Sunday - June 8 - Post Camino - Day 2

God sent his Singers upon earth
With songs of sadness and of mirth,
That they might touch the hearts of men,
And bring them back to heaven again.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


We were accustomed to awakening early and walking; that's what we had done for the past 40 days. We had been given directions to the metro to see some of the sights in Madrid but we chose to walk. With map in hand we left the hotel.

Our first stop was breakfast. There were people seated at the outside tables from the night before and one of the guys was still drinking beer ... We ordered omelets and coffee and ate inside.  Afterwards we began our walk ..

 Approaching the Royal Palace from the back side. It is enormous to say the least.

It is the official residence of the Royal family but only used for state ceremonies. It has 1,450,000 square feet of floor space and 3,418 rooms. It is the largest palace in Europe by floor area.

We walked through some of the gardens 

 and up the stairs. A view of one of the sides.

 Plaza de Oriente - rectangular park on the east side of the palace runs the length of the palace

 Still walking down the east side

 The front of the palace - pic was taken looking through the huge gated area.

.Across the plaza is Santa María la Real de La Almudena. It was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993.

Cupola - pic copied from web

We entered on this side

 Mass was in progress and so we stood in the back

 Ceiling

 Detail on doors

 More of the side entrance looking up from street level

Saw a sign for the Crypt and made a right hand turn and walked down the street about a half block and entered. We heard singing that reminded me of what we might hear in heaven ...

 It appeared that a choir was practicing. We looked around the beautiful crypt church and inquired about the singing. We were told this choir would sing for the upcoming Mass and then perform a concert afterwards.  Even though we had gone to the Pentecost Vigil mass on Saturday evening, I really wanted to stay for Mass on Pentecost. Stoney agreed and our next step was to inquire about a bathroom. A deacon showed us to the only bathroom and while waiting in line we talked with one of the women from the Finnish choir. We had quite a chat before it was her turn for the bathroom and we enjoyed talking with her. She told us that this church was known for its acoustics and it was an honor to be able to sing here.

A snippet of the the beautiful music during Mass. There was no sound amplification system. The acoustics in the church are incredible. If you are using an Ipad please click on this link to see the video.


After Mass was a beautiful concert by the Jyvaskyla Studio Choir from Finland. What an incredible way to celebrate the birthday of the Church on Pentecost Sunday with Mass first and then this incredible concert.




Three Masses in two days - the English speaking Mass on Saturday morning in St. James Cathedral just before our departure, Saturday evening Vigil of Pentecost and the Mass today. WOW!  The most special Pentecost celebration ever.


I plan to make a short wrap-up video of our pilgrimage on the Camino but that probably won't happen for a couple of months because I'm heading back to the Appalachian Trail. 

If you'd like to follow my journey, have a look here:  PrayerWalker on the Appalachian Trail 2014

6/3/15 -- I still have not made the video wrap up for our Camino and I apologize. 

However, we are headed on another adventure The Tour du Mont Blanc to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary. Perhaps, you'd like to arm-chair hike with us.