Hotel Hilton Buenavista Toledo

... paraded through the streets of Toledo on Corpus Christi day. Of the church’s many chapels, the most interesting is the Mozarabic Chapel where the Visigothic Mass is still said (in Latin) every morning for the Mozarabic community in Toledo.

This afternoon, we are on the train to Seville where our friend, Philip Hurst, will meet us. The three-hour ride is a needed rest from our hyper-tourist pace.

... best story is to come that evening:

We meander in the 36 degree 7:45pm heat and find a restaurant that looks cool inside (no outside patio in this weather) and a "menu of the day" which is a set menu for, usually, about 10-12 Euros each. We finish our gazpatcho cold soup and I’m working on a tomato salad and pork chop…..Susan has a veal stew…..suddenly, in her soup, is a black beetle ...

... hands all night and unfortunately they had to split ways later that night. Yes, even in Madrid the cock block exists.


We hoped to make it home at a decent time, but over course like most of our trip thus far sleep is a luxury we just can't afford. We didn't really get back to Rachel's until 4:00am or so and we had to wake up early to make our 7:30am train to Barcelona. Yay naps!

... get lost made me realize how awesome it would have been to have him there. Not only would he have had to bring more lenses for all the different buildings but also just to wander the streets on a midsummer's night is a fairly fundamental romantic thing to do. Hopefully, one day I can bring him here and I'll still remember all the streets of Toledo, if not, we can get lost together. Time for sleep or something. Hasta luego.

... us willing to brave the heat (only a few of us went but were not disappointed) on an interesting walking tour thru the heart of the town, including some peculiar back-street sights...the tomb of 'El Greco' as well as his famous masterpiece, "Burial of Count Orgaz", the exterior of the gothic, huge, beautiful 15th century Cathedral of St Mary, complete with 90m bell tower, demonstration of the intricate art of gold-inlay jewellery & plate-making (not cheap, but ...

... Arrivee avec le soleil et un super ciel bleu... enfin !! Ca faisait plusieurs jours qu'on attendait ca ! Meme s'il ne fait que 15 ou 16 degres, ca fait du bien. D'ailleurs, on a mis les jambes á l'air pour l'apres midi. Toledo est une magnifique ville. C'est vraiment beau, c'est cute au boute (moi aussi, j'utilise les expressions pour un petit clin d'oeil quebecois!!). Mais ici, il faut avoir de bonnes jambes ...

... of the meal was better after seeing the bill - we thought it would have cost more. It's interesting because customers are usually given a free tapa with each drink. So we probably would have ended up paying the same amount if we hadn't ordered any wine. We chatted with a lady from California and an Irish couple (I suspected they were from the UK, but didn't want to insult them by asking!). Apparently the weather in Spain ...

... denn hi** hat man auch am Abend Vorlesungen), doch ich w**de schon noch etwas finden das mir passt. Denn sonst komme ich kugelrund nach Hause. OK, vielleicht auch nur oval, bei meinen Voraussetzungen. An den nächsten Wochenende möchte ich ein bisschen die Umgebung auskundschaften und w**de deshalb auch wied** mal etwas zu schreiben wissen. Hasta luego y un gran abrazo Don Kusi PS: Ich gebe mir Mühe ein bisschen öft**s zu schreiben, damit es nicht imm** einen solchen Brocken gibt.

... the outer city walls), brilliant sunshine and with WC nowhere to be seen (I only saw a public toilet before lunch in Plaza Zocodover in the entire city!), I finally gave up (almost collapsed) at the ...

... girlfriend pass. Since he could have easily gone around a different way, I must have looked a bit confused, so Liz quickly explained that Spaniards are a bit more direct than I am used to (I took direct to mean rude). I was slightly worried, but in fact that was the only time on the entire trip anyone was rude to me. Despite my broken, sometimes incomprehensible Spanish, everyone I interacted with was patient, really nice, and eager to help me. That didn't stave off confusion ...