segovia & toledo

there are a sequence of questions you ask people when you meet them here.
1. what is your name (pretty standard)
2. where are you from
3. (if they are not from slu) what school are you from
4. what is your major
5. are you going out tonight

....that's it. basically, the subtext of these questions: what do we -or what do we not- have in common. even if this someone you're meeting is someone you never plan on talking to again, you ask these. this is programmed in my head. so much that i don't even really hear answers any more. the point? i'm not really sure.

walking to the social friday night, i meet a girl. emily. from southern il (not columbia). ....yeah, see i can't really remember anything else. except this: she goes boating -often- with her friends who own a boat in boulder yaht club. what the hell? we basically grew up in the same marina and we meet each other across the atlantic? blew my mind.

saturday morning, diana and i get up and leave to meet the bus for segovia. the bus leaves and 9am. we get there at 8:55. i look around. ...where's renata? i knew she didn't go out last night. she should be here. i get out my really cool and technologically savvy cell phone i bought from the school (hey, you can even text on this thing. that's more than i had ever hoped) - which now has about 7 numbers in it. oh, the simple life.

she answers. "hello?"
"where the hell are you."
"oh my god i forgot to wake up! i'll be there in 5." and she was.

Segoviathe view of the guadarrama mountains from segovia. the children call it the "dead lady." do you see her laying on top? i tried to zoom in... her name? the kids named her snow white. really? be original. please.

The old city is spectacularly situated atop a long, narrow promontory. In it includes the cathedral, a famous ancient roman aqueduct, the alcazar, and various churches built in the Romanesque style including San Esteban, San Martín, and San Millán. The old city is a world heritage site and is surrounded by walls built in the 8th century AD, probably on a Roman base, and rebuilt extensively during the 21st century.

the aqueduct is the most recognized and famous symbol of Segovia. It was built at the end of 1st to early 2nd century AD by the Romans to bring water from the Río Frío (Cold River), about 18 km away, to the city.

the alcazar of segovia is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape - like the bow of a ship. The alcazar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a royal artillery college and a military academy since then. a bunch of kings lived there. and it was freezing inside. imagine what the inside of a castle looks like. that's what it looks like. regardless, i have a bunch of pictures.

(p.s. mom, dad, if you're thinking "wow she's really learning and appreciating all of this history!" no. i'm using wikipedia to label everything i took pictures of. the tour guides had thick accents and smelled weird.)

Segovia Cathedral is located in the main square of the city, the Plaza Mayor. It is dedicated to the virgin mary. The Cathedral of Segovia is one of the late Gothic cathedrals of Spain and Europe, built in the sixteenth century (1525-1577), when most of Europe was spreading of Renaissance architecture. we were going to go in when we had free time, but it cost 3 euro. that's 6 beers from supersol... yeah. we have high priorities.

and basically that's segovia. or at least what struck me as most significant.

we debate what souvenir to get. what small trinket will i get to represent my being in this place of majesty and beauty? what will be my gateway to memories full of travel bliss? actually, in all honesty, if i could rewind i probably wouldn't have signed up and paid 20 euro for this trip. i had fun, but it was pretty dry. this is a personal opinion. if your thing is old towns, castles, and roman ruins that bring water from the mountains - this is your kingdom.

i ponder with my friends what to get. post cards? nah. i have my own pictures to look at... or google images. shot glasses? i see a sweet shot glass with the cathedral on it. ...that's sort of....illogical. i want it. but i start to picture opening my suit case when i get home and finding 27 souvenir shot glasses in pieces. "what about lighters?" thomas asks. ....we're sort of on a trend here of souvenir's supporting bad habits, aren't we? shot glasses, lighters... what's next? prison shanks? condoms painted with the aqueducts?

in the end i decide on pins. cheap, straight forward, and soon my backpack will look like europe threw up on it. ... or like i work at tgi fridays.

Toledo

toledo was declared a world heritage site in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the spanish empire and place of coexistence of christian, jewish, and moorish cultures.

The cathedral of toledo was built between 1226-1493, and is the second biggest church in spain. It is remarkable for its incorporation of light and features the baroque altar called el transparente, several stories high, with fantastic figures of stucco, paintings, bronze castings, and multiple colors of marble, and much more. it's probably - to this day at least- the most incredible thing i've ever seen. inside we were not allowed to take pictures but google it. it's amazing. diana's theology teacher told her that their field trip to toledo was the closest thing they would get to jerusalem. i now know why.

renata became our tour guide through the
entire church (thanks to her travel book, which depicts all the major cities and sitings in spain in a very honest but cynical way - for example, comparing us to pez dispensers as we stare up at the incredible painted ceilings). we went from sculpture, to painting, to room to room with our eyes taking in the view while renata's head was in a book whispering to us the meaning of what we were looking at.

it was a really cool city, beautiful country side. but after the cathedral, everything else we saw there diminished. i found my pin and we hit the road.