Just when I thought I was about ready to leave Spain behind and move on with life, this redhead from Buffalo showed up. Having guests has been such a blessing for me, it really forces me to take a second look at this little life I'm leading and to find the very best parts and share them with someone else. It gives me a brand new set of eyes to experience everything with. Ryan waited patiently for me in the Madrid airport, though I arrived late and surely gave him a small heart attack. I also nearly attacked a poor broad-shouldered boy in a yellow polo thinking it was him, but luckily I held off.
Ryan and I met some new friends in Madrid who we spent most of the day with. I took him to Retiro Park which I so love, and we found this rose garden which I'd never seen before. Ry stopped to smell the roses in his very Buffalo outfit. Our trip was different than others I've had. We did so much in one week, but somehow always found time to sit with out feet up, eat gelato, and watch honeybadger on youtube. Most of my traveling involves trips that I say "I know I'll appreciate it all when I get home, but I'm tired and hungry and want my own bed", but this was the kind of trip to enjoy in the moment.
Among our travels throughout Madrid we accidently found Sol which is a big plaza and on this day they happened to be staging a protest against the socialist government. There were TONS of people, signs, tents and lots of chanting. Loosely translated this sign says "Revolution isn't a a drinking party". But still, lots of young kids were out at the square with backpacks filled with alcohol- not the best way to show you're serious about a cause. It was cool to be in the square even though I was totally squished and had to try really hard not to lose Ryan.
This picture is one of my favorites. It's so very Spanish and shows off some of the Plaza Mayor, one of the skinny sidestreets through the arch, the umbrella covered tables, the sun setting over people drinking and eating. And then there's Ryan, soaking it in.
On Sunday we took a day trip to Segovia, so this was a new place for both of us. We stopped to see the impressive aqueduct and wander around. The city was small, but beautiful and so well preserved. We climbed up along the side of the aqueduct to get a better view of it all.
We saw all these names written all over the wall when we climbed up. I'm not one for defacing beautiful architecture, but I happened to have some white chalk in my purse (thank you teaching). All I had to do was write my little name on the wall and Ryan did the rest. I even love the reflection in his sunglasses. We did a repeat shot with his name as well, but his facial expression was less exciting and it doesn't have my name in it, so I choose this one.
The cathedral in Segovia was truly impressive on the outside, though I'm still partial to mine.
This is long about the time when I gave Ryan a chance to be in charge and be the tour guide. I even warned that I'd be filling out an evaluation form at the end of it. As you can tell, we are sitting down...because we were pretty lost. We had been on the search for the Disney palace which he knew I needed to see and so we followed the aqueduct all along the city just to end up on the very opposite end from where the palace was. We did get to see an awesome little spot where the aqueduct got really short, so it was worth it in the end. Though I'll still be ranking "proposed route by the tour guide" fairly low.
And we finally made it! I think that's actually Ryan in the green t-shirt. This is my house in Spain, so you'll all know where to come visit. I call it my pastle. I said it on accident as a mix of palace and castle and wasn't sure Ryan had noticed...but he did. And I won't live it down, but if you ask me it's a great new term and I'm going to keep going with it.
After this we bought Ryan his Spanish bracelet, ate a kebab, and headed back to Madrid. We had a minor bump where I almost lost my privileges as tour guide and we got to our bus to Leon JUST before it left. We were pretty sweaty and he had to run after me with a huge suitcase BUT we made it. I've come to find out that it's not always the buidings and things you saw that are the most memorable- it's the time you spent eating dinner with friends as the sun set, getting stuck in sweaty crowds shouting slurs about the government, getting in fights with the short-haired lady at the bar, and running to the bus that you're sure you're going to miss.
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