Friday, September 25, 2009

A couple days of rest in Leon

Arrived yesterday in Leon & thought I had made a bad mistake. I first tried the Hotel Paris, where I stayed before, only to be told it was full for days. Then headed to the turismo to get a map only to find the place where it has been for years right across from the cathedral where most of the tourists go was closed & abandoned, no forwarding address indicating its new location. The only thing in sight was the Hostal Albany, and I didn´t want to stay in a hostal after a previous bad experience somewhere else. I wanted my own room with my own bed & my own tv & my own bathroom, after weeks of sharing space with hundreds of different people & sometimes not having toilet paper in the restrooms in the morning.

Well, guess where I ended up & it´s not so bad, really. It´s actually a 2 star hotel now (sign needs updating apparently), but it´s clean, has an elevator (oh how I´ve used & abused that privilege already), the bed is comfy & I have my own bathroom, complete with tub for 45 euros. You could not get away with that price & get this quality of room (and maybe not even a clean one) in similarly-sized city in the US.

Oh to be able to spread my stuff all over the place & not have someone crab that I was taking up too much space. To be able to sleep in the dark, without emergency lights blaring in my face or someone banging on the lights either intentionally or accidentally, with no one snoring or farting or arm-wrestling plastic bags, without having to rush out by 8:00 a.m......last night was absolute heaven. I slept until 8:30. Then stayed in bed for another half hour just because I could.

I also treated myself to a massage from the famous massage guy in Leon. My body & feet are still quite happy I did, btw. He even gave me a "prescription" to take downstairs....some magnesium tablets & freeze gel. The tablets aren´t so bad, but I haven´t tried the freeze gel yet, since I´ve been resting & not walking.

Well, kinda. Walked down to the train station today to get my train ticket for tomorrow, as if oodles & skads of people are going to want to go to Sarria tomorrow (you never know). Then back to the hotel, where I noticed it was 12:40 and I had purchased my ticket at 12:03. My feet didn´t seem to be too upset about it, though, so I went off in search of the Burger King my German friends told me about the day before when we met for dinner. Oh, I haven´t had fast food in weeks.

Speaking of which, I´m really craving a Laredo Plate right now. Fajitas, avocado, chips & freshly-made salsa.......once I get home, don´t come between me & a Laredo Plate because you will lose....

I really do like Leon a lot better than Burgos. It seems more open than Burgos, more full of light & energy.

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