Pilgrimage Euchre, Anyone?

Jackie's fantastic Euchre hand, on miniature cards.

(Jackie Speaking): Some may have wondered what has happened to our little band of pilgrims since we haven't been heard from in a few days. After we lost our two pilgrims in the torrential downpour in Viana Wednesday evening (don't worry, as mentioned in the earlier post, they were airlifted to safety and then decided to go home) and after a short walk to Logrono, we decided to take it easy and just hang out with each other in this fabulous city. After all, our lesson on diligence was not scheduled until next week. (For our lesson this week on Charity, Susan led us in providing some of our pilgrimage currency to pilgrims we met along our way so that they too could visit the home of Feliza.) The walk through La Rioja was fantastic, there's nothing quite like the smell of vineyards in the open air, and we experienced this for much of our walk.

That next day still in Logrono, we decided to visit Con-Catedral de Santa Maria de la Redonda in addition to Iglesia de Santiago that we had visited the previous day. This Cathedral was built over a former 12th century Romanesque temple. Many additions and restorations have been made to this Cathedral over the centuries. The significant twin towers on the exterior were not added until the 18th century while the side doors were added at the beginning of the 18th Century, the Gospel side dedicated to San Martin. A vault in the church houses a Michelangelo painting of the Crucifixion of Christ, forgotten for many years and not found again until later in the 20th Century.

We then decided to stop by Calle Portales near the Plaza del Mercado where we ate previously and at the foot of the Con-Catedral de Santa Maria de la Redonda, to examine this main street of the old town of Logrono. From there, we headed over to Calle Mayor, a popular weeknight hangout, for some good food and drink. As we were sipping our world-class Rioja wine, I pulled out my miniature deck of playing cards so that we can hold a good old fashioned Midwest Euchre tournament. The cards were miniature of course, since I had to limit the weight of my pilgrimage backpack. Our evening of fun went well into the night and as Alison and I battled Bart and Rockstar for the top Euchre win spot (I won't state who won because we wouldn't want to brag), I heard that Dana tried, successfully I might add, to shoot the moon in Hearts. We heard much laughter from Jeanne, Elissa, Gwynne, and Dawn during their bridge game and the tensions were high amongst Lisa, Greta, Erin Elaine, John and Susan as they were nearing the 18th hole of their game of golf (the card game of course). Don't worry, we'll get back on our feet with all those blisters soon and head off to the next city. Team John, especially, has some catching up to do.