BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: VIVA ESPAÑA EDITION: JUNE 14

Whelp, in the tried and true tradition of me traveling anywhere, my face has decided to revolt. Just like my trip to Ireland, I awoke to my skin looking like I was having a particularly angry bout of puberty. However, unlike last time, I know it’s not an allergy! Apparently, when my diet changes, or the water is different, my skin does this. It’s gross, but what can I do? I have some makeup, so I’ll spackle that shit for as long as it lasts! Haha!

I’m so stupid...so stupid.  Last night, when Steve came back to the room, I was dead gone asleep, but he woke me up. Knowing we had a full day today, I took a melatonin pill to help me go back to sleep so that I wouldn’t be awake the rest of the night (seriously, when does the jet lag stop?) I didn’t look at the time, so I didn’t realize how late it was, and when I got up, I was in too much of a hurry to get ready to realize I was still affected by the pill. We jumped on our bus, and about halfway there, I started feeling weird. I was dizzy, faint, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I literally felt like I was going to pass out, which scared me enough to kick off an anxiety attack. It was scary! Steve managed to help me calm down long enough to remind me about that damn sleeping pill, so I got into the right frame of mind of deal with that and managed not to freak out in the middle of the tour!

Today we are is Sevilla, and we were taken on a tour of the city where we had to walk freaking everywhere. It wasn’t that bad, really, but geez. We had a tour guide that gave us these little personal radios that are tuned in to what she is saying, which are ingenious really, but you can't get away from her voice and that is a little annoying.  At one point, she said that she would take us to the old Jewish section of town, where we would see the crooked streets.  Why did it have crooked streets?  Well, because apparently it was to keep the Christians from easily raiding the neighborhood.  Yikes.  I know we have the Great Commission and all, but I never considered it to be a battle cry. On a lighter note, even if no one else did, at least the Jews of Sevilla expected the Spanish Inquisition and acted accordingly.

We walked through gardens and streets, around buildings and eventually through something called the Royal Alcazar.

Look. If you want to know details about the place, please read that link, because I don't remember anything that the tour guide said.  It wasn't because she was bad at her job, or that it wasn't interesting, but it is because I have heard SO MUCH INFORMATION about various churches and palaces and all of that in the past few days that all of it is running together.  I can tell you that it was beautiful, and that the moorish decor has been some of the most stunningly intricate stuff I've ever seen, and from an art standpoint it certainly is a treasure, but history wise...I got nothing but pictures.  Let's look at a few, shall we? Oh, one thing I did remember was that Game of Thrones had filmed at this place, but I've never seen it, so I don't know where it happened or in what context. Maybe you know.

Immediately after this, we were taken to the Seville Cathedral, which is, by far, the biggest church I've ever seen in my life.  That isn't really an impressive comparison, I guess, but it was bigger than at least two of the convention centers that I've been in before, and that is a whole lotta church.  It used to be a mosque (WTF is it about Christians back then taking over people's churches?  Dang.) and the main tower was once their minaret, but it had been added on to to make it a bell tower for the cathedral.  Lots of famous people are buried in there, including King Ferdinand (of Ferdinand and Isabella fame) and Christopher Columbus.  Well, most of Mr. Columbus is there. Apparently some bits of him are missing.  It was a lovely church, but a bit overwhelming. When I say it was a whole lot of church, I mean that I'm fairly certain that God would raise an eyebrow and say "Really, guys? This may be much, even for me!" 

 I don't know which saint has the bird on his head, but Mary seems amused.

 People for scale. A LOT OF CHURCH, I SAY!

Most of Christoper Columbus is in there.

Afterwards, we walked around the city a bit.  I like how everything is within walking distance and all of the restaurants and shops are so close.  We accidentally lost Anthony for a bit, but he found us.  Heh, he missed hearing the strange lady singing in the street.  I shouldn't laugh, because it is possible that the lady was mentally challenged, but she was standing outside of a cafe sort of monotonically singing "I Just Called To Say I Love You."  She was singing both in English and Spanish, which made it all the weirder to me.  I dunno, but it was funny.

Later that night was the last concert, and it was held in a place about an hour away called Cadiz.  It is a coastal town, and that's about all I know about it.  The concert was going to be held in a proper indoor auditorium, and it had been promoted by the city and everything.  After grabbing a soda at a local cafe (I have had more Coke on this trip than I care to admit, but I know how to pronounce it.) we went back to the theater to watch the show.  The concert was the best they've performed the entire time we've been in Spain, and it was well attended and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Here they don't say "Otra! Otra!" to get an encore, they clap in a particular rhythm. That was neat.  There was a Spanish man sitting beside me the whole time, and I figured out how to ask him if he enjoyed the show in Spanish, and he completely ignored me.  Pffft.  Rude.  

The show went on until very late, and afterwards, two different restaurants stayed open long enough for us to have dinner.  Our place was a hotel restaurant, and the food was surprisingly great.  I'm not sure why the salad had fish on it, but I enjoyed it!  They still had the problem of having a little bit of water and a whole lot of wine, so in desperation, I drank some wine.  We were sitting with two people who really enjoy wine and go to vineyards a lot, so they were trying to teach me the proper way to drink wine to make it enjoyable.  You've got to swirl it around and sip it and get air into it, they said.  It kind of worked, I guess.  I didn't hate the red wine we were served, and it tasted like butter, which is a complement in case you were curious.  I still don't know if I'll ever be someone who just loves wine, but that wasn't bad at all.  Still...you know me and alcohol. I pretty much fell asleep as soon as we got back on the bus, and am so tired right now.  Seriously, don't give dehydrated people alcohol! GAH.

It has been a long day, but a good one.  Oof.  Let's go to sleep.

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: VIVA ESPAÑA EDITION: JUNE 13

What day is it? Where am I? I have no idea anymore.

We got back to the hotel after 1:00 am, which seems to be acceptable to some people. Not me. Not so much. Blerf.

The two cups of Sangria seem to have done me some damage, which is hilarious in a way. I’m beginning to think that it isn’t the wine as much as it is the sugar that was in it. Oh, well. It doesn’t matter. The end result is the same. Haha!

This morning we had to get up and leave the hotel for our next destination. On the way, though, we had two stops. One is in Córdoba to the Mosque-Cathedral, affectionately known as the Mezquita (which sounds like mosquito and was the subject of some jokes.) We saw a gorgeous Roman bridge, which was still being used, and spent about an hour of free time eating tapas-a thing of which I am in love with. The tapas was great!  It was me, Anthony, Steve, and a man named Rick that I didn't know, and we ordered a bunch of things to share. I ordered oxtail, because that sounded interesting. It was delicious, but even though I'm familiar with anatomy and animals and all that, I didn't expect to find a fully recognizable vertebrate inside the meat part.  Still, though, I ate two of them, so it didn't bother me that much.

If the Romans had built it, London Bridge would have never fallen down.

Tapas. Everything was delicious except for the paella. Fight me.

 We also did some more souvenir shopping. I’m honestly having trouble finding anything I want, because almost every single shop in these tourist areas has the same tacky crap. I am a discerning souvenir shopper, and I don’t want to buy stuff you can get anywhere in Spain, just with the name changed!  However, I did buy myself some candy. I'm tired of worrying about what I'm eating. It's too stressful.

This is the Gatlinburg Main Street of Spain.

 Afterwards, we went with our tour guide Angel, who looked like a member of a Spanish boy band, but who was a great guide all in all, into the mezquita.

The place was amazing. I mean that, it was huge and complicated, and it was amazing to know that even back then, without computers and whatnot, there were people who could create such beautiful, intricate things with mathematics and a compas that have lasted (and will last) thousands of years. We have all the technology available to mankind at the moment, and the buildings made today will fall apart in 100 years! Nuts, I tell you! NUTS!  These old cathedrals just blow my mind, with all of the art and altar pieces. If my church was like any of these we’ve visited, I’d never hear a word my pastor said. I’d be sitting with my mouth open staring at the walls the whole time I was there.

Afterwards, we got back on the bus and continued our long drive towards Sevilla, which is where the next concert would be held. I think I have some kind of Pavlov’s Dog relationship with our bus, because every time I get on it, I fall asleep. Only it isn’t a good, solid sleep. It’s one of those half dozing things that is neither restful or useful. I forgot to mention that before we got to Córdoba, I had been doing one of those half conscious dozing things when the bus stopped at a roadside stand to let us out to stretch our legs and whatnot, and I was still half asleep when I got off and was shuttled into this roadside stand where everyone was talking and yelling and I was so confused that I got a little scared. My contacts were dry and I couldn’t open my eyes, and Steve kept asking me questions that my brain wouldn’t process, so I had to go outside and collect myself. It would have been concerning if it hadn’t been funny. I didn’t know where I was or what was going on, but darn it, I shopped!  If I give you any weird, olive related items when I get home, this is where it came from.  Nice bathrooms, though.

It was a long ass drive. The area we are covering in Spain is much larger than the one we covered in Ireland, so we spend a lot of time on the bus. The bus is uncomfortable, too, but that’s fine. We get to see some beautiful scenery along the way, and so far we always end up somewhere interesting.

We finally made it to our hotel and had dinner. Steve wanted to go out, but I was too tired, so I went back to the room and he found some friends to have drinks with. So I’m currently sitting here relaxing and not wearing pants while that chump is out there enjoying the nightlife. I guess we all know who is winning tonight!

It’s me...not Steve. Just FYI.

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: VIVA ESPAÑA EDITION: June 12

We had to get up at the butt crack of dawn for some reason this morning. I thought that we had a tour appointment of some kind, but no, we were just taken to the city center of Grenada and dropped off to look around. I mean, that’s fine, but that could have waited an hour, right?

We walked around the city and it is gorgeous!  Its so clean and interesting. Our tour guide led us through the historic Islamic section of town to see the houses and side streets, and we explored on our own and did some souvenir shopping. I got a few things for family/friends, but I haven’t found anything special for myself yet. I like souvenirs, but after the debacle of trying to get a snow globe on an airplane, I tend to look for something a little less...liquidy. Eh, I'll find something.

Although it might not seem like it, I’m trying very hard not to live through my phone this week, but every five minutes I’m pulling out my phone to take a picture of something!

 

 

Oh, and this might be my favorite one:

It means "Kissing Street." Squee.

One thing I didn't take a picture of, but really enjoyed, was that there was an open air spice and tea market in the middle of town.  It smelled so good!  It's a shame we couldn't get anything from there, but honestly, the last thing I want is to have a spice bomb detonate in my luggage on the way home. I mean, it would smell nice, but would probably ruin my clothes!

Two things as we were returning to our busses: We are probably going to be on the Spanish news today because there was some kind of protest being filmed and we had to walk in between them and the news cameras! I’m sure they appreciated that. Also, that lady who played the Ugly American last night at our hotel, fell and busted her face on the street. It was bad. She’s an older lady and apparently she missed the edge of a curb, and as she fell, she hit a light pole with her face and then face planted. Her face is badly bruised, but at least she didn’t break her teeth like we had thought. Ugh, something like that is a fear of mine. I honestly hope I don’t get sick or hurt while in another country. That’s just too vulnerable of a feeling.

Anyways, from the city center, we were taken to the Alhalambra, which is an old Arabic castle/fortification up in the mountains. It had absolutely gorgeous gardens that had once been only for food (we were told surviving was too difficult for people to bother with flower gardens in the twelfth century) but they had been converted in the 1930s into the flower gardens we saw today. It smelled gorgeous, too. Literally, it smelled like jasmine and honey! My sinuses have not appreciated it, but my eyes enjoyed it! The tour itself lasted for a couple of hours and, while interesting and definitely a thing you want to see, made my poor feet tired. So very tired. The decor was beautiful, though. The Arabic calligraphy script and Moorish design are quite lovely. The mosaic and woodwork are like nothing else I've ever seen!

We left there and headed back to the hotel for lunch. There is apparently a place across the street from us that is the equivalent of a US Wal-mart, so we went over there to pick up some necessities! It really was like a Wal-Mart, but no one was in their pajamas, so...Spain in winning on that account. Hehe.

The second concert was tonight in a little, out of the way town called Chouchina. (That page is in Spanish, so good luck.) Well, even calling it a town is being grand, it was a village, which is fine, but so out of the way and tiny that I was surprised that a concert was being held there, but they had a music pavilion and we were a part of some kind of music festival, so what do I know? The band was also playing with, what I believe was,  a community band from that town, which was fun! The concert itself lasted so long. So. Damn. Long.  I don’t know what the band director was thinking, but he just kept on playing. People were leaving! However, the people who stayed seemed to be having fun, so again, what do I know? I do know that by the end of the concert, I was tired, cold, and had been sitting on concrete bleachers for several hours. Oy.

Also, there was an uncomfortably handsome man in charge of this particular concert. I mean...I don't know how a person can look like that and be normal.  He was also very nice. I just looked at him a lot. So much so that I felt I had to apologize to Steve, but eh...even he said the guy was handsome. I didn't touch him or talk to him directly except to say thank you, so I'm sure I didn't make anything weird. But still... Damn, Javier!

Before the concert began, we were unexpectedly herded onto the bus shuttled to a bar and told to ask for a drink and tapas, which we got and had to bolt it down, because not 20 minutes later we were told to get back on the bus and go back to the amphitheater for the concert. It was weird. After the concert (already effing late) we were taken to the courtyard of the local high school and given drinks and food, and had some kind of party where none of us could talk to the people in the other band because of the language barrier, but it was still fun. I tried sangria for the first time. Well, not proper sangria, I was told, but still pretty tasty. I have now discovered that my tolerance for alcohol is even less than it used to be, so that was fun.  Yikes.

BTW, I am still disturbingly dehydrated on this trip. Kind of like Ireland, they want to give us booze and water, but not a lot of water. We never seem to have enough to drink and we are on the move so much that tying to get a bottle of water is difficult. I feel awful pretty much most of the time, but what can I do? Hopefully that will change the further along we get on this trip. Also, we don’t get a lot of choice in what we eat right now and I know I’ve already gained at least 5 pounds. I’m starting to get anxiety about going back to the weight loss center. They are going to be so disappointed and I don’t think they are going to believe that we pretty much only get to eat what we’re given. Most of it ready-made buffet food and lots of potatoes and bread. Eh, such is the life when on tour with a band, I guess. I’m still having fun, so that is the important thing!

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: VIVA ESPAÑA EDITION: JUNE 11

This morning we were awoken by some very cheerful, very loud Spanish gentlemen singing and dancing in the room next door. I’m not sure how we angered them, but I assume someone from Miraflora called and tattled on us for interrupting siesta yesterday and hoped to get us back.

I woke up early (GAH) and lounged a bit. I also didn’t go down to breakfast this time. To avoid temptation, and the bread, I stayed in the room and ate one of the meal replacement bars I brought with me. Was it as delicious as the egg and potato omelette and bread? Hell no, but I needed to do a little damage control after yesterday. Plus, and maybe even more to the point, going from mostly meal replacements and low carb everything to delicious Spanish food with no pause is playing heck with my body. Too much sugar and oil all at once is making me feel gross and slightly ill. Don’t worry, I’m still going to indulge, but maybe not all day every day. Damnit.

We checked out of our hotel in Madrid, and headed to our next destination, which was Toledo.

HOLY TOL...oh, never mind.

It was amazing! We had a local guide who walked us all over the city, telling us the history of the different religious sections and churches. There may be more churches in Toledo than there are in Athens, AL...maybe. It also seems to be the only place where you can literally say you walked uphill both ways, because it didn’t seem to matter which way you went, you were always walking up a hill! I'm still a little frustrated by the tour guide situation we have going on. It isn't that I don't appreciate the information, because I do, but they take us from the bus, run us through the city, we have no time to stop and see any of the local stuff except what they specifically want us to see, and then they dump us off at a place with things like McDonald's and Starbucks all around. We passed a ton of shops and restaurants that would have been so cool to visit, but no.  Anyway.

We saw the third most important painting in the art world at one of the chapels, and then we went inside one of the most beautiful cathedrals I’ve ever seen. It was called The Primate Cathedral of St. Mary and we got a great, in depth tour.

 
We even heard a little boys choir sing, and it sounded so beautiful! We walked around for quite a while, until we were told to go grab a bite to eat before we left the city. We actually left the American Fast Food Area that we got left at and found a local place called, I think, Yogi's.  I ate green peas and ham, and even though it sounds weird, it was delicious!

 My grandmother would have loved this.

I also fell getting out of the bus, which was embarrassing. Luckily I caught myself before really getting hurt, or hitting the stairs, but I pulled every muscle in my right arm and upper back, and it feels like I’ve been boxing! This'll be fun on a long bus ride!

We rode for four uncomfortable hours in our tour coach while listening to examples of flamenco music and saw literally hundreds of thousands of olive trees. Spain in the world’s main producer of olive oil, and I can see why. It was the largest agricultural operation that I’d ever seen in my life, and very impressive, if not a little monotonous!

 

I dozed on and off the whole time, but couldn’t get any quality rest. I still feel like a zombie. As much as I enjoy traveling overseas, my body does not adjust very well!

We finally made it to our next destination, which is Grenada. I can’t tell much about it yet, but our hotel is very nice at least. We had a buffet dinner that had that same “kids menu” vibe, so I'm wondering if that’s just how things are here. At least there were some vegetables this time! My stomach is confused. Some of the people in our group are going out tonight, but we didn’t join them. I feel kind of bad for not exploring more during our free time, but I’m just too tired.

Unfortunately, we had an “Ugly American” incident, where one of the ladies in our group got upset about something to do with her room and she caused quite a scene. I’m embarrassed, as there was absolutely no reason for her to behave the way she did. Oy.

We are finally back in our room and my old, tired bones are going to sleep. Goodnight!

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: VIVA ESPAÑA EDITION: JUNE 10

I feel like a zombie. Sleep and wakefulness make no sense. I’m unsure what day it is or where I am. Apparently I forgot to change one of my clocks and woke up in a panic thinking we were late, only to have a very annoyed Steve tell me it was only a bit after midnight Madrid time. Yikes.

This morning I looked up how to ask "Can I pet your dog?" in Spanish, and this is what it gave me:

"Puedo acariciar a tu perro?"

 

Even with the Google bot recording telling me how to say it, my mind wouldn't wrap around the pronunciation. I blame it on being tired.  So I asked our tour guide, Pedro, how to ask to pet someone's dog. Even with his excellent English, he didn't know what I was asking him.  I had to show him the words.  It seems like the word "pet" isn't one he was familiar with, so when he finally understood, he repeated that phrase above, and with some explaining, we finally understood that "acariciar" is like "caress."  So I'd basically be asking someone if I could caress their dog. I ain't doing that.  I'll just do hand motions and lunge directly at the dog. They'll either let me pet their dog, or I'll get maced.  

Oooh, and before we left the hotel, a marathon, or some kind of race at least, went past our front door.  We stood outside and cheered people on for a long time.  That was fun. For all we know it was just a jogging club, but they were wearing numbers and looked tired, so we cheered!

 

Hooray, running people! 

Today was our first full day in Madrid, and after breakfast (still with the bread, you guys) we were taken to the Prado Museum. There are loads of amazing and famous paintings and other artworks at the Prado, but we were only given a tour of those painted by Spanish artists. (We also weren't allowed to take pictures, so *sad trombone sound.*) As someone who loves art, and especially art painted my famous masters, I was annoyed at the very narrow theme we perused, but also as someone who loves art, I got to see a lot of beautiful works and I'm ok with that. We still saw a lot of stuff that I'd heard about. My favorite was one by Goya, called "The Nude/Clothed Maja" which was a set of two portraits of the same woman (but with her face changed because SCANDALOUS!) One of the portraits was actually nude and one was clothed, and the dude who they belonged to would change them out depending on who was going to see them.  People get so worked up about nudes today and that stuff has been going on since the dawn of man. Although, I guess getting painted nude took a lot longer than a Snapchat would. I bet she got cold!  :)  We had a local tour guide that seemed very passionate about what he was showing us, so I was still entertained, even if I didn’t get to see everything I wanted to.  I did get to see Las meninas, which I'd studied in college, and that was worth the price of admission alone!


We left there and returned to the hotel. I’d love to say that in our free time we explored the city, but Steve and I have napped every chance we have gotten to try and feel more human. I won’t apologize! Besides, the first concert is tonight and we don’t want to be exhausted for that.

The concert was held in a small, mountain village about an hour away called Miraflora de la Sierra and it was...well, it was effing charming. It looked like a place specifically designed to make you love tiny villages in Spain! It looked like something created for Epcot.

 
The place was hilly and surrounded by twisty streets and cafes. We arrived during siesta, and of course promptly shouted the place to the ground like true Americans (oops.) It was cold up there, and started to rain, but the rain sort of stopped just in time for the performance to begin and the people in the town came out to listen. The band sounded amazing and the spectators seemed to truly love the concert. People danced and clapped, and at one point they started chanting what we thought was “roll tide” but apparently was the Spanish word for encore*. Haha, that was confusing!  The concert lasted almost two hours because the conductor likes to keep going despite weather or exhaustion, and we were freezing and wet by the time it was all over.

We were supposed to have dinner in Miraflores, so we packed out this place called the Bohemia Cafe and had an amazing dinner, laughed a lot, and made a lot of noise. In fact, we closed the place down and had to be chased out by our tour guides. It was a great evening. I like traveling with this group of people (at least thus far) because we all have something in common and all want to have a great time.

 Try the lamb. Trust me. 

We’re back at the hotel now and getting ready to sleep. Tomorrow, or later today rather, we are moving south to our next destination! Goodnight!

PS: I am so dehydrated. There is so much wine and so little water. Help me.

*I found out later that they were saying "Otra! Otra! Otra!" but the way they said it really did sound like they were chanting "Roll Tide" with an accent. I wasn't the only one who thought so, so I know it wasn't just my lack of culture, thankyouverymuch.

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: VIVA ESPAÑA EDITION: JUNE 8-9

June 8-9, 2018: The Adventure Begins

This morning, Steve and I got up bright and early! Ok, Steve did. I was still dead asleep when the alarm rang and had to be shamed into getting out of bed. Shut up, I like sleeping!

Anyways, we both eventually got out of bed and finished up our last minute tasks, because today was the beginning of a new adventure! As we did in 2016, we are going on tour with one of the concert bands that Steve performs with, only this time we are headed to SPAIN! Woo-hoo! Also, as an interesting twist, we are also bringing along one of our best good friends, Anthony, who has learned how to play auxiliary percussion and will also be playing with the band. I’m the only one of the three of us who is just going along as a groupie and I’m perfectly ok with that!

We rented an SUV, picked up Anthony and headed to Atlanta to catch our flight.  Honestly, not much of note happened on the way there. We drove, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel, and we made our way to the airport without incident! It was pandelerium as usual at the Atlanta airport, but we managed to check in, find our group, and get on the flight with only one person in our party (a tuba player) to catch grief from the airlines. Apparently someone in the TSA thought the tuba was some type of dangerous weapon and needed to interrogate the poor guy before they’d let him and his instrument pass. Oy.

The flight, too, was fairly uneventful, in the sense that we were crammed like cattle into coach and expected to be able to sleep. I took upwards of two melatonin tablets in an attempt to head off the worst part of arrival jet lag, but even with that, I only barely dozed. Eventually, though, we made it to Spain, breezed through customs (thankfully) and headed out to our waiting tour busses.

Normally I’d separate the days into new entries, but y’all...with the time change and the lack of sleep, the 8th and 9th felt like one long ass day, so forgive me for blending them together.

Madrid is a beautiful city with a lot of graffiti on every damn thing, but still, it’s a big, bustling city full of trees, gorgeous architecture, and statues of things. That sounds like a rather simplistic way of describing a place like Madrid, but honestly, that was my first, and sleep deprived, impression. We were taken to the main bull fighting ring in the city and allowed to get out and look around a bit. We didn’t go in, but that was ok. It was huge and beautiful, and we’d been instructed to take pictures and get a coffee or something while our tour guides got coordinated.

Ole?

We decided that coffee sounded ideal, so we walked to the first cafe we saw and descended like locusts. I ended up getting hot chocolate, and it was one of the most delicious things I’ve put into my face in months! I swear, it wasn’t like anything I’d ever had before. It was more like hot, thick, delicious, melted brownies than a beverage. It was also almost too much for me and it made my whole head tingle. I still drank it all and licked the cup! Haha!

This evokes feelings very close to the same ones I felt about the Belgian Caramels.

Full disclosure, due to the experience of traveling to a new place and for convenience, we are going off of our very strict, very calorie controlled diet while we are on this trip. I’m very nervous about this, because I genuinely don’t want to gain back a lot of weight that I’ve lost, and I know I’m going to just due to the fact that we couldn’t possibly carry our meal replacements with us AND we had no idea what to expect from the food in Spain. I already know I’m going to lose a lot of ground, but hopefully we can regain it (re-lose it?) when we get home. I’ve worked too hard to lose this weight to eff it up for keeps. I’m just going to have to be ashamed of myself when I get home, because I'M IN SPAIN AND I’LL EAT WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT!

Ahem.

After we left that area, we were taken to a tourist area called Plaza Mayor, which...I’m still not 100% sure wasn’t a place straight out of The Twilight zone. It was a town square of sorts that had a strange little, steampunky children’s fair type thing in it.

Yes, those are toilets. Is this even real life?

I don’t know, I was punchy from the lack of sleep and confused at the crowd, but Steve, Anthony and I rallied and went out to find some lunch. We stopped at a little outdoor cafe, where they ordered paella (a dish both of them were interested in trying) and I ordered some grilled octopus! Woot! It was delicious, of not a little scary to look at, but I ate a whole tentacle myself!

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

By then it was time to go to our hotel, thankfully, and we made our way to the Hotel Agumar. Nice place, tiny elevators.

We got settled in and hung out until dinner. The hotel has a buffet that we have already paid for, apparently, so we stayed in at dinner time. I know I'm talking about food a lot, but it’s practically a while new experience for me again, haha! The food was ok, but I had the feeling that the kitchen staff heard a bunch of Americans were coming and pulled up a kids menu from an American restaurant to acts as a guide. We had antipasto (I think...cheese and meat stuff anyway) and then chicken legs, spaghetti, and French fries. A strange combo, at least. Also, I think I’m going to overdose on the bread here. I can’t stop eating it!

DO NOT JUDGE ME

After dinner, we took a walk to a local, huge park, which was described as their “Central Park” and we looked around a bit. It was getting dark, but we could tell it was a beautiful place, and there are so many dogs that I want to pet! Madrid is a very dog friendly city, so I'm going to have to learn to ask if I can pet their dogs so that I don’t get in trouble!

We finally made it back and collapsed into bed. I literally have my own single bed. Perhaps they don't realize Steve and I are married, but you know what? I don't care in the least.  The jet lag still has me and my body is confused at the time, but hopefully it won’t last long. Goodnight!