My Europe Trip

12/03/08 Our last full day in Europe (at least for a while) we make final preparations for leaving the first half of the day and then we sightsee

2008-12-03T13:27:00.001-08:00

This morning we woke up late. After a cup of coffee Poppy pulled up the computer and we all checked email/sent important last-minute messages (such as letting my Momma know where to meet us in the airport and when). When I finished emailing people Ahmee and Poppy were more than ready to go eat breakfast, so I hurried and got dressed to go down with them.

We ate breakfast again in the circular booths downstairs (me in the middle this time so Ahmee and Poppy didn't have such a hard time getting out), where we talked about what we were going to do that day. The first thing on our list was to take the rental car to the airport. After breakfast we went back upstairs to grab a few things (like the map and our purses) and then we went down to the car and drove to the aeroporto. It wasn't difficult turning in the car, and finding our bus wasn't difficult either (even if it did cause a bit of sweat on my part-I thought a cab would be better). We road back to our street where we went and took a look at the bull ring that was nearby. Under this bullring there was a mall. We enjoyed doing a bit of window shopping down there, but after about 45 minutes we needed to get back to the room so we could pack our things.

The idea was to consolidate all of the things we'd gotten into our suitcases and our carry-on's without inflicting damage (and also thinking about preventing damage) to the items. I had to move a few books and postcards (and other flat things) to the bottom of my suitcase and sort through the clothes I wanted to keep and the clothes I no longer cared about. I did this for every bag/container I have. Anything I will not use when I get back has been thrown away, thus making room for gifts and keepsakes. It didn't take me long to get everything into my suitcase and surprisingly enough I think I have more room in there than what I started out with (same goes for my pregnant backpack). I even had room in my suitcase for one of Ahmee's "black uglies" (aka: her black tennis shoes). I have room for more, but I think I might end up breaking things if I put too much more in there. I'm proud to say that I managed to do this packing in under an hour.

After we had everything packed I was hot from running around. I sat down for a minute, fanning myself, and then I pulled on my jacket, my coat, and my scarf. I then grabbed my purse as Ahmee was just finishing up putting on her things. Just as we were heading to walk out the door we got a phone call from the desk saying our tour had arrived and they were waiting for us. Perfect timing really. We were down there in less than 2 minutes after they gave us that call.

We went down, saw a woman in a black coat, and followed her out to the small tour bus where we hopped into the seats up front and showed her our vouchers. The bus went all around the city to different hotels, none of which had any people in them who wanted to take a tour. We stopped at the park in front of the Christmas tree to wait for other tourists and our tour guide. Several buses lined up and several tour guides got out and chatted with each other in the rain as we waited patiently on the bus. As we waited a couple came up and asked where their tour was. We ended up doing a musical chairs where we got out and went to another bus when they really needed to go to that bus and we needed to stay on. Once this was sorted out our tour guide came and stood on the bus with us and talked to us for a little bit. She told us there was another group of 13 that would be joining up with us.

This group of 13 arrived 10 minutes later. This group was a group of frenchmen who were having a guys trip out and who were (as Ahmee puts it) "all intent on having a good time". Each one of these men said Bonjour to us as they got on the bus, and each one of them smiled and talked to us (it's the thought that counts right?). Our tour guide's name was Paula and she was absolutely outstanding! Later we found out that she spoke Portuguese, English, French, Italian, Spanish, and a little bit of German. She told the men in the back that the tour would be done in English and in French, because the three of us at the front were English. The men acted surprised at this but definitely didn't complain.

We then commenced with the tour where we saw several different sections of town including: the April 25th Bridge, the Cristo (Christ statue), an example of the Manuel architecture (more ornate than the gothic), the tower outpost that had originally been in the middle of the river, the monument dedicated to the navigators (had a wonderful map of the world done in stone), the Church of Our Lady of the Sea (had the tombs of kings and of the great navigator Vasco De Gama and some pretty spectacular carvings), a restaurant where we ate killer pastels and where we had an excellent time talking to the Frenchmen (through Paula of course), the Alfama section (where everyone lived before the 15 century: Jews, Moors, rich, poor, etc.), an old palace that had tons of TNP bubbles in front of it and blue and white christmas lights decorating it, the elevators built to aid those who want to go to different levels, the shopping center, and the road that lead up to where we began except this time the tree was all lit up. After this the frenchmen got off the bus and the busdriver eased through traffic to get us to our hotel.

After this we went in, we emailed people, we ate dinner (had newbee's in training), and we came back upstairs where we got our last few things together and where I wrote this day. I have to apologize for the shortness of this blog, unfortunately I'm short on time: the sooner I get to bed the better able I'll be able to cope with getting up at four in the morning tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll be spending the whole day flying from one airport to the next and waiting in between until we finally get to Louisville. I'll have to write a short version of this day too.

12/02/08 We wake up a bit later, I write, we go to Sintra, we see the National Palace, we see the Moorish Castle, and we get back to the Holiday Inn w

2008-12-02T14:39:00.002-08:00

Quiero mi madre, mi hermana, mi perros, mi gata, mis amigos, y mi dormitario. En una dia yo voy con mi abuelos para los Estados Unidos.

I actually got decent sleep again. I was able to wake up and get writing fairly early. Once done I jumped in the shower and got dressed. As I waited for Ahmee and Poppy to get dressed I played with the light fixtures next to Ahmee and Poppy's overly large bed. This would be an example of how weird I am. These lights are silver and are basically jut a tube with a small light at the end. I think they look like an alien. Maybe I took the CNN thing over the radio signal-checking device for outerspace a little bit too much to heart, or maybe those things just look like aliens. Either way, I was standing next to the bed playing with the thing, twisting it up into all kinds of shapes and making it look like ET's finger. The whole time Ahmee had her back to me. She ended up laughing though when I incorporated sound effects with the motions. I didn't really know I was doing it at first but when Ahmee cackled into a fit of laughter when she turned around to see what I was doing I realized those noises I'd pictured were actually coming out of my mouth. Yet again, I greatly amused Ahmee.

After we were all ready we went downstairs, ate breakfast in the hard to get into booths (circular booths are the thing for those people who want to lose weight), and then went out to the car to get on the road to Sintra. When I heard Sintra I thought we were going to the center, for some reason. I was surprised when I heard that Sintra was on the outskirts of Lisbon, and that it had been used as a summer get away (it was cooler than the valley). Something I didn't like the sound of was that we were going off the map and we were driving there ourselves. I was afraid for a bit that we were breaking one of our own rules which is: depend on buses, trains, or taxi's when traveling in a large city. Turns out, I didn't need to be worried. We had no problem getting to Sintra.

We parked close to the town hall, thinking we were close to the National Palace. We were wrong, but it wasn't in a devastating way. We got to walk around a garden, we got to see sculptures, and we got to walk through a small section of town. I made Ahmee laugh again when I pointed out a huge sculpture saying, "OOOOH would ya look at that!... that thing is taking up parking spaces." She replied, "Wow.... What a display of art appreciation!"

After this fun walk we got to go into the National Palace, a place that combines soooo many different cultures. How? Well the Portuguese Royal Family and their court went there for balls, for hunting, a for tidbits of statesmanship. Since Portugal was one of the leading traders back in the day (and probably still so today) they had fabulous furniture/architectural decoration from all different parts of the globe. There were Moorish tiles (I liked the vines the most), moorish fountains, and moorish-style gardens. There were Chinese cabinets, Chinese screens, and other artifacts made in China in the Chinese style (although not always of material from China-ex: one cabinet had a wood brought in from Brazil). There were Portuguese/India cabinets, P./I. tables, and other artifacts. There were clocks made in England based on the Big Ben. There were glass mirrors made in Venice; there were glass chandeliers brought in from Italy, there were carrara marble statues-obviously from Italy; there were tables made of multiple marbles from Italy. There were sooo many things that were inlaid with ivory, with velvet, with brass. All of it was extremely ornate. This was perhaps one of the few times that I took more interest in the decoration of the rooms rather than the architecture. The ceilings were of no great interest. The floors were often average. The doors were often fascinating. The one room that really had cool architectural elements was the kitchen, which was situated in two smoke-stacks (yes, they look like the ones at power plants/factories). This room was cool because I could whisper and it would echo. I would hate to be in there with all the clamor of pots and pans and talking, it would hurt my ears.

We finished up the National Palace and headed out to find a tourist information center, to ask how to get up to the Moorish Castle, to walk around for a bit, and to grab a bite to eat in a close-by restaurant. After this we went out, Ahmee and Poppy stood out at the bus station while I looked around in a linens store. We missed the first bus (because it never stopped even though Poppy waved his arms frantically), so Ahmee and I went back into the store and later went back out to join Poppy and to watch the Pigeons in the tree. We caught the second bus partially because it would've been impossible for the bus driver to miss the small crowd that had gathered to jump on it. We got on, me sitting backwords again, to be taken up the windy curvy road through the forest and up to the Moorish Castle. We got off in another crowd, went over and bought tickets, and then went into the Moorish Castle walls.

The sign said that not much of the Moorish Castle was left due to the earthquake that occurred in Portugal in 1755 (?). We went and walked around a ruin. It was a lovely walk. I enjoyed the boulders, the plants, the trees, and the leftovers of the castle. It was somewhat difficult for me to picture the city there though because of all the greenery. I'd kinda lost myself in a nature walk rather than a historical walk.

When we reached the castle I got to decide between a really really thin, steep staircase to the shortest tower, or a really really long staircase where I wasn't sure about it's condition up to the highest tower. Yeah, I picked the long route to the tallest tower, even with the wind blowing and the lack of a railing on the left side. I moved ahead of Ahmee and Poppy, suddenly losing myself in the climb (I was rock climbing again). Once I reached the top I sat on the ledge out of the wind and drew in deep breaths of air as I took in the view of Lisbon to my front, the view of Sintra to my left, the view of the mountains behind me, and the view of the coast and farmland on my right (as well as the Pina Palace). From my perch I could also mark the progress of Ahmee and Poppy up the steep steps. I was glad that none of the steps were as thin as the other staircase.

Poppy got to me first and took a good look around as he pulled in air. Shortly after him came Ahmee who first asked, "Where's Rachel?" I'd considered sitting just above the entrance, but I decided I didn't really want to move (it would've been funny though). After a few minutes we all started to go down, me in the front and hurrying because I was starting to need to use the restroom. I waited for Ahmee and Poppy on a landing with a bench, sitting their freezing as I held it in. We then continued on down, we helped out a woman who was totally lost and who needed help finding her way back to the entrance, and then once we all got out I made a mad dash across the street to the restroom. I didn't even care that it didn't have a toilet seat.

Immediately after I came out of the restroom the bus arrived. We had to run down to it to catch it. Since there were a lot of people running with us I suppose we could've walked and been just fine. Everyone was blocking his way anyway, he can't run over all those people without getting in serious trouble. At any rate we got on the bus, I sat down facing the right way (good thing too because it was even more curvy) and we road all the way back to the Sintra train station. From there we stopped once to grab a newspaper and to then get in the car and make our way back to the Holiday Inn, surprisingly enough we didn't undergo any terrible trials and we got back before dark.

Once back I jumped on the computer and wrote, and wrote, and wrote until dinner time. At dinner we had a wonderful time talking, but I had to cut things short when I discovered I had waited too long to eat something significant (my stomach hurt even after I got through 3/4's of my plate). I went upstairs, used the toilet (no I didn't throw up), and stretched out on my belly. After about 15 minutes I was able to get up and move around again. So I went back to typing.

Ahmee and Poppy came upstairs and gave me the internet card, and wala! We're at the present. I'm now looking forward to my last full day in Europe, which is tomorrow. After that we'll be getting on a plane back to the States.

12/01/08 We head to Lisboa (Lisbon), on the way we eat at the Chill In and see the exciting countryside

2008-12-02T14:39:00.001-08:00

La restaurant Chill In es una estupendo restaurant. Me gusta mucho la cosas yo como en la restaurant. Me gusta los perros tambien.

This morning before we went down to breakfast I got dressed, washed my face, and then went to take a look out the window at the cloudless bay and the gorgeous beach. When I turned around I found ants on the floor. I took a closer look and realized that the ants were near my purse (also on the floor). I immediately alerted Ahmee to it, who sat down on the bed and laughed when I exclaimed, "The ants are in my purse! They're using my zipper as a ladder! Why are they in there?! I haven't got any food!" As she chuckled I popped open my purse, took out my french handbook, my spanish flashcards, my postcards, my glasses case, and my umbrella bag. At the very bottom I found a little package wrapped up in a white paper towel that had more than the average amount of ants on it. I immediately knew that this was the brownie I'd searched for months ago (had a terrible feeling it was from the first time we were in France). When I found this I went, "Oh. I do have food in there." I threw away my brownie thinking, "Those suckers got my chocolate!" I then took my purse outside and I put all of my things outside with it (because they had a few ants on them).

When we went down to breakfast (before hand I sent off work) and afterwards when I was putting my things back together (sadly enough some of my things got wet when they were outside) Ahmee told Poppy about my ant episode. It gave her quite a laugh and I can't really say that I blame her.

Once everything was together we went downstairs where we waited in line to check out (Ahmee and I admiring the layout of the building and the christmas decoration). Then when we were free to go we got on the road headed north to Lisbon. We stopped once to try and get into a church (church in Bispo) which Ahmee and Poppy had seen before and which had a beautiful interior. The door wasn't open though and we never found the door so I never got to see the blue tiles and the painted ceiling within (except for on the pamphlet Ahmee had). So we moved on and passed through the countryside and avoided the highway. Most of the time we went slowly, watching the scenery and the windy road. We went through forests with pine trees, cork trees, and other plants. The hills were rolling, the roads reminded me of the curvy ones my Momma loves to drive on, and the plants reminded me of Japanese mountainsides (prints) and of other places I'd seen. The rain wasn't much of a hindrance until we went off the road to the beach. We got out to walk on the sand. My objective was to touch the Atlantic again, which I did. I got close to one of the barnackle-covered rocks and touched the water in the small pool there. It was freezing but the smell and the sights were wonderful. I'd never been to a beach that was framed by cliffs. I'd never been to a beach that had rocks that had those pools and that had those rocks. I did recognize the plant life though when we were getting back into the car (and battling the rain and wind). The century plants, plants that are related to Yuccas and that bloom once after thirty years and then die with lots of babies at their base, the yuccas, the icicle plants (saw those on top of the cliffs at Sagres), and the pines in the background on the hills. For those of you who don't know about yuccas, I recommend you do a bit of research. They are common in the southwest U.S., and were used for all kinds of things by the Indians (paper, tea, etc.). They also have really beautiful blooms.

When we got back on the road our wet clothes caused the windows to fog up, which was slightly annoying for those of us who wanted to see out the window. When Poppy turned on the cooler we were able to look out the windows at the newly harvested cork trees (they scrape the bark off the trees every now and then-no idea how often-leaving the bottom part of the trees orange), at the pine trees (which I really love), the grasses, and the pueblos (which I thought were exceedingly pretty).

Finally we passed through a section of mostly pine trees, went around a curve which had a restaurant across the street from a cork tree that hadn't been harvested yet, and then on down the road we saw another storks nest just above someone's house. At that point we decided it was a good time to turn around and get a picture of the stork posing in his nest, and to head back to the cork tree so I could feel its bark. We did both of these things. The stork was beautiful and stayed still for us, and the cork tree contained many wonderful gifts for us, or at least for me. We parked in the restaurant parking lot to the greeting of two massive dogs which I had to tell to stay put as we crossed the street. Once I got close to the cork tree I exclaimed at the smell which Ahmee at first didn't notice. I then walked over and poked the slightly squishy bark. It was too cool! Of course, those of you who've felt the cork of a wine bottle know what it feels like, but touching it as it was growing was awesome. When we walked under the pine trees the smell came into my nostrils again and I immediately relaxed and told Ahmee to smell the air. She said it was definitely the pine trees and that she wouldn't be surprised if that smell brought me great joy for the rest of my life (we had pine trees in our backyard in North Carolina, I grew up with that smell as a kid). We crossed the street and went into the multi-themed restaurant where we were seated by the gracious chef/waitor. His wife later came to check on us and explained the decoration (had african elements, thai elements, and english elements) by saying that he enjoyed traveling and that all of the things that were on the menu were things he'd come across. I got Thai rice with chicken while Ahmee and Poppy had the enchiladas. When our dishes came we were more than happy we stopped there, even if it was a bit of a wait. Our food was delicious. Before I got too far into my food I went outside and called the smaller brown dog to me, squatting down and cautiously letting him sniff my hand. I say this dog is smaller, but really he was quite large. He's about the size of our Australian Shepard/Border Collie, Buster. When he let me pet his head I felt a breath of air on my head and caught out of the corner of my eye the sight of the larger dog. This dog was as tall as an average table. He was grey with black flecks, had floppy ears, had intelligent eyes, and had a head about the size of... well, mine. I used my left hand to pet the brown dog as I pet the larger dog with my right hand. I let both of the dogs sniff me all over and then I slowly stood up. I enjoyed petting them. They were both gorgeous dogs. What amused me was when the larger dog got jealous and shoved himself between the brown dog and me (causing me to take a step back and causing the other dog to get jealous too). The brown down then put his paws up and over the other dogs back and put his paws on my chest. After this the dogs went into a play-fight. All the grey dog had to do was put one paw down on the brown dog and the brown dog would crumple. I was glad they were both playful because I know that that HUGE dog could've easily have killed the other one. My momma would've loved that grey dog. It's a shame I didn't get to talk to him again.

I went back inside to finish up my rice. Before it was all gone I gave the sauce in the bowl a try. I only dipped my fork in partially to get a few drips, but that stuff lit me up faster than anything I've ever tasted. It was so hot it made my eyes water, my mouth burn, my tongue throb, and my lips burn for an hour after I'd tasted it. Poppy saw this reaction, saw me take a drink of my water and then wolf down rice, and he decided he wanted to try a bit of my hot sauce. I told him to only dip his fork in. He took my advice and I'm absolutely certain he's glad he did. He had the same reaction I did. When the woman came around she talked about how her husband loved hot stuff and we told her about how we'd tried the sauce straight out. At this she looked a bit worried and said, "That stuff is hot!! It's got different spices in it, it's not peppers." At this Poppy told her it was the hottest stuff he'd ever tasted. She recommended trying a teeny tiny bit on the rice. I didn't need any on my rice. The pineapple with the spice left over caused enough of a reaction for my tongue. Poppy gave it a shot though and he said again that that stuff was really hot (he only put a drop on a plate full of rice and it put a small kick into it).

After lunch we thanked the woman and the man, pocketed their card, and then got back on the road, our lips still burning and our stomachs churning a tiny bit from the spice within.

After lunch we also started to get in a hurry to get to Lisbon. We went through towns, searching for a way to Lisbon, we passed highways in an effort to reach a preferable road, only to discover that road was inaccessible and to turn back, we hurried as fast as we could as the sun got farther and farther down the sky. We did not however forget to look out the windows of the car. We saw fields of cork trees, villages with tiny roads, barnyards with cork stacked neatly under tarp, rolling hills, cloudy skys, and an occasional gift such as the one man who rode his white horse into town and had the horse tethered as he chatted with his friend. We only stopped once, and that was when we got on the highway. We pulled off to a rest area where everyone else seemed to be stopping to use the toilet. I think I forgot to mention that this day is a national holiday in Portugal. It's their Independence Day. Almost everything was closed, all of the veterans had their uniforms on, and everyone was out partying. Ahmee and I were certain everyone was stopping there for food and for the toilet on their way to or from festivities.

While in the restroom in the rest area Ahmee and I got to wait in line for a toilet that had paper. I heard the news from a woman who had short, gray hair, who had on a red vest and who was traveling with another woman who was tall with brown curly hair and who had on all jean material (jean jacket, jean pants, only her white undershirt wasn't made of jeans). Both of these women told the others, in vain, that the four stalls at the far end had no toilet paper. Since they didn't know Portuguese and the women in line didn't know English many people went in, only to come out announcing "No papel!" (or something along those lines). I ended up in one of these stalls.

Immediately after this we got back on the road to frantically head into Lisbon (crossing a bridge that was several kilometers long) and to make our way to the airport to find a hotel. Our objective was to find a hotel near the airport because we officially had two days left before we got on an airplane to go home. When we got off the highway we went around the round-about near the airport to discover something that was disheartening: there weren't any hotels in sight. Another disheartening fact was that the sun had long gone from the sky and we had to go into Lisbon in the dark to look for a hotel. We decided to head towards the centro. We ended up taking a wrong turn and heading towards the university instead. As we drove around in the dark, anxiously peering out the windows I gave out an order that we've all heard before and that's worked for us before, "Hey Ahmee! You take the left and I'll take the right!" We went down the street like this and when I spotted two hotels I was ecstatic. On the right I saw a Hotel Zurich, and a Hotel Lisboa, both of which were high-rises and had huge signs at the top (meaning they're at least over 3 stars and most likely are expensive). We made our way into the Hotel Zurich parking lot where we parked the car and got out to search for the entrance to the Hotel Zurich. We didn't find it. Instead we found a Holiday Inn, which we eagerly went into, got a room, and got someone to help us park the car. As we were standing there asking questions with the lady at the desk a group of people walked in.

This has got to be one of the oddest things so far. The women who walked in were the same women we saw in the rest area's restroom alongside the highway. The thin, curly haired, older woman waved and said, "Oh! We saw you in the restroom!" I ended up having a wonderful conversation with this woman as her colleagues got a room (she was traveling with her son, his wife-lady in jeans, and her mother-lady with a vest on and short, straight hair). They were from Iowa and South Dakota, and had been traveling for over 6 days (she said they'd been to Spain for 6 days and mentioned 4 different cities). The woman I was talking to had lived in England and asked me where we'd been and was delighted when I said we'd been to England. She told me how she loved the thatched roofs, the small towns, and even the large cities, saying, "I loved London!" She and I agreed that we both loved the small towns and the big cities, it was just the old sections of town that seemed too closed in. She told me about how Portugal has killer pottery and ceramics, "I'm here for the ceramics."; how she was looking forward to getting back to her dog named Curly Sue (at which we were shocked and amazed because Ahmee has a dog named Curly Sue- this woman laughed when she found out our Curly Sue wasn't curly); and how she'd recently seriously injured her right foot. She told me that she loved the shoes here, she'd gotten two pairs of boots and a pair of shoes, all of which had heels. She said that she slipped when stepping off a curb while wearing these heeled boots and she'd ended up twisting her ankle pretty badly. I don't know how long she's been limping around, but she said that her right foot is now black and blue all over and the only shoes she can wear were her sandals. She said she was going to a doctor as soon as she got home. This lady was absolutely wonderful. I loved talking to her, I hoped her foot wasn't severely damaged, and I really didn't look forward to walking away. I could easily put her up there next to the man who sat next to us in Paris. Doesn't take long for me to decide I like someone.

We took our things up to the room, I got typing, and then we went down to the basement for dinner. I think I forgot to mention the Christmas ornaments, in the lobby they're blue and silver while downstair they're orange and gold. These are heart warming and shocking at the same time. I've been in fairly warm weather all this time, it's going to be a shock going back to freezing cold weather with snow and ice and have Christmas to look forward to.

While we ate dinner we talked about the things we needed to get done, such as pack and double check our reservations, and turn in the car.

After dinner I got to speak with the lady again (she'd come down the stairs, limping of course) and the rest of the group. They caught me as I was leaving the restaurant, asking me what classes I was taking, how I was doing schoolwork, where we'd been, etc.. The other older woman with the vest on was asked if she'd do that for her grandchildren (by her daughter) and she said, "Of course. It's great for both the grandkids and the grandparents. I'll bet you both are having a good time." It was a shame I had to go up and type some more. I really liked talking to them.

Once back up in the room I wrote and wrote until I felt I was going to fall asleep on my keyboard. I then closed up, got on my pj's, and climbed into bed.

11/30/08 We head towards Portugal, we see the countryside and it's splendid offerings, we arrive in Portugal, and we go to Sagres to visit the fort wh

2008-12-02T14:38:00.001-08:00

La mar en Portugal es estupendo. Yo miro la Atlantic un otro tiempo. Ahora es con mi abuelo y mi abuela, y es no diferente para mi.

This morning we got up early, went and ate breakfast (me being lightheartedly scolded for not speaking clearly), and then got our things together and downstairs where we waited for a cab to take us to our car. Ahmee and Poppy warned me that the cab last night had taken some hairpin turns and had just about scraped its windows off, I prepared myself for an interesting drive. We didn't need to worry though because this taxi driver took the smart route and stuck to the main roads. It might've been longer, but it most certainly didn't scare me and he never came close to scraping his car on any walls.

Once out of the parking lot we made our way back through town and to the A7 which later turned into the A1E1. Along this way we started to see how rain had collected overnight (apparently it had rained) and how all the plants were hurrying to soak it in. The rolling hills slowly became flat and more pine trees started turning up (this is an indicator that you're getting closer to a coast). Even though we were on a highway I was not interested in writing. I've figured something out while on this trip, and that is that I really should not write when I feel totally and utterly exhausted. It is a waste of my time because I'm busy fighting with my body and my brain to work quickly when it just doesn't want to, and it's a waste of my time because as I'm struggling I could be relaxing and enjoying the view and conserving energy for later usage. This is exactly what I did. I relaxed in the warm car and peered out the window at the countryside, telling myself that I was going to pull out the computer thirty minutes into Portugal.

Sixty or so kilometers before we got into Portugal we caught sight of the Atlantic Ocean and later a rest stop. There we got our lunch: me two doughnuts and coffee, and Ahmee and Poppy something bigger. I decided that since we were mostly going to be sitting in the car all day that it would be a better if I kept to eating small things because I wasn't going to be working very hard and using them up anytime soon. After this short break we got back on the road where our eyes met a wonderful sight. I'm not sure exactly when or where, but as we were traveling on this road we saw lots and lots of stork nests. They'd built their nests on top of the power lines, some of which even had little baskets for them, and others were just condos for the storks. It was too cool to see these 10-15 different nests all lined up and to see these storks perched up there. In the United States I'd only seen storks fly over maybe twice, and those two sightings happened earlier this year. Seeing all of these together was great for me. It appears that that place is just the perfect spot for the storks.

Shortly after seeing the storks we passed into Portugal where I waited for ten minutes (and got to see the cork trees while coming in) and then opened up the laptop and got writing (very slowly because I seriously didn't want to, all I wanted to do was take a nap or relax and watch-but I did complete a day while in the car). It wasn't too long before we got off the highway however and shortly after that we arrived in Sagres, a small town that Ahmee and Poppy had stayed in before and a town that should be famous for the rest of the world: it was at this place that sooooo many explorers got their training for the ocean and for navigating. Without Prince Henry's school I know that at least one navigator Vasco De Gama wouldn't have had the training to find the route from the Mediterranean to the Indian Sea (thus finding a spectacular trade route). Before visiting the fort we went and checked into the cliff-side resort Pousada do Infante where we got a smaller room with a view of the bay: Praia Balceira. The coastline here didn't contain many beaches. Here we saw cliffs that were hundreds of meters high. Later we got to walk very close to these cliffs.

After moving our things in we went to the Fort Tolezo. The wall facing us was huge, so it surprised me when we went through the ticket booth and walked into the square to find two white, modern looking buildings and a lot of plant covered area. I looked at the map and found that the only buildings that were there were: the church (which had had restoration work done on it), the souvenir shop, the auditorium (which had a film that went on only every now and then apparently), the compass (giant compass made out of rocks and which looks pretty straggly now), and the gallery that was only open occasionally. The heavily fortified wall that we saw when coming in had two ramps up, but was under restoration. This wall didn't go very far. I don't think it really needed to. The cliffs were enough protection for the Fort and the occasional cannon we saw when walking around would've definitely been a threat to the ships that were coming in. Those ships would've had to come close, dodge the cannon fire, and then become perilously close to the rocks and the cliff face (on the north side the waves were pounding into the cliffs-they were astoundingly large for us). I should mention now that the only buildings we went into were the church (five minutes max), the auditorium (where we stopped by on our way back to the entrance/exit), and the over-priced giftshop. The rest of the time we walked on the yellow rock path as we looked at the cliffs, at the crazy fisherman who were perching themselves on the very edge of the cliffs, at the plants that were covering the rocks on top of this peninsula, and at the waves. As we walked along this path we had to pull out our umbrellas and battle the wind and the rain. The chill caused our noses to start dripping, and the rain/wind made it difficult to look around. Even with these weather inconveniences it was definitely worth the trip. It's a shame that this isn't more of a revered monument though. This place had just as much historical significance as the Castle of Edinburgh, but it definitely wasn't in that kind of shape.

When we left we were freezing and I was more than ready to get writing. The chill had woken me up, while the sight of the Atlantic and those cliffs made me want to write. Once back at the hotel (before going in we saw another sign of good luck: a rainbow) we made a quick dash to our room where I grabbed the laptop and then headed back down to the main lobby where a fire was blazing in the fireplace, where many people were lounging and reading magazines, and where I got a great view from my couch across from the window. From there I got to see the sun as it made it's final decent behind the fort (the bay we had sight of had waves that weren't as rough). Ahmee and Poppy got drinks on the house from the man who'd shown us our rooms. Poppy got red wine while Ahmee got some of Portugals famous green wine. My writing was interrupted to try a sip of Ahmee's green wine and to grab a few of the nuts that they'd gotten to go with their drinks. I have to say that of the wines I've tasted so far that green wine was definitely one of my favorites. It really was delicious (don't take this opinion as an indicator that I drank a lot of it: I only had two sips and this is what I normally have when I'm trying wine that Ahmee and Poppy get). Of the wines that I've tasted I like the dry reds, the greens, and a few sparkling (these are a select few). What I do not like is white wine. That stuff is nasty.

After it got dark in this room we went up to our room where we got ready for dinner (was very fancy so we had to dress up). Once ready we went downstairs, discovered we'd lost an hour, and then went into the entertainment room (had checkers, cards, a tv, and a computer) where I emailed people as men in the background watched football (soccer-whoa that was natural for me to say!), and two boys played checkers. While on the computer I found a surprising backdrop of the local cliffs. Apparently sometimes the waves get so huge that when they crash into the cliff face the spray goes up and over the edge! When the time came for dinner everyone in this room got up and went to the restaurant. Here we had a splendid time doing the usual: people watching, talking about the day, and talking about our plans for the next day.

After dinner we went back to the room where I got the fun task of taking a picture of the moon over the fort before I got into my pj's and climbed into bed.

This night I actually got good sleep. I think the heater at the end of my bed was a nice touch.

11/29/08 We leave Marbella to stop in Rhonda and stay the night in Arcos (de la Frontera)

2008-12-02T14:37:00.002-08:00

Pueblos blancos tiene muchas casas blancos. Los pueblos es moy bonita y normalmente pequeno. Rhonda es no pueblo pequeno ahora. Es una ciudad pequeno.

This morning we got up, ate breakfast, and got ourselves packed. I was the first one done and I went around the house getting things together. It wasn't long before we were on the road (after we'd dropped off our three remotes and the key). This time I didn't get to write. It would've been foolish to write after we'd gotten off the highway.

After we got off the highway we went up and up into the mountains on a windy, curvy road (I was thankful it wasn't a skinny road). This was the last I would see of the Mediterranean (at least for a long time) and of Gibraltar. From the road in the mountains we had a clear view of the sea, of the rock of Gibraltar, of the many many many resorts that were along the beach (actually we passed through one in the mountains), and of the city of Marbella. As we drove away and into the green mountains I looked back and was amazed to see how the sea seemed to blend in with the sky. The only indicator that your eyes had reached the beach was that a small boat was floating just above the line of the rooftops. The sea was so grey it matched the cloudy sky perfectly. Was pretty neat to see.

Along the drive we continued to go up and around curves. I had to focus on what was in front of us after a while because I started feeling only slightly carsick. I was able to enjoy the pine-covered mountains though which changed as we got higher up into an area that seemed to be composed mostly of rough rock. From a distance it appeared we were entering a land similar to the moon. There was barely any vegetation and there was very little life, that is, until we started heading downhill. Before we got all the way down the mountainside and into the valley we stopped at a restaurant that was alongside the road. There we sat down at the bar, drank coffee to warm ourselves (it was windy and chilly out), and watched Balto- a movie that I've only seen twice in my life but still felt wonderful to watch because it was something I recognized.

Later we stopped to grab a bite to eat in Rhonda. Rhonda is famous for it's bullfighting arena, and for it's geographical landscape. The two sections of town rest on two hills separated by a gorge that is hundreds of meters below. The ponte nuevo (the new bridge) connects the two sections of town and enables cars and pedestrians to travel between the two areas. We enjoyed wandering after we crossed this bridge and we also enjoyed a tiny bit of shopping before we stopped in a local cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. Many other tourists stopped in in this cafeteria, among them was a German couple who we thoroughly enjoyed talking to (even if it was partially in Spanish and partially in English). What really delighted me was when they asked us if we were from the area. We're beginning to look European to the Europeans!! Wow!

We also talked about the weather, which was consistently deteriorating in value as we sat there. At first we argued that we were seeing rain (I thought it looked awefully small to be rain and it feel very slowly). Later we were all absolutely certain we were seeing ice. At that point we all headed out of the cafeteria to walk back over the bridge, through the giftshop of the bullring, and back to our car.

This second period in the car we passed through many different landscapes. First we saw the mountains with the occasional field of goats, sheep, and a select few horses. Then we passed out of the mountains and into farmland that had orange soil and had tilled rolling hills with a Pueblo Blanco here and there. As we passed through this landscape we came closer and closer to Arcos, one of the Pueblos Blancos that we had picked to stay the night in. When we reached Arcos we had a fun time getting to a parking place and then making our way up to find a hotel that Rick Steves had suggested (El Convento- aka: the Convent). Before setting out I said that it looked like an awfully long walk and that we might be better off staying close to our car. I then pointed out a hotel just down the street from us. We went on up anyway. Since I was extremely tired (I hadn't slept well the night before and three cups of coffee did nothing) and my fuse has recently been scarily short my mood continued to go downhill as we climbed uphill in search of this hotel. When we didn't find it we went through alleys to a square where we found a closed information office, a great view of the valley below and to the west, and a 4 star hotel that had a menu that had soup for 11 euros (or something close). My mood wasn't the best one. I was slowly getting more and more angry and frustrated that we didn't go with the hotel that was at hand, and at the same time I was getting even more tired from the hiking. In short even when we found a hotel I was acting very very poorly, later Ahmee described it as "downright sulking". Sleepiness and anger don't work well together. Tore Soto was the name of the hotel we found. It's interior was gorgeous and the man at the desk was more than ready to show us the room (he practically ran when he showed it to us). It was wonderful and it was in a great spot, right on top of the hill near the old section. What I didn't look forward to one bit was bringing the luggage up the hill. Luckily the man at the desk suggested a cab, otherwise Poppy and I would've been carrying the luggage up the hill and I'm certain I might've exploded. I told Ahmee I was tired and she told me to go up to the room and rest while they grabbed the luggage. This I did. I thought about how nasty I was acting, how I needed to calm down, and how I needed to explain myself to Ahmee and Poppy as soon as they got back and apologize for it.

When they got back with the luggage I told them that I was tired and I'd gotten frustrated, not with the wifi, but with them not taking the suggestion for the hotel. I said that I'd pretty much gotten a moment similar to the one that Ahmee had when we were entering Florence. I also apologized for acting so ugly (even if I didn't blow up I didn't contain my discontent very well), and we were fine. Ahmee and Poppy understood, and they said it was ok. After that we got back out into the streets of Arcos. We went back to the information center, which was then open. There we got a map of Arcos that told us where all of the important buildings were. We had an excellent time walking around the extremely thin streets of Arcos, looking at the white walls, checking out the gardens, reading about the Church of St. Peter, looking at the art museum, and generally just checking out what appeared to be the oldest section of town (people had to carry their groceries because their cars were too big). One of the highlights of the walk was the terrace view we found on the south side of town. This was right near what I thought was a school, had plenty of graffiti on the walls, and had a view that was absolutely stunning. From there we could see the lake and the mountains to the East, the farmland to the West, the town directly south and below us, and plenty of rooftop gardens. Since it was windy out most of these potted gardens had plants that had been knocked over. Something that was surprising to find was the many houses that had pools. These were to the West, and right on the edge of the road and the farmland. It would've made me chuckle to find out that these homes were the homes of farmers who had made plenty of money selling their crops. This is something that you can find in the United States too. Farmers driving around in mustangs, but then you can also find people who've borrowed far too much and who are driving those (these are the people who can't really afford them).

On the walk back to the hotel we stopped in one shop to look at the Flamenco Aprons and to grab a few postcards (none of which we're going to send because we'll be getting home before they will). Then once back at the hotel we went upstairs, used the bathroom, read about the Andaluzian Horses (beautiful white horses that are extremely agile, cunning, etc.), and then went downstairs to grab drinks and some food for Happy Hour. Ahmee and Poppy had wine while I sipped my Coca cola and ate olives. Ahmee asked me to describe some of the people in my show choir. Those of you in my showchoir I was talking about you for over three hours. Something I don't enjoy doing and try not to do often is gossiping about people and causing drama. Thing is though I only tell a few people what I see in others and how I regard their actions. I've talked to my Momma, my Emma, my Sara, my Iain, my Ahmee, and my Poppy about the people in show choir now. The conversation was very fun, for Ahmee and for me at least.

After dinner we went up to our room where I finished up my summaries/discriptions as we got ready for bed. When we climbed under the covers it was 11 o clock at night. Ahmee and Poppy both told me as they turned off their lights, "Night Rachel! Make sure you speak loudly and clearly for us tonight!"

I disappointed them. I didn't say a word that night, because I hardly slept at all.

11/28/08 Malaga's IKEA store

2008-12-02T14:37:00.001-08:00

Para la casa necesito muchas cosas. Una cosa yo necesito en la casa, o en el servicio, es una toilet. Un otro cosa mucha personas necesitan en una casa es un television.

This day we really did go to the IKEA store. Ahmee had first introduced me to IKEA through the magazine, which I'd taken with me to my Dad's house as a "source of inspiration". The thing about IKEA is that it is pretty much the Walmart of interior. It is so easy to find furniture (most if it I like), sheets, kitchen utensils, curtains, fabrics, etc.. Since I adore Lowe's and Pier 1 it's no surprise to me that I love the IKEA store. It's got furniture that can be easily incorporated, is cheap, and is even cheaper if you put it together yourself (something that I'd be all over if I were shopping for furniture). This was one of those days where we were just going to browse and educate our tastes, something I'll never get tired of.

Before we got to the IKEA store we ate breakfast, got dressed, and got to find our way to the shopping district of Malaga. We'd seen the IKEA store from the highway twice, the second time we saw it Ahmee made a note of when a person would need to get off in order to go see it (I was busy writing). She got us to the IKEA store with no problem whatsoever.

While in the IKEA store we spent literal hours walking around in the galleries where they showed their furniture and their accessories. They had a living room section, a kitchen section, a home office, a library section (oooooooooooooh), a bedroom section, and a kids room section. Each of these sections contained examples of living rooms, kitchens, everything (but bathrooms). Some of the best ones were where they did a whole house. They had three to four rooms in this house and they used their furniture wisely because it was an apartment-sized home (small but in this case comfortable).

I found plenty of little inspirations while walking around. It's a shame we had to rush through the downstairs where all the accessories where (we were all getting hungry).

We left the IKEA store at about 2-3 o clock in the afternoon and as soon as we got through the traffic and back to our room we ate leftovers from Thanksgiving all put together in a soup. During lunch we talked about the things we liked about the displays, the furniture we liked in particular (my favorite pieces had to be the bookshelves), and what we thought we could pull off. After lunch Ahmee and Poppy went through all of our pretties to make a list and to put a price on each thing. While they separated my things from their things and recorded just how much I owed them (less than 300 dollars-I've made more than that working over the summer) I wrote on the computer. Since I was feeling particularly chatty/artistic I wrote a fair amount.

We ate dinner and watched CNN to check up on the situation in India before we went to bed.

11/27/08 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! We eat killer food, walk on the beach, write, and get some scary news before dinner that make us truly thankful

2008-12-02T14:36:00.000-08:00

Para la Fiesta de Thanksgiving nosotros comemos pollo, verduras, sandia, y sopa. Las platas son moy deliciosos. Nosotros se gusta mucho la Fiesta de Thanksgiving.

The point of thanksgiving is to recognize what you're thankful for and to enjoy your time. This we did splendidly.

Our plan was to eat wonderful food (I'm never able to recite everything I ate when I eat a feast), relax, and do only a few low-key things. Ahmee and Poppy planned on starting the day by sending emails to everyone. After that they wanted to go for a walk on the beach and then head back to the room. Once back in the room they wanted to read and relax while I wrote. Then later on we'd go for another walk before happy hour and then we'd watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade before eating dinner.

We did almost all of these. Early on I decided I was going to dress up in my orange shirt, blue jeans, sparkly belt, turquoise jewelry, and my orange scarf. This outfit made me feel very pretty when we went and emailed everyone and went for a walk on the beach. We didn't actually walk on the beach, we sat and watched the rough waves and the high tide before we went back to the room. Once there I sat down in my corner and wrote while Ahmee and Poppy read. I didn't go on another walk on the beach, I was busy writing; and we didn't watch the Thanksgiving Parade, we watched the news on CNN over the terrorist attacks in India.

The news we received rattled us. I don't remember the details, I just know that in Mumbai (sp?) a force of twenty or more terrorists came in by boat and attacked multiple areas: the central station, an important touristy cafe, two hotels, and the Hospital (also a Jewish Cultural Center). I found out later that these "very very young men" had had specific targets, and that they'd killed some of the top officials who were the first on the scene. It being scary enough that this could happen with everyone being completely blind to it coming, what managed to really frighten us was the fact that the terrorists were singling out British and American tourists. While eating dinner (Poppy shut off the tv) we were all extremely grateful we weren't in India, but then we also realized that a terrorist attack could happen anywhere. What I wondered while I ate my chicken and my vegetables, was: Why did those men single out the American and British tourists? They were very specific in their aim with the India police officials. Do they have another goal besides creating terror? Are they looking for a specific person? Do they want top officials representing the U.S. and Britain to come so they can take a swipe?

Of course all of these questions came along with those of: who did this? Who planned this? Who payed for this? Who trained the men? Who do they have on the inside?

After eating desert and cheering each other up significantly, we turned on the tv again to see what else CNN had to report on the situation in India. I was so busy thinking about this that when I went to bed I couldn't get to sleep but for another hour, wishing I knew more.

Once I got to sleep I stayed asleep.

11/26/08 The Alhambra, Alcazaba, the Palace of the Sultans, the Generalife (Gardens of the Sultans), and then back to the coast

2008-12-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

En la pasado yo escribo mucho para mi diario de la computadora, o mi "blog". Ahora es necesitario para mi escribo un poco. Porque? Yo tengo un tiempo poco ahora.

This morning I was pulled out of a half-doze to get dressed and ready. I had to pack and get dressed for the day in a short period of time and I ended up heading down to breakfast after Ahmee and Poppy had gone down. Since I was short on time, I wore the clothes I'd worn the day previously, I didn't jump in the shower (leaving my hair kinda greasy but not terribly greasy), and I hurried through washing my face and packing before I went down to eat a small breakfast with Ahmee and Poppy. The reason why we were in a hurry was we were told to be up at the Alhambra with our tickets by 9 o' clock, otherwise we wouldn't get in. Since we normally move rather slowly in the morning (we normally don't eat breakfast until 10 o' clock nowadays), it was somewhat difficult for us to get moving after staying up so late. We managed to get out of the hotel before 9, put all of our things in the car, and head across the bridge and up the hill. Unfortunately there was a fork in the road at the base of the hill where we got to decide which direction to go. We decided we'd take the better paved left fork, as we turned onto it I said, "This is definitely the road. They'd never make poor tourists climb up that hill on cobble-stones!" Since we've spent the past couple months walking on cobble-stoned streets (and since they hurt Ahmee's feet so much) this really was a sarcastic comment. It made Ahmee laugh.

We spent ten minutes walking up this hill (and waking ourselves up in the freezing cold) before we realized that we'd taken the wrong fork. We quickly backtracked and headed up the slick cobble-stoned street, all of us in a hurry since we were absolutely certain that we were running out of time. Each of us spread out. Poppy was up towards the front with the tickets, I was just behind him most of the way (until the cold air got to my ears and lungs and made both burn), and Ahmee was lagging behind. All three of us were breathing heavily and when I stopped behind Poppy on the steps to sit on the wall and fix my scarf he told me to wait for Ahmee and to come up with her. As Ahmee slowly made her way up to me Poppy took off up the hill (not running, just walking very very fast). I caught my breath at this time, wrapped my orange scarf around my ears and around my neck producing a look that was similar to the Muslim women's head-wear (part of my hair was showing), and got to look at the staircase ahead and the hill coming up. Once Ahmee reached me she said, "I'm actually pretty glad you're waiting for me. If I keel over you can run ahead and get help." She also chuckled at my new-found method of keeping warm, saying that it actually looked pretty good on me.

Once we caught up with Poppy we were both tired and trying to catch our breath. We were extremely happy to hear that we were early and that we didn't need to run so we could get in.

We walked into the office at the entrance to get audioguides and maps before we went into the Alhambra. While we were there I noticed the first of many odd looks. It took a while for me to figure out what exactly was so odd about how I looked, but when I did I couldn't help laughing about it. By wearing Poppy's green windbreaker and wearing my orange scarf and glasses I had succeeded (unknown to me) in making myself look transsexual. I could've been a boy or a girl and I confused a lot of people with the way I looked. First off, I had on an over-sized shirt that managed to cover all of my curves; and secondly I'd obscured my facial features by wearing my large scarf as ear-muffs and by wearing my huge sunglasses. If you think my mouth or the tiny bit of hair that could be seen at the back of my head gave me away then you're wrong. My chin had a fair amount of zits on it, my lips were chapped, and my hair was pulled into a messy, slightly greasy bun. Something else that probably made people conclude that I was a boy was in the way that I look when walking in an over-sized shirt. I have nice-sized shoulders that could easily belong to a guy, and when my curves are gone and it's difficult to see the tiny bit of a mince that I have in my walk, I all of a sudden take of the appearance of walking without much flair.

At the time I figured they were staring at my earmuffs, and I ignored them. Even when we walked through the park to the Alcazaba (a Moorish fortress that has absolutely no decoration and that overlooks Granada), and in the Alcazaba I was oblivious to how truly masculine I looked. I ignored the stares and listened to the audioguide and enjoyed the views.

I have to say that the Alcazaba didn't hold much interest for me. It's a fort that was very well built, had 3 large towers that formed a triangle within the fort, and the view from the top of the tower we were allowed to climb up in was stunning. From this tower we could see all of Granada and the mountains we would later pass through AND the mountains up behind the Alhambra. These mountains had snowcaps on top of them which showed that I'd been right in assuming the wind was the coming of a cold-front. The mountains had just gotten the brunt of the chill.

After spending about 30 minutes in the Alcazaba we went into the plaza where Ahmee and Poppy got me to take their picture at the Ponte Vino, the wine bridge, and where Ahmee and I went in to use the facilities. While in there I took a good look to see what it was that the elementary school kids were having such a good time pointing at. My appearance made me laugh out loud and made me change my scarf so that it was no longer covering my neck. I tied it tight so I wouldn't have to fix it later, still keeping to the style I'd had before. I then went out with Ahmee and Poppy to go check out the Palace of the Sultans.

The Palace of the Sultans had an incredibly long line in front of it. As we waited to get in we huddled with our audioguides to our ears, getting a preview of what we were about to see. Washington Irving and his descriptions of the Palace accompanied us throughout the tour. Washington Irving is a famous Native American author who stayed in this Palace for some time. As we walked through the rooms that appeared to be stone lace, I began to get a little jealous of him. The Palace was absolutely fabulous. The interior walls contained all sorts of carvings, ceramic tiles, and poems written in Arabic. The ceilings of these rooms contained equally impressive paintings/carvings on them. My favorite parts of the palace were: the halls that lined the outside which had tons of windows to display the view of the valley perfectly, the courtyards which always contained a pool or a fountain, the fontana de liones (fountain of the lions)-unfortunately this was under restoration so the lions were gone and the fountain was in a glass cage, and the carvings in the arches and on the walls. Some of the rooms needed restoration work, but even with these blighted rooms it was easy enough to get a small taste of how the Sultans lived and how their court lived (basically very very richly). One of the rooms we didn't visit however was the concubines quarters. Either that was under restoration or it was shut off for other reasons. It was fine by us because we really didn't want to see how the Sultans mistress's lived.

When we left the building we came to the start of a garden that consisted mostly of shrubbery. We walked through this to two rectangular pools similar to the ones we'd seen within the courtyards. Washington Irving told us (through the audioguides) that these were the pools that the Sultan and his court would supposedly bath in by moonlight. Being back out in the wind and the chill, I found it hard to believe because at night the air cools off significantly. It was a lovely picture though. Try to picture yourself bathing in a rectangular pool in the Sultans palace with the moon as your light and with candle light illuminating the splendid garden around you as you enjoy swimming, and looking at the night sky and the beauty shown to you through the light of the candle. Pretty fantastic picture don't you think?

As we walked through the garden and back to the main path we watched the gardeners work and enjoyed the view. I don't know about Ahmee and Poppy, but at that point I was definitely daydreaming about the palace in it's heyday. Servants cleaning, waiting on the Sultan and the royal family, officials walking around in their splendid clothes and talking to each other, royal ladies relaxing with each other on their cushions as they gossip, and splendidly rich colors everywhere.

Once back to the main path (lined by cyprus trees) we decided we'd walk back to the entrance and ask if we can leave to grab a bite to eat. We did just that. We went back to the entrance, asked the woman there if we could come back in later and where the restaurants were. She said we could leave just so long as we got back in before 2 and she told us there were two restaurants to the right when we exited the Alhambra (this was all in Spanish). We walked down to see if the restaurant we'd passed coming in was open and when it wasn't we went across the street and up the hill to another restaurant. Ahmee and Poppy went into the restaurant and got seats directly in front of the fireplace while I went up and asked a woman on the terrace where the restrooms were. These restrooms were clean, had toilet seats, and had a faucet that worked. They however lacked in one important thing: they weren't heated. It didn't take me long to get out of there and back down to the warm fireplace.

While inside this restaurant I took off a few layers, ate cheese with Ahmee and Poppy, ate and drank hot soup and hot chocolate, listened to the fire crackle behind me (I took the seat closest to it so I was three feet away), talked to Ahmee and Poppy about what we thought about everything we'd seen, and (unfortunately) listened in on the conversation that was going on in the table right next to us. The people sitting there were also from the United States (the time we were eating lunch was a giveaway-Europeans eat later, while there voices only confirmed our guess) and they were pretty loud if I could listen in on them. It was a great pleasure to us when we discovered that they had not realized that we were from the United States. We realized this when they started talking to another woman at a separate table who was from California. Of course, we've had people mistake us as Spanish citizens, and as Germans (this was in France though).

We got back into the Alhambra just before the 2 o' clock rush. We got to go in through the exit because the entrance had a line that just seemed to keep going and growing. We walked through the cyprus trees to the Generalife where I got to see a first hand example of what I call room gardening. The Generalife is a garden which has four different sections. There's the section that's on the lowest terrace. This one contains a portion that has shrubs that create walls or green courtyards that are incredible to walk through (through the center of this there is a long, thin rectangular fountain), and a portion that is along the cliff face which has arbors of climbing roses. The second section of the garden is in the courtyards of the two buildings (where the Sultan would get out of his carriage to walk to his palace) where there were multiple fountains surrounded by flowers and shrubs. The third section you got to by the water staircase, a staircase which has a small fountain on each landing, and which has water running down it's "railings". At the top of this staircase one reaches yet another terrace garden where one can view all of the other sections of the garden and the view of Granada beyond.

This garden delighted me in so many ways. It was incredible to walk around in this garden, admiring all the plants and flowers, and then stop and realize that you're viewing all this in November. It's like I've stepped into a fairy-tale (particularly the story of Beauty and the Beast). I enjoyed the fountains, the flowers, the buildings of plants (I've fantasized about these for years), the sunshine (was warm!), and I enjoyed the general peace of the garden (even with the chain saws in the background it was peaceful). If I had to pick a favorite moment while in the garden I have to say it'd be when I first walked into one of the "rooms" on the first level of the garden. The hedges were towering over my head, the pathway of well laid out pebbles created circles and patterns in the walkway, and the only plants within the garden were roses. This might sound fairly simple. My Momma would probably be surprised about my liking this simple rose garden, and even how I liked the roses (I find them too picky to grow and I also am pretty picky about them). The instant I stepped into this garden I was back at my fathers house, drawing a fancy mansion and a garden for the family there. So often I wanted to give my dad and his family a slightly larger house to give all those who live there a bit more space. Most of my drawings of homes occurred at my fathers house, and I wouldn't be surprised if I've drawn hundreds of different homes there. The difference with this particular sketch was that I was drawing it on a sunny day when I wanted to be out gardening. I drew one of the first homes for my dad's family that had a garden. Within this garden I made sure to try and draw a section for my dad. My father loves roses and I put his rose garden at the very beginning/end of the walking trail. I had envisioned a tall hedge creating a room for these roses, I envisioned the roses in a circle within this room, and I envisioned a fancy pathway. Basically when I stepped into this room I walked right into a part of one of my fantasy gardens. How does one act when one steps into a fantasy? How would you act if you set foot into a world that you thought you'd only imagined? How would you act if you stepped into a portion of your own heaven? I couldn't stop myself from smiling and gawking. My feet kept moving, urging me to find out if I'd find another section of a dream. The rest of the garden was indeed spectacular, and even though I had never envisioned the rest of it I was still excited the rest of the time from that one room.

When we left the Generalife we headed out of the Alhambra to walk back down the cobblestone street to our car. We had a fun time talking the whole way, laughing at the faces of the confused tourists (who saw me and didn't bother to hide their confusion), talking about the splendid Alhambra, and talking about the car ride back. Once back in the car we turned up the heat and made our way back to the diagonal and out of town. We had to take the backroads to get to the Diagonal and we had to turn around in order to get back to a place where we knew where we were and which way to go, but we eventually made our way out. I had a splendid time watching the action on the streets and the cars and in the shops. I never get tired of seeing this and I was definitely grateful I didn't have to pull the computer out because when I type I miss out on the countryside. I pulled the computer out a bit too early though and ended up messing my stomach up.

I gave my stomach half an hour to get back in shape and then I got to work.

Before heading back to our room we grabbed a bit of food at the grocery store (we were in a hurry because we were hungry). For the most part that night we did nothing most people would find special. We were goofy, we ate, and we talked about things we liked.

Ahmee and I had one of our goofiest moments on this trip just before dinner. I'd just taken my large orange scarf off and I was playing with it like it was my scarf from show choir. Ahmee and I ended up playing bullfight with my scarf. Ahmee would be a cow and she'd run at me (the matador) and my orange scarf. Then I'd be the heifer and I'd run at her while she played the matador. Ahmee said I wasn't much of a matador, and would run at my feet. After a certain point I gave up waving that scarf around and I just threw it and ran around the living room squealing while Ahmee chased me. It was hilarious. Poppy got to see a replay once he got downstairs (while he was up there he thought Ahmee was tickling me).

During dinner we talked about our plans for the next day, about what we loved about the gardens, and about what we loved about Granada. We were looking forward to relaxing on Thanksgiving; pigging out on pineapple, watermelon, and chicken (our mini turkey); walking on the beach; and writing (me). We also looked forward to spending a day in the IKEA store (this would be the day after Thanksgiving). When we got to talking about the gardens we decided to get out a piece of paper and a pencil to draw what we'd like to incorporate into our yards. While eating dinner Ahmee told me about her grandma and how she had been a master of: gardening, cooking, and sewing. Ahmee's momma had not been into gardening so much, she was like my sister Emma is now: she loved to cook. Ahmee told me about her grandmothers extensive garden and I was shocked to find out that her grandmothers garden sounded incredibly similar to the one I had in mind for Ahmee and Poppy.

The conversation was wonderful, the food was great (I GOT OREOS!!!), and we all left for bed shortly after we ate dinner. I had a slightly better time staying asleep this night.

11/25/08 We head to Granada, we see Granada's Catedral, we see La Capilla Real (the Catholic Crowns-Ferdinand and Isabella), we window shop/shop, and

2008-12-01T02:01:00.000-08:00

Bailar en ingles se dice: to dance. Yo bailo muchas tiempos vende yo en los Estados Unidos. En Europa yo no bailo, pero yo miro personas en Espana bailan. Es una Flamenco y es rapide.

On this day we woke up "early", ate breakfast, packed our things into one suitcase/backpack (George has come for me and now it's necessary to carry the backpack with me), and got on the highway. On the way there I worked like a dog. I still needed to finish up a few blogs so that I could post them once we got into our hotel in Granada. When I was finally called away from the computer we were heading into Granada and my eyes were needed.

After doing a U-turn directly into the police we were pointed into the right direction. We were told how to get onto the street we wanted and then we followed that through the city and past it's diagonal. We ended up missing our turn to get to the hotel we wanted. Instead we ended up just alongside where we wanted to be: the Alhambra was just across the river and up the hill from us. We pulled over and went down to the square to grab a bite to eat in the cafe, making sure to eat inside because it was freezing out there and Ahmee and I had not brought our coats. Ahmee and Poppy ate tappas, or at least, a plate with assorted goodies, while I ate a tray full of different sausages. It filled me up quickly and Ahmee and Poppy were done with their tappas before I was done, so together we managed to spend about 40 minutes in the cafe. Before we left we asked the waiter how to get back to the street we wanted. He showed Poppy on his map, telling him that it was easy enough if you have a small car.

Immediately after we ate lunch we went out to take a look at the local hotels. The best one we'd seen from the car had been the Hotel Moriscos, a hotel that didn't have any star recognition whatsoever. We went up the pebbly street and hit the button to buzz the desk (they had a camera there). When the large wooden door opened we stepped into the shade of the building, into the warmth of the heater, and into a Moorish-styled hotel that was definitely 3-4 star quality. The first two questions we asked the desk were: do you have a room for three for tonight? and do you have wireless? They had both and they were eager to show us the room. I went with the lady to the "1st" floor (here the ground floor is ground zero and the next floor up is the first floor) which had a door in the open "courtyard" which had a running fountain in it. This room contained dark brown furniture, a couch that would later "transform" into my bed, a double bed for Ahmee and Poppy, a Moorish ceiling that I suspected resembled the ceilings we'd see in the Alhambra, and a bathroom that contained a jet-tub, a shower that is functional, two sinks, and a toilet (don't "duh" at me, I've seen literal bathrooms before). I loved it immediately and couldn't wait to pull our things in. After asking several more questions, all about opening times, how to reserve tickets, where to eat dinner, where we could see a Flamenco show, where we could get tickets, and where everything was. We got all the information we needed from Luis and then we went out and got our things out of the car so we could lug the suitcase, my purse, the laptop, and my backpack up the stairs.

Once we had everything in the room I grabbed the computer and tried to get to my email. The computer was fairly slow but I managed to send off a few emails before we went out.

We went back out into the streets of Granada to make our way towards the Catedral and the Capilla Real. As we went Ahmee and I stopped in several shops that had Arabian-styled items. At first our main objective was to find coats, because we'd both had figured that we wouldn't need our coats since we hadn't needed them since we'd left France. Later as we walked around we bought items that were completely off the agenda (this was partially due to the fact that we were then walking in the sun and weren't as cold). We got a few small things as christmas presents for our family members and we also bought ourselves scarves: Ahmee a red one and me an orange one. Ahmee immediately put her scarf on while I kept mine in the bag for later. As usual, we adored looking in the windows, watching the people, listening to the musicians playing in the street (poor guitar players fingers must be frozen!), and looking at the buildings. The buildings were varied. Closer to our hotel we saw older buildings with the traditional brick/stone method. As we got closer to the diagonal we ran into more metal and glass buildings with a few "frilly" buildings close by. Instead of walking down the diagonal we walked through alleys with lots of shop windows to stare in. Maybe it's the alleys, or maybe it's the way I was dressed (I had on Poppy's green windbreaker), but I definitely got more than the average double take while window shopping here. If they normally happen, then it's the alley's and how the enclosed space makes me nervous with others and makes me watch them more closely. If not, then I'm still surprised because George is here and my chin has broken out into a series of zits, plus I was bundling up close due to the cold, plus I was wearing my wearing-thin clothes along with Poppy's green windbreaker which was swallowing me. I later found out it wasn't the alleys. It makes me thoroughly uneasy when people do that.

We moved between a killer bookshop and another store to the entrance of the Capilla Real, or the place where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried and the burial place of another royal couple: Felipe el Guapo (the handsome), and Juana la Loca (the crazy). We double checked the entrance-time for this and the entrance time for the Cathedral. Basically we just had to wait for half an hour to get in. We decided we'd go and find coffee on the diagonal. My favorite part of the Diagonal (apart from the windows-these you can find in any big city) was the street lights. After Barcelona I've been glancing at the street lights to see if I can find any originals (of course, I've always glanced because I like the old-fashioned lampposts and the odd and out-of-ordinary). In Barcelona I got to see Gaudi-style lampposts. Here, I got to see techno lampposts. These lampposts had cubed glass around the bulbs. It was really pretty cool to look at, if you had the time to stop and look and if you like cubes.

It didn't take long before we got to the Double Eye Cafe, a cafe that was small, had alright music, and had quite an interesting collection of people in it. The last part of this cafe didn't come in until after we'd gotten halfway through our coffee/hot chocolate. While sitting at the bar I pulled out my orange scarf and draped it around my neck as I looked around at the green room which only had seats available at the bar and which was definitely more famous for it's alcoholic beverages than it's coffee and hot chocolate (had four or five shelves of various items resting in front of us-one of these Poppy tried). Sitting at the back were two men and a woman all of whom were busy talking to each other and to the waitress in rapid Spanish (I caught the easiest words). On the walls around this cafe were various drawings that all contained half a mans face, a mountain of hair covering the other half his face, and geometric patterns filling up the rest of the drawing (was indeed a drawing). As we sat there drinking and listening I happened to notice that yet again people were giving me several long glances, particularly the guys at the back. I didn't like having to pass them when I had to squeeze to get to the restroom, but when nature calls you absolutely have to go. After that I refused to look in that direction. That is until three more people came in to spare everyone a series of Holas and kisses. One woman brought in a considerable briefcase and sat down at the bar, flipping through various sketches and drawings, all of which looked similar to the ones that could be seen on the walls of the cafe. When she pulled out a drawing that was an exact replica of the thing I could see as the backdrop on the laptop I knew I was looking at the artist of the cafe. It was a meeting of friends that we did not disturb for very long. Shortly after these last three came in we got up to walk back to the Catedral.

The Catedral was surprisingly small. It was very very tall, but it's nave wasn't very long. If you looked up you got to see some of the masterpieces of the Catedral: it's paintings in between the arches featuring the Saints and the Apostles, it's carvings of angels, and it's incredible organs. The Catedral also had on display some ancient music books that were decorated just about as finely as the Book of Kells. These music books contained shape notes and tons of drawings along the outside. It was a shame they had these books propped up. We could see the damage that was being inflicted upon the pages. What those books really needed was to be set on a flat surface, but we weren't about to be the ones to tell them that, we were happy just to see them. Another something that I thoroughly enjoyed seeing, for the first time, was a star-shaped stained glass window. This wasn't a square window with a glass star within it, it was a window that was set into the shape of a pointed star (as in, stonemasons had to cut points into the stone so that this star could be put into place above the central door).

The walls above the alter were stunning, the walls throughout the rest of the Catedral were of white stone, and the chapels that were mostly around the alter were fairly small but were each filled with gold gild.

I know it might seem like I've just paraphrased this Cathedral, and that I haven't gone into much detail over the Cathedral while I went to great lengths to talk about the Cafe. The truth is that: we spent more time at the cafe; the cafe was smaller and thus more intimate; and this Cathedral held no huge architectural, artistic, or historical importance for me before I went in, as I walked around, or afterwards (other than the window and the books).

After walking around we went into the giftshop where Ahmee and I browsed for a bit before heading outside to join Poppy and walk over to the Capilla Real. This was basically a smaller church that has been dedicated as a museum over the Catholic Crowns, namely Ferdinand and Isabella. When we walked through the once empty side street we got to dodge women selling rosemary (later we found out these women were gypsies), and a vendor selling artistic drawings of your name (in Arabic). We bought our tickets and walked around, staring at the many different faces of Ferdinand, Isabella, Felipe el Guapo, and Juana la Loca. Actually Felipe el Guapo and Juana la Loca looked the same in most of their portraits. It was Ferdinand and Isabella that seemed to change often. When we saw the tombs of these kings and queens we wondered if the carvings were a true likeness, or if any of the paintings housed in that place were true likenesses (Ferdinand and Isabella certainly commanded through fear fairly often). Of course, we couldn't see the stone statues on the "tombs", we could only see the sides because they were so large and were sitting on a platform. Under the ground the kings and queens were held in wooden coffins. We didn't go down to see these.

We walked around the church, looked at the various cabinets that held paintings that depicted scenes from the bible and scenes of martyrdom, looked at the fancy "carriages" that Ferdinand and Isabella would sit in to be carried to mass, and viewed the mostly modest church (the benches had the initials F and X for Ferdinand and Isabella and the alter is always decorated). After this we walked into an art gallery featuring paintings of the Virgin and the baby Jesus, the Apostles, the Saints, and scenes from the bible. The most emphasis was on the Virgin and Jesus, and on the gruesome images. Neither of which were surprising.

What I enjoyed most about the Cathedral wasn't it's looks (dark with a few side chapels, benches, and white tombs dominating the space), or the paintings. It was the super-short history lesson I got from Ahmee over Ferdinand, Isabella, Felipe el Guapo, and Juana la Loca. I'd already heard about Ferdinand and Isabella, they're famous everywhere as being the Catholic Crowns who pushed all other religions from Spain. I had not heard about Felipe el Guapo or Juana la Loca. Ahmee simply explained their "titles". Juana la Loca was madly in love with Felipe el Guapo and when he died she earned the title of crazy when she carried her dead husbands coffin around with her everywhere she went. We saw a picture of Felipe "el Guapo", Ahmee and I think that he's not very guapo (handsome) and that Juana probably bestowed this name upon him. I thought Juana was very beautiful with her dark, curly hair and dark eyes (she also had a widows peak-this makes me wonder if that was just added in in reference to her dead husband).

After the church we walked up into the small and frigid souvenir shop where Ahmee spent her time examining and picking out some postcards while I examined the sudoku puzzle the cashier lady was working on (and had made herself). She looked up after a short period and caught me looking at it and said, "Can I help you?" I smiled, shook my head, and was about to say no when she chuckled and said, "Or do you just want to help me?" This made me laugh and I told her how I loved sudoku puzzles, after this Ahmee came up with her purchases, we commented on the freezing cold room and told her to try to stay warm, and then we went back out into the side-street. This time all three of us got nabbed by the women with the rosemary twigs. Ahmee got nabbed first, picking the rosemary out of another womans hand. As the woman spoke to Ahmee I slipped out of the gate and onto the Diagonal only to find another woman offering me rosemary. I saw Ahmee still talking to the woman out of the corner of my eye and I saw Poppy shake his head out of the corner of the other as I timidly took the rosemary out of the womans hand. It turns out that the women were using the rosemary as a way to see which hand people would use, so they could then read that hand. Before the woman took the rosemary out of my left hand she knodded at Ahmee and asked if she was my mother (this is in Spanish-she only knew how to speak spanish). I told her (again in Spanish) that no she was my grandmother. The woman smiled, looked down at my hand, and said I was moy inteligente and ran her nail down what I'd previously thought was my life-line. She then said something I didn't understand and I saw Ahmee motioning for me to walk away. I said sorry and pointed to my grandmother and slipped away from the woman (who I can guess probably was going on with my fortune in a language I know tiny bits of). When I caught up with Ahmee and Poppy I asked Ahmee what the woman had told her. She said that the woman had declared that Ahmee was nervous, really really nice, and that she was going to live a long time. Poppy said that the woman who'd given him his fortune had spoken only spanish and that he hadn't understood any of it except for the long-life part.

We walked back through the streets, the light becoming fairly orange and the temperature dropping slightly as we walked. We enjoyed doing the usual watching and we were delighted when we caught sight of an art class drawing a detailed sketch of the facade of one of the buildings. Those poor hands were going to freeze before they ever got done (since some of them had nothing on their paper).

Once back at the hotel I had plenty of time to send blogs and to type to people and to type blogs. I had to do this before 7:30 because at 8 we were going to go out, eat, and then go to a Flamenco show that started at 9:30 and lasted until 11. I ended up being rushed and not getting everything done. I told myself I'd simply send everything once I got back to the room and then I went and quickly got all dressed up in my black pants, my orange shirt, my turquoise earrings, my lipgloss (I also covered up my zits), put on mascara, put on my blue sweater, and wrapped myself in my new orange scarf which was big enough to be a shawl. After all this primping we really needed to get out and eat. We went around the corner and into a nearby cafe where we exclaimed at the freezing cold air outside, ate our food, reveled in the warmth (I was right next to the heater), and admired the posters of the bullfight posters.

After waiting in the warmth of the restaurant for our bill we went back out onto the streets to head back up the road next to the hotel, through the college (highschool) where guys were up on the roof hooting and hollering (what they were doing up there I still have absolutely no idea), and across the street to follow the Asian tour group into the Flamenco show cafe. Our tickets got us entry and got us each free drinks. A man came around and asked us what we wanted to drink and I told him I'd take Fanta. I don't know what Ahmee and Poppy got, I was too busy looking around the room. We'd been seated in a white "cave": a long, narrow, rectangular room that had a short, barrel-vaulted ceiling. On the ceiling there were a series of lights (which I knew from experience in show choir had to be extremely hot, especially up close), on the floor there was the "stage"-the scuffed up area where we could see where previous feet had stomped, and along the walls there were pictures of old Flamenco dancers hanging above the heads of tourists. The two predominant groups were the Asian group who sat in the back of the room, and the German group, who had a guide who wore leather pants and who had done the tour many times and had become a good friend of the dancers. There were two women sitting next to me who I later discovered had seen more than one Flamenco show, and who were both very passionate about the dance (hard not to be). Across from me, frighteningly enough, was a man who I'd seen twice within the past two hours. He was traveling by himself, and looked an awful lot like Jasper off of 101 Dalmations. When I saw him come in and sit down just opposite from me (and when I saw him glance at me several times) I nudged Ahmee and told her that I'd seen the man as we were leaving the hotel (he was coming in through the big door), AND in the cafe when we were eating dinner. I decided I was going to ignore the man. This became easier and easier as the night flew by.

When the dancers came in they turned their seats along the wall opposite us and sat down. It is impossible for me to explain everything that happened. I shall do my best to get the general gist of this dance, but by no means base all of your opinions of it on what I write. I'd never heard what happens in a Flamenco Dance. I never knew that they started out sitting (dancing requires a person to stand up right? wrong). I also never knew that men could Flamenco Dance (all of the posters have women). When they sat down I cast curious eyes on them and when one started clapping I was surprised when the others did not join in in a steady beat. One person would clap, another would join them, another person would tap their feet in a different rythmn, another would start singing, another would do a combination of the base beat with their toe and would clap another beat. One could not distinguish who was doing what beat all at the same time, but the result was music from percussion which was sped up or slowed down with no warning whatsoever. One dancer would stand and begin to work their way along the dance floor, doing their own moves, tapping their own beats, forcing the rest to speed up, going from flowing arm motions to furious foot-work in less than a second, going from serious and focusing on immersing into the music into a flurry of movement and tapping out a music of their own at a speed that was incredible for me. Those of you who've seen Happy Feet: this was a whole different style but just as complicated of moves. Those of you who've seen me clog: this is similar in that a beat and music is tapped out with the feet-the difference is in the motion. The dancers did not often scuff their feet on the floor. It was all furious tap-work. Each dancer had his or her turn where they would get up from the mist of a new beat and would begin dancing, choosing just how much they wanted to dance and how much they wanted to sweat. The first woman was slightly plump and did mostly slow movements, but who would surprise us with her footwork every now and then. The second woman was older, had issues keeping her shirt from showing her bra, and had a killer attitude. She hardly danced at all, and none of us cared. She sang Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way" (in Spanish), making the tallest man laugh like crazy, and producing smiles from all the people in the group. After her came the tall man who had nothing to flourish, no skirts to pull up, no heels to show off, all he had was his attitude and his feet and he worked these very very well. His dance was almost as if it was choreographed (none of them were and you could tell with the first couple people). He was so intense, and so into his movements, and put soo much energy into what he was doing. It was incredible watching him flow from slow upper body movements and a few taps to incredible flourishes of the feet paired with few other movements. Unfortunately for the other dancers he sweat a lot (I told you those lights were hot-he was so tall his face was practically in them) and when he spun he caused the youngest girl and the first woman to dance to duck and cover there heads. I think a few people got spattered by him.

After him they had a short intermission where the Asian people had a good time clapping their hands and trying to figure out how to Flamenco Dance, while the German tour guide hopped on stage and started talking in rapid German (accent sounded similar to some of my relatives, just thought I'd throw that out there) about the people in the pictures. As she talked everyone tried to figure out what she was saying (those of us who didn't speak German that is). I don't remember how much I got out of her speech, so I'm going to guess that I only got the names of the Flamenco Dancers that were in the pictures.

After about 15 minutes the Dancers came back in. This time the first woman to dance was the oldest woman. She had gray hair that was pulled up, seemed to be the relative to the youngest member of the group, and had on the most stereotypical Flamenco garb. She had on the ruffly skirt and sported a flower in her hair. When she danced she used mostly her fingers because she had castanets in both hands. Of course, she'd also do a bit of footwork, but most of the time she was focusing on her fingers. She had the biggest problem with the tourists who had out their camera's. When she saw this she'd bark, "No video." Her dance didn't last very long and then came her younger relative who I'd seen do fancy footwork while sitting down and who was really quite pretty. Her dance was just as fantastic as the tall man's. He was even watching her footwork closely, as if checking for future use. Hers wasn't as much of a suspension-filled dance though. I think she was well and truly tired of slow movement and was ready to work her feet. She didn't slow down much throughout her dance but she wasn't frantic either. The elderly woman watched from the back of the room with a smile and a hint of what I suspected was pride in her eyes. It was a lovely dance, and I was definitely not surprised when she breathed heavily when she sat down. Immediately after her came another man. This guy had spiked, brown hair, had come in late, had on a red shirt, and was slightly shorter and thinner than the tall man. His dance was equally impressive as the tall mans, if not more so. As the dance went on the tall guy watched his movements closely and smiled and laughed every now and then when he'd pull an impressive move. I said before that I don't think these dances were choreographed, I did not say that the steps were not played with by the dancers. When I watched this man dance it seemed apparent that the two dancing men had traded foot ideas before (this is something I can recognize because my friend Kayla and I do this all the time when line-dancing). This guy combined suspension, fluidity, percussion, and choppy moves almost perfectly. He also liked dancing at our end of the dance floor-because the women sitting next to me had answered "This way!" when the dancers cried "Ole!" He had greatly appreciated them and made sure to dance at their end during his fast and furious moment.

After that groups of two would go up and dance. The youngest girl with the first woman to dance, then the two men together-bouncing ideas off right there, and then the oldest woman with the German tour-guide (told ya they knew her well! she had on tennis shoes and still managed). It was then over and we all clapped and cheered as the dancers bowed and walked out into the street.
We followed after them literally minutes after they'd left and we couldn't see them anywhere on the streets. We avoided the castanet vendor, and went back along the same route to the hotel where we stopped to check in on Victor (a different guy had come in to take the desk job from Luis), to say goodnight to him, and then to go up to the room where we all got in our pj's. Ahmee and Poppy quickly climbed into bed while I stayed awake typing emails to people and sending off more blogs. I eventually closed up the computer, dreading having to wake up early the next morning.

I didn't sleep very well that night, I woke up multiple times.

11/24/08 Gibraltar, The Apes, Africa, the ride back and time spent after dinner

2008-12-01T02:00:00.002-08:00

Los animales de Gibraltar son moy dificl para mi leer. Yo comprendo vente uno gato es malo. Yo no comprendo vente los Apes son molos.

Obviously, I didn't want to get out of bed this day because I was still exhausted. Gibraltar was at the top of my list of things to see, of course, but I was incredibly tired. It took 2-3 cups of coffee to wake me up and even then I needed to get moving to really get awake. After having strawberry yogurt with cereal for breakfast we went upstairs and finished getting ready. We then went out and got on the road to Gibraltar.

While on the road we saw: plenty of booths selling tickets to Africa, many condos (these took up 80% of the area around the highways), the mountains that were rocky and were dotted with green bushes and trees, and the wind. I suppose I should say that we felt the wind and saw it's effect. The trees were being pushed diagonal (wind was coming from the mountains), the sea was choppy and had white caps miles upon miles out, and Poppy got a workout driving the car and keeping the wind from blowing us across the road. I made sure to ask Ahmee and Poppy if they thought a cold front was coming in and if we were going to get a storm. Ahmee said that she hoped not and agreed with me when I said that back home when the wind blows like that it means it's bringing in a storm or a cold front. We all crossed our fingers and hoped that it wouldn't storm on us while we were at Gibraltar.

When we arrived at Gibraltar we got to go through customs, a first since we hit the mainland of Europe. Getting through customs was no problem though, all we had to do was show our passports. I don't know how many of you know this (I didn't know it), but Gibraltar is a British zone (colonies are outdated). When we went through customs we asked the police officer if we had to drive on the left side of the road. He said, "We might be a British provence, but we have not picked up all of Britain's bad habits." We found that quite funny.

As we drove into town we searched in vain for a restaurant. We didn't want Pizza Hut or Burger King, we wanted something else. When we got to the point where we were starting to go down one-way streets we pushed to get back to the main road and then from there we decided to go up on the "rock" of Gibraltar. We stopped once while on that tiny road and that was to get tickets to enter. Poppy was the one who got these and he also asked where to go to eat. The men there told him to go up the hill and we'd find food. They were right. We found food and right where the restaurant/cafe was there were the Gibraltar Apes.

Ahmee had warned me about these apes before, saying she'd seen them the last time she was there. Ahmee and Poppy had been with a group that had traveled along the base of the rock and from there they'd seen tiny "monkeys" every now and then on the hillside. I'd been surprised to hear about these "monkeys" the first time and by the time we'd reached the rock I'd completely forgotten about them. I was shocked when I saw an ape sitting on top of a red car (this was just as we were arriving at the restaurant).

I saw more apes lounging about on the roadside, mothers grooming their baby's, fathers walking around and bossing the teenagers around (it's true, he'd grunt and they'd cut it out), teenagers (these were the medium sized ones) getting on top of cars, and some apes eating out of peoples hands (there was a sign saying this was forbidden). As we parked the car up the hill I looked down at my flip-flops and wondered aloud, "Do you think my toes will be safe?"

I'd seen on National Geographic shows that chimpanzees were very strong. These apes weren't huge, they were about the size of a chimp, but I knew that they had to have a fair amount of strength. I also knew that the apes weren't afraid of humans (as we'd just seen), that the apes were looking for food, and that the medium-sized ones were not to be trusted. Some other obvious ones were: don't isolate momma, don't try to touch momma's baby, don't cross poppa, aaaand watch your pockets (if you have valuables). I was wary of the apes while some others weren't. Combine an intelligent animal with strength and the fact that I never knew what they were going to do (at least with cats I've had the time to recognize their moods and whether or not I can go near them). When we went up to the restaurant/cafe we sat by the window and watched the apes and the people while we ate our soup and pasta and listened to English music (wasn't unusual). I had the best seat and I used it to my advantage.

I looked down at the empty street and watched the trees. I was so excited when I saw an ape jump from the tree to the road. I was even more excited when I saw one of the caretakers or park directors walk up (exciting the ape-he came running) to give the ape a bit of food). Other great parts about the seat was: I got to see the bay, I got to see the boats, I got to see the sea, and I could still see throughout the restaurant. The best show was to come immediately after lunch.

As we walked around the giftshop I heard a commotion outside and went to stand in the doorway. There I saw a fleet of younger apes (teenagers) chasing each other up and over the fence, across the courtyard, up the walls, and across the roof tops. They eventually made a circle and passed back out through the gate there. I found it truly amusing when one of them tapped an older man who was standing just outside the gate. This ape had been jumping a lot and when he got close to this man he jumped up, almost hugged him, and then quickly lunged back. Imagine standing there, watching the apes chase each other only to have one jump right up in your face and then be gone faster than you could move. It's hilarious to watch, but I wouldn't want it to happen to me. I completely understand why that man jumped as high as he did.

The boss-ape, or pappa ape, followed this group slowly but still kept a good eye on them. He didn't stay to watch the stragglers who stayed behind. One ape had a good time on the poles, a few other apes had a good time pulling chips out of a young boys pocket (momma made him go eat in the restaurant after he informed her of that), and there were still a few playing on the roof. When we started to head down to go into St. Michael's cave I was nervous passing one in the skinny ally. I got within a foot of that ape, but let me tell you I was not there long. Shortly after squeezing past this ape another park "ranger" came up the steps around the corner. When he saw me he took the ape off his back. He'd made some friends there and he really seemed to like the apes. I however don't know how to read them, they're flighty, and so I try to keep a good distance. I'm not interested in petting any apes.

We walked down the steps to the cave (not passing any more apes). Within the cave I let go of a lot of tension as I looked around at the stalagtites and stalagmites that were as tall and as thick as the pillars in cathedrals, and I reflected on one of my favorite movies as a kid Milo and Otis. While in the cave I also read the signs. The cave had been used for ages by people. Excavations have turned up arrowheads and bones, while we also know that that cave was used by the military as a potential hospital (WWI and WWII days), and surprisingly enough as a place for concerts and other important events. Examples include: concerts, ballets, and weddings. Within the cave there was a stage and a place for people to sit. When someone wanted to get married in the cave they'd have men climb the stalagmites (something no one should ever do because the oil from your hands stunts the growth of the rock) and hold torches up for lighting. I found the stage setting funny because there was still water dripping down. There was a small puddle on stage right (those of you on stage) and people in the audience would've gotten drips down their backs, particularly those who sat in the right hand side of the stadium (again from the view of the stage). Another something I found interesting was that in some areas where the water was dripping on the seats I could see a faint rise, as if another stalagmite was growing there. It'd be great if it ever became a huge pillar like the others, but I highly doubt people will let that happen. Not only would it get rid of valuable seat-space it would also block other peoples views of the show. Even if it was allowed to grow it wouldn't make it very far. People refuse to listen to guides or read the signs and they wipe their oily hands all over these rocks, stunting the growth of them and making the rocks shiny. One touch of our fingers kills the chances of these stalagtites and stalagmites from growing (also ruins butterfly wings). One touch from us can kill. I've known this for about 2-3 years now.

Once out of the cave I had to go to the bathroom. I blame it on all the dripping water. At any rate I got to go back up to the restaurant, again avoiding getting too close to the apes, to walk in, use the WC, and then hurry back to meet up with Ahmee and Poppy. Ahmee and I stood on the steps in the alleyway a bit longer though when we saw a momma and her baby sitting on a step. I walked away pretty fast when I saw momma's eyes going back and forth between us and the other tourists who were gathering on her other side. I didn't want to corner her.

We went back to the car and got back on the road. We decided that we'd go to the ape center before we went down (Poppy and Ahmee wondering why I wanted to because we'd already seen apes). This route gave us spectacular views of the bay, of the city, of the mountains, AND of the coast of Africa in the distance. Along the way we saw several "couples" going through grooming cessions. Normally one was doing all the work while the other one was fast asleep in the sun.

When an ape sitting on the ledge with the backdrop of the bay and the city behind him Poppy stopped, grabbed the camera, and rolled down his window to lean out and take a picture of the him. Just as Poppy stuck his arms out the ape tucked his chin into his chest as if he were hiding. To get him to look up at us Ahmee did a series of whistling noises. The ape looked up immediately and Poppy snapped a picture just as two loud thuds met our ears. Two apes had jumped on the car at the sound of the whistle. Poppy quickly rolled up his window and got driving (slowly so he didn't hurt the apes), while I sat in the backseat and laughed. The apes had made all three of us jump (me in particular because they landed just above my head), but I found it hilarious. As we drove down the hill and through town (was no easy fete- we ended up needing directions) I thought about the apes and whether or not I could see myself having one as a pet. I definitely would not, but I knew that other people would.

When we got back to customs I was curious to find out just how stringent they'd be about people leaving Gibraltar and whether or not they'd do a thorough inspection to make sure no apes were being carted out and away. No such search transpired. All we had to do was show our passports. When I told Ahmee and Poppy about my thoughts of how someone could easily swipe an ape and get them through that customs they laughed. Getting a baby away from it's momma wouldn't be easy and neither would be getting a teenager or an adult (wouldn't want these anyway cuz then they wouldn't adapt and they'd fight you whereas the baby wouldn't be so bad because you'd raise him), but I knew that it definitely could happen (I once knew a teacher who'd nabbed himself seaturtle eggs, and I've known areas that have gotten crocodiles due to some person grabbing them as babies). While we drove I thought about how difficult it would be, about the equipment you'd need, about the facilities you'd need for the ape, and about the worst case scenario for the person who went to grab one. Picturing nasty bite gashes and an ape banging at the windows and jumping around in the car as the person drives up to customs is what I had in mind. I don't suggest anyone try that. It's illegal, it's difficult, and you could end up losing a nose a finger an ear and/or other body parts. I don't think it's worth it. Leave them in their natural habitat and let them hound the tourists. It's pretty fun to watch.

We stopped once on our way back and that was to take a picture of the rock of Gibraltar with the beach and the sea in it (I got to take the picture). While I was down there I also picked up several shells.

On the way back the wind was even worse and by the time we got back to the room I know Poppy was ready for a break. Once inside we did the usual: happy hour, blog, dinner, more blog, sleep. Again, I slept terribly.

11/23/08 We Spend a Day "Vegging"-I write blogs while Ahmee and Poppy read, Later we walk on the beach

2008-12-01T02:00:00.001-08:00

La playa es una tranquil sitia. Para la dia yo escribo muchos blogs y miro muchas cosas de la sol. En la noche es no buena para mi.

After waking up late (completely rested), drinking two cups of coffee, and eating two eggs and toast, I grabbed the computer and I sat in my corner and drank my coffee as I wrote. It was the perfect day for writing for me. I was well-rested, I was happy, I wasn't in a hurry, and I was relaxed. I also had an incredible view from my seat. I could see Ahmee's feet (she'd stretched out on the couch to read her novel), I could see through the glass doors to the courtyard with it's green grass and pools, I could see the sunlight flooding through the windows and hitting the white tile floor, and I could see the whole downstairs. It was so comfortable and so lovely. I didn't want to move from that spot and I didn't want to stop typing or drinking coffee for a long time (I have no idea how many cups I had).

At a certain point I had to use the bathroom and the computer needed recharging. I plugged up the computer, ran up to the restroom to use the facilities, and then when I was washing my hands I looked in the mirror and went, "Ew. I need a shower." I went back downstairs and asked Ahmee when we were planning on going to the beach, she told me fairly soon, and I told her I was going to take a quick shower before we went. At this she said that you take showers after you visit the beach, not beforehand. I took a shower anyway because my hair was greasy and I felt skuzzy. I found out one of the disadvantages of our space: the shower was like some of the showers we'd had before. It was basically just a small basin under your feet with a curtain around it. It doesn't keep any of the water in and when the curtain isn't long enough you end up having to soak up the small pond that accumulates on the bathroom floor.

While in the shower Poppy brought in the clothes that had dried overnight and put them on my bed. It was nice because when I was done I went into the bedroom and put on clean things. For those of you who hate doing the laundry, hear this: it might never be done, but clean clothes sure do smell better than dirty ones. My clothes had been getting close to the smell-nasty phase, and my jeans were the worst of all.

After getting dressed I went downstairs and we went out to the beach where we walked along the waters edge barefooted, exclaimed at the "islands" I saw, picked up tons of pebbles/shells/glass, and basically just enjoyed the sun and the water. Oh! I forgot. When we first arrived I saw the old man from yesterday and I asked him in Spanish where his dog was. He pointed to the shade of a concrete pillar and I squatted down to pet him and coo "ooooh bueno perro, bueno, bueno perro", the old man told me that the dog was 15 years old. I couldn't remember the word for old so I smiled and said nothing. The old man then asked me if I was Spanish or English. I told him I was English and shortly after that I went on my way thinking, "Hahahaha! A Spaniard thought I was Spanish! Yes!" An even greater thought was that the man lived in an area filled with English and German tourists, it's great that he couldn't tell I was not English because he must have heard English-speakers try to speak Spanish and fail many times AND many people who live in touristy areas often end up being able to distinguish where a person is from by the way they look, sometimes people don't even need to open their mouths to portray where they're from.

We got back into the car once we started getting hungry. On the way back we stopped by the main building to see in the restaurant there if we could order pizza to go. They told us we couldn't and that it opened at 7. We went and checked on the grocery store and were disappointed to find it closed. I did get to see my gato again though! Oh, I forgot, when we went to the grocery store there was a beggar cat who looked just like Auto (an old cat of ours who loves cars). I bent over and patted him and rubbed on him and the first time I did it he took a swipe and a nip at me when I went to leave, as if saying, "Hey you! I didn't say you could go! Get back here!" This time he didn't swipe at me, he rubbed on me and let me pet him and then walk back to the car.

Once back in the room we got our happy hour things ready and repeated the process of the night before. After happy hour we still had time to kill so we turned on the television to watch CNN news. Since it was Sunday we got the Sunday special for politics. It was great listening to the arguments of the economy specialists, and it was wonderful getting to see the argument between two different senators over Barack Obama's economic plan and the views on bailing out the auto industry.

After this we went and ate our pizzas. We'd have bursts of conversation (this isn't unusual), about many different problems in the U.S. facing people (this was over the auto-industry, the government issues, and over personal problems). Towards the end of the dinner I was getting sleepy and I was zoning in on the soccer match that was on tv. I did my best to stay out of it.

Once back at the room I decided I was going to blog, Ahmee decided she was going to read, and Poppy decided he wanted to watch CNN. When he turned on the tv to CNN we found they were playing another special over Global Warming and the melting arctic. Since this is one of the most controversial topics of today and since it's a subject that greatly interests me, I put away my work for thirty minutes to watch.

No big news came for me, most of it I'd heard before, but I did enjoy learning about the birds that live in the Arctic that lay one egg each year. They lay their eggs on the cliffs and keep them warm the same way penguins do. The baby's don't even have their adult feathers yet when they take their first "flight". Really they just jump off the side of the cliff and glide down to the water to catch fish, sometimes at the encouragement of the parents, and sometimes by themselves. Sometimes these little guys will hit a cliff below. Normally they just bounce and keep going. I wish I could remember the name of that bird (reason they went into detail over that bird is that they wanted to portray one of the animals that was at "the top of the food chain" that could be effected by major climate change).

Another thing that was new for me was the idea of shipping through the Arctic Ocean. Different countries are now looking at that area as a possible future trading resource. It doesn't surprise me at all. Something else that didn't surprise me was the fact that Russia planted a flag at the bottom of the ocean, under all of the ice, on the north pole. Unfortunately I can't remember when they did that. Russians viewed it as heroism, while others viewed it with scorn (they had to do a bit of drilling to get there).

After watching this I was no longer in the mood to type. I took the computer upstairs to my bed, where I forced myself to write a bit more, and then I closed up immediately after I finished one day. I sat up thinking all kinds of arguments over global warming (something I've argued with people on countless times, and something that I still think about and question myself), reflecting on past arguments (with Iain, with people in my class, with teachers, etc.), and suddenly I was lost in thought. I'd turned out the lights and had stretched out, but I was not even close to being tired. Part of the problem was that I'd had caffeine during dinner and then the other problem was I wanted to remember moments, I wanted to talk to people, I wanted to argue my opinion, I wanted to do research (I never can get enough), and slowly I started bringing memories to the forefront, hoping to ease myself into sleep.

Normally this is all that's required, is to sit there and think of certain memories and daydreams that I adore. Normally I lose myself in a haze and I end up waking up the next morning into a clear day. This was not so for that night. I continuously woke up. I had memories brought forth that caused pain rather than sleep. I missed people terribly. Eventually I was able to put myself back to sleep but by then the curtains were taking on a blue glow and I woke up a few hours later due to the sun.

11/22/08 We leave Cordoba to get to Marbella, the seaside resort

2008-12-01T01:59:00.001-08:00

En Toledo mi Abuela y yo hablemos espanol muchas tiempos en la dia. Ahora en Cordoba y en la calle nosotros no hablemos espanol tiempo mucho. Es ok para ahora, pero es necesitario para nosotros practicar un poco cada dia.

It was much easier to leave Cordoba than it was to get in. Then again we had directions from the lady at the desk. As we made our way out I looked around at the city, it's people, it's parks, and it's fountains. Yet again I wasn't ready to leave. One good thing about leaving Cordoba was that I knew that we were going to go to a seaside resort and use that as our home base.

We were going to be able to fix our own food, we were going to be able to have a kitchen and living room again, and we we could come and go as we pleased. I couldn't wait to see what this reserved place looked like. While on the road I wrote blogs, getting through several days despite the shortage of time and the curves. I was ready to have work out of the way so I could calm down on the beach and relax.

Ahmee and Poppy followed the directions they were given and when we got close to Marbella they told me I should put the computer up. I ended up seeing several large cities and the mountains and the sea before we got truly close to the resort. I enjoyed it. I got to read the signs and point out things alongside the road (such as the IKEA store-Ahmee and I have wanted to visit one since Germany, Poppy's not too keen on the idea) and I got to see the area of turisticos and resorts. It seemed like the whole area was just one large condo after the next, pretty much like some areas of Mexico and Florida. We wondered just how well they'd cope with the downturn of the economy and whether or not the construction on the new resorts would be finished any time soon.

We managed to reach our resort fairly easily. We didn't get lost, the directions were well done (every now and then we get good directions that don't leave out important things), and so we were able to find the front desk. We got the keys, were warned to not leave anything out in the car because people were watching, were told to lock the doors before we left, and were told about the security safe that was hidden in the kitchen. I was sooooo excited about the security safe because it was hidden behind an inconspicuous little thing (since I don't know who's reading this I'm not going to say what exactly the safe looked like). I put checking that thing out near the top of my to do list.

We followed their directions again up to our suite (was away from the main building). We had a good time opening the gate with a press key, closing the gate the same way, checking out our suite (which I'll go into more detail about later), moving our things in, and then leaving to go to the beach. Later we spent some time poking around the rooms (me organizing things-again go into more detail later).

We parked our car in our parking spot, grabbed our things, and then walked into the entryway to step right in. The maid was still busy preparing the rooms. We let her know we were just leaving our suitcases and our things and then we partially moved in. Once inside you could see several things. The walls were a pale yellow, the floors were tiled, the trimming was white, the railing to the stairs was painted dark blue (almost black), and there was a lot of light coming from the downstairs. Sorry, that's not nearly enough of a description.

The entryway was the landing to the two flights of stairs. Upstairs there were two bathrooms, one with a shower (this was mine), and the other with a bathtub (Ahmee and Poppy's-they got the better deal), and two bedrooms one with red and orange bedding and curtains (Ahmee and Poppy's) and the other with two twin beds and different shades of green as it's color scheme (not the walls-all of the walls were yellow). The curtains were drawn and we were in a hurry so all we got to see was the sunlight coming in through the colored curtains.

We left to go down to the beach, eat at the Papillion, a restaurant that was right on the beach and that was recommended by the desk (also said we could get a ten percent discount). We were there early and grabbed one of the first seats in the shade of the restaurant. From there we ate a great meal (me salmon and potatoes and green beans-no idea what else was ordered), and had spectacular seats for the action. We could see all the people coming in to eat, we could see the vendors coming up to sell their purses and jewelry, and we go to watch the waves come in (pretty hypnotizing really). As we sat there we got the distinct idea that most of the people around us were from England and Germany. We didn't blame them for wanting to get away to this place, and we guessed the weather up there wasn't much better than what we were hearing was happening over in the states (my sister's told me that it's been snowing every day, just not sticking).

I also had a "whoa" moment. All of the men who were selling purses and necklaces and other items were black. I was reminded of the men selling the same items in Barcelona and how if they were caught they were deported. While we sat there I looked at the ocean and went, "Africa is just over there.... Whoa! We're a boat-ride away from Africa!" Shortly after I realized this I asked Ahmee where we were planning on going while we were there. Gibraltar was at the top of my list.

When we were done with almuerzo (lunch) we went for a walk on the beach. I took off my toe-socks and my tennis shoes to walk barefoot on the pebbly beach. While walking the sun we incredibly relaxing and the feel of the rocks and the sand on my feet felt wonderful. The water however was freezing cold. I wasn't about to jump in like I'd did when in Italy. I was amazed at the men and women who were out sunbathing in their swimsuits, we were all huddled up like it was freezing cold out. As we walked though the sun warmed us up.

While walking Ahmee and I spent a large percent of the time picking up smooth white zen-rocks and sea glass. I made sure to watch out for sharp sea glass so that every time I set my foot down I was certain I wasn't going to get cut.

It wasn't long before we decided to head out, on the way to the car we ran into an elderly man who was out walking his dog. We pet the dog and spoke to him and then got on our way.

Before we went back to the room we stopped by the grocery store that was right next to the camp ground and grabbed dinner and breakfast and other goodies for our stay. When I looked at the receipt I realized that by shopping for our own food we got 3 meals for 3 people for the price of one meal for one person in a restaurant (this is including bread and drink and appetizer and desert). Another benefit of eating at home! On our way back to the room we stopped by the main building and grabbed beach books for Ahmee and Poppy (I had to pick Poppy's).

Now I get to describe more of the apartment because this time we got to open the door (was difficult at first because there's a trick to the locks) and walk all around. We took the groceries downstairs and discovered at the base of the stairs the kitchen, the dining corner, the living room with a fireplace (decorative) and a tv, the double door that opened up to the patio (this was outside and we could walk out on the courtyard and to the pool), and other things. We put the groceries away and I decided that I needed to go out and clean out the car. I cleaned out the back seat and I grabbed a table cloth for the dining corner. I threw out trash, I put the table clothes down and then I went and put my stones and shells into the safe. It was soooooooo cool. While I played with it Ahmee laughed when I oohed and ahhhed at the mechanism. I want a safe in my kitchen when I grow up!

After this I went upstairs to put my things into my white closet and to organize my room and my bathroom. I put my clothes on the shelves, I put my suitcase away, I put my pj's on top of my stack of towels, I took a bottle out of my suitcase (got this in the Hostel Cardinal-I loved the shade of blue) and set it in the sun, I put my book bag into the closet along with my shoes, and I put my hygiene bag into the bathroom. After looking at my clothes I decided that I wanted to wash almost everything. I did just that and hung all of my things out on the clothes rack on the upper terrace (with Poppy's help) after an hour of stomping on sudzy clothes in the bathtub. I then went downstairs to discover that Poppy had brought more in. We had maps, books, bags, newspapers, and other things strewn across the glass table. I was in a cleaning mood so I grabbed all of the books and stacked them up, I consolidated the bags into one bag, I threw away old newspapers, and I moved everything off the kitchen table and put them neatly on the side table for the couch and on the coffee table. I then put down the table clothes. When Ahmee came down she said, "Oh Rachel I like your house-keeping! We've been moved in!" I smiled. I like the place we're staying in. It's filled with light, it has decoration elements I like (the windows and the seating arrangement), and it feels very homey. It's not too small, we all have our own space, but then again we aren't rattling around in a huge casa.

Shortly after "moving in" we got ready for happy hour. We pulled out the cheeses, the fruits, and the drinks and sat down at the table to talk about what needed to be done and what we wanted to do. While there we developed a plan to spend the next day catching up on blogs, reading, and basically just relaxing. After that we'd go on daytrips to Gibraltar and to Granada (other places later).

While we ate our appetizers and drank our drinks (me orange juice with fizzy water, and Ahmee and Poppy wine) the sun slowly sank down the sky, for the first time in a long time I was ready to type. Immediately after happy hour I got to work on my blogs and Ahmee and Poppy read. I sat in the curved corner and typed until Ahmee and Poppy told me it was dinner time.

During dinner I sat on the built in bench: along two walls of the corner dining room there was a bench and there were three regular seats. I had a wonderful time talking to Ahmee and Poppy, asking them how their books were, asking them about Gibraltar, talking about visiting Africa, and talking about why we each liked the resort and our space so much. I told them one of my favorite things about the place was the dining area. I told them about how when I was younger (I occasionally still do this) I would draw dream homes. Often these dream homes were drawn when I was at my dads house and I'd give my father and everyone else in the house a palace to live in. I designed incredible bedrooms, and over-the-top living rooms. I never did focus much on the kitchens or the parents room until I got a bit older. I started trying to make "average" homes, something my dad might some day get (like I split the girls one room into two rooms, instead of my old wish of each kid having his/her own room) and something that combined things that I'd seen in design catalogs (I've looked at hundreds of thousands of design catalogs and home/garden catalogs-and I've read an even greater amount of books on fantastic design elements). I'd try out different scenarios and put the family into a different home. It was like playing with a doll house, except I never did get tired of it and I never got tired of showing people my drawings. One of the things I put into many kitchens was a table that had a built-in bench around it. With five kids in my dad's house I thought it would be too cool to have everyone scoot in and have a booth (one of my favorite places to sit in a restaurant is the booth because it's cushioned), or a cushioned seat that looked similar to one (doesn't need to be tacky). I told Ahmee and Poppy that the seating arrangement was one that I'd pictured for my dad's house more than once. The main difference was that the seat I'd pictured for my dad had storage space under the seats. You could lift the seat lid and there'd be places to put winter clothes, christmas decorations, games, toys, you name it you can put it in there. Ahmee thought it was a very practical idea and that if we were to live in the space the seats would need to be storage areas because in a house you always need as much storage space as you can get.

After dinner I got my pj's on, and got into bed.

11/22/08 The Mesquita, la Caballo Rojo, the Jardin de Los Reyes Catolicas, the Roman Bridge, and the square of Cordoba

2008-11-25T05:06:00.002-08:00

La es una dia estupenda! Una problema para me es las personas. Yo una mala chica con muchas personas y los grupos grandes.

This was one incredible day.

We ate in the hotel, got dressed, and headed down the windy-one way street (jumping into doorsteps when a car or van would squeeze through) to the Mesquita. On the way there we peeked into incredible courtyards that made me drool, and shop windows which were selling jewelry and other goods (like touristy stuff). Once in the main square we walked around the Mesquita, searching for the restaurant: El Caballo Rojo, in English this is The Red Horse. This restaurant is the oldest restaurant in Cordoba and happens to be one of the best. Even though Ahmee and Poppy had been there before, we could not find it the first time we went around the square. Instead of walking around the square a second time we decided we'd better go into the Mesquita.

Before we even went into the courtyard Ahmee told me what she knew about the Mesquita. The last time she and Poppy were there they were with a tour group and the head of the group, a man by the name of David Hershburg, had been Jewish and had often opted to take the group to see more Jewish Synagogue's than the Christian Cathedrals. In Cordoba he was for the oppressed people, the Muslims. An influential man had the Mosque built (Mesquita was originally a Mosque) to display the Muslim's power in the community.

This eventually became the largest Mosque in the Western World. Later after King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella pushed out all religions except for Catholicism they also ordered for Muslims (and other faiths) to either convert to Christianity or leave/be killed. Later King Henry X (I think) took it upon himself to Christianize buildings, despite the public outcry. He put into the Mesquita an alter and many chapels (this was what the book said and what I knew-the book turned out to be understating the "work" Henry X had done). Ahmee told me that David had thought the Mesquita had been ruined by these Christian modifications. I couldn't wait to go in to see what all they'd done (and to finally be in the picture that I love so much).

The courtyard was the "entryway" for the Mesquita. It was composed of fountains (the Moors-being desert people, loved the sound of trickling water), pebbles, Orange trees, Palm trees, and people. While Ahmee and Poppy grabbed the tickets and the audioguides I grabbed the camera and took pictures of the space. One of my favorite pictures was of the water system they had going. The orange trees were all lined up perfectly. Between each tree was a ditch (concrete/pebbled sides), and around each tree was a circle of dirt and then concrete. The water was directed down one of these ditches and the circles around the trees would fill up with water. It looked like a fountain when this happened and it reminded me of the bird bath I wanted Ahmee and Poppy to have.

I didn't have much time to take pictures before we were getting in line to go into the arch-filled space. It was amazing. The first step in was just like stepping into a picture (you know, of the one with all the columns and their red and white double arches and with the light filtering through). Once we stepped in though we came to see things that aren't normally put into the guide books as must-sees. The doors were decorated with Geometric patterns, their were arches in the distance that weren't the same, and the ceiling's varied from place to place (some places they'd be stone, while others would be painted wood).

Something that was surprising was just how Christianized the building had become. There was a section that was blocked off that I realized when I looked at the map was the nave of the Cathedral. The ceilings that were of stone and contained Christian symbols and icons. Some of the arches had been filled in to create chapels (although the audio guide did say that they'd gotten rid of some of these to display the Mosque's original Architecture). It was as if there was a competition amongst religions under one roof. The favorite of the competition was easy to see.

While the people of Cordoba have recently striven to make the Mosque look less Christianized, the guides and the tour groups did not. I saw more people taking pictures of the chapels than I did of the arches and the columns. I saw more guides going on and on about the stone ceiling that was just in front of the Cathedral, than guides who were explaining why there was a change in Moorish decoration around one doorway. I refuse to do that to you all. There was an area where a man would sit and read aloud the prayers, this room also showed the direction of Mecca. This room was what all the Muslims faced when they spread their mats out on the floor and commenced into prayer.

I was not enthusiastic about the Christian symbols, I was more interested in the Moorish influence and the Muslim religious importance. I'd seen enough chapels and gory paintings of martyred Saints. I'd seen enough of treasury rooms (which by the way were right next to the sacred area of the Muslims). I was slowly becoming very annoyed with those groups that simply passed by the deteriorating Muslim symbols. Their "alter" had beautiful paintings around it and wonderful sculptures above and killer decoration in the arches, but did the tourist groups hog the fence? Nope. They were more interested in the chapels, in the christian paintings, in what I call religious plunder (the treasury), and in the modifications the Christian Church gave to the building. It sickened me to see how the guides weren't giving this originally Muslim piece of architecture it's full history, or that the people simply did not care and went ahead and did their cross symbols anyway. I also thought that the Moorish form of architecture was ten times better than the Christian add ins. To be fair I realized that this was indeed a building that's now dominated by the Christian faith. Even though I was completely content to only look at the Moorish architecture and hear the history of the building, I knew I needed to at least check out something of the Christian faith. The audioguide's map went over a chapel that supposedly had stunning paintings on the walls, I went to check them out. The guard said something to me in mumbled Spanish and then said abruptly, "Closed." I grumpily walked out of the chapel to head over to the Cathedral, or the alter.

I went from filtered light and homey-ness to tons of light and spaciousness. I wasn't surprised when I saw all the frill and fluff and pomp. The only part I liked about the cathedral was the supportive purpose it served: to take some of the stress off of the courtyard (due to the columns and the 11 aisles the wall on the courtyard was getting a lot of pressure). This I learned from the audioguide.

When we walked back out into the courtyard I'd decided that I completely agreed with David. Ahmee and I also decided that in this instance it was almost like the Christians were trying to say, "We're better than you. Our faith is the higher one, look at all the splendor our beliefs have brought us while your faith has only brought you to exile. Look at our "superior" architecture. Look at how wealthy we are. Look at all our gilded symbols of faith." Ha! That makes a religious crusade sound downright childish, but I have to say that it irked me to see so much of that present in that building. Before we went on to find the Caballo Rojo I had to run back into the Mesquita to take pictures of my favorite things, and my least favorite things. I also made sure to take pictures of the courtyard, which managed to pull me out of a considerably bitchy mood (can love the building but have people put you in a foul mood), at least for a bit.

We left the Mesquita entrance, took a right to walk around the square again and voila! I spotted the Caballo Rojo tucked back in an alleyway. The alleyway was decorated with a sign, with tons of potted plants, and with the thin but lovely building at the back.

We were driven by food and moved fairly quickly in and up the stairs to our seats (following the waiter of course). From those seats we ordered Gazpacho (cold Spanish soup), and other wonderful goodies. Of course, I say other wonderful goodies because I no longer remember what Ahmee and Poppy got. I just remember what I ordered. I ordered rabbit in a wine sauce and then later a chocolate cake (more like a really really rich brownie). This was the first time I'd ever had rabbit and it was absolutely delicious. I didn't know if it was so much the meat or the sauce (probably the sauce because the sauce can make or break a meal, but then again nasty things can't be eaten-even with a good sauce) that made the rabbit killer, and I didn't really care. I was too busy peeling the meat off the bones to care.

While I devoured the rabbit legs I did think to myself, "You realize you're eating a fuzzy bunny and that someone would be appalled for you eating a pet?" I'd look at the meat and try to picture a rabbit, and I'd think about whether or not I could ever really give up meat (because this was just as good as a steak) for the sake of an animal. Half a second later I'd be back and forking more meat into my mouth. I think within 2 seconds I firmly asserted I'm not a vegetarian and that I've got a very slim chance of ever becoming one.

After eating our amazing almuerzo (oh oh! a Moorish influence: words that begin with 'al' are said to have come from the Moors) and paying quite a price for it we went back out into the sunshine to walk towards the Jardin de los Reyes Catolicas before it closed. We had one hour to look around this garden and we made sure to walk faster over to it. We got quite an incredible welcome into the Garden. Before we passed through the garden gates to view the beauty beyond we got absorbed into a family. Outside the gate was a crowd of well dressed people who were all waiting for someone to pass through the gate.

As I looked around I realized that it was a wedding. When the bride and groom came out of the tunnel, the groom cautious and anxiously looking at his relatives as he guarded the bride, the family threw rice at them as hard as they could, causing the groom to gather the bride in close as they got closer to their family. It was such a scene! The bride and groom laughed and shouted in amazement as the rice just kept coming while their family members laughed as the kids enjoyed their throwing abilities. There was a crowd of smiling faces around the newly wedded couple and it showed just how great a close family can be. At that moment everyone was happy for the couple, and the entire family was enjoying a moment of pure amusement (after the serious business of the wedding it's nice to have that).

We forgot about the garden for a few minutes as we became one with the family, laughing along with everyone else and being right in the seat of the action. Of course, after most of the rice was thrown we decided it was time we left the family alone and we scooted through the crowd (with some surprised faces seeing complete strangers coming from the center of the mass) to reach the wall and pass quickly and quietly through into the sunlight garden.

When we first entered we couldn't see the fountains that the garden is famous for (most photographs are of these), we could instead see a shaded garden that was similar to the one at Hostel Cardinal in Toledo. Lemon trees gave the shade while a few flowers were still catching the rays of light that were coming through. After the commotion of the wedding party it was soothing to be alone with a different form of beauty and we enjoyed walking around this a great deal. When we came into sight of the fountains however I soon found that there were several large groups there, many of them school groups. They didn't bother me then (note the diplomatic phrasing).

I was given free range with the camera and I adored it. Yet again the light was perfect and I found sooo many things in that garden gorgeous. The arrangements were well done, the beds well taken care of, and I found it fairly easy to find picturesque items to photograph. Something I thought would be really really cool to get was the way the light shone through the rivulets of water that were flying through the air to make a tunnel. In order to get this picture I wanted to get down right at the end of the rectangular pool, squat down in the center and take a picture where the water from the fountains would make an arbor over the sitting water in the pool and all the plants within.

I think I must've been just overly testy this day because I started to get annoyed with people when I stood there waiting to grab my picture for 10 minutes. Those groups of people had spread out and some people were posing in front of these pools for a picture, I'd wait for one group to go and I'd take several fast steps forward only to have another group jump in front of me. They were standing right where I wanted to squat and it wasn't like I could get it without shoving someone out of the way or tip toeing on the edge of the water. Eventually I got my picture and when I did I was significantly cheered up because it was just what I'd expected it to be. Not to mention I'd gotten what I wanted quickly and had gotten out of someone else's way (I didn't want to annoy someone else like those groups had annoyed me).

As I walked to catch up with Ahmee and Poppy, who were getting towards the back of the garden, I spotted a smaller planting that had many different colors in it. I thought it looked very lovely, and I wanted to try and get a picture of it, so I walked around to the other side to be in the shade, and moved about the garden to try and find a spot. When I heard someone catcalling I turned slightly and caught the sight of three high-school guys walking along the outer path, all three of them looking at me and shouting and whistling. I took a picture of the section that had all the color and I walked away and out of the middle of the garden and towards my grandparents.

I was very glad that the guys didn't follow or do anything beyond shouting, but I was also distinctly reminded of a few guys who I'd seen last year call out of a school window, "Yuv gotta purty mouth...." It's stupid, it's not attracting, and it does not make me feel pretty whatsoever. Some people would adore commanding the attention of strangers through their looks. I do not. It annoyed the snot out of me when those boys whistled, and what annoyed me even more is that I felt like I'd been rushed off to my grandparents before I could get the picture I wanted. Their shouting made me want to get away from the area (partially the self-preservation type-just in case, and partially due to the fact that I wasn't going to stand there and take it) and I moved away from the picture.

As I stood away with Ahmee, I grumbled and growled about the guys and about the "people" (say this with a sharp snap at the end and that's what you had with me). Later it was commented on that I'd gotten pretty bitchy. It's true, I was on the verge of anger, if not there. After that I was just about ready to take back what I'd said at Villandry about holding parties in a garden. All of a sudden I was angry with others, particularly large clusters of people. Ahmee knew I was talking about the other people in the garden though. She and Poppy are fun to walk through a garden with, shoot we can walk almost anywhere and have a good time (just so long as we aren't walking too much and we aren't dodging things). Now that I've calmed down I'll simply say I would have a party in a garden with only the people I respect and admire (therefore those boys wouldn't be invited).

Luckily the gardeners had a good sense of time and got the large groups out first (it was closing time), so we got to roam a bit more with less people (was great), and I got to get pictures without getting further annoyed. When we passed back out of the gate I was cooled off from the garden. We then walked back to the Mesquita Square to look at the horse-drawn carriages for a short moment and to then turn and walk to the Roman Bridge.

Ahmee disliked the bridge on sight. Later she said that it had been restored to the point where it took out all the mystery of it and all of the romantics. The bridge looked almost like a modern-day bridge. I say almost simply because I knew that it wasn't and therefore my previous knowledge stained the possibilities of me thinking it looked like a downright modern bridge (was kinda chunky to be a modern bridge anyway).

The great thing about this bridge was I got to get away from the people more. Ahmee, Poppy, and I did this by walking along one side and looking down at the ducks moving on the water and the current. We talked about which river we'd found the most polluted (one right next to Rome was by far), which ones we'd found the smallest, which ones we found were the largest, and then we talked about other things. As we walked I looked west at the old mills and saw that they were definitely not as well "preserved" as the bridge.

One in particular had been left to the pigeons. There was a coating of white (pigeons in Cordoba are white) on the top and along the walls which moved constantly and white reflected the light. The sun, the river, and the wings made it difficult to be certain however and I pointed it out to Ahmee and kept going.

On the way back I gave the musicians a 50 cent and leaned against the wall and pointed out with enthusiasm the pigeons that were taking flight, and the two blue heron's who were busy waiting for fish (or other food) to come through with the current. Both of these ended up moving as we got closer to the end and when we left the bridge they were gone.

After the bridge the streets had mostly cleared of both tourists and locals due to the hour. It was siesta time AND many of the sights had closed their doors. We walked back to the hotel and set up camp in the room. I wrote blogs and emails and Ahmee and Poppy wrote emails (Poppy also wrote in his journal) until dinner time. We then walked to the square and to the same restaurant we'd eaten at the night before. This time I grabbed something small, only Gazpacho for me. I've had bad luck with my belly recently and I wanted to ensure I didn't get too much-the good thing about too little is you can always get more whereas with too much it's hard to get rid of and when you're traveling it's a shame to waste money like that.

While I sipped on my soup I had the wonderful view of the square again. Since it was Friday night there were a lot of people dressing up to go out to the theater. They'd come and parade through the square (some of them were just plain lost) with their fur coats and fancy dresses and tuxedos. They looked really nice and it was interesting watching the reactions of the people closest to them. Since we were inside and watching through the glass it really felt as if we were watching from the outside and that this party (which we'd seen the night before) wasn't really happening.

It was like the busy lifestyle of the city had met up with the neighbor-loving friendliness (or rather clustering of friends) of the small town. The square had become the center of the town, and had become the center of the social life there. It was great to watch but I'm not entirely sure I'd want to go out and do that every night. It seemed like the mall or like the hallways at school in between class periods or just before school starts. Everyone is talking to other people and are busy walking around or doing something and everyone can see everyone else.

I'm not a big fan of it. Before school I've always either gone straight to my first period class to sit and get out of the commotion or I go somewhere else. The past year a few friends of mine have come with me to sit in the library where we kick back, we sit, we talk, and we relax without all of the people. Then again, I did watch the clusters of high-school people who took root on the benches. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad taking root in a cafe with your friends. It's not like everyone really knows everyone else and are into everyone else's business, they're just hanging out with the people they do know.

We walked back through the crowded streets to go back to the hotel where I pulled on my pj's and went to bed. That night I had some very very very strange dreams about Ahmee, Poppy, and I traveling through the Rocky Mountains till it got dark out and the only place around was a log cabin. We went up to the log cabin and knocked on the door to see if we could stay the night and four people came out. Dad picked up an electric chainsaw and started chasing Poppy with it while the Mom cheered him on (had hyper hillbilly accents by the way). Ahmee unplugged the cord, causing the Mom and the Dad to get really angry-as if Ahmee had forever wrecked their chainsaw. Then the two young boys spoke up (the part in between has become blurred so I have to apologize for the confusion). The oldest one brought out a bat and a ball and hit it and then he proudly said that he and his brother were experts at hitting baseballs and roasting softballs and that the softballs were gooooooood. When I told Ahmee and Poppy about that one they both laughed, I can't say I blame them.

11/21/08 We leave Toledo, we go to Consuegra to see Don Quijote de la Mancha's Windmills, we stop at El Patio for lunch, and we head into Cordoba

2008-11-25T05:06:00.001-08:00

Don Quijote de la Mancha es una libro famoso en Espana y el Globo. En mi clase de espanol mi professora Senorita Stuart hable en el libro y el clase miremos el video. Es un favorito video para mi ahora porque yo viajo los "windmills" en Espana.

Before we left Toledo, Ahmee needed to check in on her Mosque so she could see what the interior looked like. It turned out to be a running church and we walked in on a very important mass (the speech seemed to be of utmost importance because the man commanded the attention of everyone in the church).

Ahmee became absorbed in the sermon while I looked around at the building. It was a barren church. Very little decoration, and very little sunlight. There were no windows. There were tons of candles. The brick was a lovely orangey-red color, the pillars were all aligned, and there was an arch to the ceiling (sadly I didn't get to look at the ceiling too much because I kept being distracted by the people). When we left Toledo I turned around in the backseat to take another look at the town. I liked being there, it was sad watching it go. I also didn't really want to look at the computer again. I didn't want to write. I wanted to look out the window. I didn't want to do anything but relax and enjoy the view. While on the road I wrote one blog and then we got to get out and walk around.

We went through Consuegra where I put the computer away and watched as we made our way up to the castle and to Don Quijote's windmills. For those of you who haven't watched the silly film or read the book, Don Quixote De La Mancha was an elderly gentleman who was in love with knights in shining armor and stories thereof. He convinced himself of several things: that he was a knight and thus needed to embark on a quest, that he needed to conquer evil and save the good, and that magicians and giants existed and were his enemies to battle. For those who didn't see the things he did he claimed that an evil wizard had cast a spell on them. Some things that Don Quijote saw were: an inn was a castle, windmills were giants swinging sticks, and the chain-gang was a group of unfortunate peasants being driven by a terrible lord. Obviously, he caused quite a stir. Well at the top of the hill there sat many windmills and a castle. These were the windmills that Don Quijote fought (I think that that story is fiction). These were his giants.

Of course after we parked Ahmee grabbed the one and only stick she could find (tiny weed-twig that was thinner than my pinkie finger) to use as a sword so we could all battle the "Giants" like Don Quijote did. I went first and I went all out (except for the sound effects). I raced up the rocks, and ran at the windmill (which isn't working by the way so there was no danger of me doing the same thing as Don Quijote and getting lifted up by a corner). Once I reached the windmill I had a really good time swinging at the panel. I never touched the stick to it though, it would've broken. Poppy had some issues taking pictures of this (he said I needed to hold still). I was just having a good time battling the windmill, tehe.

Next it was Ahmee's turn to battle the windmill. Ahmee held still for Poppy and simply stuck the stick through the panel and posed (she was holding her sword like some wizards in Harry Potter hold their wands).

Then Poppy got his picture taken with the windmill. He however didn't battle it at all or stab it. He stuck his head through the gap (to Ahmee's horror).

After this we walked from one windmill to the next, wondering who owned them and wondering how many horses we'd need if we wanted to changed the windmill. Our goal was to go check out the castle (which they were busy renovating). For a bit I walked from rock to rock, trying to imagine being a mountain climber and picking my way along a rough path. I quickly stopped after I twisted my right ankle again (remember in Amboise I twisted it). I went down and walked with Ahmee and Poppy shortly after that.

Inside the castle we got to roam practically where ever we wanted. Many rooms had been remodeled and looked very nice, while other sections didn't have their roof or their steps stopped halfway up. We explored the remodeled section and climbed up the tower and crossed over to walk around on the top patio. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking. We could see the mountains, the valley with the tiny sliver of a rio running through it, the "desert", and the town. We also could see the pidgeons. As I watched I could've sworn I saw a male pidgeon (awfully showy and pushed another pidgeon around) drive another male pidgeon away from his pick of a mate. In animal science class Mr. Schneider talked about how birds mate: "It's just a mass of fluttering wings. Ya can't really see much of anything." Shortly after the male pidgeon was driven off he and his mate got into this mass of wings. I never pointed the scene out to Ahmee and Poppy, I just chuckled when the birds just about toppled off the wall.

We went down stairs and realized from the many pictures that the castle was used for it's fiesta, or it's community celebration. Men of all ages get dressed up as knights and reinact life as it would've been in the medieval ages. Well, I don't know about that. If men shot arrows off the top of castles without reason to (all shooting up too I might add), and clanged really really dull swords together just for the fun of it, then yep it's just like it. I didn't see any women in those pictures. Shame there weren't any women who could participate in the shooting match. I know I would've enjoyed it (just so long as I can pull back the arrow). I also know that I would've enjoyed sword-fighting. I know I would've lost though. Why? Well there were swords and spears on display as we were heading out. The swords were really heavy. I could lift it and pose with it, but I don't think I would've had much control over it if I wanted to sword-fight. I just don't have the arm power for it.

We walked down the ramp (me running when I saw a ton of bird-poop) and went out the main gate and then left Consuegra.

To my slight disappointment it didn't take us long to get back on the highway. I looked out the window for a short period (10 minutes) and then I opened the laptop and typed a bit more. It wasn't long before I had to put the laptop up because we soon found a place to eat. It was a hotel called El Patio, and it was a classic example of the phrase "Never judge a book by it's cover". I mean this in a very very good way. The outside was nice enough, it was white and clean but it looked very small to hold a restaurant, a hotel, and a bar. I thought that the restaurant would be very small. I was wrong. The restaurant filled up 2 rooms AND the courtyard. It also had incredible food (just don't ask me what I got).

After filling ourselves up we got back on the road where I looked at the computer, it looked at me, and my eyes said, "Nope not going to do that just now!" Shortly after that I was asleep.

Later I woke up from moving a lot and having my stomach grumble. I opened my eyes and looked out the window to see a green slope. We were going through a windy mountain pass where there were plenty of pine trees and other green plants. I adored looking at these as we got closer and closer to Cordoba. Of course, shortly after we left the mountain pass we arrived at Cordoba where Ahmee and Poppy both exclaimed, "Whoa it's gotten so much bigger in 23 years!" Something they greatly appreciated was the well-paved roads. After driving around on these for 20 minutes chasing after one sign and then the next we all slowly came to dread the large streets. We ended up getting lost when we pulled off into a smaller one-way street.

I know the reason why we ended up lost. My notion was that the hotel we were looking for was in the central square (just across from the main entrance), the Hotel Mesquita. Apparently the hotel we were looking for was not in the center of town, it was in the square that was along the Mesquita. It would seem like that would just make sense to have that hotel right next to the Mesquita, but I didn't know the name of the hotel I just thought that it was in the center square. So, when we were driving around looking for signs I'd point out centro signs, while Ahmee would point out the Mesquita signs (to the confusion of both Poppy and me).

We didn't end up in an awful situation though. Yet again we had a stroke of luck. As we drove through the thin, winding, one-way street we all started to get incredible nervous. We breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the Hotel Selu, a three star hotel that had a parking garage in the basement. This hotel had a room for us, had internet (had to pay but that's ok), AND was situated in just the right place. It wasn't right next to the main streets, meaning we weren't going to hear horns or loud music in the middle of the night (problem for Ahmee and Poppy, not for me), AND this hotel was within walking distance of everything we wanted to see and more. The main things we wanted to see in Cordoba were: the Mesquita, the Roman Bridge, and la Jardin de Los Reyes Catolicas. Our plan was to go up and see a lovely section of town, called the Plaza de Capuchinos. The lady at the desk said it was absolutely gorgeous and that we needed to see it. Well we walked up there and we walked around. We did not see the absolutely gorgeous section, but we did have a wonderful walk and we did like the apartments and the sneek peeks we'd get of Cordobas courtyards which contained ceramic tiles, Orange trees, flowers in pots, and/or pebbles arranged in concrete.

On the way back we stopped in Plaza Tendillas to grab a bite to eat and to sit out and watch the people. The restaurant we chose was expensive (and the food wasn't that great). I got something small, a tomato and lettuce salad while Ahmee and Poppy grabbed Guspacho and something else. The food wasn't the best, I was slightly nervous about schoolwork (and kicking myself for not doing much in the car), and towards the end of the meal the breeze was getting to me. The thing that made this meal amazing was the square. EVERYONE was out and talking to each other and hanging out. We saw Momma's pushing strollers and herding their young ones around (as they played with other kids). We saw elderly women with canes walking together arm in arm. We saw high schoolers laughing and lounging on the benches. We saw wanna-be gangsters driving by in their coches with the music turned up full blast. Everyone was out walking around, shopping, hanging out with friends, or just relaxing. It was the place to be at 6 o' clock at night. We loved it.

I did walk fast back to the hotel though, because I had good reason to. I was cold and I'd finally acquired the drive to do work.

Once back I completed a study guide, wrote a bit, and then went to sleep.

11/20/08 I finish the work, we walk around Toledo, and we eat in the restaurant again

2008-11-25T05:05:00.001-08:00

Para cinco dias yo trabajo para mi escuela. Ahora yo quiero mirar la ciudad y caminar en la ciudad. La ciudad es no tranquil, pero yo es tranquil en la ciudad de Toledo muchas tiempos.

The next morning I did exactly what I'd planned on doing, I worked. I got my schoolwork done before noon and in to Mr. Owens before 7:30 his time. After this I was ready to breath a sigh of relief and actually wind down, but then I realized that I hadn't written a blog in a long time. The computer and I started a staring contest, I defeated it by saying it was brunch time and leaving the room.

We went and ate a late breakfast in the restaurant and then we headed out to Toledo where Ahmee and I had conversations in Spanish all along the way. Our objective was to see the shops, to see a cathedral (Santo Tome) where El Greco had another famous painting, and to see a museum of more famous Greco paintings (Museo de Santa Cruz). On the way to the cathedral we stopped in a postoffice to send work to my teachers, and then we stopped in a restaurant for almuerzo (lunch).

During lunch Ahmee and I spoke mostly spanish, and Ahmee got a compliment from Gabriela, our waitress who'd been living in Spain for 3 years and had been living in Toledo for 2 months (and who was from Argentina). Gabriela was incredibly nice and she and Ahmee enjoyed talking to each other each time she came up (I was quite and listened and actually understood a fair bit of what she was saying). Once we were done with lunch Gabriela gave me her email address on the back of the receipt saying to write as soon as possible (I wrote that night in an email that was half English and half Spanish).

We then went on, following the signs to Santo Tome only to run into a dead end (not really, there were two streets to pick from and these were back alleys and neither one of these had a sign pointing to Santo Tome). We finally asked where the cathedral was and worked our way to it within a short period of time. We got there when all of the tour groups were flooding through the doors. It took a bit before we could even get our tickets.

Once we'd acquired these we turned to our right to see a huge painting done by El Greco that was of a heaven and Earth scene. The clouds were stunning, the people were pale but you could definitely tell the difference between the living and the dead in the painting, and there was so much grey and blue. We went up to the railing and stared at it for a short bit. Funnily enough as we stood there and English tour group came up behind us. The tour guide was just within earshot so we got to listen in and get a freebee explanation of the painting. It was great!

After the group went in we followed, only to find that the group was only going to be left to wander. We looked around at this mostly modest church. The decoration was kept to a minimum (at the alter), the walls were painted a lovely shade of yellow, and the statues were incredibly lifelike and well done. We didn't stay long in the cathedral, even though this was probably one of the nicer cathedrals we'd been in.

We walked back through the streets to the Capilla Mayor where we then turned back on the main road to walk amongst the shops. We readmired the armor shops (which were everywhere), the christmas shops (where Ahmee seriously thought about getting a tiny decoration for her Christmas tree that cost oodles), and the shops that sold the metalic plates that had the Moorish designs on them (intricate, geometric shapes that I haven't seen anywhere else). Once back to the main square we went across the street, down through an arch, and to the Museo where we didn't have to pay a thing to go see paintings of christian symbols and Saints.

There was a room dedicated to El Greco and in this room the guard spoke enough English to tell us why El Greco would blur certain things and why the Saints each had something with them. For St. Peter there were keys (he guards the gates of heaven), for another Saint there was a wooden staff to show he was a pilgram and to show how he died (beating), and for another Saint there was a book. He told us that El Greco only focused on details for the important things, like the face and the objects, everything else wasn't done with the same precision.

We thanked the guard and walked back through the rooms of paintings of the martyrdom of saints (we've seen so many of these gory paintings already that we weren't interested). We then went upstairs to see the tiles and ceramicas. It was fun to look at these because Ahmee and I like them. I had a really good time finding the animals that the artist had obviously never seen before in his life (deer and squirrels were really strange while for some reason the camels, the lions, and the elephants looked pretty close).

The most beautiful parts of the museum were the courtyard and the staircase leading to the upstairs. The courtyard had orange trees in it and had a few scant flowers, but in the sunset light it looked spectacular, while the staircase was the showcase of Moorish art (I like the geometrical shapes).

We walked back up to the main road and headed down to the hotel using a different route so we could check and see if an old church (don't know the name) was open. Sadly enough it wasn't and we had to go back to the room empty handed. Once in the room I looked at the computer which whispered, "You have blogs to write...." Then I looked at my sketchbook and my bed and they said, "You've been working like a mad person for 5 days straight, why don't you take a rest and draw what you've been dying to draw for ages?" I think everyone knows which one I went with.

I grabbed my sketchbook and my pencil and plopped down on my bed. When asked if I needed to blog I said, "Yep, but we're traveling tomorrow and I'm ready for a break from work." I then proceeded to draw plans for Ahmee and Poppy's garden, something that I'd been dying to do ever since I'd left Villandry. I separated their garden into two sections, the section closer to the house was the "American Garden" that had curves and lush plants-all of which were shady plants, and then I put (on the other side of a hedge and "creepy Italian trees") the "European Garden" of straight lines and geometric patterns. What was difficult was the European Garden. Not only does that section have most of the sun, but it also has straight lines. Those are two things that I'm not used to working with.

Most of my gardens have been shade gardens and have had all curves. Another difficulty I had was in making the garden to scale. In order to plan out a garden I normally spend hours surveying the land and memorizing what's where so I can get a good, practical idea of what can be done. I haven't done this with Ahmee and Poppy's garden, ever, but their garden seemed to be a place that's just built for a European Garden. Our garden would be difficult to arrange into boxes since we've already created a sea of curve in our yard and the only way to divide it would be to plant a hedge, something that I think wouldn't work as well in our square yard.

Ahmee and Poppy have a long, thin rectangle for a yard. It's perfect for it. I tried to finish the garden up as much as I could before dinner because I wanted to share it with Ahmee and Poppy (drawing is what comes before the garden, Momma and I always share our dreams and schemes before we do any digging because we both have good ideas). I didn't get done and I didn't get permission to take my sketchpad with me to dinner. I had to wait to share the garden with Ahmee and Poppy until later.

Dinner was much smaller for me this time, the night before I'd ordered too much for me to eat (I couldn't eat it all). Towards the beginning of the meal I could hardly contain myself from sharing details about Ahmee and Poppy's garden. I did tell them that they could keep their plants, just move them around. What I couldn't wait to tell them about was the change in birdbath, the change in size and the change in structure of the back area. Slowly I was able to get out of that though when we started talking.

I believe it was at some point during that meal that Ahmee shared with me the feeling that she felt I didn't like to be touched at all, that Em was a more of a cuddle-bug and that I flinched away when people put their arm around me or touched me. I didn't have anything to say to this, because I had to think about it. I have to say that it's true. I stopped cuddling with my Momma at an early age. As I sat there thinking about Ahmee's comment I realized that there were only a few people I really was ok with touching me, and I mean A VERY VERY FEW people. It took me a short bit to get used to Iain's arm around me, but I came to like it very quickly. I can take touch only from a few people and everyone else I really do shy away from and go to great lengths to keep away from. When someone taps me on the shoulder I jump and it's not because I didn't know they were there, it's cuz they touched me. To this day I don't know why that is.

After having dinner I told Ahmee and Poppy all about their garden and they asked questions. I told them that the divide of the curvy, shady section would be a large hedge with "creepy Italian trees" (Cyprus trees), the plant arrangements that I knew worked very well for shade gardens, the changes I'd have with regards to the boxwoods (remember this is just a sketch), and Ahmee and Poppy's new and improved bird bath (which I'll tell more about because they took a great deal of interest in my wanting a different birdbath). Beyond the hedge and the cyprus trees I'd have the straight-laced European garden. This I didn't get to draw much of (because that's a new territory) but I did my best to explain what I wanted. I wanted to put in the geometrical patterns and I wanted to keep the flowers that Ahmee and Poppy already had (several different types of lillies and many roses). I had two box gardens next to the "entryway" and around their vegetable garden I planned three different box gardens. I still have to figure out what I'm going to use as the hedge, and what I'm going to put in to fill up my geometrical figures (interlaced arches are simple and pretty). I never did finish the very back of the yard, which I know will be difficult because it's shady and I still want to continue the classical European garden (many of which aren't shady).

Now I'll tell about why I want a different bird bath for Ahmee and Poppy. Ahmee and Poppy have a tall, thin, small birdbath (it's the classic type of birdbath). When I told Ahmee and Poppy that I wanted to give them a bigger one (not deeper, just a greater radius) they asked what was wrong with their bird bath, and why it needed to by moved. I told them that while they could see the birds splashing and rinsing themselves off, they didn't get the benefit of the reflection that appears in the water and they also didn't get to see the birds too clearly. Now that I think about it the birdbath was too close to the house (tis alright because it's just a sketch). I told them they needed one that's larger, and lower to the ground so that when they're sitting in their chairs on their backporch they could have the reflection of the water (our birdbath is a large circle that rests directly on the ground and I love what it does with the tree leaves and the sunlight). I drew them a picture of the birdbath. It needs to be a large circle with rocks holding it up. When I say rocks I mean zen rocks, and large zen rocks at that.

Oh man, now that I've written about the garden I want to go plan some more. Dang it.

After I shared my drawings (to a very enthusiastic Ahmee and Poppy who told me to not get rid of my sketch) I got my pj's on and climbed into bed. It took me a while to fall asleep since I kept planning.

11/19/08 Toledo, I make a mad dash to complete my assignments, and we visit a cathedral (to see El Greco paintings) and walk around town

2008-11-25T05:04:00.003-08:00

Me gusta mucho la ciudad de Toledo. Es bonita y pequeno y es facil para touristos caminar en la ciudad porque menos coches es en los calles. Mi abuelo dice en espanol con mi practicar nosotros espanol.

The next morning we ate a small breakfast downstairs, got ready, and then got back on the highway to head towards Toledo. Toledo is one of those hill towns. This one is famous for it's Moorish background (the Moors were used to living in the deserts so this area was normal), for it's exquisite carvings, for it's El Greco paintings, for it's sword-making (best swords were said to be from Toledo), and for it's windy streets. We had a good time maneuvering our way to a hotel.

The hotel we were originally looking for was a lost cause. We ended up going around the city to it's other side where we found the Hostel Cardinal , a 3 star place that was within the old city walls and that had parking just along the main road. When we walked in we were in awe with the garden (had lots of shrubbery and fountains and orange trees), in love with the outside (a person could walk along the old city wall from the hotel-this wall was serving as the hotel's outer edge for it's courtyard garden), and the interior. The man behind the desk spoke with us mostly in Spanish until I asked him if they had wireless internet (in spanish) and he gave me an answer that was too fast and too foreign for me to understand to which I nervously said, "What? Que?" At that point he realized we weren't spanish, we were English. He told me it was a prepaid card and that we could put it on the room. He also showed us the room.

The walls were an orange color, the doors were thick and had a "plaid" overcoat (wooden beams going vertical and horizontal), the light was just right (cozy but bright enough to read from), the beds had good covers on them, the bathroom had pretty tiles and a big, wide bathtub, and it had a desk where I could set up camp (which is what I did). After we checked in and moved our things in I asked Ahmee what she'd planned on doing. She started talking about things to see and I said, "Nope. I have two study guides and two tests to take, I'm going to be busy working." I then got to go get the internet card.

I spazzed out when I got my email up and saw that I didn't have the study guides or the tests yet. I was angry and stressed beyond comparison and Ahmee and Poppy knew it in the way I sat and the way I typed (Ahmee fusses at me for pounding on the keyboard-particularly the delete button). I wrote two emails to Mr. Owens asking for the work, and I wrote an email to my Momma. It wasn't until after I'd sat there waiting for 15 minutes that I realized that they weren't even at work yet and wouldn't get the emails for a bit. I sighed and released all of my tension by talking to Ahmee and Poppy. Then we went and ate lunch in the restaurant next door.

Here we ate an incredible lunch and Ahmee and I spent 80% of the meal talking in Spanish. It felt great knowing that I could talk to Ahmee in Spanish and we could actually hold a conversation (and one that we were thoroughly enjoying-we kept laughing at different things). Poor Poppy had no idea what we were saying, he just knew we were having a really good time talking to each other. After he voiced the opinion that he was afraid we were making fun and that people within the restaurant were taking offense we toned down the conversation. We weren't as loud, we didn't break into Spanish as often, we ate our food (me with some difficulty because my stomach was going haywire again), and we talked to Poppy more (partly arguing how we weren't poking fun at all, in fact we probably sounded like three year olds).

After lunch we went back to the room where I hopped on the internet, grabbed my study guides, and "hit the ground running". I stayed in that room until about 5 o' clock that afternoon, working on my study guide.

At five we went into Toledo. We walked through the main gate, down the street (which had several interesting shops), up the hill where we had a wonderful view of the valley, through more gates that had arches that had an obvious middle-eastern influence, around the main square up and around and through backroads, all the way to the cathedral where we walked all the way around looking for the entrance. The exterior of the cathedral was... in poor condition. Those entrances that were barred off had wonderful carvings and stonework, but the ground was normally covered in pidgeon poop. To try and keep the birds away they set up nets on some of the more fragile entrances. It was sickening seeing dead pigeons trapped in the net. I stopped looking at these and relied on Ahmee and Poppy to tell me when we'd found the way in.

The one entrance we could pass into was partially hidden down an alley, but we found it (Ahmee and Poppy did). After paying to get in we walked down the ramp and into the section that was well done.

The walls around the alter were painted with white and the stones had a "liner" of gold trim and black. The piece behind the alter was a flurry of gold and color and lace trimming. The alter itself was blocked by a gate that I'm sure is meant to symbolize the gates of heaven. This gate was all done up in gold and was just... well, looked like that gate that you see in the movie All Dogs Go To Heaven (never did watch that movie much, it made me sad). Really everything in that cathedral was just well preserved. This cathedral had tons of magnificant paintings, had many side-chapels, had a super-ornate choir, and had multiple side-rooms of things. One side room to the back contained the churches "necessary" riches such as: golden crowns that seemed more ornate than Queen Elizabeth's (these were for the statues of Mary), pope staffs (at least 8-10 in one case), playground sets of a terrace (how this is associated with the church I have no idea), and other finery. In another side room there were the more famous paintings of saints.

The most impressive were done by El Greco. This man lived back in the day when fine detail was the key to a "good" painting. He used more gray and blues that other painters and his style of painting was more like the impressionists than other painters I've seen from that era. The people in the paintings were so pale that they seemed ill to me but other than that I thought that they were very well done. I was surprised that his paintings had been liked back in the day, it was different from what other people were painting. Obviously they liked them though, otherwise they wouldn't have passed the test of time.

Yet another room was a chapel where King Ferdinand and a woman (we don't think it's Queen Isabella, it didn't have her sign) were kneeling and praying to God (these were in opposite walls). While in this cathedral I slowly realized that for the past couple cathedrals I was really getting tired of how the church exploited their money by dolling up their buildings "in Gods name and in honor of God". If it's a virtue to be pious and is encouraged by these people to not be weighed down by worldly goods (because the gate into heaven is small and you can only take your faith) then why do they surround themselves with worldly riches and plunder? Not only that, add into it the fact that these churches took the money from other people, or in other words "Killed an Inca or a Mayan to snatch their gold" (this'd be Ahmee).

I've said before that I like the architecture of the space, but I find it utterly disturbing to find the gild and the over-abundance of wealth because it shows a system that I disagree with (snatch the money from conquered lands, snatch it from the people, surround ourselves with it, and then preach to the people how to be good and how to live). Make sense to you?

As we walked around the cathedral I noticed a huge group of people. When we got closer I realized it was a huge school group of guys. When we were looking around at the painting of El Greco, I asked Ahmee if it was common all over Europe to have segregated schools (separation of sexes in this instance). She said that that happened everywhere. In the U.S. it might not happen very often, but for a looooong time universities were made solely for men, women weren't allowed in (this I already knew) and that's why schools like Agnes Scott popped up, to educate the women. Ahmee said that the benefit of having separate schools for the sexes was that it kept people from being distracted (guys act stupid around girls and show off and girls don't do the whole submissiveness crap or fake stupidity to get attention).

When we got outside I wanted to continue the conversation. I told Ahmee that I thought that segregated schools weren't going to solve the problem, in fact it created one. Even if those kids who're in separate schools meet up at dances and social events or after school, it's not going to prepare them properly. If they're kept separated all of their academic lives so as to "help them focus" on their work, what are they going to do when they get into work? It's not like work places are segregated, you have to learn how to talk and work with the opposite sex and work around societies silly pretexts (like how girls need to be submissive or stupid-NOT). Ahmee said that that was definitely true, that they wouldn't be separate in the work place. She and I then talked about that pretext that society has about how guys need to be macho and strong while girls need to be, well, submissive.

It might sound like a feminist conversation, but really it just displayed one of my flaws in getting a guy (Iain and I talked about this too), that I'm intimidating. With regards to questions, I don't hesitate to ask them when in the classroom, and I'm not afraid to give my answers (even when going over something like poetry). Why? Well in the classes where I do know the work well I enjoy explaining how I came to a certain conclusion (do this in math and science and I really like it when I can help someone else "get it") while other times I do it to check and see if I'm right or if I'm on the right track. I know that sometimes people are just shy and don't want to put themselves out there, but then I also know that there are some really intelligent girls in school who don't speak up or ask questions and who actually have deliberately taken on an uneducated look.

Some people might not answer questions because they don't care about school, because they're nervous about speaking up, OR because they don't want to be too smart. During the conversation Ahmee talked about how guys get intimidated by girls who answer questions, by girls who're too smart, because they feel like they've got to be on top. Guys need to be taller than the girl, guys need to be smarter than the girl, and guys need to be stronger than the girl is basically what I got out of it. Guys and girls have the same mental capacity except for in one area (I'm not sure about this one area-mathematic equations I think is what it was). Biologically, guys do tend to be stronger, and the whole taller thing is something that movies and hollywood pushes out. It's the masculine thing, something that I've never been very good at understanding.

While talking to Ahmee I realized one of my flaws with society. I'm smart. People either feel inferior or they feel like it's competition, two things that normally don't lead to relationships. Unfortunately when I'm in school I tune in on the work. When I'm not working I'll talk to a few people that I feel comfortable being goofy with, but beyond that I don't really share too much. So pretty much my classmates see a frigid brainiac who is an oddball. No wonder people were surprised when they saw me perform for showchoir. In the classroom I'm not much of a spotlight person.

We walked through the streets of Toledo (me with the map and leading because Ahmee and Poppy were arguing tons about which direction to go and I asked if I could lead). All we had to do was follow the main road that was directly in front of the church. It was easy enough to tell which way to go without the map. All the shops were open this way, and all the people were walking here. It was the well-paved road that tourists were supposed to follow. We followed it (never turning) and gazed into the shop windows as we worked our way back to the main square where we went back down the way we came to the main gate and back to the hotel.

Once in the room I got back to work and completed my study guide. The study guide was finished, but I looked pretty disreputable for dinner. I had 30 minutes to get ready so I put on my black pants (which I was surprised to find had gotten tighter) my shiny, blue shirt, earrings (which weren't gold and I knew my ears were going to kill me for it, but they were so pretty), and I put on a bit of mascara and lip gloss. Ahmee put on her white shirt, her black pants, her red lipstick, her eyeliner (I offered to do it for her since she was almost doing it blind but she didn't need it), her mascara, and something else but I can't remember it. She and I walked arm-in-arm down to the restaurant (me trying to look like I walked in heels all the time, I don't know if I succeeded or not) to wait for Poppy who was doing his finishing touches. When he came down he was wearing his blue sweater and his lapeled shirt with his khakis.

We all looked pretty spiffy sitting there, talking in Spanish and English, and sipping our drinks (me water). Course Ahmee laughed when I showed her the tiny belly I'd acquired (which was being accentuated due to my tight pants pushing a bit of the fat up) and how I was quite proud of it. I've got a pretty strong metabolism, and when I'm in school I'm dancing in show choir 2-3 times a week (varying hours). I've been eating more than normal and I haven't been dancing (which really is an incredible thing to do), so I shouldn't have been surprised to gain a bit of weight. Made me delighted though, which is a surprising effect for anyone.

Moving beyond my stomach, we had an excellent meal and talked plenty in the restaurant. It was a nice break from the work I'd been doing for hours.

Once back to the room I jumped on the computer and finished a test. I realized that if I got up early in the morning then I'd be able to complete the study guide and the test for the next chapter and get those in before Mr. Owens got to school. I decided I'd do that instead of staying up till the awful hours of the night (and completely ruining my grade by working in a daze).

I washed my face, changed into my loose pj's (over-sized tee-shirts and pj bottoms rock), and then went and typed to people before going to bed.

11/18/08 We move away from Barcelona, I read two chapters and admire the countryside, and we struggle to find a hotel, and we visit La Capilla Mayor

2008-11-25T05:04:00.001-08:00

La idioma espanol es una idioma normalmente hablen en la area. Es buena para mi porque yo practico mi espanol, pero no buena para los personas compreder que yo digo. La idioma de la area es una differente espanol y muchas personas no compreden que yo digo.

This morning was a somewhat sad morning. We were moving away from Barcelona. I didn't want to move away from Barcelona. I'd spent so much time getting work done that I'd missed out on a city that I knew I really really really really liked, if not downright loved, but we did want to go to Toledo and to other places before we went to our reserved hotel (on 22nd), so I was able to pack my things up fairly quickly and get ready fast enough. Before we left we went in search of a post office, a newspaper, for some black thread for Ahmee, and for a bit of lunch. We found the newspaper and got lunch, but nothing past that. Then we got on the road and headed towards Toledo.

I knew that getting out of Barcelona was going to be difficult, I'd seen the spaghetti from the double-decker. Maybe it's just that I really really really didn't want to leave and felt like I had to tear myself away. Maybe I was looking for an excuse to stay. Any way you look at it, I made sure to spend my last moments in Barcelona, looking around at Barcelona. Even when we got out of the city and were on the highway I looked at the monster factories (pipes everywhere!), at the mountains, and at the smudged sky over Barcelona (smog dot). As I sat there looking out the window I thought about all the things I'd seen and how I really didn't even feel like writing anything. I only felt like doing two things: reading AP US History, and looking out the window. I did the later for most of the day while I spent maybe two hours on the former. I knew there were two chapters that I needed to complete the study guide and the tests over for AP US History (these needed to be turned in by Wed.) so I did what I could and read the chapters.

When I looked out the window I watched as the view turned from one of mountains with a few trees, to hills with no trees and a few bushes, to hills with olive trees, to land covered by farm acreage that'd been plowed, and finally to plains of a few olive tree farms but mostly dry, tilled dirt. The color of the soil changed too. It went from rocky and gray-white (mountains) to being bright orange (plowed fields). When I saw these fields of dirt I again wondered if the farmers knew what happened when the wind blew, if they knew what happened to create the dust bowl in the Western United States, or if they knew anything about the dust bowl at all. These fields made me nervous because they were filled with finely plowed dirt that could've easily been lifted off by the wind, if one had decided to start blowing through. Until the wind comes in though I don't think the farmers have anything to worry about (other than the sun baking their soil). Once the sun started to hit it's slide down the sky mode we started to search for a hotel.

It was nerve wracking to pull off the highway twice, following signs of hotels, to come up empty handed and to have the locals tell you there is no hotel in the area. By the time we reached our third exit we were more than a bit nervous about where we were going to sleep. We were more than happy when we saw that these signs were true to their word. There was indeed a hotel, and there was an AutoGrill, beyond that there was nothing else.

We were happy to find a place to sleep, but I was still nervous about finding WiFi because I was almost certain that this hotel wouldn't have it. I turned out to be right. The hotel didn't have it (it didn't work for my computer even though the guy behind the desk tried several things to get it to work), and the AutoGrill didn't have it. I got to sweat about how the next day I was going to have to complete two study guides and two tests within one afternoon in order to get things turned in to Mr. Owens before Wed. morning (so he can get the grade in and turn in my grades).

We did enjoy the truck stop hotel though. We got to eat dinner in the restaurant, I got to work on blogging, and during dinner and afterwards Ahmee and I had a good time watching Spanish tv where all we could understand was one word for every 5-10-15 words. I found it more fun really to watch the truckers watch tv when we were busy eating dinner. All of the men had grabbed their own table, all of them had gotten the seat facing the tv, and all of them were incredibly amusing to watch. There were some who were able to actually eat and watch at the same time. These were the ones who were forking in their plate fairly fast. Then there were others who could not.

They'd cut up their meat during the commercial and when the show came back on the fork was posed halfway to the mouth with the mouth ajar as if it was waiting for it. I laughed while understanding that I do about the same thing (and not just with tv's). I get to talking and my food doesn't get eaten until it's warm/cold. I've been fussed at a few times for this and this time I got told to eat (had to say it louder because the tv was on and I was absorbed into a show where I didn't even know what they were saying).

When we went upstairs we tried to find BBC World News or CNN (these are our two favorite channels). They didn't have either one of these. So we watched a Spanish soap opera until we all were about to fall asleep, then the tv got clicked off and we all crawled under our covers. I slept soundly in this bed, where the mattress was as hard as a rock and my pillow was perfect (in Barcelona my bed was squishy).

11/17/08 My pick turns out to be incredible

2008-11-25T05:03:00.001-08:00

Yo no se que escribir para la dia. El edificio nosotros viajamos para la dia es una edificio grande y es similar las edificios de Senor Gaudi. Un otro cosa para la dia: muchas personas en Barcelona hablemos ingles. Es mala para mi porque necesito practicar mi espanol.

After breakfast and cleaning ourselves up properly we went to the Palau de la Musica Catalana (A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was built in 1908 by Domènech i Montaner), the thing that I'd picked as a place to visit while in the car on the way to Barcelona. Before I tell you what the guidebook says about this place I have to write the trip over to the Palau. Basically we walked down the street that's parallel to Las Ramblas, and walked through more streets that contained shops that made me drool.

When we reached the Palau though I have to say I didn't immediately see the beauty of the place. We walked up to a brick building with a large glass encasement on one side, went into the corner-room to purchase tickets for a guided tour in English, and then we walked back out to walk around to the front. Before we did this Ahmee pointed out the building WITHIN the glass encasement. The outside had tons of color without being the circus, tons of curves without being a Gaudi, and tons of lace without belonging in a church. We walked around to the front, past a brick wall that contained another really cool "sculpture" in it (some bricks were moved out so that a picture was shown to those who looked closer), and went across the street to gawk at the facade of the building. Sooo many different things were used! The pillars on the second level each had a mosaic and each mosaic was different, there was a statue of a gorgeous woman with several men and children behind her (this was on the corner of the building), the balusters were made of green glass, and there was just sooo much color and curvature on the outside that I just immediately loved it. As we were standing there gawking with our mouths open a woman walked up to us and asked almost timidly, "Excuse me.... Do you know where to get in?" I failed at directions and let Ahmee tell her where to go. We saw her again when we went inside to the cafe.

Now I've come to the daunting task of describing the interior of this building. There is no way I could adequately describe the interior. I adored too much of it. It wasn't too ornate, it wasn't dark, it had lots of color, and it had architectural elements that I enjoy (like the vaulted ceiling, or like the fantastic light fixtures, or like the layout of the cafe, etc.).

We waited in the cafe, drinking water as we waited for our guide to show up. As we waited we looked around at the room and at our fellow tourists. In the middle of the room was the four-sided bar, this was where people went up to grab a bite to eat and a bit to drink. Behind me was the wall of windows, and to my left was the waiting area of most of the group. On the wall above the people were these blue pipes that stuck out like a sore thumb. Ahmee and I had a good time guessing what they were for, both of us thinking that it might be the AC (Ahmee suggested they had fans that blew over ice way back when, I disagreed because this sounded costly), and both of us coming up with other ideas (such as it was an organ that you could play and it would go throughout the entire building with it's blasts).

We stopped talking after a bit to people watch and watch for our tour guide. I spotted her standing with another man. She looked at the people on the opposite wall (she'd just come in through the main entrance) and talked to the man for a bit before heading their way saying, "Guided tour in English this way please!" She got out tickets and started very swiftly.

Some of the main things I learned while on that tour include: that the Palau de la Musica Catalana was started by a singing group of men and (for the first time) women in the 18th-19th century, that this group started out singing on the streets and they eventually managed to raise enough money to purchase a plot of land next to a church and hire an architect to build them a grand auditorium. this group still owns the Palau, they still hold concerts (have one basically for every day of the year-and each one is different, can have rock, pop, country, classical, any kind of music there), that when the founder of the group was alive (the director) he lived in an apartment above the auditorium so he could hear when someone was singing off pitch and he could hear when an instrument was out of tune and get things... fixed, that during WWII the Palau had to be closed numerous times due to the fact that the Palau and the music played there displayed the patriotism of the people to Catalana and to Spain, that the auditorium could seat 2,428-or so- people, that the Palau had gone through slight modifications (some of the things were taken away because it was "too much", and one corner got added in after the Palau bought the church next door and had it demolished), that the AC had been installed later and within the Auditorium it came from under the seats of the top row, that the stage size could be altered, and the significance of the things we were seeing.

The most impressive room of all was (of course) the Auditorium which had multiple levels and was built (of course) to carry sound all throughout the room. The ceiling is a feature that I've known for a long time requires particular needs in order to carry sound. I've known for a long time that a slant is required so sound can move (but not echo). The ceiling in here however had multiple vaults that ran down the length (these were splendidly painted) which also helped carry the sound. Something that they'd recently put in (as in maybe 10 years ago) were the chairs which had a plastic backing that helped to absorb the sound rather than reflect it (like the old wooden chairs did). Something else the wooden chairs did was they made a terrible squeaking noise every time someone moved, so I guess it was a relief to have those switched out.

Something insanely beautiful was in the middle of the ceiling, and this was the stained glass window of a sun that was three dimensional (I think) in how the middle of the sun went down as if it were a chandelier (this window weighs a ton, literally). Something insanely beautiful to the front was the decoration of the stage. The walls surrounding it had women musicians where their upper bodies were done in sculpture while everything else was done in mosaic, resulting in women who appear to be coming off the walls to aid in music making. The two pillars to the ceiling (don't know what to call them-they aren't exactly pillars) that were on each side of the stage were carved to display the two most loved styles of music at the time of the buildings erection: one was for Classical and the other was for Catalan music.

Even though I was told that most of the concerts were held in the modern auditorium, I couldn't help but imagine singing in there and what an honor it would be. Imagining the people coming out all dressed up to sit in this glitzy room and listen to me sing would be incredible. Thing is, I know I'd get nervous beyond belief because you've got so much to compete with there. In order for the people to enjoy the actual music it had better be good or else they'll be busy looking around the room the whole time.

When we left the Palau we got to take another look at the singing muse with the director in the background and the children's choir singing over her shoulder (this was the woman we saw on the square) and then we went and got postcards and walked back to the room where I worked some more. That afternoon I finished up the work due for that weekend and sent it in before we went off to dinner at the Cafeteria.

Once back I sent emails, packed a few of my things, and fell asleep (again didn't sleep too well).

11/16/08 We wake up a bit late, We go to the Park Guell, we have Tapas for lunch, and Cafeteria food for dinner

2008-11-25T05:02:00.002-08:00

Yo una chica mala y no feliz para la primero parta de la dia. Yo no se porque. Mi madre no se gusta muchas personas y no se gusta las ciudades grandes porque muchas personas vive en las ciudades.

Like the title states, we woke up a bit late this morning. This wasn't too much of a problem, except the fact that I was scheduled to be back in the room by 1 o' clock to work. We went down to the desk shortly after finishing breakfast to inquire about how to get to the Park Guell and whether or not we should just take a cab. The man at the desk told us that we'd be better off catching the bus and he told us which one to get and where to hop on (just around the corner).

When we went to the bus stop it was 10 o' clock. We sat there and watched for our bus number, astonished at how we'd seen bus number 17 pass through four times and yet our bus remained to be seen. As we sat there a group of 4 American girls came up and started waiting. I would've started up a conversation with them if I'd wanted to. You could say I was pretty pessimistic again and more than a little overly critical. When these girls came up looking completely trimmed up (I chuckled to myself at the state of my bed-hair when these girls got there) I heard the English I perked up slightly. When the shortest girls foot slipped on the pavement and she stumbled the tallest blonde said (laughing), "Whoa girlfriend! Fall down!" This was the first thing I heard the blonde girl say and it was the thing that made me want to remain silent. I didn't want to talk to the girls, and they knew it. Some of you might think that I was terribly rude for not initiating conversation, some of you might think I'm a stuck-up brat for not wanting to talk to these girls, and I have to say that at the time I really had no idea why I was so against talking to them OTHER than for that one comment that really irked me so much. As we sat waiting for the bus to come by (me looking for it more earnestly) Ahmee asked the girls what they were up to. They were juniors in college from California, two of them were studying in Florence and where there visiting, while the other two were in Barcelona studying. All four of them wanted to go to the Park Guell and were worried when they heard that we'd been waiting for over half an hour. The blonde girl who'd uttered the phrase that had turned me off so much asked me what I was up to and how long we were traveling. I talked to them for a short period of time, making sure to ask them questions (such as how long are you guys going to be there-meaning the Florence girls were going to be in Barcelona, but got something I'd already heard-I didn't even bother trying to change my question). I was happy to leave the bus station and to grab a taxi.

Once in the taxi Ahmee said, "They were lovely girls." They were indeed nice enough. While I sat there I was in awe over how such a simple phrase could bother me so much. On the way to the Park Guell I sat there and wondered why I disliked it, and why I'd been against talking much to them long after the phrase was uttered. I wanted to know why that grated on my ears so much. By the time I'd reached Park Guell I'd figured it out. Almost all of the people who annoy me most (in school and other places) use phrases like that. There is one person in particular who manages to annoy me worse that any other person (who says this all the time and with the same false voice), but since this blog has reached so many ears I'll simply leave my description at that.

Once at the Park Guell I'd managed to get rid of some of my nervousness. Before I got in the taxi I had no idea why I'd acted that way, it isn't normal for me, and that one line caused serious damage. Once at the Park Guell I'd managed to figure it out and I was able to enjoy the park. This park was designed by Antoni Gaudi and was commissioned by a rich family to create a subdivision for Barcelona's upper class. The park was never finished but Antoni Gaudi did complete the pathways, and a few houses (including his own).

When we walked through the main gate we were met by a swarm of people, all staring up the stairs at the water fountain, the mosaic dragon, the white catacombs (pillars under the terrace), and at the wall surrounding the park and the three gate towers that were used as gift shops. We only went in one for a bit of information about the park and to grab a map. We knew we had a little under an hour to walk around so we made sure to get a move on (get out of the information building and out in the park that is-we didn't go fast after that). First we went up the steps and looked out at the view of Barcelona and the sea, then we petted the dragon, then we went and walked around in the pillars, then we went up to the terrace, then we went to the Antoni Gaudi Museum, then we went on a walk through the shade, and then we got back into a cab to head back to the hotel. That is just a summary of what happened.

When we went into the pillared room we did what pillars tell you to do: look up. First we looked at the white tile-covered pillar, then our eyes would go up to the white-tiled ceiling, and THEN our gazes would follow the curve of the minuscule curve where in the middle we'd see a mosaic. One mosaic looked like a squid with the tentacles hanging down from the ceiling, another mosaic would look like a sun with all it's bright colors, and another would look just plain cool with the glass bottles being used within it. While within these shaded pillars we got to hear some music. The musician was very intelligent to pick that spot because the sound was great in there.

Before we headed up to the terrace where the most famous mosaics are, we went and checked out one of Gaudi's odd curves where the wall looked almost like a heart (not quite) where the kids were having a brilliant time climbing on the rock walls. As we left to go up we walked past a man playing a guitar and selling cd's, he would be the first of many vendors we'd find on the terrace.

When I got up on the terrace I looked around for the curvy benches I'd seen in my Spanish book. I couldn't see many of the mosaic-covered benches though, because everyone was sitting on them. The curved benches were along the edge that was closest to the city, so that those who knelled could get a spectacular view of the city, or of the newcoming tourists. To the interior of this fantastically curved bench there was an area of sand where many people were still milling about. Along the edges we could see several people selling various goods on clothes. While looking on Ahmee told me about how the night before when they'd gone walking there were tons of people out and how the men who were selling purses and watches on the street were more than a little nervous and how they were ready to jerk their things up and run (the way they've got it arranged enables them to do this without losing their goods). We wondered to each other why that was. As we were there on the terrace these vendors kept glancing around, and one by one they started packing up. Within 3 minutes all of the vendors and their goods were gone.

We left the terrace and headed (like I said) to the Antoni Gaudi museum. His old house is now a museum. On the way to the museum I enjoyed watching the street performers who'd set up camp within the park, and I enjoyed looking at the vegetation. There were three street performers, one was a butterfly who played with the little kids (I liked that one), while the other was a duet-a man and a woman did something close to the flamenco dance (him playing the guitar and her dancing and singing). I didn't look at the paintings or the prints, I was too busy looking at the garden park. Since it's a Mediterranean climate I couldn't hope to possibly recreate the same garden without having cacti covering half of our yard, but I have to say that that's something I really really liked (cacti). Something else I liked was the palm trees and the frayed leaves. It amazed me to see names carved into the older, more precious cacti though (these take 30-50 years to grow that large is what Ahmee said).

Once we reached the Antoni Gaudi Museum we discovered that this museum wasn't dedicated so much to the preservation of his house and how it had looked when he'd lived there. It was a place where his designs were on display and where his business partners' items were on display. I suppose this is almost fitting. It sounds like Antoni Gaudi spent a lot of his time immersed in his work, thus meaning his home might've very well have been just a place where those things were born.

Antoni Gaudi kept his own house fairly small. Either that or there were too many people in there. Actually perhaps a bit of both. Too many people and not enough space. I never did get a good look at Antoni Gaudi's bedroom (one of the few rooms that was left alone-that along with his study, the rest were dedicate to furniture or other home-items).

My favorite part of his house though was his window which faced Barcelona and allowed the evening sun through. It was wonderful. It might surprise others to hear that all of these things weren't housed in some spectacularly curvy, and mosaic-covered home. Antoni Gaudi worked in a home that contained many corners and many straight lines, it was the outside gardens that held the curvature he was fond of.

When we went back downstairs and out the door (avoiding the tiny and packed gift shop) we checked the time and decided it was time to start heading back. I got to pick the route though. I decided I'd go on a curvy path that wound right back to the main entrance. This path brought us so many wonderful sights of the plants that Gaudi had picked to grow in his overly large garden (his house was one of the few that got finished).

I couldn't help but be slightly miffed about Antoni Gaudi. He lived in a wonderland of his own creation! He got to walk home through a park that was filled with beautiful foliage (flowers I don't know about) and he got to design things that were out of this world and were stunning to see. I wonder what would've happened if King Ludwig III and Antoni Gaudi had met and exchanged ideas. That would have been quite a pairing.

Once back at the main entrance we jumped in to see what the gift shop had to offer and then we jumped out to go grab a taxi (had many lined up outside the main gate). We then went back to the hotel.

We did not go in to the hotel however. We went to eat Tapas at the Txapela. Right across from this restaurant there was the bus station we'd waited at AND a vent that blew air out consistently. We were delighted to see a toilet paper igloo rising from this vent when we went and grabbed ourselves a seat in la Txapela. We watched the man work with toilet paper to further enhance his igloo and we watched at how he demanded money from those who photographed his work, often getting nothing from them.

It was great watching the little Marilyn Monroe's, who went out to get a picture in the igloo. What do I mean? These little girls (3-5 year old) had on skirts. These skirts didn't fly up much though, it just made me smile. Other people who made me smile were the people who got a true kick out of this igloo and who were excited to get a picture in it. That igloo along with the tapas made the meal an excellent lunch.

Before heading back to the room to work for hours I made sure to get a picture in the igloo and to leave the man some money.

Later I stopped working to go out to the cafeteria with Ahmee and Poppy where we did the usual: eat, drink (them wine me water), and chat about the day and things we'd found interesting and things we wanted to find out more about. Ahmee told me in the cafeteria that she'd asked the man down at the desk why the street vendors yank up their sacks and run so quickly. He told her that if the police catch them they deport them back to their country, most of them are illegal immigrants. This didn't surprise me but it most certainly made me wonder what that life would be like, always on the watch for the police, always ready to run within a seconds notice, and needing to be ready to disappear into the back alleys at the drop of a hat. It'd be difficult living like that.

After dinner we went back to the room where I worked until just before bedtime, when I pulled on my pj's, sent a few emails, and then climbed under my covers to fall into a fitful sleep.

11/15/08 Second full day in Barcelona we go to the Museo de Picasso

2008-11-25T05:02:00.001-08:00

Uno artistico moy intersante es Senor Picasso. Yo no me gusta mucho Picasso en la pasada. Ahora me gusta Picasso porque yo miro muchos trabajadores del Picasso.

This morning we woke up and went to the breakfast room, again to find other people there far more dressed up, and again not really caring. We ate, woke up slightly, and then went back to the room to finish getting ready. Then we grabbed our map and headed back down past El Corta Ingles and down Las Ramblas where we avoided walking down the main section.

With Poppy and Ahmee leading the way we went down a side street where I got to look into amazing shops and restaurant windows. I saw so much color in the clothes! It was wonderful to get away from the pigeon uniform that so many city-dwellers adhere to. The fashion that was along this street made me want to get out my sketchpad and draw, while the bookshops made me want to get lost for hours, actually to sum it up I walked down my own Diagon Alley. It had incredible shops that I wanted to spend several days shifting through. I knew that I wouldn't get to come back to these any time soon though and so I turned my head from left to right as we went through streets of brightly lit shops, through courtyards with children playing soccer, and down stinky alleyways where you could hear Indian music wafting through the breeze.

When we reached the Museo de Picasso I was completely ready to look at funky art. I knew though that this museum contained mostly art from when Picasso was younger.

The great thing about this museum was we got to see Picasso's development as an artist. We saw his work from the age of 11 onwards. Since he was the son of an art teacher he had a technic down that really was incredible. I thought that I was looking at an older Picasso's hand whenever really that was his first work. I got to see his practice sketches, his paintings that he did on wooden boards as a kid, the paintings he did of himself when he was deathly ill (there were a lot of these), the paintings he did when he was in Paris (looked ridiculously similar to Vincent Van Gogh's paintings), the prints he toyed with when he was older (loved these),

the blue period he went through (not really blue but oh well), the rose period he went through (not really rose), a few sex scenes that he did, his movement into the cubist period (till the end of his days he used this), AND I got to look at some of the ceramics he made (generously donated by his last wife-he had five or so- after he died).

After spending an hour walking through the museum we went down and looked in the museum shop and then went into the museums cafe where we ate a delicious lunch (I had a salad for desert). While in the cafe we talked about our favorite pieces of art and what we were surprised by. Ahmee said that she actually came to appreciate cubism by the time she left. I said that I felt the same way. Some of his cubist paintings were very nice. My personal favorite technique of Picasso's was his print experimentation. Really wonderful.

We also talked about the gift shop, the street we'd walked down, and the people who were in the cafe. We also wondered how people were able to distinguish who was English and who was not. We soon found out. I decided I would give it a try. I told Ahmee and Poppy that the couple closest to the door was from Britain, that the couple next to them was spanish (I heard them talking), and from then on I told Ahmee and Poppy who was from where as they walked in to the restaurant (they had their backs to the door). One couple walked in and I instantly knew they were from the U.S.. Why? The man was wearing a baseball cap and was in a bit of a hurry. I told Ahmee and Poppy this and when the couple sat down just across from us I was proven right.

They started talking about their day and other things that they needed to do. For a while we didn't say anything, I don't know why but I didn't really want to get into a conversation with the couple. I ordered my salad for a desert and we started talking again, spurring a question from across the room, "So where are you guys from?"

Thus a conversation started where Ahmee and Poppy did most of the talking with the couple. The feeling that I didn't want to talk to them didn't stay around though, it quickly left after the conversation got started. They'd been on vacation for 3 weeks, had been on a cruise, and were on their last day of traveling. The woman said that she had completely lost track of the days and that she no longer knew what she'd done on which day. They said they were ready to be heading home, and that they were heading home the next day.

We told them about our "holiday" and how I was doing schoolwork (me putting my salad to the side for a moment). Once Ahmee got back from the restaurant I stopped talking to chow down on my salad (conversation was halted on both sides do to food). When the man went to pay for their food I heard him tell the guy at the desk that there was a group from Indiana at the back of the restaurant. When he came back the guy who'd joked with us and told us to sit where-ever we wanted, came over and asked if we were from Indiana.

We told him the truth, that I was from Indiana, and that my grandparents were from Kentucky. He told us that his sister lived in Indianapolis and that he'd gone to visit her a couple times and that every time he met an English person in the cafe he asked if they were from Indiana and they'd ask, "Why Indiana?" He made me laugh when he looked aghast and said, "Comeon man! That's where my sister lives!"

He was pretty fun to talk to, unfortunately I hadn't finished my salad and Ahmee and Poppy were ready to head out so I ended up being hushed. When we left he gave us a nice goodbye (some people are abrupt and just say bye and get back to work while others say goodbye and wave and actually act like they enjoyed your company). After this we went back to the gift shop, where Ahmee and I bought more postcards (me grabbing my favorites). We then started to head back to the hotel.

We grabbed hot chocolate and churros on our walk back (I could only eat a few because I was thoroughly stuffed) where we got to watch them make them. We didn't stay in the restaurant long though, we needed to stop by one more place before we headed back to the room.

We went into the gothic quarter and went into the old Cathedral (La Seu) which contained 29 side chapels. The choir was in the middle of the cathedral and had to be the most ornate thing we've seen so far. Well, maybe not, but the carvings were definitely the most exquisite. We walked around this cathedral, me stopping to sit every chance I got. I couldn't help chuckling when I sat down next to 3 other men who all had a heavy-duty camera hanging from their neck.

Most of the camera men found this a funny coincidence too and chuckled along with me. As we all sat there outside the choir and facing the alter the three men each in turn took a snapshot, while I just kicked back and admired the cathedrals architectural elements, rather than the painted and gilded alter. My favorite sections of any cathedral are the pillars that hold up the ceiling, the vaulted ceilings that just seem to be incredibly high up, the glass work that's done in strategic points along the cathedral, and basically the spaciousness of the building (roman cathedrals are a different story, then I'm just admiring how long they've lasted).

The thing is that my opinion of churches is that the architectural grandeur would be enough to satisfy me. I loved the fancy choir and the seats that the singers got to sit in, but I didn't really like the side chapels or the alter.

As I walked around the church I started to get two feelings, first that while mosaics and paintings are gorgeous they aren't needed in a church, and second that my feet were killing me and I was ready to head back to the room to work (pessimism isn't a good thing).

So we headed out through a different door, walked down a street that went under the Carrer del Bisbe (a famous bridge that's connected to the church and that is really pretty),

walked through the lively Placa del Rei (where more street performers were busy playing instruments and dancing), and walked down yet another wonderful street to Las Ramblas where we made our way back up to the hotel.

Before getting to work I pulled out my Vincent Van Gogh postcards and arranged them on Poppy's bed. I then pulled out my new Picasso postcards and mixed them in with my other paintings. The result was fantastic. I adored all of them. Ahmee and Poppy admired them for a while and then went back out to walk around Barcelona while I worked on a study guide. It takes me a while to complete study guides for AP US History so even though I worked hard for several hours. Ahmee and Poppy even brought me food from a cafeteria. I didn't leave that hotel room after I got started on my work. I managed to complete a study guide, a test, and write tons of things including: over 10 postcards, and a few summaries. I emailed people for a short period and then I closed up the computer, got into my pj's, and fell asleep. (tired feet)

11/14/08 First Full Day in Barcelona we visit La Temple de la Sagrada Familia (by Antoni Gaudi), and take a sightseeing tour bus

2008-11-25T05:01:00.001-08:00

Antoni Gaudi es una intelligente senor. Me gusta mucho los edificios el senor Gaudi construye. El edificio mas grande y importante es la Temple de la Sagrada Familia.

When we woke up we went (me with bed-hair) to breakfast in a chandelier strung room where light was reflected by huge mirrors and where all of the guests where looking very well to do. I laughed as I walked around grabbing more than the average amount. I looked quite the sloppy pig of an American that morning, and for once I really didn't care. I ate my two eggs with pride and I patted my troll-style hairdo (I used to call it that but Ahmee's said I should just use the phrase "Europe hair") as we all slowly started waking up. When we went back to the room I brushed my hair, washed my face, and brushed my teeth and jumped into my tennis shoes (I'd gone to breakfast with flip-flops on), and then I was ready to go. We went down to the desk and asked where we could get a double decker tour. The man at the desk told us we could get the tickets there, told us the Bus left outside El Corta Ingles (just around the corner by the way), and warned us of pickpockets. As he got our tickets I asked Ahmee and Poppy if I should leave my wallet behind. I eventually decided that I would based on the fact that normally only the guides warn people against pick pockets, when people in the hotel do you KNOW that the rate of theft is higher than normal.

We walked around the corner and down the street to catch our bus. Unfortunately all of the upper seats were taken so I had to crane my neck to see the apartments that Antoni Gaudi built, to see the house that Antoni Gaudi built, and to see all of the other landmarks that came before the Sagrada Familia (also done by Antoni Gaudi).

Who is Antoni Gaudi? He's a genius who loved nature and was an artist/architect who also HATED straight lines and corners. It's said that Antoni Gaudi perfected the curve. It's also said that Antoni Gaudi is one of the pioneers of the Modernista movement (style of building which he adhered to), this however isn't true. Other architects played a part of this movement that seems centered around the city of Barcelona, Antoni Gaudi just might be the most prolific or the most famous due to his over-the-top architecture.

When we stopped at the Sagrada Familia I was struck by the size of it. It's not even done and it's massive! It didn't surprise me to hear that Antoni Gaudi was obsessed with building this temple, that he never married, and that as he aged he became more immersed in his work. He was killed early though, by being hit by a tram, leaving his work to other architects (he hadn't laid out really finite plans though for the building so parts of it don't match-the entrance we passed through was very modern looking). He'd planned on that happening though.

Later our guided tour told us that when asked when his temple would be completed he replied, "There's no need to worry, my client has all the time in the world and is in no hurry." He's got to be one of the greatest architects of the 19th century (my personal opinion).

We went through the most recently finished section and into a dazzling kaleidoscope of light. As we got into line to go up the elevator to see the view of the temple from the terrace I noticed many things. First, the colors and the style of the stained glass windows were amazing. Second, that the pillars looked like trees (at the top they branched off into three sections. Third, that the ceiling had stars of gold in them (or rather circles with rays coming out of them). Fourth, that in the middle of the temple they were still doing a lot of work. Fifth, that the temple was by far the tallest place of worship I've encountered thus far.

All of those things crossed my mind as the line inched onwards. Other things of course caught my attention, like the other tourists (particularly one woman who walked right through someone else's picture and was completely oblivious to the fact-quite funny), like the marble displays they had set up, like the plaster molds that were being made right before our eyes, like the goofy French man who was sitting right next to Ahmee and who was very joyous to sit on the bench and scoot when the line moved, and like the people who didn't realize where the line really began (this was when we reached the front and were about to get into the elevator).

When we went up I remembered that the book had warned people who were afraid of heights to stay away. I figured I'd be fine as long as I had stone around me. I was wrong. When we got off the elevator we went out onto a terrace that overlooked the section of the temple that was being worked on. In the middle of this terrace there was a metal plate that dented in slightly when you walked on it. I avoided this plate and took pictures of the bullet building that's famous for Barcelona (resembles the building in London-we've named them both bullet buildings because they look like a bullet that's been propped up), and of the view of the city rooftops.

Then we moved on to other sections of the tower. Many sections were closed off though, making it difficult to grab pictures. I did my best though. I hope they turn out well. I loved the towers that were already done (they had netting on them to keep them from falling off or decaying-I suppose), and I loved the views of the city (could see a school from there). What Poppy and I didn't like much was the dizzy sensation we got when we looked at the ground too long, not to mention my knees going week. We were more than happy to head down the stairs. What we didn't realize was how far up we'd come. We were going down stairs for what felt like ages! I became even more nervous when the windows stopped having a nice block to keep people from slipping through. When we reached a different flight of stairs I tensed up even more when I saw how small they were and how only one side had a railing. I made sure to take a picture of these stairs though because they were a perfect example of the spiral staircase (looked like the interior of a shell).

I was more than a little happy to be off the staircase and I stood there waiting for Ahmee and Poppy to come down. When we were all back together we walked around and out the opposite side to see the super-ornate facade that Gaudi had worked on when he was alive, and to go through the museum within the temple dedicated to him. After this we went to the restrooms, went through the giftshop (me getting a little something), and then walked back to catch another tour bus.

The museum had shown me the plans for what the temple should look like once it's finished. It's like no other cathedral I've ever seen in my life and I loved it. In thirty years the Sagrada Familia MIGHT be finished. I wonder if when I'm 46-50 I'll be able to travel to Spain the check it out.

On this bus we managed to get top seats. I sat and listened to the recording as we passed through various sections. Most notable in my book would be the Diagonal street, the (now only used by the Royal family for special occasions and for banquets), the stadium that was used for the Olympics, and the history of the areas we were in. This trip took about an hour and by the time we got back I needed to get to work.

During the ride though I had several people sit with me. The first was an older French woman (I helped her with the machine and showed her how to select her language-to which she said Merci, me not knowing enough french said it's ok), the second was an Italian woman who moved a lot and had to button up her jacket (was kinda cold up there), and the third and last person was a snoody Englishman who didn't spare me a glance or a word (no biggie, I didn't really want to talk to him anyway).

Once we were done with the tour we went on a search for a place to eat. We went by the Txapela to see if the tapas bar was open. This was filled though and we decided that we'd go elsewhere. As we walked back toward the hotel we had a short man in a trim business suit stop and talk to us. He asked if we were from America and if we were looking for a place to eat. We told him yes and that yes we were looking for a place to eat. He said that the tapas place was too full and said he knew a place where the locals went to eat (and that it was really good).

As he walked we followed and found out that his wife was from the United States, that he owned a leather company (he was excited to show us his window), and that he'd show us his window and his favorite restaurant. We knew we weren't being hustled because the man had on all kinds of expensive things, had stepped out of a penthouse, and spoke with fluent English. He walked us across the street and down to the left where he passed his window and showed us first the restaurant, saying it was wonderful, and then he took us back to his shop where he took us into his "storeroom" where fur jackets, leather jackets, and suede jackets where all hanging neatly. He explained that his leather was the best. It was thin, it wasn't bulky, it was soft, it wasn't tough, it didn't stink, and it was used by designers (also mentioned a fashion show was going on just across the street in the upper floors). He got Ahmee to try on a leather jacket, got me to try on the same form of leather jacket, and got Poppy to try on a blue suede jacket saying that he'd give us a major discount for it, $500 instead of $800. We thanked him, told him his store was incredible, and went on to lunch (me remarking at how it was no surprise he'd gotten to the top if he was that good of a salesman). After eating a HUGE lunch we waddled back to the hotel where I got on the computer and worked.

I got my Unit study guide mostly done before dinnertime. For dinner we went next door to the pizza place where Ahmee got a pizza and where I got a tomato and lettuce salad. We were extremely early, we were there at 6 o' clock. Europeans eat dinner fashionably late and spend a long time eating normally. The average time for dinner is at 8 o' clock in Europe. We were lucky the pizza place was open, because we hadn't had lunch that day (surprisingly enough I wasn't hungry). My salad stayed down just fine. My stomach liked the simplicity of the tomatoes and the lettuce. It also liked the carbonated beverage I gave it.

We kept the meal short but enjoyed each others company plenty (laughing at various things and commenting on the day and what Ahmee and Poppy had been up to while I was working in the room), so that I could go back up to the room and work some more. That night I finished the Unit 5 study guide and the test. I knew that if I continued at that pace I'd be able to get everything I wanted completed and turned in before Monday. That night I wrote a few emails to friends and family and then went to bed, still somewhat restlessly.

11/13/08 We head into Spain to Barcelona where we find our hotel and go for a walk on the Rambla!

2008-11-25T05:00:00.001-08:00

Ramblar en ingles se dice: to walk on the rambla. El calle Rambla es un calle estupendo. Me gusta mucho el calle y la ciudad de Barcelona.

Next morning we all woke up (had another time where my grandparents woke me up), and went upstairs to breakfast where we sat and looked at Caracassonne and ate up tons of food. After this we went back to the room where Ahmee told us how she'd just about gotten stuck in the bathtub last night (bathtub was really really thin). Poppy and I both laughed and then after I'd packed everything up I went and sat down in the bathtub. My hips weren't quite wide enough to block it up but it was definitely snug. I made sure to let Ahmee know that the tub was abnormally thin and that it definitely wasn't her.

Course, after this episode we needed to get on the road. I had a lot of schoolwork to get done, but I got another assignment from my Ahmee and that was to read the first section of our Spain book and to check out the section that was dedicated to Barcelona.

I did this as we were about to pass through the Pyrenees Mountains (aka: the mountain range that separated Spain from the rest of Europe and thus forced Spain to become a melting pot of cultures). As I read about how Spain is made up of different regions and that each region has it's own twist on the Spanish language I kept looking outside at the somewhat barren mountains. The road was very curvy then so every now and then I'd set the book down on my lap and just enjoy looking out the windows.

Some things I already knew about Spain were: that it had been growing economically for ages, that it was up there with Germany Economy-wise (this you can tell by the roads and the factories-they reminded me of the ones back home). I also knew that Spain is famous for flamenco dancing, for it's religion (Moors were here for ages-Muslims, and then the Christian King and Queen Ferdinand and Isabella pushed all other religions out), for it's artists and architecture, for it's bull fights, and for its people. I didn't have a general outline of the history, I didn't know about the variety of landscapes one can find in Spain, I didn't know about the Modernista architecture, I didn't know that each region had a slightly twisted (or completely different) language, and I didn't know really anything about Barcelona.

After reading up on the Ramblas (awesome street that has a variety of things on sale AND has killer street performers), the Temple de la Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudi, the Museu Picasso, Pablo Picasso, Parc Guell (again by Antoni Gaudi), the Palau de la Musica Catalana, the Museu del Futbol Club Barcelona, and about the home of Salvador Dali (tribute to Travis in Munich).

Once done reading I put the book to the side to look out the window because at that point we were along the coast and I loved looking at the sun reflecting off the water and at the desert-like roadsides. I didn't get started on work because we were about to stop for lunch. When we found a restaurant we pulled into the parking lot (had a large car index) and went inside where we were asked if we spoke English or French. We told our waiter English and throughout the meal he spoke mostly English to us (while Ahmee and I adjusted to Spanish). Unfortunately I couldn't eat too much of my food. Every time something (other than water) hit my mouth my stomach started rolling like I was going to throw up. After a certain point I stopped fighting with my stomach and simply sat there with half my food on my plate. I tried again a couple minutes later only to have my stomach fight back more to the point where I had to run to the servicio because I was afraid I was going to literally throw up.

We all finished our drinks and started heading out of the restaurant, which had become hazy due to the cigarette smoke. Ahmee and I had a good time asking our waiter if he had a map of Barcelona. When Ahmee asked this in English he looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I don't speak a lot of English." At this I perked up and said one word: mapa. He told us no he didn't and we went on our way.

We stopped once at a gas station to grab diesel, to remark at the (Catalonia - why its not Spain!) Catalonian language (combination of French and Spanish), and to grab an excellent map of Barcelona. As we made our way through the town we all tried to soak in the language and the environment. I say tried because we soon were faced with something completely different. We got to drive into Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain. This made Poppy and Ahmee shutter and incredibly nervous because every time we go into large cities we get frustrated because we do not know the streets.

Luckily the hotel we wanted was the Hotel Gran Via, or the Hotel on the Grand Via (Main Street). We drove up this street (me remarking at the splendid architecture and the variety and the modern buildings-it's been a while since I've seen glass buildings), looking along both sides for this Hotel. After a certain point it was decided that we needed to change directions, so we went down a side street to go around the block.

That's the great thing about Barcelona. It is done in the grid system so that we can maneuver like this. Other ancient cities do not work this way. If you pull off the main street you could very well end up on the other side of town due to one-way roads when traveling through old towns.

Once we got back to the gran via we changed our minds and decided we needed to go to the right. This was something of a mistake. We pulled out and started to go down the center. We had no idea at the beginning that this center was reserved for people going the OTHER direction. We quickly found out. Luckily we didn't run into any headlights and there wasn't too much traffic. All of the cars were down the street at the stop light so Poppy was able to do a very fast doughnut to turn us around.

As you can imagine this slightly scared us. I laughed and said that the same thing had happened with Momma, Emma, and me at night and the cars had been much much closer. I also made Ahmee laugh when I told her what my reaction to that had been ("Lets do that again!"-I was sick as a dog at the time and on medication). We calmed down more when we went down and around another block so we could head down the gran via going the other direction. This time we spotted the Hotel. Ahmee and I jumped out and went in to make reservations while Poppy drove around the block one more time. We put the car in the parking garage (I was scared stiff going up that tiny ramp where the cars were virtually blind to all walkers when they reached the corners), took our things up to the room, and then headed out to go find Chapelas Tapas (was recommended) and to go walk past El Corta Ingles to Las Ramblas.

We didn't find the Tapas bar, even though we walked down four blocks. We then walked past glitzy shops, past restaurants that were empty, past El Corta Ingles, and down Las Ramblas.

My first reaction when I saw Las Ramblas was, "Oooooh wow. That's a lot of people." There were tons of people walking down this street. It was easy enough to spot other tourists. These were the people who were walking with their jaws open, these were the people who stopped multiple times to "activate" the statues and to get pictures with them, and these were the people who often moved in large groups. It really was a circus there. You might be wondering what I meant by the statues that could be activated. I said earlier that Las Ramblas is famous for it's street performers.

There were magicians, puppeteers, and actors here. LOOK HERE The actors would paint themselves up and put on costumes and stand there, looking quite like a statue. When you dropped money into their hat/box/guitar case the statue would come to life. Most of these statues mimed motions and played with the audience. I payed to see the Elephant come to life. Funnily enough the man who ran the elephant had stepped away. He had to put on his costume again and when he did one girl went up and got a picture with him giving her a kiss on the cheek. When I went up I wanted to get a fun pic too. He looked bashful when I went up. I blew him a kiss and he shook his head. He made a motion that asked, "Would you like to ride on my elephant?" I shook my head no. He looked terribly sad and I chuckled and did a pout lip at him, imitating him. He grabbed my scarf and pulled me over. I yanked my scarf back, shook my finger at him and shook my head. He pouted and fake-cried. I pouted again and patted him on his back, still shaking my head at his questioning gaze. I then waved goodbye to him (by then quite a crowd had gathered) and I walked away. Apparently while my back was turned he made a nasty face at me because the crowd burst into laughter. When I turned around he was stroking his hair and acting all prissy. I just smiled, put my hands on my hips, and shook my head again at him. I had wanted a picture, but I'd ended up acting far too much to hold still long enough for Poppy. Ahmee said that she wished she'd recorded it, it was great. Only thing bad about it was that when he yanked on my scarf he kinda scared me, from then on I stayed a good distance away from the live-statues.

We continued down the Rambla, laughing at the funny actors, gawking at the purple ballerina, questioning the statue that didn't move when people put money in (his eyes were red so I don't think he even blinks), and gazing at the things that were for sale along the Rambla. There were animals for sale in one section (lots of birds-you could even buy pigeons), there were flowers in one section, and then at the end of the Ramblas there was art. I didn't look at these too long because I really wanted to keep moving. At the end of las Ramblas we reached a large pillar with Christopher Columbus at the top (pointing in the wrong direction I might add- he needed to be turned a little bit more in order to be pointing West).

The best sight we saw here wasn't Columbus though. It was the other tourists who were scrambling onto the backs of the lions at the base of this pillar. It was HILARIOUS. One woman was trying to sit on the back of a Simba-esk lion and had three people behind her trying to push her up onto his back. She never made it up there but she and the rest of the group had a good time laughing at it, which enabled us to laugh just as loudly. It really was great (I didn't even try to get on the back of the lion, I'm too short).

Then we went back down Las Ramblas as the evening turned to night and the city lights burst forth. Once we got close to La Corta Ingles we were met with some wonderful sounds. Several musicians had taken root along this sidewalk and all of them were playing away. On the corner opposite La Corta Ingles we stopped to listen to a very bohemian band who had set up a stage and had their instruments hooked up to amplifiers. My favorite had to be the clarinet player, when he did a solo it brought forth a surge of clapping. This band was lively and got the audience to sing and dance along with them. We stood there listening to them for maybe 10-15 minutes before Poppy and Ahmee said it was time to find a place to eat.

As we walked toward our hotel we found the tapas place we'd been recommended to visit. When the man had said it it sounded like Chapela. The spelling was entirely different: Txapela. Just goes to show how different Catalonian is from Spanish.

We didn't eat at the tapas place though, it was far too crowded. Instead we opted for The Owl, where it contained multiple languages on the menu and where the waiters were all in uniform. Then we went up to the room where I received some disheartening news on the computer.

I received news from my AP US History teacher (and my US Government teacher) Mr. Owens that the grading period ended Wed. and that I needed to complete a Unit study guide and test for US Government and I needed to complete two study guides for AP US History and two tests for AP US History. I also knew that I needed to do some writing.

When I told Ahmee and Poppy this Ahmee looked at me and started working out a plan of action with me. At first she said we'd sight-see the next day and then after that I'd spend half of the day Saturday working and half of the day Sunday working, later it was decided that I should just work half the day all three days just to make sure I caught up with everything. I didn't look forward to spending ages in that hotel room when I could be out in fantastic Barcelona, but I knew it was going to be necessary if I wanted to keep from getting zeros.

I went to bed that night slightly worried.

11/12/08 We drive to Carcasonne, Poppy and I explore, and I fall asleep at dinner

2008-11-25T04:59:00.000-08:00

Carcasonne es una mediano typo ciudad. La ciudad no tiene edificios moy grande (skyscrapers en ingles). La ciudad tiene muchas edificios "pequeno" y muchas personas viven en la ciudad.

This morning we woke up and slowly got out of bed. We ate a small breakfast (that is small in size but always seems to fill me up), said our goodbyes to Toby (who didn't want to talk to me-he hid behind the desk), and got back out on the road. This time I did not want to work. I wanted to watch. I wanted to get lost in thought. I wanted to relax and enjoy the last bit of France that I could see. Since I did have a few things I needed to do I decided I'd get started on work after 10:30. I was true to my internal word. I got to work shortly after 10:30 (didn't realize it until five minutes later), and worked until we stopped for lunch at an autogrill.

After this we got back on the road, determined to make it to Carcassonne. All of this time I spent working on schoolwork and occasionally glancing out the window at the multi-colored hills, and at the cars zooming by (or us by them). My glances upwards didn't last very long though. I needed to complete my work and I managed to while on the road.

Once I was done I was left to a staring contest with my spanish book which was sitting right next to me. Right now that class is my worst nightmare. I'm far behind the rest of the class back home, I know I'm not remembering what I do in the book, and I know it wouldn't help me to rush and try to catch up. As the book sat there staring at me I tried to ignore it by looking out the window and covering it up with my jacket. This did not work. It demanded my attention and eventually succeeded. I tried to get farther in the book, but when I started running into words that the book didn't have in it's glossary, words that I didn't know, and words that hadn't been reviewed in the chapter, I started wondering what I was supposed to do. I skipped that and moved ahead. I ended up running into the same problem later.

At that point I was glad that we were going into Carcasonne, because I didn't know what to do, and I was only frustrating myself more. I threw the book in my backpack, giving it a spiteful look, and then I joined Ahmee and Poppy in the quest for a hotel. We found one purely by accident that was right next to the foot bridge that crossed the river (and that was connected to the road that went straight up to the fortified old city).

This hotel had three stars, had wireless, and had a place where Ahmee could rest. Ahmee was not feeling good at all. Poppy and I weren't sure what was wrong, we just knew she wanted to have a good long siesta. We also knew that she wanted us to go up and walk around the walls of the old city without her and to come back and let her know what it was like. Before we headed out I sent out things on the computer and emailed a few people.

When Poppy and I went out we both commented on how lucky we were to find our hotel, I asked him if he'd found a post office (we almost always have about 20 or so postcards to send), and we commented on the things we were seeing. We passed over the river on the foot bridge (me exclaiming at how shallow the river was), and walked through the windy street up to the top of the hill to the old, fortified town of Carcassinne. Some of my favorite shops that I saw included: a nice antique shop (not unusual, these stores are like rooting through a treasure chest), a magic store (had a kid book about the princess and the unicorn AND had an entire wall filled with incense), and a fashionable "fat lady" store that I knew Ahmee would've loved. Other things we passed on our way up included: a church or two (one with a colorful painting on it's outside wall-definitely not graffiti), a few apartments, and plenty of closed up restaurants.

At the top we went through the main entrance with all the other tourists, all of whom seemed to me to be getting off of some sort of bus. We were oddballs and had decided to hoof it. After passing through two gates we went up a flight of stairs up to the keep of the second inner wall so we could get tickets to walk around the top and around the castle. As we walked up I could feel the eyes of all the other tourists watching us, before we even walked in I realized how odd it must appear to others to see a gray-haired man traveling with a young girl like me. When we bought the tickets we got some odd looks from both of the vendors who refused to believe I was 16 (she seemed to know enough English to understand the number I was saying). Poppy got charged extra because of this. Of course, at the time neither one of us knew this, we just took our tickets and went out to walk around the ancient city and to look out at the valley and the "new" city.

I loved both views this walk offered. We got to see the rooftops, the forest that was on the far outreaches of the "new" city, the route we'd just walked up, our hotel from a distance, and the many different building styles that made up the city. Within the walls we got to be incredibly nosey, something that I enjoy being. I got to look down into EVERYONES courtyard and onto their back terraces. I also got to spy on the tourists who were walking through the back alleys obviously lost (I had no sympathy because it's quite easy to make your way back to the main road if you'd just take a closer look at your map/ask for directions/turn around and walk back to where-ever you came from and make your way back to a place where you actually know where the general exit is).

The walls I was walking on were also equally interesting (except for the pigeon infested towers-the poop covered the floor and I basically just ducked my head and ran through) because I got to feel as if I were walking on a miniature Great Wall of China. The walkway was well done, had many different steps so that if it came to hand-battle up on the wall the invaders wouldn't know what's coming whereas someone familiar would and would run too fast and crash down, and the walkway had high enough borders so that I didn't feel like if I got too close I'd fall over the edge. Poppy and I are both prone to getting dizzy and weak-kneed when we feel we've reached uncomfortable heights and are unprotected. Luckily neither one of us got that feeling as we walked the distance around the ancient city.

When we got to the main castle we stopped and read our pamphlets and then went down the steps into the main courtyard where a nice frenchman told us where to begin and told us about the guide they had to offer. He said that he only spoke a little French, and the guided tour was in french, but if we were to join in he'd add a tidbit here and there of English. We thanked him for telling us where to get started, but we did not take him up on his offer for the guided tour, saying we needed to get back at a certain time. We then went up and into the castle where we stopped and watched a video over it's history (it had subtitles in English that were easy for me to follow). To summarize, the fortified city, Caracassonne , went through many phases of rise and decline. At one point it was taken over by the French royalty (after the duke who had owned it became far too powerful in the Popes eyes and the Pope gave the crown the permission to start a crusade to get rid of him and his society of monks-they laid siege and the duke stupidly thought he could reason with the men who'd slaughtered 6,000 people-the people were allowed to leave unscathed but the duke died a prisoner in his own castle) and became a royal outpost (to guard the French border from the nearby Spanish- the Pyrenees mountains were only a couple kilometers to the south). Under the royal crown the outpost quickly became one of the best forts, and to many civilian eyes it was a monster, many people moved out of the old town to the new town to commence with business and trade. At a certain point the royal crown decided they no longer needed this as an outpost to keep an eye on the border and so it was left to rot (as much as stone can rot). Later the man who restored the Notre Dame made repairs to this fortified city, and made it so that it resembled the outpost that it had been when the French Crown had used it. Of course, since the crown left other people had come in and made their own adjustments and add ons, so there were still remainders of other buildings within the walls. We got to see these as we walked around. I never mentioned that the base of the outer wall had to be uncovered (layers of dirt had covered up parts of it), and that the Romans had had their part in the wall, meaning that people have been living on that hill for ages.

After watching this video we went through the museum where we got to see a miniature of the town and it's magnificant cathedral (sadly we didn't get to walk around this), we got to see different methods to defense and weaponry, we got to see the different sections of the castle (other than the living quarters), and we got to go through a section where it contained old carvings and tombstones from both the church and the castle. I wasn't too interested in these but what surprised me were different pictures that were in these rooms, funnily enough they puzzled Poppy too. In each room there was a photograph of a man standing naked in the middle of a field/on top of a hill. Each one was photographed from his backside and in each one he was holding something above his head. In some of them he had a rectangular stone above his head, in some of them he was standing next to a huge rectangular stone, and in others he had a trashcan on his head. Later Poppy discussed these pictures with Ahmee and it was decided that these pictures where meant to symbolize how man could utterly deface nature (because everything around him was gorgeous). Course, I thought the naked man blended in with nature in all of them, except for the one with the trashcan on his head.

When we finished walking through the museum we could feel the chill of the coming night air settling through the rocks. We knew we needed to start heading back to Ahmee at that point. So we walked through the inner gate, crossed the moat (as we did so we were watched by the resting tourists who were on the other side, chowing down on their early dinners), and had a good time walking around looking for a short period for the exit. We found it when we pushed the giant wooden door open (this was easier for Poppy than it was for me). Once out of the castle I breathed a sigh of relief. We were on the main road. How could I tell? All of the shops were open all the way down the street and all kinds of tour groups were laughing and chatting as they walked from a sweet shop to a souvenir shop and on down to catch a glimpse of the castle as the sun started making its way down to the horizon. Even though I really liked the looks of these shops, I knew I shouldn't stop and go in, we needed to get out of there and we weren't sure just how long we'd have to walk. Surprisingly enough the city looked bigger from above than it actually was. We got to the entrance gate in less than 5 minutes and then started making our way down (very quickly because I was starting to get kinda cold-I hadn't brought my coat) the hill as I pointed out buildings and said, "I told ya this was _______! I told ya this was _______!" As Poppy just smiled and said, "Nuh uhhhhhhh!" Before we got to the bridge we passed a couple open restaurants that were selling pain sandwiches, we decided we probably shouldn't get one of these and kept moving, crossing over the bridge and back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel we walked in and joyfully told Ahmee all about our adventures (me grumpy that I couldn't remember specific names for Ahmee whenever I recounted the cities history) and asked her how she was feeling and whether or not she was up to going out for dinner. Actually, one of the first questions I asked her was whether or not she'd gotten a good nap or not. She told me she hadn't slept at all, and that she'd just been resting with her eyes closed the whole time. When I asked if that helped her at all she said, "Oh yes, I think so. It's my eyes that were hurting me." She felt that if she closed her eyes enough they'd stop feeling so bad. Since I wasn't the one feeling the pain I can't be sure if her eyes where itchy, if her eyes felt like golfballs, or if her eyes just felt strained (these are things that I've felt myself-it happens when you don't have perfect eyes). I can make an educated guess though. Ahmee has a hard time keeping her eyes moist. Her eyes are often red or pink at various hours of the day. Why is this? Her eyes don't produce enough tears anymore to keep them from drying out too much, so she has to put eyedrops in several times per day. I'm normally the one to let her know that her eyes are pink and that she needs to get her eye-drop's out. Whenever I've cried a lot my eyes feel like golfballs, they might not look pink, but they feel terrible. I'm guessing that this is what was bothering Ahmee. Another good reason I think this is that if they were itching her eyes wouldn't have felt any better being shut-in fact it often helps holding them open so that the air cools them down and keeps whatever it is that's bothering your eye from coming into even closer contact with it.

We traded our stories back and forth, confessed that we were all getting hungry and groaned when we heard that dinner didn't start in the hotel until 8 o clock (you'd think we'd be used to this by now, but we aren't, we still get hungry around 6). So while I got to work writing/reading Poppy went downstairs and got us snackies. I got to eat bugles for the first time in a loooong time. I'd forgotten how much I liked those things and how I always liked putting them on my fingers so that I looked like I had cat-nails (this was easier to do with I had smaller fingers). I stopped my work for a short period to eat all of the bugles, sharing only a few with Ahmee and Poppy as they ate something else (I'm not a complete hog).

When we went upstairs to the candle-light dining area that had the panoramic view of the fort I was already starting to feel tired. I pushed hard throughout dinner to make it to desert by talking and by getting Ahmee and Poppy to talk about the many different forts we'd see (this one looked similar to the Edinbourgh Castle), but it really was all in vain. After my plate got taken away I asked if I could go to the room and go to bed. I knew that I had only a short period of time before I passed out because I was pulling a Dustin Clausen. My younger cousin Dustin has a way of letting everyone know when he's about to fall asleep in his chair. First his eye-lids will start getting heavy and his eyes will shut and then pop open again, then his head will start dropping and then popping back up as if he's saying, "I'm awake! I'm awake!". His eyes will slowly start to be shut more and more and soon his head will just stay down. This is when everyone knows he's gone. I do the exact same thing. I can be asleep in under 5 minutes after my eyelids start getting heavy. While at the table I got to the point where I didn't want to hold my head up, where I no longer cared if I ended up with sauce in my hair (I have fallen asleep in my plate before), and where I no longer cared if my eyes remained shut for more than 15 seconds at a time. When these things happen only a select few things can keep me from falling asleep (example: something that makes me really happy and a good conversation-Iain used to talk to me till late hours of the night and only a few times did I fall asleep on him).

At any rate, Poppy took me downstairs (as we passed our waitress she gave me a small smile, as if she knew I was about to konk out), and let me into the room (taking the key with him). I managed to get into my pj's (very slowly because I was half-asleep while doing it), and then I flopped into bed at 8:30.

11/11/08 The last of our Chateau Days we visit Chateau Villandry and head south

2008-11-25T04:58:00.000-08:00

Caballos de las reginas son moy quapos. Las reginas se gusta mucho cosas bonitas. Muchas reginas de la Frances viven en la Chateaux Chenonceau. La Chateaux Villandry es una famosa Chateaux porque los jardines es moy grande y bonita. Me gusta mucho el jardin.

We ate, packed our things, and then left Amboise. All of us weren't really looking forward to leaving Amboise because we really liked the town, but all of us were looking forward to walking around the Chateau Villandry because we'd been told by the information lady that if we want to see gardens we absolutely HAD to go there because they were the gardens of France. She turned out to be only partially right. We went there and found not only gardens, but also a wonderful interior to the Chateau.

When we walked through the door of the gift shop we were met with the sight of stonework in front of us (along with a bridge that passed over the "moat"), the Chateau on our left in the style similar to Versailles, and beyond the gray of the stones we could see in the distance tons of brilliant color. I wanted to head straight to the garden, but we'd bought tickets to see both the Chateau and the Gardens so we went inside first. This Chateau was bought not too long ago by an Spaniard and his wife. The Chateau had all the facilities that most homes have today, only on a much grander scale. Each room had loads of color and style in it. What I really liked was how each room had a window where you could look out and see the gardens. Another thing that I liked about the Chateau was the rooms that were upstairs. These where the children's rooms and the gallery rooms. The children's rooms reminded me distinctly of the rooms I used to design when I was younger for my siblings (the most elaborate ones were reserved for my baby sisters, since I'm not one to like too much sparkle and pomp in my own room). The art gallery featured the family's private collection of paintings, most of which were classical Spanish. I had no idea that the Spanish were so fascinated with torture and blood and guts, but apparently that's often the theme found in ooold paintings (other than that of Christ's self-sacrifice). I suppose I might've given everyone the wrong impression. I didn't really like these rooms per se. I found it curious that there were so many terrible depictions within this families collection. Why would they collect so many paintings of cruel inflictions of pain, whenever they're living in such a fantastic, beautiful, harmonious house that's surrounded by their utterly breathtaking gardens? Two different tastes there, housed under the same roof. I'll probably be deliberating over that question for quite some time.

On the very top floor there was another gallery, this one I really did like. This one showed different pressed flowers. I didn't stay to look long though. These pressed flowers were nothing like the geometric forms of color that I saw outside the many windows. My thirst to see these gardens and to walk in them was slowly growing. So I went out on the terrace to lean on the balustrade and gawk at the garden, particularly the "love garden" which was right beneath me. This garden has four different sections. One is for tender love (has hearts in it), one for passionate love, fickle love (tis normally mostly yellow because this color is the symbol for fickleness and this garden is for those lovers who've been cast aside), and one was for tragic love (this one had many sharp points and thin paths-tis normally filled with red). After reading about this garden and the other gardens I could see I started to get ansty, I started wondering what was taking Ahmee so long (Poppy and I had left her inside). After peaking my head back into the building and woohooing through the turnpike I realized that Ahmee was no longer there. Five minutes later Ahmee came out of the exit door, saying she'd run to use the bathroom. Poppy and I rushed down the steps she'd just ascended so that I could use the facilities as well. Once we all got back together we went for a walk through the garden, oohing and ahhing at every little thing as we went.

You know, I'm not much of a straight edge person. I don't do squares and fancy shapes in my gardens, and I definitely don't do corners very well. This garden was full of squares with designs on the inside. The thing that astounded me was that I liked this garden. I liked it because it wasn't too empty. I liked it because it had many different colors. I liked it because it served the purpose gardens are meant to serve (for me anyway). There are two different things gardens are meant to do: 1) they're meant to excite and cheer up the beholder, and 2) they're meant to be the perfect place for thinking. Why do I say that? Well, my first ever garden where I was able to do this was in North Carolina when I was less than 10 years old. (I'm going off the topic of Villandry here)

The house we had in North Carolina was a one floor place, set down in the middle of 52 pine trees (Ahmee counted them). Our yard had these giant trees popping up everywhere. Something else our yard had were little patches of gardens (we hadn't gotten to the grand-scale gardening yet) that were along the house, near the stop sign, near our many Dogwood trees, near our huge bushes that bloomed pink every year (and which covered 80 percent of our yard). The part of the yard where I spent most of my time though was in the back near where our swing-set was. Right next to this swing-set was our own little backyard forest (very small, dense piece of land there). I ended up creating my own little garden there in a little cove under the trees and right next to the swing-set. This cove had the bricks I needed (an old well had been filled in there) to line my garden, had the space I needed to place a chair, AND had one very large pink bush that blocked the view of the rest of the yard and the house. I just needed to make it cozy and put in a few flowers. I first made it cozy by dragging a HUGE lawn chair that was twice my size and very very heavy (Momma couldn't even pick it up outright, I had to raise one corner at a time and "walk it") over to the little hideout where I plopped it down right next to my bush and in the "corner" of my clearing. After placing this chair I had an amazing view of the underbrush, the leaves, the birds, the squirrels, AND I also could hear everything behind me so if I needed to leave my little space I could. In the springtime when my pink bush bloomed I'd go out and sit in my chair with all the pink blooms next to me, all the dark shades of green and brown in front of me, and all the golden light on the grass (which I could see through my "door"). Later I made the entrance to this little hideout simplistically beautiful by putting in hostas.

At any rate, when I had this little hideout time seemed to stop and I could think about anything and everything I wanted there and still be quite content. The garden at Villandry, with all it's geometrical patterns, seemed to do that to me too (just like Giverny did). Something else I realized as I walked around this garden was that while the garden definitely served as a place for relaxation and deliberation it also served as a great project for me that I adored showing off. If I'd had Villandry I'd have had many parties where my garden was lit up at night to spotlight the paths and to light up the plants-giving a whole knew impression to it. If I'd had Villandry, I decided as I viewed the Renaissance-style gardens, that I'd want it to be a masquerade party so that everyone could talk to everyone else without pretenses (I'd gotten this idea from the love garden). The murmur of conversation, the occasional bit of laughter, the couples walking around the garden talking and admiring things while still wrapped up in each other, and the children running down the paths made me really really miss my own garden. These are things that are supposed to happen in gardens, people are meant to find little spots to sit and think, people are meant to be able to share their garden with people and play (as a kid neighbors came over to my hideout and we'd play pretend in there), people are meant to be able to walk through and enjoy/criticize. All of these things filled my mind as I walked up and around most of the garden and through the maze. After the maze we headed out. My favorite section of the garden was the last bit that we saw and this also surprised me. The last section we saw was the vegetable garden. Since we're visiting in November I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I liked this section the most (it had the most in it), but normally I'm not a big fan of vegetable gardens (they only last one year, they don't come back, they only get eaten once, and they're normally very picky). These gardens were arranged so that complementary colors were in full blast (this would be orange with blue and red with green, etc.). I loved it. I want ornamental cabbage now. I want to grow veggies in my garden now.

Actually after we left this garden I wanted to start planning one for Ahmee and Poppy (since our yard would just look wrong with all the curves we have in it). As we ate lunch in the chilly outdoor restaurant that was right next to the Chateau I deliberated over what design I'd put in and I told Ahmee how she could pull in off in her garden.

Even after we left the Chateau I was thinking about how I could transform Ahmee and Poppy's garden into something similar. Unfortunately my thoughts had to be cut short for work once we got back on the highway.

Of course, there's never much to write when I'm working because the only things I'm thinking about are well, what I'm reading and writing about. This time is no different. I worked all through the afternoon until the sun started sinking down and we got off the highway. Unfortunately I didn't realize we were off the highway until after my stomach started grumbling at me. I put the computer and my books away then and leaned back in my seat as we went around curves, looking for a hotel. This didn't take long. Luckily we ran right into a two star hotel named the Bellview Hotel, in the tiny town of Bessines. Another stroke of luck delivered free wifi to us. Perhaps an ever better stroke of luck was how wonderful the restaurant was downstairs. The food was good, that's all I can remember about it. I don't remember what exactly I got, but I do remember it was good. What I do remember clearly was the desert. I'll do my best to describe it, then again maybe a shouldn't because it'll make everyone's mouth water (unless they're allergic to chocolate). This desert consisted of a still-warm brownie that was up in the right hand corner of my plate, a dash of fruity syrup as a diagonal, and in the bottom left hand corner was a bit of.... icecream (I think). The brownie was what made the desert. It was more in the shape of a muffin, and when I first cut into it I didn't hit anything other than the super-sweet cake-like softy stuff. However whenever I cut farther into it do you know what I hit? I hit gooey, melted chocolate. This was no brownie. This was a brownie chocolate-pocket. It was all warm, all sweeter than anything I've ever tasted, all so gooey it stuck to the roof of my mouth. You all might be surprised when you here that for the first time I wasn't actually too sad to see such chocolate-goodness gone (it was small), but that thing was so sweet it had the same effect that three large bowls of moose-track chocolate icecream would've had. Absolutely amazing. I'm afraid nothing will ever be the same. No chocolate quite good enough (that's a lie).

Moving past my brownie, before we went up to type on the computer (and then fall asleep) I ran into an elderly doggie named Toby. Toby was a French doggie so I had to make sure and speak to him with my tiny bit of french (too difficult to spell). The lady who ran the desk had seen me devour my brownie and had been pleased with how much I loved it and how I didn't refrain from letting her know it was incredible. So I did earn some brownie points with her (pun completely intended) with that. When I stopped to pet the doggie she smiled and said, "That's Toby." I'm not sure if Toby liked me. He circled me once (after letting me pet him) and then he went and sat down away from me. I took that as my cue to head upstairs with Ahmee and Poppy.

Once upstairs I "tappy-fingered" on the computer for a while to family and friends and then I went to sleep (after Ahmee and Poppy had already turned out the lights).
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11/10/08 Chateau Chenonceaux, or in other words, The Lady Chateau

2008-11-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

La Casa de las Senoras es un favorite casa para mi. La casa es no grande, pero es moy bonita y buena. La casa tiene dos jardins famosas, una para la Senora Catherine de Medici, y una para la Senora Diane.

The next morning we woke up and got moving very early (for our standards) to eat, finish getting ready (I always go to breakfast with bed-hair, no matter where we are), and get on the road. I made sure to tell Ahmee and Poppy something that did not surprise them: that this was one of my favorite Chateaus. My Momma loves coffee table books and has acquired a collection that has fed my mind for years with dreams and ideas. I'd seen this Chateau in one of those books. Actually, it was in two books (I think, I'm not sure). One was a garden book that Ahmee had gifted to me, and the other was a castle book that Momma had bought at Barnes n Noble (could spend years in that store and still not have enough). From both of these books I already knew what the Chateau looked like, and that it was famous for the feminine hands who had worked their magic on the history of the Chateau. While on the road I did not look out the window, I read the pamphlet.

In the pamphlet I learned about the two most famous women who had a huge effect on the Chateau: Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici. This was after I read that the Chateau was originally a mill-the builder created it as his home and made it so beautiful that when he died and the estate passed to his son and then the king: Francois I decided he wanted the Chateau and so imposed a huge tax on the inheritance so that the son had to hand it over).

Diane De Poitiers was Henry II's mistress who was given Chateau Chenonceaux as a gift (course he didn't outright give it because she was his favorite, he gave it to her husband for his services to the crown). She took over the running of the Chateau though and she was incredibly gifted at it, making sure that the Chateau produced it's own income and managing it so well that she was able to add on gardens and fountains and make the Chateau even more beautiful. Diane De Poitiers Emblam is the triple interlinked crescents...

Catherine de Medici (who obviously knew that Diane was her rival) forced Diane out of the Chateau and had her move to another one. Catherine then took on the role of the manager of Chateau Chenonceaux, just to prove that she was better than Diane. When Catherine came in she added another (smaller more "intimate") garden, more fountains, added on to the Chateaux, made vast improvements to the interior, AND held many events at the Chateau so she could show off all her accomplishments.

Some other famous women who lived there were: Mary Queen of Scots (married Catherine de Medici's son Francis II and only stayed there for a short time), and Louise Marie Madeline Fontaine Dupin who is the woman who's credited for saving Chateau Chenonceax from the Revolutionaries due to her kindness and generosity. Quite funny really because I think that this woman was perhaps the most intelligent out of all the women I've mentioned so far. She never made a grab for the throne, the was perfectly happy with her Chateau, and she invited soooo many intelligent people to the Chateau. She surrounded herself with philosophers of her time and that gives her a huge plus in my book. All of the women I've mentioned so far though were incredibly sharp individuals.

After reading through the pamphlet once I put it aside (by the way what I've written so far is not even close to all of the pamphlet) to watch a bit of the countryside as we pulled into the Chateaus parking lot. First step out of the car greeted us with muddy shoes and a slight drizzle of rain. We've gotten quite used to this though and it didn't slow us down as we walked down the alley of trees towards the Chateau, stopping just once to go through a super-easy maze (where two boys were having an excellent time racing each other). Once we reached the cluster of buildings (has a farm, a museum, two restaurants, and a restroom in front of Catherine's garden)

Ahmee and I agreed that we needed to run to the restroom. We were greeted by one of the first signs that this Chateau is still very well loved. The restroom was clean, had seats on the toilet bowls, looked really nice (had marble tiles on the walls and counter top), AND we didn't have to pay to use it. Another tell-tale sign greeted us when we left the restroom to head back towards the Chateau.

The gardens were very, very, very well maintained. There were gardeners out raking the few leaves that had fallen the night before, there were gardeners out pulling leaves out of the roses that were growing along the stone walls, and there were gardeners out moving things to the compost. The first thing we saw of the gardens were these gardeners who were busy raking, and then just behind them the flawless, green carpet of grass. This wasn't even Diane's garden or Catherine de Medici's garden and it was well looked after. It really impressed me.

We walked over the bridge, crossing over the moat, and up to the main gate of the Chateau Chenonceaux. Once inside we pulled out our pamphlets to walk through the rooms and see the sights. There weren't too many rooms, and I never got tired of looking around in them. I was thoroughly interested in each room (except for the room dedicated to the White Queen-mourning her husbands death-that was just depressing). We first passed from the main hallway into the guards room where the amount of finery was really displayed to me. Guards rooms that I've seen so far have been fairly plain. The guards of the prestigious people were often given rooms that were fairly devoid of decoration. This room was not so.

You could see Catherine de Medici's influence on the ceiling (where her crossed C's were carved in) and on the floor where if you looked closely (they did not mention this in the guidebooks-I just saw it) there were ceramic blue and yellow tiles. The guards didn't just get heat, they got a fancy fireplace, a fancy ceiling, a REALLY nice floor, and a good spot to sleep-right next to the chapel. Within this room many many people were crowded. Why? Well, not only did people stop to warm themselves by the blazing fire, they also jumped in line to get an audio guide. Yet another sign that the Chateau was well loved was the audio guides they offered. They were ipods. I decided I'd stick with my pamphlet because: 1) I didn't want to wait in line when I could be looking around, and 2) I suspected that those things were expensive.

We moved on to the next room. This room was the chapel. My favorite part of this chapel was the graffiti. Some of you might raise an eyebrow at and scratch your head. I'll relieve you of your puzzling now: the Scottish Guardsmen who Mary Stuart brought with her when she stayed (for a short period) at the Chateau decided to scratch their names and two phrases into the stone entryway of the chapel. I laughed when I read that in my pamphlet that the Scotsmen had defaced the cute wee chapel of Chenonceaux. I laughed even more when the people who had their ears hooked up to their ipods didn't even notice the glass-protected graffiti.

The room after the cathedral was Diane's bedroom. I found this to be quite interesting. It wasn't the size of her bed or the paintings that she had around her room that really interested me (even though I did enjoy admiring them along with the view of the river). What interested me was the decoration of the fireplace and the ceiling. This time there were H's and crossed C's. These stood for Henry II and Catherine de Medici (obviously), but what I found almost comical was the letter that was formed when you put the two symbols together. When you put the crossed C over the letter H you end up with a D. Diane was "paying tribute to her Queen and King" but also at the same time putting the subtle influence that she had. It was a threesome reign (tis why Catherine felt the need to assert herself).

Connected to Diane's room was the green study, or the room that Catherine de Medici used as her office. From that room she ruled over France. In THIS room I enjoyed looking at the personalized ceilings (intertwined C's again- jeez), at the desk, and at what she had hanging on her walls. She had a tapestry in there that had huge amounts of blue and all kinds of "foreign" vegetation and animal life that had been discovered in the Americas. This tapestry was interesting because of unusual blue there. Blue doesn't stand up very long, and Ahmee and I found it interesting that this blue was not the original color of the fabric. The original color had been green. The other paintings I didn't look long at before heading into Catherine's library. This room was tiny! The only things in this room were a rough-looking desk, a bouquet (OH I forgot to tell you, each room had a bouquet and we never saw the same bouquet twice), and lots of people who were shuffling their feet as they looked at the Italian ceiling (nice change from the intertwined C's) and out the three windows that gave a spectacular view of three things: the river, the Chateau, and Diane's garden. I think I know why Catherine de Medici didn't put much emphasis on this room: it had a wonderful view of her rivals garden!

After this room we moved back into the central hallway and then into the ballroom. This ballroom is the part that most people would recognize: it's the section of the Chateau that jets out over the river. Under Diane this was simply a bridge, whereas under Catherine de Medici it became a fancy ballroom. Later on during the two World Wars the Chateau was used as a hospital. They had a picture up within the Chateau of the heater that had been placed in the middle of the ballroom floor and the beds filled with the wounded and sick lining the walls. Another interesting tidbit about this room was that the Chateau was used by some to get out of the occupied zone. They'd pass through the front doors (occupied zone), walk down the hallway, walk through the ballroom, and then walk through the doors and out to the other side where they crossed the river and where out of the occupied zone.

Clever people didn't even have to dodge a bullet, just had to walk through a hospital. Nowadays when you visit the Chateau you'll find marble plaques that Catherine de Medici had put up (she's the one who put up this entire wing so I suppose I shouldn't even bother saying that), black and white checkered flooring, and loads of windows that'll give you excellent views out both sides of the Chateau. Our pamphlet said that over 60 people would come to balls to dance and be merry, and within this long, thin room I was quite able to see it happening. Fancy dresses in motion, amazing hair styles being paraded around the room, gentleman chatting and dancing with the lady's, musician's stationed in the nooks where the windows were, and at the ends of the hall there were servants stationed for beverages and food (and to announce a newcoming person of course). I wonder if Catherine de Medici had any masked balls. I'm sure that if she did she made sure to get herself a mask that displayed quite clearly who she was.

After waltzing in the ballroom we went *gasp* out of order. Ahmee had to use the toilet again and dashed outside while Poppy and I got a looksee around another bedroom. I don't remember exactly who this bedroom was for... I've got a feeling it was for a King, unfortunately there where so many that played a role in Chenonceaux that I can't retrieve his name. Ah well, what was really cool about this room was the paintings. Yes, I actually do remember the paintings. Why? Because it showed the women (must sound pretty feminist right now, but come-on it's the Lady's Chateau).

(not the same painting but close as I could google) There was a painting of Henry II's, Diane as Diana the Huntress. My opinion: she was a wimpy Huntress. Another harsh opinion: she really looked like the court slut of the day. Her clothes are all breezy and wispy so that you catch a glimpse of body parts that are covered up, from her knees down you could see flesh (even the "undignified" feet; I wondered to myself just how scandalous it was for her to display her knees at that time), and her body language looked more like that of a sexy woman who's lounging on her bed waiting to have sex (rather than that of the Goddess of the Hunt). The only indicators I saw that she was Diana the Huntress were: the half moon on top of her head, the arrows that were on her back, and the antlers that she was standing next to. Children were sitting within these antlers (I have no idea what they were doing there-maybe suggesting she'd give birth to more heirs than Catherine de Medici would), and the arrows that were strapped to her back (by a flowing piece of blue cloth that was fluttering in the breeze) weren't accompanied by a bow AT ALL in the painting. The only part I liked about the painting was Diane's face. Her eyes showed just how intelligent she was (had quite a lot of intelligence there), and they were looking directly out giving off the REAL impression of the Diana.

Now there was another painting of a woman in that room that was of a Diana, this one I liked 100 times more than Diane's painting. She was fully clothed, had on practical clothing that still managed to emphasis her figure and her good tastes, had both the arrows AND the bow (and didn't have the arrows attached by some flimsy piece of cloth-instead a red leather strap was used), she had the same intelligent eyes (that weren't staring you down quite as much as Dianes were even though this woman's painting was done at a full-front picture), and (the cherry on top) she had curly hair like Emma's.

When Ahmee came back in from the restroom we went back into this room where I then took an interest in the three graces. They were sisters and they were favorites of a certain king. No surprise that these women were put up in this mans room and right next to his bed.

After looking around this room we went into the next room which was the living room. Both of these rooms had incredible fireplaces and wonderfully red walls. In this room I spent most of my time looking at the face of Louise Dupin, the smart, generous, and caring woman who saved the Chateau and it's furniture from the raging people. Her portrait did not have her all dolled up like a goddess, in fact, her portrait didn't display her body at all. It was only a head shot and one where the viewer got her full face (you know that theory that one side of your face is better looking than the other side? yeah, well this woman had two good sides and she used them). She had intelligent eyes, but the incredible thing was that she was smiling. The corners of her mouth were turned up slightly, she had on a Mona Lisa smile but was WAY prettier than the Mona Lisa. I decided that I liked this woman more than Catherine de Medici or Diane De Poitiers.

We went downstairs to the kitchen/dining hall for the servants and got to see how it worked. It's surprising to see sometimes just how little we really have changed. These rooms were stifling though because there were tons of people moving around in a tight space. I was glad to get out of there, even though we were leaving some of the best bouquets behind.

After this we went upstairs. The staircase was noted in the pamphlet because it was not a spiral staircase. France is known for it's spiral staircases and this was one of the first examples of the strait staircase (not really-just in the fancy houses of the court it was fairly uncommon). On the first floor (in Europe you have the ground floor= floor zero and then what we'd call the 2nd floor is the 1st floor) we went into the 5 queens bedroom. I only know one of the 5 queens who slept in that bed: Mary Queen of Scots, I think that also the Queen of Spain slept in that bed (I'm sitting here beating my head in because I'm forgetting the names and they were just there). Anyway. All of the women who slept in that bed were either Catherine de Medici's daughters or were her daughters in law. It was great seeing the "learning to love" painting in this room where the queens had had their marriages arranged for by their parents/guardians. Another really nice thing in this room was the ceiling where the 5 coats of arms were plastered up.

The room immediately after that was Catherine de Medici's room. All of the walls in this room were covered in tapestries, and her bed had (a surprisingly low) canopy with lovely curtains. The ceiling had Catherine de Medici's characteristic entwined C's AND the Medici family symbol (which we'd seen when we were in Florence).

After this room we went up one more floor and looked around the room of the White Queen who spent the rest of her life mourning her dead husband the king, and also praying to God. Funnily enough the man who assassinated the King was a priest.

Of course, after going through all these rooms and seeing all these things we were ready to get out in the fresh air. We decided to head over to Catherine de Medici's garden first. Since it's November there weren't any flowers in bloom. We got to look at the roses that were about to bloom (I'm not a rose person, don't ask me when they're supposed to bloom), at the layout of the garden, and at the colorful orange and yellow leaves from the trees that were a wonderful background for the green of the garden.

We then headed over to Diane's garden which was only larger, had less color (in the pictures), and had a fountain that sprayed those who walked too close too it (the wind was doing it, not the fountain). We walked around the top levee that protected the garden from the river and got to see the layout of it and several very nice views of the garden and the Chateau. I think it won't come as a surprise when you all hear that I grabbed the camera at that point. Something I think I should note: gardens are meant for thinking. You walk through a garden and can think about philosophical things, can think about artsy things, etc.. Really you can think about anything and everything when alone in a garden. Gardens are also wonderful places to have parties-if you like the people who attend. I love the bog party that Mr. and Mrs. Barlow always had when they lived on Garritt street. I also loved how my neighbors, the Bennetts and Jobes would sit out in their yards and talk. Sometimes the Jobes would walk over to the Bennetts and they'd sit on the patio out there where they'd immerse themselves in conversation and relax in the garden.

After looking at the gardens we went into the Orangerie , a fancy restaurant where we got to sit down and take our time eating (rather than go to the packed self-service area). I decided I was going to order French sausages and hope that I wouldn't get the same nasty stuff I'd gotten before. I was disappointed. I got the same thing as before. I ate half of this sausage (with a bit more ease because the sauce tasted good) before I got to the point where I felt I was going to throw it all up and then I turned to the rest of my food. As I ate we decided that I was eating chitlins (pig intestines), and that this way of cooking chitlins was too dignified (they taste better fried and salted like potato chips). Poppy stated that the sausage was simply different, not bad. I have to say that while yes it was different, it was different in BAD way for me. I've eaten things that were vvvvvery different from the average meal and I've liked them. An example: moon cakes, and another example: aligator meat.

I ate a desert that made up for the nasty sausage and then we walked through the farm and the muddy garden there before heading out to the car to drive back to Amboise. Once back we went to the room where I typed like a mad person until it was time for us to go find a restaurant that we'd seen when walking through the back ally's. It didn't take Poppy long to find it, it took us a long time to eat our dinner because I was a chatter box, and it felt like it took forever to walk back to the hotel because I was really tired and cold.

It did not take long for me to fall asleep that night.

11/09/08 Chateau Chambord, and Chateau Royal de Amboise

2008-11-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

Yo quiero hablar en la telefono con mi madre. Mi madre y yo tenemos muchas compras hablar en. En una pequeno tiempo yo voy a mi casa en las Estados Unidos.

This was a day filled with Chateaus. We decided at breakfast that we'd go to the Chateau that was the farthest away and then work our way back, so the first Chateau on our list was Chateau Chambord.

Famous for it's grandeur- aren't they all? and famous for it's double spiral staircase that Leonardo Da Vinci supposedly designed for it.

I left the laptop in the room because I knew two things: 1) I didn't want to type because I wanted to look, and 2) that the roads we were going to take might very well be curvy because we weren't going to be on the highway. My eyes were used for sign-hunting, and for taking in the countryside. Something that struck me was the massive amounts of mistletoe that was growing all over the leaf-barren trees. These clusters of fawned-over greenery seemed to cover a large percent of the barren branches. I'm sure that the couples who travel through the area around Christmas time would be quite joyous to see these (although I'm certain they'll be exhausted before the mistletoe runs out).

When we reached the Chateau Chambord the first thing we all noticed was the roof. The central building had it's roof covered in turrets, towers, cupolas, and dormers. It was like seeing a Disney Castle all over again.

The Chateau Chambord was indeed massive, the central building having 4 stories (including the terrace on the roof where people were up walking around), and the outer wall (or buildings) were two stories high on three sides and three stories high on one. When we were in the central courtyard we read up on the Chateau Chambord.

Apparently the Chateau Chambord was started by Francois I after he came back from Italy. Francois I wanted to built this Chateau as his hunting lodge because he dearly loved to hunt, and he'd grown a fondness for Italian architecture (again I point at the double staircase that Leonardo Da Vinci is said to have designed for the Chateau). Francois I wanted to make this the most grand castle in the world so he could further enhance his name. He never got to see it finished.

The Chateau's layout was ingenious. We only got to walk around in the central building and we only saw maybe 15-20 rooms (not all of them had furniture because Francois I supposedly had a moving court and took his furniture with him), and I still know that the layout was brilliant. It was built in the shape of a cross. The central cross formed the main hallways and divided up the four living sections on each floor. Each square living section also had the tower apartments connected to it. These rooms did not always have hallways to keep people from having to walk through bedrooms to reach their own beds, but that's ok because people could move everywhere else with ease. In the middle of the cross there was the double spiral staircase where one person could take one flight of steps and another person take the other flight. The two could see each other, but they never ran into each other (this was another one of those things that I thoroughly enjoyed staring openly at). Each of the rooms we visited had a fireplace (heat is for the privileged though and the nooks that the servants got didn't have them). Those servants that didn't get a personal fireplace though were not out of luck. We were warmed in multiple rooms by the fire that was lit in one fireplace in the central hallway.

Within the Chateau we visited the Kings chambers, the Queens chambers, the Kings mistress's room, and various other rooms where the previous owners got to show themselves off in their portraits (Ahmee and I laughed over Francois I's painting where he'd slaughtered a wild pig and all the women were fawning over him-some even fainting). We also got to visit the chapel which did not face the proper direction: with the alter to the East and the rest to the West. I found it interesting that the cross that was on the roof was placed there in the 19th century, not before. I also found it interesting to read that the Chateau wasn't used too often. I can list the amount it was used (I'm quoting the official pamphlet here):

Chambord's famous figures and intermittent residents:

Francis I (1494-1547) King of France, ordered the chateau to be built - Gaston d' Orleans (1608-1660) Louis XIII's brother, stayed at Chambord and Blois from 1634 and 1652 to 1660 - Louis XIV (1638-1715) King of France, stayed at Chambord nine times between 1660 and 1685 - Stanislaus Leszczynski (1677-1766) exiled King of Poland and Louis XV's father-in-law, lived here from 1725 to 1733 - The Marechal de Saxe (1696-1750) was given the estate by Louis XV and for two years threw sumptuous parties here - The Duc de Bordeaux, Comte de Chambord (1820-1883) Charles X's grandson, received the chateau by public subscription in 1821 - The French government bought the chateau from the Comte de Chambord's heirs in 1930

I'm not sure where Ahmee read it, but she also told me that someone who'd been given the Chateau as a gift refused to live there because it was "infested with mosquitos".

Moving beyond the people who built/added on to the Chateau and who didn't live there too often. My two favorite things about the Chateau Chambord were: the spiral staircases and the terraced rooftop. We got to walk around on the roof with all the really cool towers! It was soooo neat. Not only did I have a great time looking at the architectural pieces (I always do that), I also enjoyed looked at: the extensive park that was spread out below us, and the tiny people who were walking on the gravel path up to the Chatteau. Every time I'm above people in a gargoyle-like place I want to shout, "I can see you!" This impulse only grows stronger when the people look up and point.

When one goes up one must come down. After seeing the rooftop and the view from it we went all the way back down to the bottom and out through the giftshop (buying only postcards). After all our hiking we were pretty hungry. We stopped in a little Disney-world-like village that was just next to the parking lot and only a 3 minute walk from the Chateau to grab ourselves a bite to eat. While we ate our cheese-spread sandwiches (I thought it was yummy) we got sprinkled on a bit. By the time we got up and headed past the toilets (where you have to pay 40 cents to go in) it was raining, but not very hard. It was the perfect time to get in the car and go: when we're cold and wet.

We headed back the way we came, making the decision to simply stay in Amboise and visit the Chateau there instead of rushing to see the other Chateau. This was fine by me because I was ready to be back in Amboise, it felt very homey to me for some reason. After driving past the vineyards, the empty fields that contained only hunters, and my mistletoe trees we arrived back at Amboise. We parked the car at the hotel and walked to the very fortified Chateau Royal, stopping only once to reserve our seats at a restaurant.

This was basically a walled hill that had the Chateau perched on top and we got to walk up the ramp that went through the gate and around past the giftshop. There we came into view of the Chatteau Royal, the gardens at the tip top of the hill, and the St. Hubert Chapel. Before we headed into the chapel where Leonardo Da Vinci is buried we looked out at the town of Amboise. Even though the view was incredible I never got too close to the stone wall. Why? It was raining and windy and any time I got close to the edge my umbrella would threaten to come out of my hands.

After the tour group shuffled out of St. Hubert's chapel we went in to take a look at the stained glass windows, at the Carrara marble carving, at the laced stone, and at Leonardo Da Vinci's gravesite. His grave has a plaque with his aged face on it and his name beneath. Two flowers were placed on top of his grave. I was surprised there weren't more.

We didn't stay in St. Huberts chapel long, we wanted to go into the Chateau and then check out the gardens. So, we went in, we saw the guards room, the sentries walk (where we had an excellent view of the river and the valley Loire), the Noble guards room (noble men who "guarded" the King), the drummers room (dressing room), the council chamber (which was where the monarch held his council it "would be the forerunner of modern government" is what the pamphlet says), the Louis-Philippe Rooms (these were renovated by Louis-Philippe and so used a more modern style than the tapestried rooms of before), the music room (which contained the portrait of Abd El-Kader, a Prisoner of State from Algeria who lived with his family and retinue from 1848 till he was liberated by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte), and the Cavalry Towers. From the cavalry towers we got a almost 360 degree view. You could see for miles from this point and I enjoyed looking down at the high river (the rain had made the level of the water rise), the town, the gardens, and the valley off on the other side of the river. After this we went out to the gardens where we got a good look at fancy balls (these were bushes that were all trimmed up and lined up on the hillside) and at the garden that is dedicated to Abd El-Kader and his family who died at Amboise.

We left through the giftshop, through a courtyard, and down a ramped tower that was designed to allow horse-drawn carriages to descend to the main street. It was hilarious looking at the carved faces that were in the pillars. One was so obviously jeering at us that Ahmee and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. We made sure to try and get a picture of this funny fellow and then we left the Chateau Royal to again face the cobbled streets of Amboise. Since we had plenty of time to kill, we went back to the hotel where I proceeded to spend a fair amount of time emailing people (these were not very pretty emails).

When we left to go to the fancy restaurant I was troubled. The contents of the emails were painful, and all throughout the dinner I wondered what on earth I would hear back. The food was delicious, if thinly spread, and the drinks were fantastic, I was just NOT there. There have been quite a few times on this trip where that has happened, far more than I've recorded at any rate.

When we got back to the hotel I grabbed the computer and went down to the breakfast room to get even worse news. I ran out of time before I could hear back from people though and I took the computer back up to the room, thoroughly upset about how things seemed to be spiraling and how my angry emails had really not helped things. I wanted to go home so I could fix things, so I could talk to people, so I could finally set things right rather than beat around the bush. I told Ahmee and Poppy this and I told them other things. They grabbed the phone and called my Momma, who I got to talk to for a little under 20 minutes. Both of us were upset, but neither one of us took on a nasty tone during the short conversation, and we both left the conversation feeling slightly better (me much much more so). I was to stay in Europe for my last 3 weeks (I'd forgotten that again, and Momma told me that I should stay and finish the trip), and we were to continue talking through email (Momma wanted me to get a sky phone-Ahmee said no way because we only have 3 weeks left). I also got to talk to my wee sister Emma whose voice has gone and changed on me slightly and who I think has had her confidence enhanced while I've been away. When I get back she'll be about as tall as my mother and she'll have the courage (or the nerve the rascal) to knock me around a bit. I don't mind if she knocks me over with a hug, I miss her and my Momma tons. I find it funny that Em will be 13 in two months and she's already, what, 3/4's of an inch away from being as tall as my Momma (who's 5'8 3/4").

I fell asleep shortly after hanging up with them, feeling much much better about more than one situation. Apparently I was so pleased that I sang in my sleep.

11/08/08 We head into Amboise, and look around the Chateaus Luce.

2008-11-12T08:22:00.002-08:00

Me gusta la ciudad de Amboise. La ciudad es pequeno y bonita. Nosotros gustamos salir en la ciudad porque nosotros gustamos las personas y otros cosas de la ciudad.

We have exactly 3 weeks left of this trip. That's the news I got this morning when we went to eat breakfast. It was strange, that breakfast was. I don't know if Ahmee and Poppy noticed this, but we were sitting in an odd spot. It wasn't the positioning of the table or the amazing view we got from sitting there, it was the strange likeness we had to the people who were sitting in the table right next to us (if you were standing at the bar we were on the right and they were on the left). There were three people sitting next to us: a grandfather, a grandmother, and a granddaughter. The granddaughter looked my age while the two elders looked a bit older than Ahmee and Poppy (at least he did-he had almost white hair). I don't remember if the men and the women were sitting parallel from each other, but I do know that the granddaughter was sitting just behind me. Back to back, mirror images of the same members of family just different families (they spoke French). Quite strange.

Moving on from one of the little things I happen to notice, we ate, we drank, and we talked. All of us were stunned to realize that we had exactly 3 weeks left to our trip. I found the news to be pretty depressing and after we'd packed up our things and put them in the car and had gotten on the road I kept asking to make sure that we really only had just 3 weeks left. Later on when we were walking around Amboise I continued to ask. Thing is though it wasn't like the whole "are we there yet?" I didn't ask them but maybe 3 times that day. I was going through all the things we still had left to do and I realized just how short of a time we had left, I was astounded that we really had so little time.

When we stopped in Amboise we got out and looked for the information center. We didn't find it there but we did find a plaque that told us the names of the hotels and where to find them. Funnily enough as we were looking at hotels a man came up and asked us where something was (in french), when we all looked at each other and at him with skeptical glances he turned to an incoming town-lady and asked her the same question. She quickly gave him directions and he was on his way. Ahmee then asked the lady where we could find Clos de Amboise, the hotel we wanted to stay in for the night. She gave us our directions and we thanked her many times over before taking off to find the hotel, to get ourselves a room, and then to walk back through the nippy air and the cobblestone streets.

We drove back to the Clos de Amboise, parked in the tiny parking lot, took our things up the staircase to our room (which I think is gorgeous), and went back to the main road where we found THE tourist information center and asked about the Chateaus in the area. We had no idea that there were so many Chateaus in the Loire Valley. There were at least 30 Chateaus there. We managed to narrow it down to 5 that we wanted to see. We decided that we'd make sure to see the: Chateau Chambord (momma went and saw this Chateau and had to take two different pictures and glue them together in order to get the whole thing), the Chateau Chenonceaux, the Chateau Royal (in Amboise), the Chateau Villandry (for the gardens), and the Chateau Luce (famous for being Leonardo Da Vinci's home the last 3 years of his life). We decided to visit the Chateau Luce first. Since this was just outside town and was only a 10 minute walk away we hoofed it through the streets, peaking through windows and gazing around us at the very very cute town. As we got closer to the Chateau we saw little houses that had been built into the rock face. Grottos, or caves, were turned into modern-day homes. I made sure to get a picture of one of these houses.

Once at the Chateau we walked right in and around the building without ever once being required to show our tickets that we'd purchased at the information center. I found it interesting and I thought of all the people I'd seen so far who would take advantage of the situation to get in without having to pay a thing. I also found it interesting that Leonardo Da Vinci got invited by King Francois I to come and live in this Chateau and to work for the king. He lived there for 3 years and made quite a lot of money designing sets, preparing parties, drawing out his designs, inventing, painting, and talking to the King about scientific things.

After being cast out of Florence for being a child molester (we were told in Florence that Leonardo Da Vinci was bisexual-this would've been fine with the Florentines, but he went too far when he started fooling around with really young boys) Leonardo Da Vinci went to Austria and then to France where he was the Kings pet. I found a lot of things interesting about this Chateau. I loved how they had models of the different inventions to Leonardo Da Vinci had made sketches of, and I loved how they showed us his room and the rooms he used as his studios (he did continue to paint). Something I found interesting though was that one of Leonardo Da Vinci's favorite views was that of the Chateau of the King (Chateau Royal).

Something else that I found incredibly interesting was that the King often had Leonardo Da Vinci come and talk to him every night where they supposedly had long intellectual conversations. To add one more little twist: in the basement of the Chateau Luce there's a "secret tunnel" that they suspect was used by the King or by Leonardo Da Vinci to visit each other (this tunnel does indeed go to the Chateau Royal).

Now, maybe I'm looking too far into things, but I can't help but get the slightest impression that King Francois I was bisexual or gay. I have nothing against those who are bisexual or gay, actually I think that people in today's society should zip their traps about gay and bi people.

Why? I shall simply point out the reason why J.K. Rowling made Dumbeldore gay: sooooooo many brilliant men of the past who contributed sooooooo much and became famous for their brilliance and their passion for what they did were gay or bisexual. Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Plato are the first three men that come to mind that I know were gay List . Lay off of gay and bi people people.

Moving on. We got to look at the home of Leonardo Da Vinci, and as usual I took a huge interest in seeing the environment he lived in and did so much in for 3 years of his life. Something that we all three really enjoyed though was looking at the models that were inside and outside the Chateau Luce. Once you got out onto the grounds, or the very large park, you were able to see life-size models of the things Da Vinci drew and thought of. My favorite things to look at were the suspension bridges and the bridge that could be moved so that a ship could pass down the river (Ahmee and I still aren't sure if this bridge swung around or rose up). We were walking around outside the chateau longer than we were inside and we were really enjoying ourselves.

After we left the Chateau we headed back into the main streets of Amboise where we looked for a place to stop and eat. Before we did that though disaster just about struck me down. I'm still not entirely sure exactly what caused this, but I'm certainly not surprised that it happened (and I wasn't surprised when it happened either). I knew that at some point on this trip one of us would stumble and fall over something. I'm glad I'm the one who did it. Ahmee's bones break far too easily, and I'm not sure how Poppy'd take it. At any rate, I was walking along on the sidewalk back into the center of Amboise when I turned and noticed that Ahmee and Poppy were busy peering into a shop window. As always I was curious to find out what they were looking at. So what did I do? I stepped off the sidewalk to walk across the street and check out this window. My left foot was on the yellow part of the sidewalk (this was slightly curved) and as my right foot moved forward and down to step on the black pavement this left foot slide down the yellow, twisting my ankle and causing the rest of me to go down. I did not get any scrapes or bruises on my hands, arms, or legs, and my ankle did not snap (it might look dainty but it's survived worse falls). My fall attracted Ahmee and Poppy's attention immediately. How'd that happen? Well, the camera was in my left hand and when that hit the ground it made a loud cracking noise (so they probably initially thought I'd really broken something when it was just the camera). I just kept moving and within 10 minutes my ankle felt just fine.

I kept moving when we stopped and checked out stores (shifting feet works as movement), and when we stopped to check out restaurants. We had a good time finding a place to eat dinner, but we managed to get a seat in the back of the restaurant with all the other misfits who had not made a reservation. Our seat was right next to the kitchen and the restroom. This could be a simply cruel place to seat truly hungry travelers because the scents of delicious cuisine kept wafting out of the kitchen as tray after tray passed before our eyes, none of which were destined to sit at our table. I did say that it'd be cruel for the hungry travelers for a good reason. None of us were desperately hungry. We were quite able to eat our bread and drink our beverages without being tortured by the smelly goods coming out of the kitchen.

We did the usual, eat, drink (me water), and be merry and then once we were done we walked through the streets back to the hotel. The street had been filled with people and things for sale before, now when we were heading back it was like a ghost town, no soul in sight. Ahmee made sure to point this out and I made sure to point out the yellow tile rocks that made up main street and how they were slicker than dog snot (didn't really use that phrase but I'm using it here). Once back at the hotel we grabbed the computer and went down into the lobby/breakfast room to email people.

After that we went back upstairs to go to bed.

11/07/08 We head North to try and get close to the Chateaus-Land known as the Loire Valley

2008-11-12T08:22:00.001-08:00

La Chateaus de Frances son casas moy grande para la familias "supremes". Muchas Chateaus tiene jardines grandes. Me gusta mucho las jardines.

This morning we woke up much earlier than normal. The reason why was we got a bit of sun through our windows. Really quite wonderful to be able to wake up, and stick your head out the window into the sunlight to sniff the crisp autumn air and see the courtyard full of plants and cafe tables. Course, the only disadvantage is that all the other windows along the courtyard are within sight, meaning that yours is equally visible. We closed our blinds when we got dressed (btw, this is not the first time we've had to do this, normally we all go into the "phone booth").

We ate breakfast, and then grabbed our things to hit the road. We had a lot of ground to cover this day and we wanted to get as close to the Loire Valley as we could. When planning our route Ahmee didn't realize that the Loire Valley is just south of Paris. When we realized this we had a decision to make: miss Madrid for Chateaus, or miss Chateaus for Madrid. It's pretty obvious which one we picked. I think we all like France a great deal.

As we chugged on the highway (this cars chugs at you) I did some more schoolwork. I don't know if people know this, but we've officially reached the point at my school where we only have 3 weeks left to the grading period. This means two things: 1) I have to make sure to keep up (I'm miserably behind in Spanish, but my other classes are fine), and 2) our trip is going to come to an end in a couple of weeks.

I wrote and wrote and wrote a bit more, and every now and then I'd take a break to look out the window at the wonderful countryside. I've decided that I'm beginning to get a bit homesick. The sight of rolling hills covered with colored leaves coupled with fields of corn and other goodies made me warm and fuzzy inside (yes that was a reference to Legally Blonde 2). Perhaps it's just that in the cold weather I like to be close to home, then again, maybe it's just that I like autumn (even if I thoroughly dislike the cold that goes with it).

We eventually reached the point where we knew we had to get off the highway and find a hotel. Now the planet has tilted and the daylight hours are getting shorter we have less time to find a hotel before nightfall (unless we get up earlier and that just isn't going to happen any time soon). This forced me to put away the computer and my work for a good half hour too search with Ahmee and Poppy for a hotel. The first town we went into we didn't find one (but then we also managed to avoid the main street), but when we got back on the highway we traveled for about 15 minutes and wa la we found one. This hotel was right next to the service areas, so it was pretty much a truck stop hotel. It was not bad at all.

The hotel was shaped like a U and we were on the right hand curve to the inside. We didn't have the spectacular view that the main desk and restaurant had of the mountains to the rear, we just had the windows of our neighbors across the semi-courtyard. Instead of hopping right back on the computer I let the computer recharge (it is possible to work with it plugged up but by then I was zapped of all motivation) and I decided it was time to check out our pretties. Some people might chuckle at my use of the word pretties for the huge collection of things we've got to give out to various people/keep for ourselves, but there really is no other word for them. They're just pretty. My rule of thumb is that you do not give someone something that you yourself wouldn't want to receive, so everything I've gotten I think is quite beautiful. It first started out with Ahmee's tablecloth that she got in Arles and her napkins and other various clothes. We set up the table on Ahmee's bed and then we decided that we wanted to check out everything. The table was the perfect background. I put all of my presents for people on the bed and went out and got all of our other treasures out of the trunk of the car to spread out. It was amazing just how much we've accumulated. I lined the back wall with the postcards and prints, while we filled up the bed with our things. I did not take a picture of the pretties, even though I really really wanted to. We sat there admiring the things we'd gotten and rehashing why we wanted to give so and so this particular pretty or that particular pretty. Unfortunately this talk didn't get to last very long. We had to pack up our things so we could go eat dinner and then go to sleep.

At the restaurant I discovered the one food someone should NEVER EVER get while in France. All other foods in France are wonderfully tasting, all of the nasty tasting things in France were combined into this one item. Sausage. Those of you who plan to go to France I advise you to neeeeeeever get the sausage. I'm a lover of sausage (my mom's told me that my first word was not Momma or Daddy, but was sausage), and this stuff made me want to gag. I got a very large thing that looked similar to a sausage. It looked just fine on the outside. When I cut into the thing though I met a terrible smell and an even worse sight. There were little white things that made up my sausage. They looked like some sort of animals intestines. The smell and the sight made me recoil, but it did not keep me from giving the sausage a good try. I ended up eating half of the sausage and then finally deciding that I'd had enough of the rubbery texture and the taste that managed to encompass all nasty smells I've smelled so far on this trip. Truly nasty stuff.

After the first terrible dinner I'd had in France we went back to the room where I did the usual: work a bit, get ready for bed, and fall asleep.

11/06/08 We retrace our steps in daylight, get toe socks, go to the Museum, eat lunch, walk around a short bit, and then head back so I can work

2008-11-12T08:20:00.002-08:00

Yo veo muchas personas y cosas en la dia. Yo no quiero trabajar para la dia porque yo quiero ver mas cosas. Necesito trabajar para mi escuela, es moy importante. Yo veo cosas un otro tiempo.

Breakfast at this hotel was much better than the dinner we got. It was a good thing too, we wouldn't have known what to do otherwise because the restaurants run on a different time that what we're used to.

We ate, got dressed, and then went out to retrace the tour we took the night before when it had been drizzling and dark. We didn't do too bad at all. We managed to get around where we wanted to go, and see everything we wanted to see and then some. We had wanted to make sure we saw the things we'd been given information on the night before. Ahmee also wanted to go check out the St. Trophimes Cloitre so we got to go into this church (dodging the large group of homeless people who had taken root on the front steps) and into the courtyard of the church. It wasn't overly decorated, it was simple, clean, and that's what we liked about it. The facade of the church was it's prettiest part.

As we walked around looking at these different things that we'd already seen before I caught sight of a stand of socks. I don't know how many people know this or not, but I've developed a love for socks that's just about as strong as my love for chocolate. Every year for Christmas recently I've asked for socks. I must say that it's not just normal socks that suit me. I don't like the plain Jane white socks. I like toe-socks, colorful socks, knee high socks, socks with patterns, thick socks, thin socks, and socks that have funny messages on them. Why do I like socks so much? Well, a short version would be because Dumbledore (Harry Potter) sees himself holding a nice pair of socks when he looks into the mirror of Erased (sp?), but I know that I've also grown a fondness for feet (courtesy of my mothers painting of feet that she hung up in our bathroom when I was a kid). Currently I have several plain Jane socks, those aren't too worn out (other than my two pairs of white socks-those go with anything where as black socks only go with one thing-black shoes), but my toe socks that don't match, those are worn out. My big toe on both of those socks is just about gone, and my heels have holes in them. Kinda sad really. When I saw this shop that had tons of socks for sale, I looked down at my worn out toe socks (which I was indeed wearing) and said, "I'm sorry baby's but I think you've had enough." Not really, I just asked Ahmee if I could get some other toe socks. I got pink and grey toe socks with orange cat grippers and silver stars. I love em.

After the sock episode we went to the Museum where we went into the rabbits hole (Alice and Wonderland). Some of the rooms were interesting to say the least. There was one room that was dedicated to Merci, or thankyou. All it had in there was a knee-high stack of papers that had a printed merci in the middle of it, black panels, and a tv screen that had a woman on it doing orgasmic merci's. Not all the time, just every 15 minutes. How do I know? Ahmee took a while and we ended up waiting on her. There were a few rooms that appeared to me to have no specific message at all, and rooms where it was quite clear what he (the designer) wanted to push. An example, there was a room for the female and a room for the male, there was a room for Picasso, there was a room for oppressed souls (love the picture of the one woman who actually smiled for the camera), there were some rooms that were dedicated to x-ray type photographs, and there was a room dedicated to fashion design. Obviously these weren't all of the rooms. There were over 30 rooms in that museum and we looked through them all (except for the ones that were just dedicated to sound effects) and in each room there was some kind of fashion piece. Some rooms had dresses, some had jewelry, some had shoes, etc.. I didn't like any of the jewelry. The dresses were fun to look at (I certainly found more I'd wear than Ahmee did), but some were just far too filled up. Ahmee has said that many designers view their clothes as pieces of art for your body. My view is that the clothes should be visually satisfying to the wearer and at the same time flatter the wearers body. Got a lot of design ideas by going through that museum (I loved the room dedicated to fashion sketches).

After the museum we went and ate lunch at a sea-food restaurant (the sea is only 30 minutes away), walked back to the amphitheater, window shopped for a short bit (and did buy a few things so I suppose it's shopping), and then we went back up to the hotel where I worked on schoolwork until dinnertime. For dinner we went out to a restaurant that was just next to the hotel but had ten times better food. This restaurant had a deceiving exterior, it was painted green and looked like the average old building, however if you looked through the second story windows you could see the glass panels that would make up a sky scraper. We'd been told by Janice that the people weren't allowed to change the exterior of the buildings, but they could do anything they wanted with the interior. Basically they had to keep up the old image because Arles is a huge tourist destination and the old is what they come to see, but the people who live there who want a change can do so by simply keeping the framework or facade of the building. Only the people who were really looking would've seen the modern-like structure hidden behind the old. It was brilliant.

We ate, drank (yes I did have a bit of wine as in less than a glass), and talked (me a bit loudly-I got fussed at) in this restaurant. After dinner we were all really tired so we went back to our room where we all got ready for bed (meaning I finished what I was doing, sent it off, emailed people, and then crawled into my overly comfy bed).

11/05/08 OBAMA WINS THE ELECTION!!!!! and we head off to France to the amazing city of Arles :D :D :D

2008-11-12T08:20:00.001-08:00

OBAMA ES LA PRESIDENT DE LA ESTADOS UNIDOS!!!!!!! Yo moy feliz y yo quiero gritar porque yo estupendo. Yo salgo in la ciudad de Rapallo con una rier.

Our wake up call this morning was the best one I've gotten in a looooong time. Basically, Ahmee woke up, and started fumbling around. Poppy asked what she was up to and she said she was looking for the remote. This immediately had me awake and shortly after I sat right up in bed Ahmee found the remote and turned on the tv to CNN where we saw Obama's face filling up the screen. I have no idea what noises I made out loud, but inside I was dancing and hooting and hollering that Obama won the election. My internal hooting and hollering slowly started dimming as the CNN people started talking about things I already knew about by reading and deductive reasoning (that Obama had to hit the ground running, that he'd been preparing to do so for months, and that he had a tidal wave of things to do and to fix). Basically, I wanted to shout at the tv, "Shut up and let me see his speech damn it!" They replayed Obama's speech five minutes after I thought this.

As we sat there listening to that fantastic speech I looked around and saw that Poppy had watery eyes, and that Ahmee had the same smile on that I did. This was the best news we'd gotten from the U.S. in a long time, and let me tell you this made me soo happy and still makes me happy that he was elected and not McCain. Obama's speech talked about the battle they'd gotten through, thanked those who made it possible, and warned the country that hard times were still ahead-and that his election was not the answer to our problems- that he still needs our help. Down to earth, yet uplifting at the same time. Incredible, awe-inspiring, tear producing, jaw dropping, and motivating are the main things I can say about that speech. I loved it. We're looking at a President who will be noted in our History books ladies and gents, and I think that he's going to take up more than just a footnote or a page. He's going to take up multiple chapters.

After watching the news till about 8 in the morning we all got up, got dressed, packed our things, ate breakfast (toasting our new president of course), and then left to head north on the highway. This time I needed to write summaries for articles. The tunnels that we passed through made my job difficult and made me get a major headache. After we'd passed into France and eaten at a truck stop (the food in France is great even at truck stops) I put my things away for a bit so my pressured brain could have a rest. Coca cola coupled with that break made me able to continue working. I got a test done on the road and a couple article summaries (did three-needed three more, I take forever on my summaries because I add a whole lot to the parts about how the information could effect others). I was happy to be back in France. The language sounded just like English still (not that that means I can speak it or always understand it), the hills were reminding me of home, we were heading back into fall where the trees were actually changing color, and the roads weren't stuffed with insane drivers. When I heard that we were going to be staying the night in Arles, the town that Vincent Van Gogh lived in a large percentage of his life, I got excited. I really really like Vincent Van Gogh. Loved seeing the museum that housed so much of his work when we were in Amsterdam because it displayed his life through his work. In Arles I could find out a bit more about the "climax" of Van Gogh's life. I had no idea that Arles would have a lot more in store.

We found a place to park (parking garage), and went to the information desk where we were shocked to hear English Christmas Songs on the radio. We got a room in the Candal (something like that), and found out about a tour that we could possibly get in English (the lady normally did it in French and if anyone else showed up who wanted it in French then she'd have to do it in French). We thanked the two people who'd helped us, ran and checked out the hotel, ran and grabbed our things and lugged them up the steps of the park (that Vincent Van Gogh painted!!!), I changed my shoes, and then we rushed back to the information center to catch the tour guide just as they were closing up the information center.

Our tour guide, Janice, told Poppy and I first about how she came to France to live with the man she married in Arles. She kept her answers short and to the point, but she wasn't rude. I could tell she'd been asked that question countless times when Ahmee asked the same question later and she delivered the exact same answer (in the exact same tone). I also could tell that when she gave her tours she often was putting on a show, the same show she'd been giving for years. She was very happy to have us pull her out of her speech to answer questions, some of which she hadn't heard before. You want to know how I could tell she was putting on a well-rehearsed show? She never looked directly at Ahmee, Poppy, or me. She would stop and talk about something and she'd be facing us and she'd do all the motions, but she never looked directly at us. She looked past us and all around us. If we had been a huge tour group then this would've been fine, no one would've been able to tell that she wasn't really speaking to anyone in particular, that she was simply rehashing something she'd gone over many many many times. The tour was still good though. We got to look at the Roman Theater,

at the Amphitheater (which still gets used today for bullfighting), at the City Hall that was built by the same architect that built Versailles (had a really, really cool ceiling),

at the church of St. Trohpime (which had homeless people hanging out on the steps and all around it-had two young boys walk up and get right in our faces-they came out of the dark and surprised me when the cup was rattled just under my nose), at the square with the cafe Vincent Van Gogh painted, and at the hospital Vincent Van Gogh stayed in after he cut off part of his ear. In the square with Vincent's cafe, which is now named "Cafe Van Gogh" Janice told us that Vincent hardly ever ate at that cafe because it was a cafe where the rich tourists ate at (ritsy hotel was just across the square). Janice also told us something quite comical. The statue that stood in the middle of the square was the statue of the man Pierre Mistral who pushed for the Provencale language (combo of French, Spanish, and Italian) to be used in poetry. Pierre Mistral was incredibly famous during his life, and Vincent wrote in his letters that he knew he was there and he wanted to meet him but he never got to. Vincent during life was never famous and was never recognized as great anywhere (except for in his brothers home), including in Arles, whereas this man was famous in life and was largely popular for his work when he lived in Arles. Now they're both dead, the man who was famous in life has a statue that has no meaning to the people, while the man who was invisible in life has a cafe with his name on it and EVERYONE knows exactly who he is. I agree with Janice, I find that quite funny.

When the tour ended at the hospital Vincent stayed in (and became even worse than when he started because he got put into a cell away from everyone), we heard about an incredible museum. Course we'd heard about several different things that we needed to visit, but this museum struck at me. Janice told us that this museum, Reattu, was currently holding an expedition of art where a famous designer (Christian Lacroix) picked out various pieces of art and photographs and put in many rooms his designs. We decided we had to go see this the very next day.

Janice pointed out which direction we wanted to go to find restaurants and then we said our goodbyes. What she didn't tell us was that restaurants wouldn't be opening up for another half hour or so. We ended up walking from restaurant to restaurant looking for a place to sit down and eat. We finally gave up and just went back to the hotel where we had "snack food" for dinner. Ahmee normally doesn't get sweets, this night she grabbed herself some.

After dinner we went up and I wrote three more summaries and then went to sleep.

11/04/08 We Go to the Hill-town of Riomaggiore

2008-11-12T08:19:00.001-08:00

Riomaggiore, Riomaggiore, la ciudad de la montana. En la dia llueve muchas tiempos. Mi pantelones y zapatos tiene agua en los.

This morning we ate breakfast, got directions to the train station, and then hoofed it through the town to the train station. As we walked through we did the usual thing: we peeked in windows. We made sure to keep moving though because we were told that the first train for Riomaggiore left at 10 o' clock. Once at the train station we got our tickets and went to platform A where we saw we had a half hour wait. We decided we'd grab ourselves a Herald Tribune, the newspaper I've been using throughout this trip for my current events class (is ten times better than USA Today), and stand close to each other (it was raining and the benches along the walls were getting wet while the people standing were dry) as we each took turns reading different articles, all of us grabbing for the articles over the election and what the candidates were doing. I couldn't help laughing at how much different the candidates were. I must've looked pretty strange, standing on that platform in a pink coat reading an English Newspaper and laughing at the news. Pretty odd combination, one you definitely don't see every day here in Italy.

My laughter stopped though when I heard Ahmee and Poppy ask, "Where did our train go!?" One minute it was on the board, the next minute it was gone. We got Poppy to go check what was going on and the lady at the desk simply told him it was at 11:00, basically, that we had another hour to wait. The disappearing train act wasn't one that was initially well liked (especially by us) but then when we realized we had time to go grab hot chocolate and window shop some more we had a good time from it. At least all three of us did until Ahmee bought something, and then Poppy was a bit tense over his pocketbook the rest of the time.

When we went back to the train station the second time we got on a train at the right time. We weren't sure where it was going, but we got on anyway and asked around. We were heading in the right direction. As we sped through tunnel after tunnel and saw the sea more and more I leaned my head against the head rest and thought. This might sound odd because I never mention just plain thinking in my blogs, but in this case the contents of my thoughts I would not wish to project. I went back and forth between being lost in a daydream to being lost in serious debate (you can do that within your own head). I was surprised when it was time to get off the train. I didn't think we'd been on the train nearly long enough, but apparently we'd been on it for over an hour.

When we got off the train we found the weather to be worse in Riomaggiore than it was in Ramallo. The wind turned several umbrellas inside out, the rain lashed at us and managed to make all three of us cold within minutes.

After checking to see if the path was open to walk on - there's a walking path between 5 cute villages there- we got to the main town (got to pass through a mosaic-covered tunnel)and went into the closest restaurant to grab ourselves lunch and a hot drink. This was a well-loved restaurant. It was perfectly situated to be well-loved. It was right next to the train station, but obviously within the town thus making it the perfect place for tourists to stop and grab a "quick" bite to eat. None of us mind waiting for our food, and none of us mind waiting for anyone else to finish eating (although I have to say that my being the last one done EVERY TIME tends to bother me a bit), we like savoring our food. This time we didn't savor as much because we wanted to get out and see the town that was clinging to the mountainside. Once done we went back out into the rain and wind to traverse down to the sea. The sea was not far away, but the slick cobblestones forced us to slow down. Even though I was busy watching my step as we went down I managed to see a cool art gallery on the left. We went down in the boat yard, up around to a point where we could look at the waves crashing into the cliffs and at the rocks that looked like they'd jutted up during an earthquake (plate tectonics rule). We didn't stay long, opting to head back up into the village to check out the church and the sanctuary that had been built by a family in memory of their child. Before we got back up to the main section of town I stopped in the art gallery that was, according to the man there, "Closed, but ok for you to go in." As Ahmee and I poked around Poppy and the man started talking, the runner of the store was quite fluent in English and Ahmee and Poppy thoroughly enjoyed talking to him. Before Ahmee joined in on the conversation she pointed out a print that had my name written all over it. It was the exact same picture we'd seen walking around in the boat yards, and it was colorful, and it was full of light, and it was *sigh* really really nice. We asked if we could buy it, to which the man said yes of course (and told us that the real painting was in New York in a museum, but that the artist had grown up there). Shortly after we asked this I saw the tabby cat that was sitting in the chair in front of his desk, I crouched down immediately and started petting the cat (waking it up-but the cat didn't mind, he looooved being petted). The man told me that the cat was not for sale.

After nabbing an awesome print we went up to the main village to look into shops, glance up ally's, do double takes at cars and tritrucks that dared travel in the road (tritrucks are trucks that have three wheels-they're really common in Italy), and check out the church and the sanctuary. I enjoyed the shops, ally's, gardens, and cars more than the church and the sanctuary. The church was Romanesque, meaning, it was dark. We could hard see anything in there and I think we were mostly just happy to get out of the rain by the time we got to the sanctuary.

The sanctuary wasn't our last stop in the village, we went back to the restaurant to see if we could get some hot chocolate but the suckers had just closed so we went on to the train station to sit and wait with other people. We enjoyed watching the group of English travelers who had taken 5 kids with them (two different couples), the group of singing Germans (I think... not sure), the two Italian women who chuckled at Ahmee who was huddling behind her umbrella (she was getting very cold and was using it as a wind guard-but was still shivering), and the three English girls who weren't sure exactly which train they wanted or needed (they asked Ahmee for help and Ahmee did the best she could-they got where they wanted to go by getting on the next train with us). Basically, you can have circus of people who entertain without knowing it.

We were more than happy to step on to that train though, even if we lost the groups of people who we'd enjoyed watching so much. We got out of the rain and wind, and we got to sit in really comfy seats. I just about fell asleep on the way back to Rapallo. Once back we didn't even go directly to the hotel. We grabbed hot chocolate and a chocolate... thing in a nearby restaurant (one block away from the hotel). The hot liquid not only tasted good, it felt wonderful because it warmed at least part of us up. I don't know about Ahmee and Poppy, but I know I was frozen. My shoes were soaked, my socks were soaked, and the bottom of my pants were soaked. When your feet and hands are frozen the rest of you tends to follow suit. We enjoyed watching all the women come and go (odd that the women hang out with their puppies and friends in a sweet shop while the men hang out in the restaurants), drinking our sweets, and then getting back to the hotel. I was the first one into the tub to warm myself up. I didn't wash my hair (had awesome curls that I didn't want to get rid of), just aimed the hot water at my feet. Then Ahmee and Poppy grabbed the tub to warm themselves up. All of us were happy to check our emails and then run to eat. While talking at dinner I decided that I wanted to tell Ahmee and Poppy some of the things in my blog that were about them. I apologized for not bringing things up with them directly, and then I emailed my Momma to have those things deleted out of my blog.

That night I sat up thinking again, this time about things that had come up through emails, and about the election. I decided that if McCain got elected I'd be stunned and pretty disheartened at the thinking of fellow Americans.

11/03/08 Piza, Carrara, and back to Rapallo

2008-11-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

Veo muchas edificios en la dia. En la Ciudad de Piza yo veo: la "Leaning Tower of Piza", la Catedral de Piza, y la Baptiseri de Piza. Yo no se se llama de la catedral de Piza, para muchas turisticas es no problema porque es no importante pero para mi es important yo se se llama de mas edificios yo veo.

The man at the desk was quite happy to see us the next morning, asking us where we were going and what we were up to immediately after we got done with our breakfast (which was the same as usual except for the people within the room). He didn't seem so happy knowing that we were heading all the way down to Piza by car. He was very very happy to hear that we were going to Carrara, talking to us about it for a couple minutes at length before letting us head out the door. Quite a wonderful man really.

On the road I didn't have anything to work on. I got to look out the window as much as I wanted as we passed through tunnel after tunnel and went through valleys with hilltowns and looming mountains on both of our sides. I wasn't too enthusiastic at the beginning of the day because I really wasn't into seeing the leaning tower of Piza. Later though I got very interested as I read through what our guidebook had to say. That didn't happen though until we got into the city of Piza. Most people don't know that the city of Piza is actually quite large. It's not a huge city, but then it's also not just comprised of the Leaning Tower, the Duomo, and the Baptistry. It has the river Arno running through it, giving it a monopoly on the shipping that occurs there. It also has tons of streets to get lost in. We should know. We got off the highway too early and said, "Ah we'll just follow the signs to the Field of Miracles" (field of miracles is where the Leaning Tower is). Yeah.... It didn't turn out quite like we expected but then yet again we got a dosage of luck/skill and we managed. That took us about an hour to get close and then find a place to park.

After finding a place to park we went and got our shots of coca cola and hot chocolate. My hot chocolate was wonderful, and watching the people stroll by was also a nice treat, one that I don't think I'll ever get tired of. Once done with our beverages we crossed the street, checked out the teeny tiny cathedral that was built right next to the river Arno (it's famous for containing a thorn from the crown of Jesus Christ-but it's only open if you make reservations through a series of important phone calls), and then we walked to the Field of Miracles, following the signs, and the telltale: the English language. There were so many tourists on this trail that we heard English just as much if not more than we heard Italian, even though we were obviously walking through the section that many Italians would take advantage of (were lots and lots of cafe's). As we got closer to the tower we started to hear more of a mix. German, French, Italian, English, and Japanese were all clanging together. Could give a linguist a real headache to be in a tourist trap. Didn't give us any issues. We simply passed the men offering umbrellas (this is when I noticed that the black italians had indeed gotten the lowest jobs and that there was definitely some racism-I didn't see them anywhere other than near the Leaning Tower, selling umbrellas and getting dirty looks from other Italians). As we walked into the Field of Miracles it began to rain. Just a slight drizzle at first so it wasn't hard for me to get that cheesy pic of me holding up the tower that so many other people were doing (if one where far away one would think random people were hailing Hitler), but then as we moved closer to the cathedral it started to really rain. Some people got into the baptistry entryway just to avoid the rain, while others would simply keep walking. Since we didn't have a ticket to get into the baptistry (which you had to get at a museum that was a block or so away) we didn't go in. We instead went into the Duomo where we got to admire the paintings we could see, scorn the people using flash, adore the carvings (my favorite was the angels up at the front), and critic the building. I think I might've gotten pretty good at it. I was the first to notice that the windows weren't spaced right. Some were stuck behind pillars while others were stuck between them and not even in the middle either. I was one of the few to NOT want a picture of the architects grave there in the cathedral.

While in the cathedral we learned that the reason why Piza wasn't standing straight is that (pretty obvious really) it's foundations were unstable, basically the built the Tower on sandy soil. What I didn't know was that the whole Field of Miracles was unstable soil. I began to wonder if the cathedral and the baptistry were crooked too. When we went outside it was poring down rain. Yet again I found a flaw with the architect (or at least the people who maintained the cathedral). They didn't have gutters. That's the whole point of having a gargoyle! To have them spit on you when it rains! Nope, these gargoyles didn't spit. The rain ran off the roof and dropped all along the wall rather than at just the corners. As we walked towards the Leaning Tower I got to watch the rain run from the roof, to the ground, and down the slightly sloped sidewalk to the drain that made up the outside rim of the sidewalk. Again the positioning of this water (like a moat around a castle) made me wonder whether or not the cathedral was on stable ground and whether or not the cathedral wasn't slanted like the tower (or like the baptistry-Ahmee and I decided it looked crooked when we walked out of the cathedral). I decided I was going to walk around the cathedral while Ahmee and Poppy looked at the leaning tower (which has moved more over the years and which STILL had people walking up and around in it even though I thought they said they were doing some damage control to keep it from flopping over). As I walked I tried to work out a way to find out whether or not the cathedral was on slanted ground. I initially thought that the amount of water running off the sides should be an indicator-the more water running off, the steeper the slop was my reasoning), but then I dismissed this idea as a good way to check then and there as the wind blew my umbrella around. If the rain were falling straight down (which I highly doubt it would-you'd basically have to make your own rain by using a hose) then my theory might be a good one, but that rain was being blown at an angle, thus making the one side that seemed to have more water cascading off the roof simply have more water hitting it than the other side which was partially protected.

I walked back to Ahmee and Poppy, disgruntled that I couldn't figure that one out that day, and with my shoes and calfs soaked. We headed out to fill our bellies with something warm to eat (at a bar we grabbed sandwiches and pizza) and then we went back to the car to get back on the road. As we moved farther and farther away from Piza and closer to Carrara the rain stopped. The sun didn't come out for us until we checked out the Duomo in the center of the town, but that didn't stop us from going through the town and up to the quarries to look for a tour. We never got a tour. We decided we'd stop at a shop and look at the carved Carrara marble (some carvings Michelangelo would've scorned and called a "waste of good marble"). I know that the three of us enjoyed the pictured within this shop. They displayed how the Carrara marble was chiseled out back in the day, and how today even modern day equipment sometimes can't hold up to the job (showed a pic of a crane that had it's hind wheels in the air). What I didn't know was that not all of the stones in there were of Carrara marble, I ended up getting an alabaster thingimabobforyourkeysorearrings. It was no problem though because I did grab myself a bit of Carrara marble (there were tiny bits of it in the road and I grabbed two chunks and used them as worry stones). I knew it was Carrara because it was right next to the pit where they were still chiseling away at it, or rather sawing away. After we'd been in this shop and seen the quarries from a distance Ahmee and Poppy were tired and were ready to head back to Rapallo. I however had read the guidebook and had read that Michelangelo's house was in the same square as the Duomo. I wanted to check out this square, not to mention the church that had been made completely of carrara marble. We went back into town, all of us holding our breath because it's a nightmare to get lost in a town full of one way streets. We got lucky again. We didn't end up directly in the church square, we ended up a block away from it in the parking lot of a school. All of the parents were lined up to grab their kids, who we could hear moving around and talking/shouting within the building (the windows were open). We didn't stick around long enough to see the swarm fly out, but when we were heading out we did see the stragglers.

As we walked through the graffiti-covered ally's we came into view of the Duomo. This was a white white building that stood within a pretty small square. There was no one in this square besides the people in the cafe down the street and the few who were heading home. No tourists with flashy cameras, no jumbled words, nothing, not even a bell. We didn't get to go into the church but we did enjoy looking around the square for Michelangelos house, which we think we found (it had all of the carvers utensils on it but not his name-kinda odd). After about 10 minutes of looking around the square and admiring the sunlight that was finally coming out, we headed back through the ally's to the car where we got out of town. On the way back to Rapallo we got to see how the clouds cling to the mountain tops, and how the light casts a glow over everything-except the inside of the tunnels.

Once back at the hotel the sun was feebly shooting out it very last rays of light. It was practically dark at that point and we decided that before the sun went down all the way we needed to go for a walk to check out that picturesque docks that were along the main road. We didn't make it very far because as we got closer to the docks we heard fireworks shoot off. These made Ahmee jump and when she and Poppy saw that it was a bunch of young kids setting them off we decided to turn around and head back to the hotel, we were hungry anyway. We went up to the room, me admiring the glass elevator, dropped off a few things and checked emails, and then went back downstairs to eat.

Ahmee ordered the same thing (in the hopes that they'd get the hint and give her extra), while Poppy and I tried something knew. We all loved our food and really enjoyed talking to each other and about our day AND about the upcoming election. We all told who we wanted as president and why. It was unanimous, all three of us wanted Obama. I said I wanted him because he was intelligent, he was focusing on the job of being president while at the same time running a hell of a campaign. He's researching, talking to important people within the White House, trying to get a feel of how things are run, picking out who he'd like to have run certain things, preparing for the job-rather than just focusing on winning the position. I want the next president to do that. To look ahead and to work to meet the demand. I love that.

After dinner and some very interesting conversation we went upstairs and then went to sleep (some of us faster than others).

11/02/08 We head to Rapallo

2008-11-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

Hacemos buena teimpo en la coche. La dia es perfecta para mi excribir y leer para mi clases. La coche es normalmente una sitio dificil para estudio. Pero yo hago la trabajar.

This day we spent most of our time driving. It was the perfect opportunity for me to write and work. I wanted to get caught up on my blogs so even though the sun was shining outside I didn't stop too long to look out the window at the mountains, the clear sky, the fields, the towns, and the many tunnels we went through. I did get a chance to look at the Carrara Mountains, where the Carrara marble is carved out of the mountain and has been for ages. The way the mountains look is incredible. You can see this zigzag of white all the way up to the top and it seems as though a huge chunk has been carved out of the mountain. When you look at the town it's easy to see that this in fact is the case. They have piles upon piles of shipping erm... boxes that were stacked higher than the buildings, all of which were full of marble (couldn't see inside but they were right next to marble yards so... kinda made an educated guess there). Michelangelo is said to have gone and picked out his marble in the quarries there. When I looked at the mountains I was reminded of Michelangelo and of two different books, one is called PILLARS OF THE EARTH, and the other is called THE PRINCESS ACADEMY. Two different books, both of them centered around stone. In PILLARS OF THE EARTH the main character, or, my favorite character's name was Jack. Jack was a genius. He loved architecture, carving, and inventing things (did this for the woman he loved). Jack, like Michelangelo, could carve masterpieces. His incredible work ended up getting him fired from cathedral work every now and then because the head would feel threatened. In THE PRINCESS ACADEMY the story is set in a stone quarry. Basically the prince needs to pick his bride from amongst these stone quarry girls, the girls had to be prepared for the work of a princess and so this academy was formed. The smallest little girl learned how to communicate like the quarriers, that is, through the rocks (tapping). This town was perfect for thinking about these two stories and those that I'd learned about Michelangelo and how he could just see the sculpture waiting within the marble (why he went and picked out his own marble).

Once we got off the main highway to head into Rapallo, the coastal town we decided we were going to stay in and had made reservations for at the Hotel de Patio, I put my things away due to the curves. Yet again we had roads where there was only one lane, where that one lane was a two-way road, where that one lane was just next to a huge cliff (and you could see the sea just beneath you crashing into the mountain side), and where when you went around curves you got three different views: one of the mountain across the way with all the picturesque buildings, one of the edge of the rocks on your right and the sea on your left, and one of what lies around the curve (through a mirror). This time I didn't panic. Scarily enough I think I'm beginning to get used to the insane Italian way of driving. I still don't want to drive though.

When we got into Rapallo we drove along the coast looking for our hotel (the map we had was pretty bad). We found it with a combination of luck and traveling skill, we like to think it's more of the later than the former. At any rate we found our hotel, we had a fun time driving around the block looking for a parking place, and then we got to go inside to let them know we made it and to lug our luggage in. We didn't have to take it up the stairs though, there was a glass elevator. Ahmee laughed at me when I saw it. I would get within inches of the glass to watch it come down or go up.

After riding up the see-through elevator we went dropped our things, and Ahmee took a nice nap (she was feeling really ill) while I typed some more and incorporated spanish into blogs. By the time I was done it was dinner time (and we'd arrived at 4-5 o' clock). We went down to the restaurant and got to order our things. Poppy and Ahmee both loved their dinners, and I have to say that mine was excellent as well, but it wasn't the food that I liked most about this dinner, it was how Ahmee spoke to the waiter in Italian. Or at least, spoke a few phrases. She'd already spoken and communicated with others by using a combination of Spanish and Italian. The results are always good. This time however the waiter was especially glad that she could speak a bit of his language. I think he gets tired of hearing things mispronounced, I know I would.

Shortly after dinner we turned in for the night, knowing that we had a lot we had to do the next day.