Well, once again, I'm about two weeks behind on my blog. It's not surprising really, I'm two weeks behind on my postcards as well. And since this is a recurring thing, I guess you could say I'm right on time for writing about my week con mis padres. That means "with my parents" for all you non-Spanish speaking types. Just to quick sum it up, it was wonderful to see them. I was missing them terribly (no sarcasm intended, also no phony British accent intended on the word "terribly") and it was a definite highlight of my time here so far to have them visit. The fact that I didn't pay for a damn thing the whole week didn't hurt either.
Anyway, they arrived about noonish on Wednesday (this is two weeks ago now...they left last Wednesday). I was in class and had to hand in a paper (maybe it was an exam) so I couldn't skip out, unfortunately, to meet them at the airport. But right after class, I walked immediately to their hotel and right on up to their room. Room 739 at the far end of the hall, just to make it seem a little bit longer 'til I got to see them. Doesn't it always happen that way? Anyway, once Dad let me in, it was a few minutes of hugs and kisses and Mom admiring my beard and Dad admiring my beard and Mom making fun of my beard. Ya know, the usual with my family. Then my mom showed me they'd brought the new Christopher Paolini book Brisingr, the 3rd book in the Eragon set. To be honest, I don't think I really heard anything they said for a while after that. I immediately picked up, curled up next to Mom on their bed, and dove into the story. Mom and I laid there for a while reading our respective books while Dad play SudoKu (he didn't want to finish all the books so that he wouldn't have anything to read on the plane flight home). Then I'm pretty sure we all passed out for a few hours. They were tired from staying up for 24 hours, and I was just tired. Plus, you can't come to Spain and not indulge in a little siesta. That would just be downright criminal. After awaking, we decided to go get some dinner. I don't rightly remember where we went though.
On Thursday, we had lunch en mi casa with my senora. She made some typical Spanish dish that I can't for the life of me remember the name of. I got to play translator for about an hour but all in all, I didn't do too bad a job, if I may say so myself. There were a few times where I had to do some ballpark translations, but seeing as how even I can't understand Marisol fully, I think that's acceptable (Don't worry Mom and Dad, you didn't miss any important information). She was also kind enough to reserve us some seats at Los Gallos, a place where we could watch some flamenco. I would have never been able to figure that over the phone. Anyway, after lunch, I spent the afternoon with my parents. I think we got lazy (leastways Mom and I) and we indulged in siesta reading again. For dinner, I decided to introduce my parents to 8pm Drinking in the Park Club. They classed it up with apples and crackers and various cheeses, while I brought my traditional Pringles Paprika. Once everyone got there, we all had a lovely time, and all my friends here liked my parents. I got a lot of "They're so cool"s after they left.
After Club, we nabbed a taxi (after standing outside the hotel for a solid 10 minutes) to Los Gallos and got there right in time to get our seats. We all ordered some sangria (it's no longer weird for me to drink with my parents, which is nice). As for the show, there were a bunch of different acts. Several women danced, and they were quite impressive dancers. Two male dancers also performed, and though one was straight crazy with how fast he could move his feet, I still felt the women were better. The guitarists were pretty awesome though. One guy was picking like a fiend, and I just could not understand how he could move his fingers that fast. It was ridiculous! The show went on for about 2 hours or so, maybe a little less, and when the three of us left the building, we all kind of silently agreed that, although very impressive, flamenco was not our favorite form of dance. I'm just content that I saw some so I could actually make that decision.
Friday was our sight-seeing day around Sevilla. We got a nice late start, had coffee and a pastry at the Starbucks on Avenida Constitucion (my parents' choice. Go figure, come to Spain for overpriced mediocre coffee). We started our tour at the Cathedral of Seville, where I tried to remember all the really cool information Nando told us when we went, but I could only recall bits and pieces. And I'm fairly sure some of those bits and pieces were fabricated. But that's just how it is, right? Mom and Dad took lots of pictures of the same things I took lots of pictures of. I got to retell them the story of the courtyard crocodile. Mom enjoyed that particularly, and after we climbed La Giralda (the tower of the cathedral that dominates the city's skyline). They were fairly impressed with the view, as any self-respecting tourist without vertigo would be. Next, I took them through the Parque Santa Maria and to Plaza Espana, which is, I believe, the largest plaza in the city. I mean, it's big, bigger than a football field big (okay, maybe not that big, I don't actually know the dimensions, but when you're standing in it, looking at the central fountain, you feel very tiny). We walked around there for nearly an hour, bought some souvenirs, took a lot of pictures, and then I felt exhausted. Playing tour guide is tiring work. I took them back to their hotel, came back to mi casa for a few hours, and then we all went to dinner. I do believe that night we decided to try Wok, which is this Chinese buffet place that's really good. We all agreed it was a good choice.
Our plans for Saturday entailed grabbing a train to Cordoba for the day. My friend Dino was going to join us, but when she and I were headed over to my parents' hotel, there was a huge storm kicking around Sevilla. Heavy winds and driving rains nearly knocked poor Dino off her feet and I definitely was getting pushed around by the buffeting winds. We decided to call that idea off, and so we all sat down to a continental breakfast in the hotel, with Dino joining us. We probably sat at breakfast, eating and drinking coffee and chatting, for a solid 2 - 2 1/2 hours. It was very relaxing, especially after the very early wake-up call on a Saturday. Dino went home, and Mom Dad and I spent the rest of the day inside safe from the rain, reading and watching Spanish television. Again, I can't remember where we went for dinner that night.
Sunday was supposed to be our second attempt at Cordoba, but this time the trip's demise was due to a mixture of more crappy weather (what the hell? 3! bad days in a row in Sevilla, when we didn't have rain for a solid month! Bad luck for my parents) and the fact that I forgot to set an alarm and got up too late to catch the train. So, with more rain, I spent yet another day in my parents' hotel room, reading and watching television. That is, until Mom and I got sick of watching Spanish TV, and I went and brought my computer over to their room and we watched the Bourne Trilogy for the rest of the afternoon. Just Mom, me, and Dad all curled up on their two pushed-together beds watching my computer screen for the better part of the day. Felt just like home. After the movies, we did a little shopping in Nervion, and they bought me this absolutely killer coat (THANKS!). That night we went to an American-style restaurant near my park called Foster's, American Restaurant since 1891 (or some date like that. I might be dyslexic with those numbers). We were all pleased to find it actually had American food. I got a cheeseburger, Dad got something else, and Mom got a steak. Food wasn't too bad, and I think we were all just a little relieved for some familiar cooking.
Monday was finally the day we got to Cordoba. My parents loved the city even more than I did. We took the early AVE train (that's the high-speed train that runs in Spain) and got there in about 40 minutes. Pretty impressive. I slept the whole way. Once we got to Cordoba, we discovered it was still drizzling, but we decided to walk to the city center anyway. However, finding the city center from the train station was the tricky part at first. We had a map, but upon leaving the station, we couldn't find an applicable street sign for the life of us. So we just walked down this big broad avenue with parks and swing sets and fountains and stuff in the middle until we came to one that looked like it might be on the map. It was, Avenida de la Gran Capitan or something similar. Well, we finally managed to find a street leading towards Centro, so we began to wander downhill. Walked through some nice little plazas, meandered through some alleyways and sideroads, ditched into a small silver store where Mom and Dad bought a Don Quixote, complete with lance, and I picked something up that go undisclosed (it's a surprise!) Anyway, like my previous trip, we checked out the Mezquita, and Mom and Dad were, maybe not equally impressed, but very much so by the mosque/cathedral. I took them on the same tour of the Mezquita that Nando took me, told them some of the same things (again, I forgot most of it) and they enjoyed it immensely. After that, we sat down to some lunch (Dad and I had some traditional tortilla de patata). We poked our head into some more touristy stores with postcards and stuff, I managed to pick up the shotglass from Cordoba that I had neglected the last time, and we made our way down to the old Roman bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir. Dad took some pictures with his supercamera, but we didn't stay long on account of me having had a massive allergic attack earlier that morning so I was feeling pretty wiped. We made our way back to the train station, hopped the 3 o'clock back to Sevilla, and were back by 4. My parents were kind and let me go back to mi casa and take a nap, enjoy the rest of siesta, but we hooked back up around 7 and went to dinner at this place called La Espumosa near my building. Classic Sevillan tapas bar, so of course, none of us understood anything on the menu (I don't frequent tapas bars okay? Not my fault). I ordered something I hoped was ham (hoped right), Mom ordered what ended up being a very mild fish that you couldn't even taste over the breading (she still refused to touch it) and Dad got gambas (shrimp). I enjoyed my little plate well enough, but we sat around and talked for a bit afterward. Since La Espumosa was right near my building, my parents dropped me off there and I went home.
Tuesday, our final full day together, was another schoolday for me. I had to go to class since I had a paper to hand in, so I was in class til 2, and then ran over to their hotel. I can't remember what we did the rest of the day actually...but we all spent it together like a loving family, making fun of each other like usual. We went back to Wok that night for dinner. We were going to go to this ham place my senora recommended but there weren't any seats left, plus Mom was feeling homesick for some familiar food, so Wok we went. After dinner, I escorted them back to their hotel, they gave me some parting gifts (the hotel complimentary stuff mostly, plus some books), and we said our "See you in Decembers".
They left very early Wednesday morning, and all my friends and I were sad to see them ago.
Thanks for coming Mom and Dad. I had a great time, and I miss you. See you in December!
Anyway, they arrived about noonish on Wednesday (this is two weeks ago now...they left last Wednesday). I was in class and had to hand in a paper (maybe it was an exam) so I couldn't skip out, unfortunately, to meet them at the airport. But right after class, I walked immediately to their hotel and right on up to their room. Room 739 at the far end of the hall, just to make it seem a little bit longer 'til I got to see them. Doesn't it always happen that way? Anyway, once Dad let me in, it was a few minutes of hugs and kisses and Mom admiring my beard and Dad admiring my beard and Mom making fun of my beard. Ya know, the usual with my family. Then my mom showed me they'd brought the new Christopher Paolini book Brisingr, the 3rd book in the Eragon set. To be honest, I don't think I really heard anything they said for a while after that. I immediately picked up, curled up next to Mom on their bed, and dove into the story. Mom and I laid there for a while reading our respective books while Dad play SudoKu (he didn't want to finish all the books so that he wouldn't have anything to read on the plane flight home). Then I'm pretty sure we all passed out for a few hours. They were tired from staying up for 24 hours, and I was just tired. Plus, you can't come to Spain and not indulge in a little siesta. That would just be downright criminal. After awaking, we decided to go get some dinner. I don't rightly remember where we went though.
On Thursday, we had lunch en mi casa with my senora. She made some typical Spanish dish that I can't for the life of me remember the name of. I got to play translator for about an hour but all in all, I didn't do too bad a job, if I may say so myself. There were a few times where I had to do some ballpark translations, but seeing as how even I can't understand Marisol fully, I think that's acceptable (Don't worry Mom and Dad, you didn't miss any important information). She was also kind enough to reserve us some seats at Los Gallos, a place where we could watch some flamenco. I would have never been able to figure that over the phone. Anyway, after lunch, I spent the afternoon with my parents. I think we got lazy (leastways Mom and I) and we indulged in siesta reading again. For dinner, I decided to introduce my parents to 8pm Drinking in the Park Club. They classed it up with apples and crackers and various cheeses, while I brought my traditional Pringles Paprika. Once everyone got there, we all had a lovely time, and all my friends here liked my parents. I got a lot of "They're so cool"s after they left.
After Club, we nabbed a taxi (after standing outside the hotel for a solid 10 minutes) to Los Gallos and got there right in time to get our seats. We all ordered some sangria (it's no longer weird for me to drink with my parents, which is nice). As for the show, there were a bunch of different acts. Several women danced, and they were quite impressive dancers. Two male dancers also performed, and though one was straight crazy with how fast he could move his feet, I still felt the women were better. The guitarists were pretty awesome though. One guy was picking like a fiend, and I just could not understand how he could move his fingers that fast. It was ridiculous! The show went on for about 2 hours or so, maybe a little less, and when the three of us left the building, we all kind of silently agreed that, although very impressive, flamenco was not our favorite form of dance. I'm just content that I saw some so I could actually make that decision.
Friday was our sight-seeing day around Sevilla. We got a nice late start, had coffee and a pastry at the Starbucks on Avenida Constitucion (my parents' choice. Go figure, come to Spain for overpriced mediocre coffee). We started our tour at the Cathedral of Seville, where I tried to remember all the really cool information Nando told us when we went, but I could only recall bits and pieces. And I'm fairly sure some of those bits and pieces were fabricated. But that's just how it is, right? Mom and Dad took lots of pictures of the same things I took lots of pictures of. I got to retell them the story of the courtyard crocodile. Mom enjoyed that particularly, and after we climbed La Giralda (the tower of the cathedral that dominates the city's skyline). They were fairly impressed with the view, as any self-respecting tourist without vertigo would be. Next, I took them through the Parque Santa Maria and to Plaza Espana, which is, I believe, the largest plaza in the city. I mean, it's big, bigger than a football field big (okay, maybe not that big, I don't actually know the dimensions, but when you're standing in it, looking at the central fountain, you feel very tiny). We walked around there for nearly an hour, bought some souvenirs, took a lot of pictures, and then I felt exhausted. Playing tour guide is tiring work. I took them back to their hotel, came back to mi casa for a few hours, and then we all went to dinner. I do believe that night we decided to try Wok, which is this Chinese buffet place that's really good. We all agreed it was a good choice.
Our plans for Saturday entailed grabbing a train to Cordoba for the day. My friend Dino was going to join us, but when she and I were headed over to my parents' hotel, there was a huge storm kicking around Sevilla. Heavy winds and driving rains nearly knocked poor Dino off her feet and I definitely was getting pushed around by the buffeting winds. We decided to call that idea off, and so we all sat down to a continental breakfast in the hotel, with Dino joining us. We probably sat at breakfast, eating and drinking coffee and chatting, for a solid 2 - 2 1/2 hours. It was very relaxing, especially after the very early wake-up call on a Saturday. Dino went home, and Mom Dad and I spent the rest of the day inside safe from the rain, reading and watching Spanish television. Again, I can't remember where we went for dinner that night.
Sunday was supposed to be our second attempt at Cordoba, but this time the trip's demise was due to a mixture of more crappy weather (what the hell? 3! bad days in a row in Sevilla, when we didn't have rain for a solid month! Bad luck for my parents) and the fact that I forgot to set an alarm and got up too late to catch the train. So, with more rain, I spent yet another day in my parents' hotel room, reading and watching television. That is, until Mom and I got sick of watching Spanish TV, and I went and brought my computer over to their room and we watched the Bourne Trilogy for the rest of the afternoon. Just Mom, me, and Dad all curled up on their two pushed-together beds watching my computer screen for the better part of the day. Felt just like home. After the movies, we did a little shopping in Nervion, and they bought me this absolutely killer coat (THANKS!). That night we went to an American-style restaurant near my park called Foster's, American Restaurant since 1891 (or some date like that. I might be dyslexic with those numbers). We were all pleased to find it actually had American food. I got a cheeseburger, Dad got something else, and Mom got a steak. Food wasn't too bad, and I think we were all just a little relieved for some familiar cooking.
Monday was finally the day we got to Cordoba. My parents loved the city even more than I did. We took the early AVE train (that's the high-speed train that runs in Spain) and got there in about 40 minutes. Pretty impressive. I slept the whole way. Once we got to Cordoba, we discovered it was still drizzling, but we decided to walk to the city center anyway. However, finding the city center from the train station was the tricky part at first. We had a map, but upon leaving the station, we couldn't find an applicable street sign for the life of us. So we just walked down this big broad avenue with parks and swing sets and fountains and stuff in the middle until we came to one that looked like it might be on the map. It was, Avenida de la Gran Capitan or something similar. Well, we finally managed to find a street leading towards Centro, so we began to wander downhill. Walked through some nice little plazas, meandered through some alleyways and sideroads, ditched into a small silver store where Mom and Dad bought a Don Quixote, complete with lance, and I picked something up that go undisclosed (it's a surprise!) Anyway, like my previous trip, we checked out the Mezquita, and Mom and Dad were, maybe not equally impressed, but very much so by the mosque/cathedral. I took them on the same tour of the Mezquita that Nando took me, told them some of the same things (again, I forgot most of it) and they enjoyed it immensely. After that, we sat down to some lunch (Dad and I had some traditional tortilla de patata). We poked our head into some more touristy stores with postcards and stuff, I managed to pick up the shotglass from Cordoba that I had neglected the last time, and we made our way down to the old Roman bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir. Dad took some pictures with his supercamera, but we didn't stay long on account of me having had a massive allergic attack earlier that morning so I was feeling pretty wiped. We made our way back to the train station, hopped the 3 o'clock back to Sevilla, and were back by 4. My parents were kind and let me go back to mi casa and take a nap, enjoy the rest of siesta, but we hooked back up around 7 and went to dinner at this place called La Espumosa near my building. Classic Sevillan tapas bar, so of course, none of us understood anything on the menu (I don't frequent tapas bars okay? Not my fault). I ordered something I hoped was ham (hoped right), Mom ordered what ended up being a very mild fish that you couldn't even taste over the breading (she still refused to touch it) and Dad got gambas (shrimp). I enjoyed my little plate well enough, but we sat around and talked for a bit afterward. Since La Espumosa was right near my building, my parents dropped me off there and I went home.
Tuesday, our final full day together, was another schoolday for me. I had to go to class since I had a paper to hand in, so I was in class til 2, and then ran over to their hotel. I can't remember what we did the rest of the day actually...but we all spent it together like a loving family, making fun of each other like usual. We went back to Wok that night for dinner. We were going to go to this ham place my senora recommended but there weren't any seats left, plus Mom was feeling homesick for some familiar food, so Wok we went. After dinner, I escorted them back to their hotel, they gave me some parting gifts (the hotel complimentary stuff mostly, plus some books), and we said our "See you in Decembers".
They left very early Wednesday morning, and all my friends and I were sad to see them ago.
Thanks for coming Mom and Dad. I had a great time, and I miss you. See you in December!
1 comment:
Hola Hap, It was a terrific week with you no matter what we did and times not with you we toured the city the usual tourist way - the boat tour on the Rio Guadalquivir and the double decker bus but the best part of the touring was the beautiful mosaic tiling everywhere (esp. Plaza d'Espana) and the wonderful alleys with flowerpots hanging on the walls that made us want to wander each one to see the shops that sold everything from Spainsh silverwork to flamenco dance costumes. No one touring Spain should miss the cathedral aka mosque in Cordoba. Now that's wandering through history!
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