Author Archives: The Wife of Bath
Faux-Pilgrim’s Progress: how we faked a pilgrimage
Last week as we were walking about in the rain in Santiago de Compostela looking for a post office, we were stopped by the leader of a tour group. “Excuse me” he said politely “I see that you are pilgrims. My group would like to see your pilgrim’s passport stamps. Could you please show them […]
Hilariously terrible art in the Cathedral of Burgos
Burgos is a matriarchy. The city is dominated by old ladies with their brown coats and boxy purses, walking arm in arm, playing cards and drinking cocoa in cafes, and just generally owning the place. (Note to self, consider retiring in Burgos). We were charmed by the old city at night and the few Camino […]
The glowing streets of Santiago de Compostela
It always rains in Santiago de Compostela so the buildings and cobblestones are covered in moss. The town glows and the twisting arcaded streets are magically inviting. What do you mean we don’t have to go West anymore? The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is confusing–sprawling with multiple entrances, partly covered with scaffolding. The famous Portico of […]
An outbreak of snowball fights in León
When it snowed in León snowball fights broke out everywhere. These naughty boys lobbed snowballs at all the passersby, including us. I returned fire. HOB eating mantecadas, the specialty almond cookie of León. I felt chilled and bought the same scarf all the teen girls are wearing. Casa de Botines by Antoni Gaudi. Painting in our Hostal […]
Frómista, Spain: The Infamous Blue Traveling Poncho Camino de Santiago special edition
Never has before has Frómista, Spain seen a sexier pilgrim until the day I sauntered into to town with my handsome gentlemen companion, wearing seven shirts and a coat and a poncho. First ever documented sighting of Wife of Bath wearing The Infamous Blue Travelling Poncho. San Martín: brace yourselves because this is one of my all […]
From the Pyrénées into Bayonne: Basque culture and a jar of beans
We got up early this morning, walked out into a star-filled sky, and made our way to the Basque region of France to Bayonne. After a fascinating visit to the Basque Museum, we walked about enjoying the rainy ambience of this pretty town. Dawn in the Pyrénées. Confidential to the people of Bayonne: you live […]
The worst thing about traveling is missing my cat
I’m feeling it now, that stomach-churning excitement of imminent travel mixed with fear of flying and…guilt. Guilt has whiskers and four paws—meet our cat Janacek. Janacek is a big, lovey fellow whose hobbies include shedding, begging for dinner, shedding, sleeping in sunbeams and by the radiator, shedding, sitting like a pumpernickel loaf, playing hockey with […]
Collegio del Cambio: Perugino’s fashionable frescoes in Perugia
It was a great plan, in theory. We’d get up early in Arezzo, take a train to Perugia, stop in Perugia for a few hours to view Perugino’s frescoes and then continue by bus to Gubbio. Here’s what happened: we took a train from Arezzo to Perugia, stopped in Perugia for a few hours, and […]
My wish list for 2015: tolerance, cultural-crossbreeding and a comfortable bra
My neighborhood was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti this week. It would be wrong and upsetting for this to happen to a Jewish community anywhere, but these are my neighbors; the people I sit next to on the bus, share a library and grocery store with, whose cute kids I play peekaboo with on the train platform. I am […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 