And the love affair starts...

Woke up today(Wednesday) fairly early and decided to set out to see all the major sights. Grabbed a quick breakfast and was on my way. I had decided early on that I was in dire need of a compass. I don't know how I left without one really. And I was mad at myself for never paying attention to the guys when they tried to show me their compasses along with the hiking stuff they had ordered back in college. Now I was really wishing I had paid more attention to both of them. It took a while, but finally found an affordable compass. It's not pretty, but I wasn't going for looks....just efficiency.

I went to the Cathedral first as it happens to be first on my list of things to see. It's the largest cathedral in Europe and pretty impressive on the inside and outside. Spent some time wandering around and listening to the audioguide. I'm a big fan of audioguides in some places, they usually give a good synopse of the history of the place and explain what in the world you are looking at. This cathedral also has a bell tower that you may climb. Never being one to miss a good photo op I decided to climb the tower. It actually wasn't too horrible. The tower has slanted walkways going up and a small set of steep stairs at the top. The reasoning behind this was because a man on horseback would go to the top of the bell tower should an emergency occur(ie. city being invaded.) The climb was fairly steep, but nothing compared to the Campanille tower in Florence that was hundreds of stairs in a nice circular pattern within maybe a four feet enclosure. And along the way they have little openings with some historical pieces from the tower and the corresponding explanations. The view from the top is most definately worth the climb. Thankfully it was a beautiful day in Seville. Sunny and warm, felt like mid 80's. I didn't think it was too warm, but I heard lot of people complaining about the heat.

After the cathedral I found my way to the Real Alcazar, an ancient Moor palace. Yet another audioguide tour and a walk around the palace. Absolutely impressive structure with even more impressive gardens that I didn't fully explore. The palace has lots of fine Moorish detail that has been well conserved. Overall a pretty impressive structure. Afterwards I grabbed some lunch on the nearby plaza and people watched for a while.

I've come to some rather interesting observations about Seville:
- The Spaniards tend to be very family oriented. I noticed alot of men out with their children or pushing the stroller while their wives shopped and did their own thing. It was very nice and a bit surprising to see.
- A good percentage of the population smokes. I would say closer to 80% does so. I'm very much in the minority here. In general Europeans smoke more than Americans, but Spaniards are probably the worse. I think I've inhaled at least a pack of cigarettes in the short time I've been here. I wonder what the statistics are for lung cancer here?
- People are very friendly. Granted a smile does go along way here, but I've generally found that people are willing to help you out with directions and such.
- People are also very well dressed. I like to dress well, but nothing compared to what I see here. I'm talking skirts, hose and heels fo the ladies and nothing short of slacks and button downs with a tie for the men. Throw in a sweater around their shoulders and you got the complete ensemble. I don't know how the women do it with their heels on these cobblestone streets. My feet are hurting in my flip flops and boat shoes. I'd break my other ankle in heels.
- Oh and pedestrians here definately do not have the right of way on the streets. The bus drivers and cab driveres do not think twice about nudging you with their car. This is difficult considering Austin is pedestrian friendly(for the most part.) Unless of course you hit a homeless man on a bike with your car. :)

I managed to squeeze in the Hospital de los Venerables and I was very glad that I did. It was one of the prettiest Moorish structures I've seen. There was nothing else within walking distance left that I could get to before closing so I spent some time at yet another plaza people watching and shooting some of the culture around the plaza and the old section. I love watching the old couples walking hand in hand during the paseo and watching the kids run after pigeons. I feel more at home in Spain than any other part of Europe. Part of it is the language, but I noticed that people in southern part of Spain look more alike to my family. Physically we have similar characteristics. The curly hair is a classic spanish trait and the curve of the body is similar.
It's been nice being able to identify with a culture. Not that I don't identify with American culture, but I don't look characteristically American. this one little girl on the plaza was the spitting image of me as a child. Blond curly hair, golden skin and big smile. She was dressed similarly to what I was dressed like as a child. Blue embroidered dress with cute blue mary janes and a big blue bow in ther hair.

Made my way back along the river around sunset(which is around 9:30) and grabbed some tapas and sangria with some new friends. Pretty awesome day I'd say so. Oh I'm down to about 2300 pictures left for the rest of my trip. Somehow I have managed to take roughly 1300 pictures in about a week. Thank goodness for digital, but now I feel like I have to ration my pictures out for fear of running out by the end of my trip. I should have brought an extra card. Oops.