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!"
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.
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