Last night my wife and and several other couples made our way down to Joysmith Gallery in downtown Memphis to catch an art exhibit featuring the Camino de Santiago. The camino - caminos, really, since there are multiple routes, are a set of pilgrimage routes to the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. My wife and I undertook a partial camino in May of 2004; my friends Eric & Joan walked the entire Camino Frances (480 miles) that same year.
The exhibit is a touring display of photos and paintings by American pilgrims. The tour started at The College of William & Mary; Memphis is the 2nd exhibition. Last night all the attendees were honored to have the curator of the collection, George Greenia, on hand to describe the Camino and answer questions. George is a former Franciscan monk who now teaches in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies department at W&M, where he leads groups of students on pilgrimage. He also helps coordinate the Annual Gathering of Pilgrims when it meets in Williamsburg, VA. and edits the American Pilgrim magazine.
It was great to talk to a fellow pilgrim, especially a more experienced one. My friend Eric got to talk to him about his own Fulbright studies in Belgium. George invoked Goethe's statement that 'the Camino created Europe', which appeared to please Joan. My wife is going to see about arranging another Memphis visit for George to speak at our church.
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