Professor Sharon

Although yesterday and today we did and will do some lovely sightseeing; we also had to deal with some practical matters. Thursday we had to go back to the train station to get our train reservation for Sunday when we go to Granada. What a madhouse!

Thursday was a state holiday – something about Santa Lucia – and a good many of the locals were going off to spend a 4-day weekend somewhere else in Spain. It looked from the line as if many were off to Cordoba actually. In the train station, as well as many retail stores, you take a number and politely wait, and wait and wait. When it is your turn, you may have all the time you need – there is little sense of the rush of life that Americans live by. So we waited an hour to spend 5 minutes with the attendant for our reservation.

We are gaining more nouns, and as I’ve mentioned before, many of those who wait on us have a few English words, and politeness and smiles go a long way here! And others are very helpful – someone tried to go to the window ahead of us without a number, and a few of those around us yelled at the man and off he went. Those who had yelled shared a smile☺

We used the bikes again to take a lovely long ride to the Plaza Espana – a structure and park built in 1929 for a large Spanish exposition. There’s a garden as well; and since it was a national holiday, the local families were out in huge numbers strolling and picnicking and biking as well. The colors in the pictures you see are all porcelain ceramic work – just amazing.

I also wanted to mention that we visited the Cathedral – which they say is the third largest in the Christian world – and it is HUGE! We enjoyed the 300-foot climb up the Giralda tower. It is now the church’s bell tower; but the bottom 2/3rd’s is the original Muslim tower from 1100s. The climb is up internal stone ramps – built that way so that a horse and rider could gallop up and down them to call worshipers to prayer.

This morning we used large plastic bags and the baskets on those handy bikes we’ve been using to get around to take our laundry to a service. This is after we have spent a few days reading tour books, online suggestions and looking over maps to find one. We see a lot of laundry drying on balconies and windows; so we think that apartments and houses here must all have washing machines. We finally found a place with one – yes one! – washer and dryer. But it was “occupada” so we had to leave the bags for the proprietor to do. It was an hysterical no English/no Spanish conversation with much pen and paper drawing numbers and fingers showing times to pick up! Hopefully we understood each other and this afternoon we will return to find our laundry at least clean – I do think she was willing to do it last minute because I agreed to no ironing (at least I think I did)!

We packed enough for about 12 days; and I’ve had to wash a few things in the sink; but it’s time to get most of it washed thoroughly!

Last night we splurged on an inside sit-down traditional Spanish dinner in a place recommended by the hotel. Although the first waiter had no English and went scurrying about looking for a menu in English for us (we were willing to use the Spanish only one); after we ordered, a new waiter appeared and he was from the UK. We had a delightful meal with his explaining each dish. He suggested desserts for us and gave us an after dinner cherry liqueur drink on the house. Just lovely!

Of course, after that, we were so pleased with ourselves that we got lost on the walk back to our hotel! The streets here are so winding, and even when you find yourself on what appears to be a straight road; you still don’t end up where you think you might! So it was nearly midnight when we found our way back. But we didn’t feel unsafe. There were a few people out; and we just changed our pace and we’re pretty good at walking steadily and looking as if we know exactly where we’re going.

A note here for those interested in fashion!: Spanish people, at least so far here in Seville are very snappy dressers. There are jeans, but we’ve not seen them worn with old t-shirts and sneakers. They are generally the dark ones, and worn with lovely shirts/blouses and gorgeous shoes! The variety of stunning shoes here is amazing! No one, at least on the weekday, wears hats. We have seen them in shops, so we guess that they do wear them for church.

And, for SerahRose: the children are dressed to the nines at all times! We have seen the cutest children of all ages always so beautifully dressed. The stores for children’s clothes are delightful to browse. And, unlike America, where even the youngest children have “miniature” adult looking style clothes on, infants and small children are all dressed in what we would consider traditional infant wear. And we have seen many many families where the little girls are dressed alike (of different ages).

It is the tradition here to have a stroll – paseo – after work and before dinner; and you see folks beautifully dressed. It’s the best time to sit at a tapas bar and watch the people.

And, here for those interested in flamenco attire (I know, Issac, it’s not flamingo!), you will find more colors than you could possibly imagine. Some are, by our standards, outright gaudy, but somehow lovely! Here’s a pic or two of the dresses in the storefronts. The fascinating part to us has been that the people walking about all are dressed in very subdued colors. You really don’t see even young people with bright colors on; but their holiday clothes are clearly where the colors are!

We are enjoying our week in Seville. We are looking forward to the next three weeks where we hope to have some time of rhythm with school and perhaps meeting others.