Day whatever

What day is it?
If it wasn't for my palmpilot, and the big parade in Astorga today...I sure wouldn't know.
We made it to Rabanal del Camino today, 40k from Hospital de Orbigo.
Pretty amazing considering we did two museum tours in Astorga,, one Roman, one the Camino museum in the Gaudi Palace, AND had a 86€ lunch in some....yes, tiny town. It was Cocida Margata, Ann said it was a stew, but it turned into a massive three course meal, plus desert. We knew we were in for something special when the plates came out...nice plates.
An old woman across the street yelled at the bar and we got instant service, I will post her photo with these words. She had five dogs around her, and a very musically talented bird hanging in a cage in the second story window. One of the dogs I named Leon, because of the cathedral...his balls were so big the first thing I said was...
"Oh My God"..just like the cathedral. Jesu Christe! Watching him walk reminded me of the bells in the cathedral tower..
Clang! Clang!
Anyway, the food was really bizarre, a platter of mystery meats, followed by garbanzo beans and cabbage, followed by a chicken noodle soup-like dish, followed by a desert from heaven, some kind of custard. The entire family served us, we had different faces every course..then, the owner sent out a round of some ice-cold liquor in tiny frozen beer mug-like glasses...he said that would help us make it up the mountain. Urp.
Clang! Clang!
Another 15k after that, we are here, 2/3's of the way up to the "Cruz de Ferro", where pilgrims for centuries have left rocks from home. You won't believe how tall this pile is. Tomorrow we finish the ascent, in 6k we climb about 400 meters, then descend 1000 meters in 10k. Dad is changing his brake pads for this..It is quite cold up here, tomorrow morning will be nippy as hell.
As far as the Gaudi museum..suffice to say that he was a stunning architect, my favorite, and if we can pound the kilometers out and get Santiago early, we may jet to Barcelona for more. His use of arches, pillars, tiles, windows...unreal.
Again, no photos allowed, but Germans a'plenty clicking away.
time for bed....
Here we are in Ponferrada, the other side of the Cruz de Ferro, 1508 meters. This is the spot where pilgrims traditionally leave a small rock from home, mine was from Big River beach. The climb from Rabanal was not too bad, especially since the camino was on a small paved road. It was quite cold, yes. The descent was
rippin'! My max speed was over 55kph, but I tried to hold it to 40 and below.
We are now past the highest point on the Camino, in a beautiful green valley approximately 50k wide, with O'Cebreiro to climb in a few days, then a rolling landscape of hills like Mendocino county.
We are going to look for pizza tonight, and I will try to post this. I decided to spare you Leon's backside, imagination should suffice.