KEC Krew: French Fry omelets lead to stomach Problems... who knew? Shoulda just had sangria!

So I thought that this post was going to be kind of epic, since we did a ton on this day, but I am not sure how much I am actually going to be able to adequately explain. There are actually fewer pictures today, since there were a couple of things that we did that are either impossible to capture on film, (Flamenco), we just forgot to take pictures (the walk through the Barrio), there wasn't much to take pictures of (the map exhibit), or we were too terrified (the bus station). So we will see. I went into this thinking that for sure it was going to be the longest post, but now I am not so sure.

So before we went to bed, we debated when we should get up. I thought that we should get up early and try to get about doing things before the heat really set in, so I suggested maybe 7 AM, so that we could get up and out and catch the first bus at 830 to the Italica. (Roman ruins about 30 mins out of Sevilla). This did not go over well with Eric and Allison and instead we set the alarm for 9 AM, pretty much insuring that we would be there in the noonday heat.

So the alarm did a pretty good job of actually getting us up on time and we got out of our apartment by around 10:15 or so. A little later than we actually wanted to get up by, but pretty close. And we headed out and on our way. Our breakfasts were pretty meager. We each had a piece of fruit and some snacks, but probably not as much as we should have had. The walk was pretty nice, we made sure to not walk down by the river like we had the first time and as the temperate was much nicer at 10 than it is during most of the day, the walk was quite pleasant.

We arrived at the station at about 10:40 and stood in line to see if we had to buy tickets. We found out that we just paid our fare on the bus and so we headed down to the terminal where there are lots and lots of buses, Eric decides to go to the bathroom as we wait for the bus, which is supposed to leave at 11 AM. The bus soon pulls up, but we can't really get on since they are cleaning it. Allison, who had thought about going to get something to eat, decides that she will just wait since there will probably be something at the Italica.

Eric arrives right as people a re allowed on the bus and so we board and pay our 1.30 euro fare. The driver says "Italica.... spanish spanish spanish?" "Si" I reply. "Italica" He seems to know where we are going, so that is good. He says the same thing to eric, who replies similarly. So we have a pretty cool driver. At first Eric really wants him to be the driver in Corvallis, since he drives crazily and will stop for people who are late. Then as the traffic violations pile up, such as cutting across 4 lanes of traffic in basically a diagonal line, we realize that maybe he wouldn't fit in very well in Corvallis.
We're on a BUS!

The trip to Italica takes us through a really poor part of town, or I guess a poor suburb or slum of Sevilla, and then to Santiponce, which is where the Italica is. It is an interesting look at Spain, since you don't often seem sights like that.

I don't think that you can see it from the picture above, but there was one other couple that was going to Italica on the same bus as us. A young Spanish couple, that made out briefly in the bus. Which isn't surprising given that it happens everywhere in Spain, but I mention it only so that I won't have to mention it later. We will call these people, RJ for Romeo and Juliet.

So we get to Italica and we walk up and we get in for Free!!! It was only 1.5 euros anyway, but still, free is free, so that was exciting. The entrance to the ruins is actually nicely shaded and it looks really good. However, you soon reach a part where there are basically no trees and in the 11:30 AM heat, this is pretty hot. I feel kind of vindicated about my statement that we should leave early, but I stay silent (until now).
Allison is eager to get started, she bolts ahead while Eric is still going to the bathroom. Allison bolting ahead was actually a common theme at the Italica.

As soon as we walk into the ruins, it looks pretty cool. Obviously they are pretty damaged, otherwise they would be called buildings, but it is cool to look at the foundations of things that used to be there, and think about what they were like.

Eric and Allison, figuring out where to go next/looking at the ruins.

Eric and I checking out the town wall... where is all the shade???

There were a couple of really cool mosaics that were pretty undamaged. This is the mosaic of neptune and was kind of declared the second coolest thing at the Italica. Hopefully it comes out well.

This is me looking at some other mosaics and doing some funky hand movements. Great timing for a picture. :-/

I redeemed myself by posing for this awesome picture with a naked statue. I got this shot, because I was willing to walk behind the guy. The statue was very impressive. I guess everything was to scale so that made it more so.

The shot from behind wasn't bad either.

Part of Italica can't be dug up because the city of santiponce was built on top of it. As you can see in the background of this picture, I am not sure why that was a big deal..... Seems like santiponce doesn't really need to stay there? bah... oh well :)

After walking to see this thing way out in the middle of nowhere and then walking to see the baths we found another feline friend, chilling in the shade of this little stone block. It was just so random and the cat didn't seem to mind us walking by. I tried to give the cat some water from my nalgene bottle, since we thought it might be thirsty. It didn't show any interest in the water whatsoever and just meandered away and went and presumably found some more shade.

After we had finished with most of the ruins, we headed to the Roman Theater or Colosseum type place, which was by far the coolest place at Italica. Here is a picture of the entrance to it.

So we walk in and immediatly I think of what it must have been like for gladiators to walk through those doors ready to fight lions. and tigers! and Bears! oh my!! lol.... anyway, it was a pretty cool place, and of course it was time for a panoramajama.

The panorama didn't actually come out that well the building just sort of looks like a triangle...when I tried change the type of meld it just go really bad... so... we will stick with this one!

After looking at the main arena we headed underneath the seats, into the hallways of the Colosseum.

This might be one of my favorite pictures. This is us just walking the hallways, pondering what went on it them. We talked about whether they had vendors that sold candy or popcorn, or whatever it was the romans ate... fried sand maybe? Or ceasar salad.

Do you think they called cesear salad ceasar salad? That wouln't make a whole lot of sense. Maybe they called it something like ... Hercules Salad? no? well fine. I can just imagine Ceasar trying to order one.

Ceasar: I will take a me salad!
Waiter: a me salad? You mean meat?
Ceasar: No! A ME salad.
Waiter: uh...
Ceasar: Do you know who I am?!?! I am famous!

Here is Allison in the hallways.

We also managed to run RJ from the bus. The were making out in the back corner of the colloseum. I think they kind of hate us, since we kept running into them out in the ruins and they kept trying to stare us down. It was very weird. They left and went and found a new spot. I am not sure what they were doing. It was not a very good place to make out.

Eric and I posing outside the Colloseum.

So after Italicia is was about time for lunch/Menu del Dia. There was this little place across the street that Eric wanted to go to, and I thought it would be fun. Allison was less sure, but I think she was hungry enough to go.

She ended up getting a french fry omelet... which while not bad, wasn't very good, at least she didn't think so.

So we had to eat kind of fast, but we were able to get out in time and catch our bus back to the city.

Safely away from the french fry omelet. You can exhale now.

We got off a little early, before the main station and walked back to our room, which means that we got there actually rather quickly, by 3 about.

So after a siesta, in which Eric and Allison slept and I organized pictures and read, we were off again for more exploring.

The first stop was this map exhibit that had lots of old maps of the area. Eric and Allison are really into old maps, so this exhibit was fun for them. And it was free, so that was nice. The exhibit was pretty small and all in Spanish, but the progression of maps was cool to see.

After that we decided to walk down to the gardens that Eric wanted to visit, and so we started heading over there. We stopped to by postcards and noticed a landmark in Sevilla that we had not visited yet. Plaza de Espana, and it looked cool, so we were confused. Why hadn't we gone? So we quickly purchased our postcards and headed over there. On our way we walked through the barrio (jewish part of town and this was actually really cool and I wish we had had more time for it. Lots of neat little plazas and fountains.

Anyway, we finally get down to Plaza de Espana and it was amazing! I am glad that we went. It was a more modern building and the construction/remodeling was annoying, but the building was really cool and a nice last major site to see.

We also managed to get a picture with all of us, so that was really nice. You can see some of the building in the background.

It was again panoramajama time. However, due to construction, the pictures had to be taking from a not prime location... sadly, this affected the panorama. But it is still pretty cool.

They had these cool tiles, one for each state or area in Spain that were decorated with a specific event and then they had a map in front showing where it was. Eric and Allison explored these and took some pictures while I did my panorama.

A cool Don Quixote Tile:

Allison near the tiles.

We walked around a little more and found some cool stairs. We could go to the balcony!!!! So of course we did.

Well... Allison was tired of walking, she stayed down there.

We pretended we were lords and we were surveying our land. We are sort of looking in different directions. We must have a lot of land.

After, we walked a little through the park that Eric had wanted to explore. I finally took a picture of the horse carriages that are all over Sevilla. There are so many! It seems like there are way to many. I don't know why they are all there. I guess looking for work?

On our way to the flamenco dancing that we had for the night we saw this cool building that houses flamenco dancing I guess? It was also on the news since some famous people stopped by earlier in the day. The royal family maybe?

We made it to the flamenco bar at about 8:25, we needed to be there by 830 and so we stood in line. We were not pushy enough so some people cut in front of us. Annoyingly common in Spain. But we eventually got in. The seats were not great. We couldn't see the dancers feet, but the dance was incrediably. very passionate and chaotic and amazing.... There is no way that I could describe it. At times the dancer looked angry and times happy and the dancer and the guitarist and the singer all played off each other, rising and falling to match speed and tempo and making the music and dance meld together in a sort of mind blowing way. I highly recommend seeing in if you are ever in Spain.

Pictures will never do it justice, but here is a picture of the dance.

Afterwards we walked out and found the bell tower all lit up.... we then walked around and tr

We again settled on El Aquador, the place that we had stopped the previous day. We lucked out and had an amazing waiter Anfernee who explained the whole menu to us and even gave Allison a special salad. I ended up getting Bull Tail, which Anfernee said was sort of a national dish of the area, or Spain. It actually ended up being really really good. amazingly tender and great.

(Note, his name was not Anfernee... but I figured he needed a name since he was so cool.)
We also got Sangria, which was amazing! Way better than boxed Sangria!