A great traveling day!

Although my plane was 90 minutes late getting into CDG Paris, which meant I could not get through the hour wait through passport control and the one hour bus to Orly in time to catch my connection to Madrid, I was not stressed. No schedule, vague plans. Works every time.  

I approached the Air France service desk to have my flight changed and drama unfolded. A guy, who obviously was exhausted, was complaining, very loudly, that he had been waiting for three hours, his flight from London to Lagos was interrupted, he couldn't access his luggage etc. etc.  And the whole time he was complaining, he was filming either with his iPhone or camera (he switched after 15 min). Since the line was slow, those of us waiting got an earful. Then a policeman came and told him he couldn't film. It's illegal in France to take a photo of someone without specific permission. He's shouting about uploading to social media etc. Finally, we (a young man trying to get the same connection as me) approached the desk and 10 minutes later, it felt like Christmas. We had been given seats on a flight that left from CDG, so would arrive in Madrid in good time for our trains: his to Valencia and mine to Sahagún. 

Being in Paris, if only at the airport was great. The wonderful presentation of food. 

The other interesting thing that happened: at 11:55 a bilingual announcement went all through the airport asking people to observe a minute of silence at noon for a country in mourning. I was standing at this time, so remained so. The airport lounges were crowded and fairly quiet and at noon, many people just stood up, one after another. It was quite moving to be a part of that. 

I snoozed again on the flight to Madrid and on arrival managed to find the right metros to take me to the Chamartin train station. I stood on a very long line for "tickets today" being served by only one clerk at the window. For tickets on future days, there're were 3 people waiting and three clerks. And four other staff milling about behind the scenes. But, I got my ticket for Sahagún, bought a snack for the train 

And only had a wait of ten minutes. I'm now on the slow train......4 hours, but am enjoying the sun. 

Hopefully, the one albergue in Sahagún that's open in the winter, will still be open for pilgrims when I get there at 8:30 pm. And I made it!

As we used to say the hardest part is coming into a town or leaving a town, in terms of getting lost. The train I was on was a commuter train with no announcements of stops and so dark outside you couldn't read the station signs. Anyway, it was a bit hair raising but I got off at the right stop, walked in direction that I thought was correct and then made the mistake of asking an old lady. Remember the old lady directions Roberta? Well, after three blocks of walking, conferring with two others and me pointing at the sign that said Albergue de Peregrinos, I finally said adios and gracias and found a bed. All is quiet. I'm in the same albergue as 1999 but it's not nearly so crowded. Maybe 10 people. A young man who has walked from his home in Tours has offered me wine but I think I'll sleep better with just water. I'm ready to close my eyes now but it seems too early but my bed looks so inviting.