We landed into Paris on Saturday August 15 at 8:30 am. On time. Temperature outside is 64 degrees. Light rain.

We checked in our walking sticks because we did not want any trouble with TSA and security. So many rules and regulation we don’t know what is and is not allowed to be carried on the plane any more. We figure the stick could be used to poke somebody’s eye out so it might be considered a weapon. We carried everything else in our back pack with us because we did not want a situation where we loose our baggage and our whole trip might be delayed while we need to go buy a whole new sets of clothing and socks etc …. Walking sticks are easy to get. They also sell some very awesome looking wooden sticks in the pilgrim souvenir stores that look like something Indiana Jones would use and I am sure Ed would be very happy to get himself one of those. We waited a little bit for our sticks to come out at the baggage claim area then we headed out to the main exit.

Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris is always extremely busy and crowded. The first thing we always do once we get off the airplane at Charles de Gaulle is to head to the Paul’s coffee shop. Ed has his first French cappuccino, extra large and it wakes him up royally. Then a nice meal that comes with a chicken stuffed mini baguette with poppy seeds outside, complete with tomatoes, lettuce and a mustard sauce. The meal comes with a desert and a drink, we got ourselves the French version of a flan nature and an orangina. It can’t be any more French than that.

Even though it’s only 10 am by now, the change in time is such that we are not sure if we are eating breakfast, lunch or dinner. We just always enjoy this little French signature “formule”, which is a sumptuous meal and a great first taste for the wonderful French baguette and pastries! We order 2 more “formule” to go for our train ride to Le puy. We won’t get in to Le puy until 5 pm, so we are pretty sure we will be hungry again in 4 or 5 hours.

Then we headed for the TGV station. The fast train to Lyon takes about 2 hours. Always on time, on the dot and super comfortable. We got our assigned seats. And sure enough we took another nice long nap on the train.

Change train in Lyon, we got onto another TGV for St Etienne, 50 minutes ride. Same thing, nice comfortable ride, and we are starting to spot other pilgrims with backpacks and walking sticks. We spoke to a couple of them. But all of them are walking for either one week to two weeks. We have not met anybody crazy enough to do the whole walk like us yet. We ate everything in our to go bag, drank both orangina, and got off at St Etienne to catch a local train to Le Puy. Train change is 5 minutes. All on time and without incident. The local train has 6 stops from St Etienne with a terminus at Le Puy, a one hour and 20 minutes train ride through lush green mountain vista and beautiful farmed fields of different crops. Ed keeps saying “I feel like I am in Tahoe”. No, he does not mean he thinks he is in California. What you should hear from that comment is “this is not good, the land is not flat, it’s a lot of climbing, a lot of hills ahead”!!!! The local train ride sure gives us an idea of what the terrain is going to be like and it’s very pretty but also very hilly! Lots and lots of hills and mountains. Oh oh. Not good news for the two Floridian where the terrain is as flat as a piece of paper!

We arrive on time to Le Puy at about 5:20 pm. A short walk into the town center where we can find a sleeping room for the night. We check in. We wanted to walk up to the cathedral right away to get our pilgrim passport but the clerk told us the cathedral closes at 6 pm. We won’t get there on time. We can do it tomorrow morning after the pilgrim mass at 7 AM.

The restaurant is full. No chance for us to eat in. The whole place is full.
We took a shower, change to clean clothes and walked out to visit Le Puy.

Le Puy en Velay is a large town with a large mediaval center, focused on the cult of the Virgin Mary. You can see the huge statue of the Virgin Mary on the highest top of the town as the train roll into Le Puy. The town is actually situated in a large volcano caldera, with two magma columns 70 meters tall standing above the town center. On top of one of the column stands the Cathedral of notre dame du Puy, with a massive statue of the Virgin Mary, and on the top of the other column stands the chapel of St Michael d’Aiguilhe, built by Godlescac, who made the pilgrimage to Santiago in AD951. The chapel is dated back in the 11 th century. The Cathedral and the Chapel on the two peaks form an incredible sight indeed!

After St Jean Pied de port in the Pyrenees where most pilgrims start on the Camino Frances, Le Puy is the next most important starting point for the Camino pilgrims. The historic center of the towns is buzzing with locals, tourists from all over the world, and pilgrims of all ages.

We got ourselves a table for dinner. A simple dinner, but sumptuous nonetheless. We tasted for the first time the famous “lentilles vertes du Velay”, which is a green lentils of the region, which has more protein than starch, fixed up beautifully as an appetizer. We got a nice red wine from the Velay region. The menu du jour gave us a hearty meal of trout and a piece of steak, with nice scalloped potatoes of the region. Desert includes a tarte aux myrtilles, a boysenberry tart and also a plate of assorted cheese. We were full. And all that cost us about $15 a person, tips tax and all included. Bottle of wine too. We can’t complaint. We were so stuffed. We headed back to our room and crashed immediately into a deep slumber. We slept so deeply. It helps to be able to sleep so we can recover from all the travel and be ready to walk tomorrow.