Yup, still on the Camino! Plans were in place to meet good friends in Paris for a celebration of birthdays and anniversaries before I left for Europe. However, we did not have a hotel until arrival, when Jeff serendipitously booked one in the Latin Quarter, steps from the historic Chemin de Compostela there.
When planning my walk across Spain, I had the intention that everyday was roughly equivalent to one day of my life, so at the end of the day I would place a rock on one of the cairns, symbolizing what I was leaving behind from that year. It did not work out exactly, but I figured it didn’t need to. When I “fell across” the Camino in Lausanne, I had also realized the 49th day after starting from St. Jean would be my last day in Paris, so my proximity to the route did not appear to be an accident. Perhaps the universe had taken me literally and was directing my steps.
We went to mass at Notre-Dame and visited Sacre-Coeur on Sunday, just to check two more cathedrals off my list, had a blowout party on Monday night, and when I woke Tuesday I knew I had to “finish what was started”.
I walked to the Tour of St. Jacques de la Boucherie, all that remains of the historic church that was the starting point before Notre-Dame was built, and found my way down the oldest street in Paris, the Rue de St. Jacques. Pretty easy to follow, even with only two yellow arrows to direct me. When it was time to turn around to catch my train, miraculously another small historic church appeared, St. Jacques de Haut Pas. Of course it was open for me to go inside, say a final prayer of release and Thanksgiving, and light a candle.
I think this is truly the end of the road, and if I run across any more yellow arrows I am really going to be confused.
Our prayers are also with all those affected by the train derailment in Compostela this past week.
