Hola :)

Well I finally left Nice behind to moooove right along but the second I got into Spain, I wondered why I did such a thing! It's all good now but definitely threw me for a loop....

Tennille, my roomie in Nice, and I both booked our trains after the most relaxing day on the beach in Nice and it turned out we would be on the same train to Marseille the next morning. She was going onto Italy while I was going to connect twice to eventually get to Barcelona. I also booked a night train to move onto Seville that night so it was a long day/night of travel...I guess too long for my own good. The train from Montepelier (my other connection) to Barcelona was delayed a bit so I missed my night train by ONE minute...actually saw it pulling away. I didn't know what to do at this point because I had not read up on Barcelona yet...had no idea where to stay...no idea where I was really. I tried to talk to the ticket agents but they just kept saying "come back tomorrow, there are no more trains tonight". The guy saw me getting upset because the language barrier was a problem and I was trying my best to tell him I was without a place to sleep that night. Even though I didn't mean to, of course I started crying because I was frustrated, tired, hungry, and pissed at the train systems in Spain! So on top of it, now I couldn't get my words out. But eventually he pointed me around the station, mentioning there were hotels right outside the station. Yeah....80 euros a night, most of them! SO I came back to the station (now midnight) and was about to resort to sleeping on a bench when this Finnish guy came up to me and was like "Are you lost because you've been looking at that map for way too long!"....haha it was hilarious. Simon was so nice though and offered to show me the way to his hostel to see if they had any open rooms there. They did, it all worked out fine and I caught the train to Seville the next morning....I had a bad first impression of Spain but couldn't blame the whole country for a train delay :) Yet I could complain a bit that I had to fork over 40 extra euros because of the mess.

Anyways I got into Seville in the afternoon and made it to my hostel. I definitely get a different "feel" from this country...for the first time I feel like I'm in a foreign place. It could be because I cannot remember ANY of the Spanish I learned (except the bad words that Ciro taught me at work) or that their culture is just very different. It's so amazing here though...everyone is out and about all day long...they are not workaholics like us Americans and a lot of places shut down midafternoon for a "siesta". It is a bit harder to get around because the maps are in Spanish and everyone only knows a limited amount of English. Yet, Seville is easily seen just walking around the city, getting lost on any street. All of the streets are extremely narrow with the exception of a few major roads. The weather has been absolutely incredible...in the 80's and completely sunny. My first full day here was a long one but it was very productive. I checked out the cathedral which apparantly is the 3rd largest in the world....Christopher Columbus' tomb is inside along with the unbelievable architecture. The bell tower offers a great view of the city and the courtyard just outside the city is filled with orange trees. My favorite sight of the day, however, was the Reales Alcazares. It is the palace where Ferdinand and Isabel used to live as do the King and Queen of Spain when they come to visit Seville. The palace itself was pretty awesome but the gardens took the cake! Oh my goodness, I spent 3 hours in them and still didn't feel like I saw it all. By far the prettiest place I've been in in all of Europe....if THAT can't tell you how great they were, then I don't know what can! I mean, monuments and cathedrals are amazing but there's something about walking through a maze of gardens....with everything in bloom, the weather completely flawless, and getting lost in beauuuuuuuuuuty....that's really hard to beat! So I was in a great mood when I left there and walked around the city some more. I stumbled into an area called Santa Cruz which is known for its bars and "tapas". I sat down in one and ordered some gazpacho and another tapa (both really good), so I could experience some of the local food. I'm going to try Paella tonight too....that's my treat of the day :) Came back to the hostel later on and they have a rooftop terrace with hammocks and everything so it was the perfect place to read into late afternoon. It doesn't get dark here until 9 pm (and still it's not even completely dark by then!) so everyone eats very late and parties even later....a local was telling me most stay out until 5 or even 7 am...almost every night! I met up with 2 people in my hostel, Ali and Rob, and we went out for 5 euro pitchers of Sangria at a local bar. Drinks are finally cheap here :) We didn't stay out until 5 but it was a good night, haha.

Woke up to another day of sightseeing today and went to the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza...where the bullfighting takes place! I paid 5 euros to see inside the ring and man, it was totally worth it. I don't know how I'd feel about going to an actual bullfight but it was great to see what it looked like. I believe she said it was one of the oldest in Spain (it was hard to tell, her English sounded just like her Spanish!) and it even had a place for the Royal family to sit up in the stands. Tickets for the bullfights are like 40 euro so I'll have to miss out :( The museum had all these pictures though and it looked pretty gruesome...not sure it would be my thing or not. I met 4 older adults from Wisconsin there and they were so helpful and nice. Mike was giving me suggestions about things to do in Germany and they were just a great group to bump into. We parted ways after the tour and I headed down to the river...had picnic and walked for around for a couple more hours. I'm ready for my siesta now so it'll be a relaxing afternoon :) I can't decide where to head tomorrow...want to do a couple more days in Spain but I'm also so close to Portugal. I'll have to do some research online and see what would work out best. Either way, I'm onto Switzerland on Sunday. Sooo I'll let you know what comes up!