London - La Coruna

Day 6 of having my braces in, and I still can't eat solid foods yet. The most solid thing I've had is half a slice of spam that Maylene very graciously offered me when I was dying of hunger while at work. Just thought I'd share this update with whoever cares. Moving on, I thought I'd finally put up some photos from my cruise!!! Which was in May this year and therefore just 3 months too slow, but whatevz. I just got timelined so I hate facebook. I'm not putting any of these photos up just cos I'm trying to boycott them hahah 

The first night on the cruise we were just sailing along to Spain, so all I have are photos of food. This is the most amazing mushroom tarte I have ever eaten. Trust me when I say that all you do on cruises is eat. 

 First stop was La Coruna, but my family decided to take up one of the day trips to head out of the city to the medieval city of Santiago de Compostela. The cathedral there is a pilgrimage destination for many Catholics since the 9th century, because apparently the apostle St James' remains are there. The cathedral itself is a impressive building, the outside grubby from years of wear and tear but so beautiful in its gothic way. Also, they had a pretty damn impressive organ inside. HUGE. 

Hello kitty everything everywhere!! Also, the pilgrims we saw hiking to the cathedral wore these sea shells on their backpacks. It is the emblem of St James. Apparently you could only be counted a pilgrim if you travel a certain distance by foot. I can't quite remember the stats that my tour guide was throwing at me, but it was something like maybe 100km by foot, and then if you were travelling by horseback it would have to be double, and then double again if by boat. 

After touring around the area we headed into some medieval dungeon like place for lunch!! Spain has the BEST FOOD EVAR. Ok I just really like their hams. Look at that iberico! And the fresh seafood! Ok really torturing myself here considering I can't even bite into anything solid for the moment. 

The Santiago de Compostela was truly a breathtaking sight. Maybe not as awe inspiring as the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, but here the quiet determination of the pilgrims with their staffs and shells along with the general reverence of this medieval city was a novel experience.