It felt absolutely wonderful to sleep in on Saturday, especially after jumping in to a full week of school right after arriving. In the afternoon I met up with Paige and we decided to visit the Cathedral and the Giralda which are both together in the center of Sevilla. It cost three euros admission fee but it was well worth it. It took over two hours to see everything, and that was because I was moving at a fairly fast pace. There is so much to see and it is all so gorgeous that a person could easily spend hours inside. After looking at the museum, which is fairly small, I entered the Cathedral and inside there are a ton of small chapels that are dedicated to saints. In most of them there are several huge paintings, a few large statues, and the tomb of a cardinal or bishop. The beauty and craftsmanship of everything is overwhelming! In the Cathedral is also the tomb of Christopher Columbus, which is held up by huge statues of kings. There were also many relics of saints, and a treasury room that had beautiful crowns and chalices. At the end of our visit, we went up to the top of the Giralda, which is a tower that is part of the Cathedral. The view from the top was incredible! Overall, it was definitely well worth visiting.
After the Cathedral, we decided to look for an ice cream shop because it actually was fairly warm out and it sounded super good after the long climb to the top and back down of the Giralda. We found a nice one that had fairly affordable prices, even though they all seemed more expensive than in the U.S., and the ice cream was very good.
It was quite interesting to see the people who come out on the street and perform peculiar shows on Saturday. For example, there was this one woman that had set up a baby carriage and propped her head up through it, with a baby doll in the carriage so it looked like she was this moving baby. She was making all sorts of babyish noises which weren’t understandable and kept at it for the whole time that we were in the Cathedral and then some. Also there was this man that had done something to his overcoat and tie to make them stay blown out as if there was a huge gust of wind. He also had an umbrella that was blown inside out and he would just stand there and pose as if he was being blown away. I don’t know where people come up with these ideas. I also saw several clowns and there were a few people that were blowing enormous bubbles, which seemed to be a favorite with little children.
Later, when I returned home, there was a note from Consepción, telling me that she had already left for her concert, and that I should meet her there. I had been planning on going to her concert that she had informed me about a few days back and I knew that it was in the neighborhood called Triana, but I wasn’t sure where it was located in Triana. So I called her up and asked her, and although I couldn’t understand the place that she told me, I figured out that it was a church on a street called Pureza. So I set off in search of Pureza and eventually ran in to some other ladies that were also looking for it. They informed me (in Spanish) that they were visiting from Cordoba and that they wanted to visit some of the churches, which is why we were both heading to what I later found out was the church called Esperanza de Triana. Together we found it and I was there in plenty of time for the concert. I was asked to videotape the concert by one of Concepción’s fellow singers and it was a very nice concert. They sang several different songs that were versions of Ave Maria and I didn’t recognize any of the other ones.
Sunday
Paige and I went to La Iglesia de Magdalena for Mass and it is quite a huge church. However it was a very short Mass and was done in a half hour. We then deliberated on what to do for a while and finally decided to get lunch at the same pizza place we went to on Monday because we knew we could get a fairly cheap, but satisfying meal there. After lunch we sat in a large plaza for a while and watched the people passing by. There were a ton of people biking and rollerblading as well as a lot of stroller-pushing people. It is quite interesting how there are no leash laws here, and the majority of the dogs are allowed to roam free. However, they always stick fairly close to their owners or at least come when they are called and seem very obedient.
Eventually I headed back to my house and window shopped some along the way. I didn’t do much else the rest of the day and just relaxed and spent some time visiting with my madre española. She showed me pictures of her family and is quite proud of her grandchildren, who are both adorable. Overall it has been a nice weekend and I’m glad I was able to catch up on my sleep before beginning my second week of classes. Hasta luego.
No comments:
Post a Comment