Rorschach was bed-free so at midday we changed plans and decided to start walking as we really had no choice, and lucky for us it was cool, so our journey had inadvertently began. It was fairly easy going with a couple of testing hills but maybe a bit long for our first day”. A sore hip and back for me, a neck pain for Corrie was evidence of this. A point of interest along the way was a huge Rudolf Steiner school so I will research this and expand on it at an appropriate time later.
The information person was not au fait with pilgrim matters but she did give us a card with the name of a place that provided beds for pilgrims. St Gallen was a spread out town but we eventually found our place with an entrance door a head lower than me. Our phone number was not connecting so we asked the shop owner next door to call. It worked for her so now we know to put a ‘0’ in front of the number!
We went for a coffee close by where the variegated tables and chairs clung to the sides leaving a large space in the middle. Soon, the loud sound of Argentinian Tango music suggested a good reason for this unoccupied area. Once a month people, young and old, put on their dancing shoes, hold each other closely and dance to the haunting sounds of this delightful music.
It took us both back to our beginners Tango days that were to help with my Parkinson’s, so seeing these dancers passionately going through their exquisitely executed dance steps will have us return to this special art form in July. There is also a dance festival in town so there are even more omens coming our way.
Our hosts had arrived so we left this award winning coffee shop to be greeted by a Swiss man and his Spanish wife. They spoke no English so with Corrie’s Spanish we had no trouble and a very funny time. They showed us around their quaint refuge and we were to have this 4 bedroom house to ourselves, with kitchen, food to cook and laundry?. A soaking shower eased our pains as a heavier shower outside warned us of a probable testing day tomorrow.
