault will be opened on December 31, 2009, at 5:00 p.m.  It looks like a pick and shovel will be needed because it is surely cement-entombed.
After the cementing of the vault, there was a service, beyond the joyous one much earlier that had symbolized the arrival of the Wise Men, followed by the flight of the Botafumeiro. Afterwards, the Botafumeiro was brought down and untied and then carried away, not to reappear until Easter Sunday.
One supposes that this might have been the last ceremony related to the Xacobean 2004 Holy Year.   Sigh!
Best regards,
Rosina