Exploring in Wellington

Today in Wellington I met up with E from Canada, who I first met on the Camino. The cafe at Te Papa was a good place for a long relaxed chat to start with.
Then we headed out along the waterfront to start exploring the city. The sun shone on our day's explorations, and Wellington always looks stunning on a good day.
We saw lots of sculpture along the way... this was our first strong man... Seddon was our last.....We crossed the pedestrian bridge over to the Civic Square area, and E was struck by how 'people friendly' the whole Square and waterfront area was, and how interesting and varied the architecture was. Here are two photos I enjoyed taking- reflections and clouds......
We walked to the Cable Car station and rode up to the Botanical Gardens, before walking back downhill to the Begonia House and Cafe..... where we enjoyed lunch. Then it was off downhill some more, and back into the cbd- I really like the idea of Cable-Car-Up then Walk-Down!
We passed through the historic Bolton St Cemetery, and on into Parliament Grounds. One of the buildings there I never recognised at all- turns out it was the parliamentary library- and we were told that by a friendly MP called Nash, who a security guard told us was grandson of a former prime minister. E was impressed we had met someone famous and I am certain she will already know more about Walter Nash than I do.

It isn't often I just take time to explore Wellington like a tourist, but E and I both ended the day wishing we had time for more exploring tomorrow.....

The Camino keeps following me!

One of the remarkable things about the Camino has been the re-discovery of contacts since I came home. While walking, I only shared my e-mail address with two people. But since I have come home, contact has been re-established with a whole bundle of people I walked with. People have tracked me down via other people, via photos on blogs, etc. The nature of the Camino was such that you sometimes walked with people for a few days, but then you never saw them again, as your pace of walking differed. But in those few days, you often came to know those people in a special way, as you walked together in the landscape, and/or shared evenings in the albergues/gites.

The latest 're-discovery' was yesterday. There was a French couple I met after three weeks of walking in France, "les DDs", who I saw often for the next month, but who 'disappeared' after Viana in Spain (near Logrono.) Three of us, who had often walked with them, wondered where they were, whether they had suffered an accident, or whether some event at home had meant they had to leave the Camino. It was their plan to walk from home to Santiago, then walk home again.

As it turns out, though we never saw them again after Viana, we only just missed them in Santiago, where they arrived on July 7th. That was the day we took the bus to Finisterre, then I left early the next morning to take the train to France. They had a fortnight's rest in Santiago, then began the return walk home, arriving back where they lived in France on October 31st, seven months after leaving home. I am proud of the 1500km I walked. But it pales into insignificance against their 3600km!!!

Trouble is, they only speak French, so I need to e-mail them in French, and I am already forgetting my French fast! Just as well there is such a thing as Babelfish these days!!!