Whew! Time flies.
Day 5 – Our last full day in Torino (Thursday) was great. Mike took us back downtown where we visited the Mole Antonelliana (the Eiffel Tower of Torino) – the view was amazing! The interior of the Mole is a cinema musuem, which was, of course, heaven for me. We spent a few hours there, then headed up into the mountains to see Sacra di San Michele. It started snowing again on the way up, and was really cold. But it was so neat to go tramping around in the snow. The place reminded me of Narnia in the winter – “Always winter, never Christmas.”
Day 6 – Friday morning started early for us, with a two-hour drive to the airport in Bergamo. We got there around 7:15am, waited an hour or so for our flight, then flew to Madrid! Poti (mi hermano Español) met us there, then showed us around Madrid for the day – we had lunch at a great restaurant called Tio Pepe – que bueno!
After walking all over town (hemos visto el Palacio Real, La Plaza Mayor, El Prado, y mucho mas), we caught the Ave (a train that goes up to 300km/hour) to Toledo, Poti’s hometown. There, Bea (Poti’s mom) made us a meal that included all my favorites from España – croquettas, tortilla de España, jamon, y queso! And my very very favorite… kiwi sorbet for dessert!
Day 7 – Today was busy, too. It started with a wonderful breakfast of fresh fruit and cake, then we were off to Castilla – La Mancha, home of Don Quixote. There, Emilio (Poti’s dad) arranged for us to take a private tour of the castle and windmills there. We were treated like royalty, taking the same tour that the prince of Japan took this past summer. After an hour or so of poking around the ruins in the freezing cold (it was raining at the end of our trip), we headed back to Toledo for lunch.
After lunch (homemade lasagne), we went to the old part of Toledo and met our tour guide there. Again, a private tour where we were treated like royalty. We went everywhere! For three hours, we explored the second-largest cathedral in Spain, mosques, monastaries, the paintings of El Greco… we went everywhere!
Walking around Toledo was great – I even recognized the hotel I stayed in my very first time in Spain. After our tour ended, we went and had dinner at a hotel in Toledo. Poti’s cousin daughter was baptized today, and the Spanish, well, they like to celebrate everything with a party! It was all Bea’s family, and she is one of four daughters – lots of women! I had a lot of fun, practicing my Spanish and meeting all of the family – so many cute children!
We left around 9 and came home. Now it’s 11:28pm and Emilio, Poti, Cam and I are deep into the movie Fracture – intense!
I am sad to be leaving Spain so soon (tomorrow afternoon!), but I know I will be back soon. And I’m glad I haven’t completely lost the Spanish that I learned when I lived in Granada, Spain!
Tomorrow we fly from Madrid back to Frankfurt to pick up the rest of Cam and Jenna’s luggage, then we fly home to LAX Monday morning. So… the next time you hear from me, I’ll be home!
I miss my kitty!
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