Las Galias Hotel Restaurante Zaragoza

... br>So far, this weekend, I have just been sleeping in and resting, but I have some plans for Halloween, I think. There are a lot of haunted things going on in Europe. In London, there is a tour of White Chapel, which is where Jack the Ripper, killed all those women. I dunno, I got lots of stuff in mind, because other than that, Halloween definitely isn't as celebrated in the Europe as it is in the U.S.

Spent another night on a parking lot near the city centre. When trying to find a decent place to park our van near all the sights, we got caught up in a lybyrinth of narrow streets, filled with cars (sometimes even in the middle of the crossings...). Well, Boštjan is a very good driver, but my nerves are not as good as I thought.

With the help of a security guard at a bank in one of the ...

... girl, here in Spain studying Spanish - apparently many Chinese people are now wanting so study Spanish! I'll bet anything that it usually involves a Spanish member of the opposite sex. Took a nap in the room, trying to enjoy the A/C which was difficult, since it was blowing out a lot of hot air in the beginning.

It's too bad the hostel is so dead, because it could be really good - it's located in a historic building, and the cavernous bar in ...

... sign on the bridge says 15.23 and 33 degrees, yes, it is very hot. We walk past some Roman shop ruins and their great sewage system. There is a statue of Caesar Augustus with stone arched walls behind him. Some of the brick work here is the influence of the Muslim era.

The Basilica de Nuestra Sra. Del Pilar is really beautiful outside, with statues along the top, colourful tiles on the roof and about ...

Boring long day on the A23, highest col 1223m.

Looking for aire in Zaragoza when Brits James, Clare and Katie in their motorhome took us under their wing to the park they'd already stayed in. Left over from 2008 water based expo, with typically spanish rusty iron "sculpture".

35 degree C until light shower cooled us all off.

Bren washed her hair in the public drinking fountain, starting a trend with the other family.

... steeper mountains, but none were as mean as Mont Ventoux". Should be fun.





Today was hot, very hot, and I climbed the biggest mountain yet - 1280m at the crossing point. In fact the days cycling seemed to consist of getting over that mountain. I knew I was fairly high up when most of the signs off the road I was on were to ski resorts and the view to my left was of snow covered peaks ...

... drums and music came out with a few of our guys trying to play but were no good. Ian and I then headed to bed as this stage around 12.30pm so we lay and looked at stars for awhile and was the best sleep we have had for awhile and not cold at all. The next day most of the group went for a hike up the gorge, Ian been one but the others including myself went for a short walk with some people having a bath in the river. Then that afternoon headed back into town to shop for dinner ...

... Mary ever appeared to Saint James there, or that Saint James ever even visited the spot, or Spain in general really. There are other stories about him involving Spain, most of them seem to stem from the clergy trying to work up Christian fervour during the "holy" wars against the Muslims (he is supposed to have appeared in several battles and slaughtered hundreds of Muslims single handedly, as well as Native Americans when the Spanish began exploring ...

... host dad enjoys my presence but I can't tell about my host mother. i'm not a bother to her or an inconvenience but it's not exciting for her. It's weird how "normal" my host family seems. There are distinct differences between Spanish and American families but half the time-all families are the same. For example: my host mother gave me a business card with the house number and her cell on it. She told me that the ...

... there was dancing, and much drinking, and general craziness. Things shut down around 3, so it was a bit more difficult getting up for breakfast today! We had a more low-key day, we went for a hike to an abandoned village about 3.5km away. The weather was looking pretty sketchy at first, but cleared up and the sun came out. When we got to the village, there was mobile phone reception, so all the Spaniards jumped on their phones right away! The village was very quaint ...