It took a little before I realized what I had seen, but I leapt from the table the moment I did and chased after the two men, nearly toppling our espressos. Allison was stunned. We were sitting outside a cafe in Thun, Switzerland staring into the distant ring of monstrous white Alps trying to pick out Eiger and Jungfrau. The two men had walking sticks and matching blue backpacks from which dangled the distinctive white shells I had spotted: the first pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela I had ever seen. I caught them just before they entered a wooded trail, and they confirmed they were in fact headed to Spain, beaming as they showed me their Camino passports, stamped all the way from Germany to Switzerland. I asked why. Franz explained that when his father died five years ago, he called his friend and said, “Walk with me.” Every year since, they have hiked for five days, picking up where they leave off each time. From their hometown of Ulm it will take more than a decade to get the final stamp at Santiago de Compostela. When I said I hoped to follow them one day, Franz smiled warmly and said, “Only go.”
