Finally, I have some time to do some meaningful posts!
The trip here was pretty uneventful. My long flight was spent next to two babies, one of which had to have been drugged, he slept for most of the 7 hours. The little girl in front on the other hand was crying, fascinated with me, etc. I was long. I laid over in Geneva, Switzerland. I want to go back and spend some time there, even the airport was nice. I was able to feel human again! Starbucks, ATMs that gave me money and swiss chocolates. I'm happy to say I now have my swiss stamp in my passport. I got to my gate early and inquired about upgrades, the station manager said he'd check. Just as I was boarding the plane he said, here you have a new seat! Upgraded to business class! WooHoo! So, I enjoyed room, extra food and drinks for 2 hours. There were a couple different groups of college kids on the plane. A group of boys dressed up in bull fighting outfits and a group of girls that I will call the WOO! girls. They were loud, happy and yelled WOO! when the plane took off and landed. They reminded me of my girls! I miss them and wish they could be here.
Saturday, I woke up and got ready and waited for Pete. I went downstairs and had BACON and real ham and strong Spanish coffee with milk. Heaven in my book. I met a nice guy from Ireland and we chatted for quite a bit. Many people are shocked when I tell them I'm here via Uzbekistan. The usual question is WTF are you doing there! Anyway, finally Pete was here and ready to go! We headed off first to Starbucks (again!) and filled him up with a venti cappuccino and off we went to the Prado Museum. We saw all the great Spanish artists. Goya, Rueben and even a Rembrant mixed in there. The museum itself is beautiful. After a lunch of bacon cheese fries and more ham and cheese we headed back for a short nap. We met J and her friend J and headed out for Tapas and then to a Jazz club. A great night. You can refer to the other posts/pictures for details.
Sunday, awoke around 9am and met J to head down to a huge street market. Got a couple of gifts and then spent time in a street cafe having lunch and listening to canons being fired at the Palace. Took a walk around at the Palace, gardens, an egyptian temple and a huge statue of Don Quixote. Then again, went back for a nap and took the metro out to J's flat to have dinner and meet her girls. J, her friend was there and we had a great time talking about the "old days" in high school. Met her girls, she has a 13 year old daughter! It's so hard to believe. But, all three of her girls are clones of her. J amazes me, she's been through hell and back and still has a wonderful attitude and outlook. I'm sure she has her down days, but seems to have a great network of support. It was so great to see her!
Of course while at J's flat we had to have strange conversations and one surrounded the use of the bidet. They are everywhere here. You cannot have a hotel or flat without one. So the question is, what's the procedure. Do you "do your business" and then wipe and transfer to the bidet, or do you just transfer to the bidet, get a thorough front and back washing and then wipe? What's the deal? Can someone educate this ignorant American? LOL. No worries, we also had meaningful, "remember this from high school" conversations. Man, in Jr. High we were both so awkward....we both just remember those awful glasses we wore. Yikes! BTW, she has two cats....I spent some time trying to chase them and make them love me. ..typical.
Anyway, finally headed home on the Metro. There was a tall guy on the train with his pants zipper down. What do you do? Tell a total stranger that yes, I was checking out your package and noticed that you didn't zip up your pants? ? I was also giggling because he was checking out the girl next to me hard core and I wondered if she noticed that he didn't zip???...
Anyway, it's Monday morning now, Pete unfortunately has a cold from "Senor cat-breath" on the plane. We'll pump him full of drugs and then do some last minute sightseeing and hop the train to Seville.
The trip here was pretty uneventful. My long flight was spent next to two babies, one of which had to have been drugged, he slept for most of the 7 hours. The little girl in front on the other hand was crying, fascinated with me, etc. I was long. I laid over in Geneva, Switzerland. I want to go back and spend some time there, even the airport was nice. I was able to feel human again! Starbucks, ATMs that gave me money and swiss chocolates. I'm happy to say I now have my swiss stamp in my passport. I got to my gate early and inquired about upgrades, the station manager said he'd check. Just as I was boarding the plane he said, here you have a new seat! Upgraded to business class! WooHoo! So, I enjoyed room, extra food and drinks for 2 hours. There were a couple different groups of college kids on the plane. A group of boys dressed up in bull fighting outfits and a group of girls that I will call the WOO! girls. They were loud, happy and yelled WOO! when the plane took off and landed. They reminded me of my girls! I miss them and wish they could be here.
Saturday, I woke up and got ready and waited for Pete. I went downstairs and had BACON and real ham and strong Spanish coffee with milk. Heaven in my book. I met a nice guy from Ireland and we chatted for quite a bit. Many people are shocked when I tell them I'm here via Uzbekistan. The usual question is WTF are you doing there! Anyway, finally Pete was here and ready to go! We headed off first to Starbucks (again!) and filled him up with a venti cappuccino and off we went to the Prado Museum. We saw all the great Spanish artists. Goya, Rueben and even a Rembrant mixed in there. The museum itself is beautiful. After a lunch of bacon cheese fries and more ham and cheese we headed back for a short nap. We met J and her friend J and headed out for Tapas and then to a Jazz club. A great night. You can refer to the other posts/pictures for details.
Sunday, awoke around 9am and met J to head down to a huge street market. Got a couple of gifts and then spent time in a street cafe having lunch and listening to canons being fired at the Palace. Took a walk around at the Palace, gardens, an egyptian temple and a huge statue of Don Quixote. Then again, went back for a nap and took the metro out to J's flat to have dinner and meet her girls. J, her friend was there and we had a great time talking about the "old days" in high school. Met her girls, she has a 13 year old daughter! It's so hard to believe. But, all three of her girls are clones of her. J amazes me, she's been through hell and back and still has a wonderful attitude and outlook. I'm sure she has her down days, but seems to have a great network of support. It was so great to see her!
Of course while at J's flat we had to have strange conversations and one surrounded the use of the bidet. They are everywhere here. You cannot have a hotel or flat without one. So the question is, what's the procedure. Do you "do your business" and then wipe and transfer to the bidet, or do you just transfer to the bidet, get a thorough front and back washing and then wipe? What's the deal? Can someone educate this ignorant American? LOL. No worries, we also had meaningful, "remember this from high school" conversations. Man, in Jr. High we were both so awkward....we both just remember those awful glasses we wore. Yikes! BTW, she has two cats....I spent some time trying to chase them and make them love me. ..typical.
Anyway, finally headed home on the Metro. There was a tall guy on the train with his pants zipper down. What do you do? Tell a total stranger that yes, I was checking out your package and noticed that you didn't zip up your pants? ? I was also giggling because he was checking out the girl next to me hard core and I wondered if she noticed that he didn't zip???...
Anyway, it's Monday morning now, Pete unfortunately has a cold from "Senor cat-breath" on the plane. We'll pump him full of drugs and then do some last minute sightseeing and hop the train to Seville.
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