Saturday
I live in Juneau, Alaska which is situated within the Tongass National Forest. The Tongass is a temperate rain forest (sorry to those of you in my audience to whom this is not news). In a rain forest, it rains. A lot. You’d think being from Juneau, rain wouldn’t deter me so easily. You would be wrong.
Our attempt at getting out of the flat a little earlier today had us on the road at noon instead of 1 p.m. Oh well. Baby steps. We aren’t any hurry. But we had a plan and it was a good one. Keith did an excellent job of figuring out where we wanted to start and where we were in relation to that. Although after walking for a bit and seeing that our little blue dot on the map wasn’t moving from the corner we started on, we deduced that his Kindle doesn’t have GPS capabilities. Good thing we had three other iPhones between us and they were fully charged so we were ready to roll.
Seville Cathedral
Our walking tour was to start at the Seville Cathedral, also known as the Catedral de Santa Maria de la Sede (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Sea). This cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and the 3rd largest of all other cathedrals. It was built to portray the wealth of the city which had become a major trading center after the Reconquista (the Reconquest). It was built from 1401 to 1506 on the site of the twelfth century Aljama mosque
Although other cites have claimed they have the remains of Christopher Columbus, DNA tests have proven beyond doubt that the remains of Christopher Columbus do, in fact, reside in the tomb of Christopher Columbus in the Seville Cathedral. It is quite impressive from the outside and it continues to hold mass on a daily basis.
Home Sweet, but Temporary, Home
I wish I could tell you that we made it to the other locations on the tour … several plazas, another church and the Flamenco Dance Museum. But we did not. What started out as a light drizzle (I can handle a light drizzle) turned into a rain that we only see in Juneau in April and October, the rainiest months of the year. By then we were already very wet and pretty cold so we hoofed it back to our lovely little flat to dry out and warm up.
This is not a case where the photos have been altered to lure you in only to find that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. No. What you see is what you get. And that is very refreshing.
Of course, with the three of us here, it looks a little more “lived in” at the moment. The white settee in the living room folds out to make a double-sized sleeper for Reece. She is finding it very comfortable. I brought a travel clothes line and have rigged it in the bathroom (most Europeans don’t own or use dryers) and was able to do several loads of laundry and get them dried out over the course of these past two days. It helps that the bathroom also has a small portable heater that we turn on full blast and then close the door. It creates sauna-like conditions but it is a very nice place to hang out after getting caught in a downpour.
Simply Living
All it took was a couple of hours in the flat with Reece doing her homework, Keith watching indoor soccer and me … well, I can’t remember what I did, but I am sure it was very important! That all feels pretty familiar. It doesn’t appear that we live much differently in Seville than we do in Juneau. The rain had decided to stop, the sun had decided to come out and we decided we were hungry. Reece was still studying so Keith and I went grocery shopping. We found a store MUCH closer than the last one and stocked up on bread, pastries, eggs, cheese, tortillas, fruit, potatoes and salad fixings. And speaking of salad fixings … the onion, cucumber and carrots are all normal sized veggies. That red pepper is a monster! And oh, so sweet!
Not a very exciting day on our end, much like back home, but tomorrow’s a new one and the weather is supposed to be in the mid-60’s for the next 10 days (not at all like back home). We are scheduled to leave on Tuesday but are finding that it does take us a day or so to acclimate and find our compass. So we may consider extending an additional day or two in Seville. It will be interesting to discover whether or not this ability, or lack thereof, to acclimate, holds true for every new location or simply for every country. Until then , we are determined to leave the house before noon tomorrow and make the most of the good weather and our newly acquired navigational skills!
Cheers!
Teresa