How it´s going so far

Finally I can let you know how things are going! I haven´t had internet access for a while.

So I started for two days in the Barcelona area, which was so much fun and felt so good to be seeing the place I loved so much again. The people I stayed with were more than helpful when I booked all of my train and bus tickets and hostels. Although that was stressful, it has been nice getting to the stations and hostels and having my spot already there for me.

Picture me doing a large counter-clockwise circle around Spain.

From Barcelona I went to Zaragoza for the day. I had originally just planned it to be a pit stop before Burgos, but I wound up really liking it. I went for a run along the river, even though what I really wanted to do was bike, because everyone was biking and it looked like fun! The grand Basilica was very close to my hostel (which I had minor annoying difficulty finding), and when I saw it I said, "There´s no way the entry is free," and the entry was free! It might have been my favorite of the inside of churches that I´ve been exposed to because it was so huge. I wonder if religious people back in the days it was built just saw the world this way or something.

I was a little sad to have less time in Zaragoza, but I was excited to see Burgos because I´d seen pictures of THAT cathedral. However, when I was walking around Burgos, I just felt kind of...I don´t know. Off. It was there that I had a why-in-the-name-of-the-lord-am-I-here? days. I wandered down the streets for a while, because the churches of Burgos are more spread out than just the confinements of the city center, and then climbed up to a castle in a park for a view of my surroundings. Oh, that´s why I feel so far away...don´t old fairy tales and fables of castles and knights and magical happenings come from places like the UK? Where it´s always overcast and the hills are so green? That´s what the day looked like here in Burgos, and I´ve noticed even in Greece that whenever it´s overcast I feel even more like I´m in Europe and thus REALLY FAR AWAY from anything I´ve ever known.

I also got to witness a Catholic service in Burgos inside the cathedral. So I got to knock that off my list, even though it was in Spanish so it was hard to understand at times. I loved the way the church bells chimed the hour in Burgos, it was sweet and reminded me of singing. Fairy tale, I know.

Moving on. Madrid! I´m sorry to say that my arrival in Madrid sucked. I got in close to 11:00 PM and got lost on the metro, and when I came outside it was pouring rain. It took me a while to find the hostel and when I did I was greeted by a creepy old man and a tiny, smelly hallway. I couldn´t believe I had payed that much for that, no internet, and no breakfast. But the next morning I figured out what to do in Madrid and things looked up. I found the Plaza Mayor and got adopted into a free tour where I got to not only walk around Madrid but hang out with other Americans and speak English for the first time since Monday! Not only that, but...(anecdote):

A girl in the tour group ran up to me and said, "Do I know you? I think I know you. Do you know Emily Baker?"

One of my best friends growing up? I tried to remember Emily´s cross country friends or San Francisco friends from birthday parties, I still didn´t reconize this girl, though.

But she seemed pretty convinced. I asked, "Emily Baker from California, right?" thinking it was a common name. Yes, she seemed to know me. And then a millisecond before she told me her name, I recognized her. I was so weird. I´ve only met her, like, three times, years ago, I can´t believe she recognized me because if she hadn´t said anything I would have spent the whole tour with her and never recognized her in a million years. Makes you wonder how many people in all corners of the world know who you are, doesn´t it?

I really enjoyed my time in Madrid, even though it was so huge that I definitely didn´t see everything. However, I visited two museums, a flea market, and a giant park, and those activities were sources of some well-needed relaxation. Carrying around that backpack and hopping on and off public transit...tiring!

Now I´m in Sevilla. I know there is a whole lot to see here, too, but I don´t have plans yet. I will definitely elaborate on these posts, too, when I´m not being waited on by others needing internet!