Mr. Quixote and our trip to Toledo

Sooo…. I am a little late on this… and it may not get up today. I asked Eric if he wanted to guest write the blog. He just said I should do this:

DOS CERVESAS POR FAVOR!

For 100 times and then call it good. However, I feel that I owe my readers more than that. So here is a late night blog, fueled mostly by cervesas and …. Fatigue?

So we… oh this is supposed to be yesterday. First here are some Actors that Eric would watch any movie with:

Patrick Stewart

Ian McKellen

Alan Rickman

Jon Goodman

Will Smith

Denzel Washington

Stephen Chow

Chris Berry

Tom Selleck -> as long as he never shaved off his mustache.

On a related note, Eric thinks that Patrick Stewart is a heartthrob as evidenced by his quote:

“My Hearts all a flutter just thinking about Patrick Stewart”

Ok… enough about Eric. By the way, the USA won the FIBA basketball tournament today. We almost went out and rioted in the streets, but then we remembered that we were in Spain and Pau Gasol would probably fly into Seville and hit us or something.

So… Friday?... Saturday the 11^th? Ok, Saturday, 9/11, which I guess is kind of a somber day in a lot of ways, but we didn’t really think about it, actually a lot of days just sort of blend together and so I wasn’t aware what day it actually was until today. Lol…. Ok, so we had to wake up super early and get ready to leave to go to Toledo, which is this little city. It is not pronounced like the Toledo, Ohio, rather it is pronounced… Toll Eh Dough

So we woke up at like… 9 AM, well that is when my alarm went off, we didn’t really wake up then, but kind of close… maybe like 915 or 930? We all hurriedly got packed and freshened up and then were out the door by 10:15. It was a little later then we wanted to. Checking out was really smooth, I just handed them our keys. It was a good little hotel, and I would come to realize how much I would miss the reliable free wireless internet… something that does not really exist in the last two places that we have stayed… It sort of exists in Seville… if we are willing to walk out and sit in the hallway, however, that is slightly inconvenient.

I swear, despite how I look, that I am ready to go.

So we headed down to the train station. It was all downhill but it took a little longer than I thought it was going to. I think going anywhere with you pack is always harder than going somewhere without your gear… I guess that is probably pretty obvious.

Eric and Allison walking into the Jung.... Train Station.

So we get to the train station, and… the place was packed. We first head up to the buy tickets for later line (not knowing that was the translation, and so the guy told us to get up and go to the buy tickets for today line. So eric did that and that line went pretty well… Those tickets were gotten pretty easily.

We had to take a slightly later train than we were expecting to take, but it was still pretty easy to get tickets.

Then I had the brilliant idea to to get tickets for Seville tomorrow... that was not so easy. The first thing we had to do was we had to go get a number... which was impossible to find for Eric and I, supposedly Allison saw it right away, but she was too far away to tell us about it... so we were sort of stuck roaming way far away... eventually we found the ticket machine, that gave us a number to wait in line. It was being guarded by this slightly dumb guy who was just standing there, pressing the button and handing out tickets.... it seemed so silly. There was a german or Swiss couple in front of us that did not understand and I had to explain it to them… so I felt good about that.

So we waited for our number to be called… oh also, two people skipped in front of us… what is it about Spain and people who skip… very annoying. So our number got called, and then we tried buying tickets ... and they were a lot of euros... 82 each, 1 way!!!! We hesitated a bit, then we went for it, but Eric's card was declined, luckily his other card worked, but it was still pretty stressful.

Then we got to wait around until our train. Eric and I, both feeling like we had wasted far too much money on train tickets, decided to get one baguette a piece for brunch. This was not the greatest food in the world. However… baguettes are super cheap and they are pretty good and filling. I think it would be harder if I had to eat them by myself, it is easier when I know someone else it going through the same thing. Allison ended up getting a Salad. And we ate our lunches in the little greenhouse/terrarium that makes up the train station waiting area. There were also a lot of turtles that Eric and Allison really enjoyed. I was … less excited.

Once we found out the platform we headed to the train and went through a really brief security system. We made it to Toledo ok, the train was really quick, only 30 minutes, I read, Eric read the guidebook and Allison listened to her iPod. We thought it was first come first serve. So we sat in the first place that we saw seats that looked good. Then we looked at our tickets and realized… oh, we actually have assigned seats… luckily we caught it before someone came and demanded our seats.

On the train... surprisingly much more leg room than on a plane.

So we get to Toledo and the Train station is actually very pretty (Pictures in tomorrow’s blog) and we debated whether we should take a taxi… I wasn’t really in favor of it and thought that we could just walk and make it there all right.

LETS GO!

Interestingly enough.. Toledo is on a very steep hill, so our walk was a little long, and a little steep. Oh maybe to the top of that Hill below. The sky sure is pretty though!

We found ourselves marching straight up a hill, luckily there were stairs… a lot of stairs.

GULP!

I think Allison may have been a little annoyed with me at that point, also since I said I didn’t really want to see the cathedral. Anyway, we found our hotel all right, we had to ask directions once. I have found that with directions… they tend to ramble them off in really fast Spanish and they just seem to expect us to understand… which I guess is good… however, often it means that we just sort of vaguely follow their hand movements and hope that we get there. Not something that is incredibly good, but so far it has all worked out. So we get in and we settle down, just enough time to notice the bidet in the room. Anyone know how it works?

and we quickly leave to catch the little zocotrain, which was a tour around the city. It was kind of ridiculous...but it was fun, we had to get tickets for a train leaving in 30 minutes so we took that time to go check out the alcazar, (some giant fortress, as well as some shops with swords and don Quixote sculptures.

Eric, Don, and I! Don is kind of a steely guy.

Then we purchased some mazapan, headed to the train, got in the back seat and waited.

MAZAPAN! Famous in Toledo.

The conductor came back and checked our ticket. I am not sure what he thought of us, since we actually seemed excited to be going on the train, and excited to be sitting in the last seat, which I guess was not prime viewing?

The train took us all over the city, and while a lot of the talking on the tour was pretty incomprehensible, it was good and we were able to see a lot of the city pretty easily.

View of Toledo from the Train:

Toledo is surrounded by water on three sides and the river and stuff dealing it it, like ruins from the roman aquaduct looked pretty cool. We stopped at a scenic viewpoint to take pictures of the scenic skyline. It was time for another panorama jama! Lol… It was just about the last pictures that I took with the camera, but luckily I had the iPhone as a backup. Allison and Eric kept saying how cool the Cathedral looked, and it did look nice, but I think they were mostly saying that because they wanted me to come along with them. The funnest part of the tour was actually watching the people in the cars behind us, it was kind of fun to watch them get exasperated with the train as it putted around the city on the roads. It seemed to be going close to the speed limit, so I am not sure they really had much to complain about.

Another happy Toledoian behind us!

After we were done the walkies decided to head to the catherdral… I hesitated, but then I went along with them, since:

1. They seemed sad I wasn’t going
2. I thought maybe the cathedral would actually be cool
   
3. We only had one room key
4. We did not seem to have wifi in the hotel! ;)

I could have explored on my own, but I figured I would get most of the same stuff from walking with them as I would from going out on my own.

We found the cathedral easily enough as it was pretty much the tallest most prominent thing in the sky. We just walked until we saw it and then headed towards it. Sadly, once again the cathedral did not allow pictures to be taken inside. I think this is a silly rule… especially since they basically had security guards yelling “No Fotos!” at every other visitor. It makes no sense… I understand the stuff is old, but you allow professional photography so that you can make money off postcards… what is the difference? Oh… right… you make money.

Anyway, the cathedral was pretty cool. They had this each hold in the ceiling with statues of… angels maybe and it looked like they were looking down on us, and there was a lot of intricate designs, just as with a lot of the old fancy churches… side note… I am not sure why churches or cathedrals are so popular… I mean… yes they took a long time to people, but very few people in Europe actually seem to care about religion… it is surprising to me that … oh.. wait, they make money off of it? Maybe that is it?.... lol… or maybe I am just being cynical.

Another illegal photo! A huge painted wall in the cathedral. Actually among the least interesting things there... but i didn't feel like moving from my seat to commit my illegal acts

I did take a few illegal pictures… not very good ones, but after we found out that the cloister was closed, I felt like striking back and taking some pictures… J

So after the cathedral Allison again got some postcards as well as a tile commemorating Toledo as it stands. Complete with the boiling sun.. Oh did I mention it was warm? It was, seemingly much warmer than Madrid, although, I don’t know by how much.

Based on one of these postcards, we had a new destination, so we headed to the synagogues of Toledo. It was an interesting walk, but we made it ok, we were helped out by lots of touisty signs telling us where to go. So we got there and got our tickets… and we walked in and while it was cool, it was about the smallest place ever… it felt like a kind of huge ripoff… and again… no pictures!!! I again, disobeyed this order since I thought it was silly… I think at this point that Eric and Allison, do not like me taking illicit pictures as evidenced, but their response in one such photo below, I am pretty sure they are very annoyed.

We then headed down the street and found yet another cathedral to visit. I decided to skip this one and went and explored the wall and gate to the south, while Eric and Allison went in and explored the cathedral (actually, they just got to explore the cloister).

Since I was not there, I asked Eric to explain the trip:

“DOS CERVESAS POR FAVOR!”

Hmm… that is not entirely helpful. Well.. the cloister looks pretty cool actually, I think the picture captures the essence really nicely, and you can just imagine monks walking around in little robes chanting or mumbling to themselves… it actually looks like the best places in Toledo.

Wait.. A skeleton? That isn't very Monk like.. what kind of cloister is this?

In the rest of the cathedral they were having a wedding, and after we met up, I figured that we could maybe wait and see the bride and groom come out… and so we waited… and we waited… and we waited… (MOST INCONSIDERATE BRIDE AND GROOM EVER!) and we waited (Man, it’s a little hot out, here… ohh look a lizard! Let’s take a picture) and we waited, and just when I was about ready to give up… some guy came out and informed people to get ready, and so I and hope, and so we waited (HOLY SNOODS! WHERE ARE THEY!) (By the way…. I am amazed how many people smoke in Spain. As they people where waiting for the bride and groom they just kept lighting up… like almost every other person, much more than in the U.S. ) … Finally…. After what seemed like 50 minutes, but may have in reality have only been…. Uhm… 40?... I am not sure… time is different on vacation and when you are sitting down resting time actually seems to fly. Anyway, finally they came out.. and .. OMG WHAT THE *&^& ARE THEY DOING!?!?!?! WHY ARE THEY SETTING OFF FIREWORKS FIVE FEET FROM US!??!?!? MY EARS!..... yeah… I am not sure if it was tradition, but as they came out, they lit bottle rockets which shot into the sky with nothing more than a huge bang and then they lit … ground bottle rockets that just exploded really really really loudly, right next to us. It was not very fun. We left very fast.

They finally come out! OMG! stop with the fireworks!

View of the wedding from up on the hill... a much much better place to view it.

So then we headed back to the hotel. And this was actually my favorite part of the day. We just sort of wandered around and sort of group navigated our way back to the hotel and we saw Toledo and just got to enjoy the uniqueness.

Anyway, we got back and we rested for a little bit before going out to eat. Eric decided to read his book for awhile and around 8 we asked if he was ready to go. He stated that he would finish his chapter and then we would go… around 815 we realized that he had fallen asleep! Lol… that is not helpful Eric! So we roused him up and went off to try Tapas again.

I am saddened to inform you that indeed, we did not succeed in getting Tapas. However, we did determine how to do it. Basically, you have to order at the bar. This is key. You cannot go to a table, you cannot do anything else… you must go to the bar! And be confident!

We were not… but we were able to get dinner nonetheless. We order some food… some of which was a surprise. Allison really really did not like ordering when she didn’t know everything. I felt bad… but I couldn’t translate everything. So we ordered, it ended up being all right.. oh… and Eric got this! Look at that thing! It is so large! Lol… that more than made up for us not getting tapas….

A skewer of mighty proportions with shrimps and ahi ahi and mushrooms... it was so amazing it made the dinner so much better.

After dinner our night was done. We headed back to the room to hit the hay and get ready for another day of travel.