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| Lexi in Bruce's backpack, opened to be surprised by her face - You are NOT LEAVING ME BEHIND! |
Christoph came to pick us up and drive to Zurich.
Took about two hours due to quite a lot of construction on the road but an easy
drive. Stayed in a hotel near the
airport so nothing interesting there. Zurich airport was not busy, but huge!
Walking to the gate took forever! Made it easy to get clear directions about
Bruce’s wheels and Lexi’s too. They have mandated in Europe Assisted Access for
people with handicaps in all airports, which was very useful for Bruce. Assist
staff took him from the ticket booth to the gate and back in a wheel chair,
Zurich, Mallorca and Sevilla. The assist person in Sevilla helped with our
luggage as well. It’s a valuable service but is free! Word of caution, if you
can help it, don’t fly when you have a cold! My ears gave me problems despite
having taken cold medication.
Landed in Sevilla. We get all our stuff together and go outside to
wait for our host, who doesn’t show! After two hours we needed to get Lexi
settled in a hotel and my repeated attempts to talk to the Information person to
find hotel that allows pets failed due
to lack of Spanish. Bruce asked a police officer. There were three men and one
woman who were absolutely wonderful to us. We explained we needed a room that
allowed pets. They phoned, asked, decided on where would be a good
neighbourhood and generally spent about half an hour helping out. Guess that
shows there isn’t a lot of crime happening in Sevilla that time of day! Once
settled for the night got in touch with our host by email. He’d made an error
in the date of arrival, is actually out of the country but has a backup with
Ivan our guide we enjoyed many trips with last year. He apologized profusely! Ivan
will meet with us, next morning and drive us to the flat. Unfortunately not the flat we have
rented but a backup in the building we occupied before. Well at least we’ll have a roof over our
heads.
What was meant to happen, host picks us up, drive
to and settle us into the flat we’ve rented for our time in Sevilla. What
happened, he failed to show, we sourced a room for the night with the help of
the police. Ivan will drive us to a temporary flat to live in for five days
since the one we rented is double booked. Oh well, #$%^& happens. The hotel
we are at is a boutique type, room very small but adequate and modernly decorated.
We would stay there again, called Petite Palace and may have been a palace at
one point. Ivan said it was an educational facility for people learning trades. Room was only
67 euros so reasonable too in the neighbourhood of Santa Cruz.
An unexpected start to our next “adventure” but we
were lucky, once again, in many ways – just makes more to talk or blog about.
Now I’m trying to remember the little Spanish I know and not reply in German,
the usual…
It’s sunny here and quite warm – yeah! That’s why
we came. Architecture is beautiful, you’ll hear more about that I’m sure and
I’ll be taking pictures of course.
Further to this saga. Ivan met us at the hotel and
phoned Pepe’s dad to get the keys for the flat. Flat isn’t cleaned and won’t be
until 19:00. We had to check out of the hotel room so had boxed Lexi again and
hung out in the very lovely atrium of the hotel. Since she’s already spent the
better of two days in it we wanted to lessen her time in it so booked another
night in the Hotel. Put her back in the room, she’s confused, what? I got boxed
to move and we’re back here again?
Went out for lunch with Ivan at RESTAURANTE
EGANA-ORIZA
Calle San Fernando 41, 41004 Seville (00 34 95 4227 211; www.restauranteoriza.com). "In competition
with the Taberna del Albardero for the title of Seville's best restaurant, the
Egaña-Oriza offers upscale fusion of Basque-Andalucian cooking. The restaurant
is known for sourcing excellent raw materials, and the ingredients fill the
seasonal menu in the impressive dining room next to the Jardines de Murillo." From Conde Nast Traveller
Met Pepe Senior for him to give us the keys to the
flat. He has offered to pick us up tomorrow. We’ll get settled sometime
mid-week next into the “real” flat we’ve rented but the one we go to tomorrow
will at least give us more room than a hotel, kitchen so I can make coffee etc.
Driving around Sevilla today we wondered anew about
the buildings, the special light, (hard to describe, just think of the best
photographer’s natural light) the palm trees, the holiday decorations and these
things make us happy campers. They have constructed very tall frames and have
bougonvelia trained to climb the frame, turning it into a tree of flowers,
lovely!
Ack, what a day. Bruce had a bad night, therefore
so did I. Woke up, looked at the time and it’s 10:45 – yikes! Pepe Senior is
picking us up at 11:00! I never sleep that late so didn’t ask for a wake up
call. Threw on clothes, packed up all and sundry including Lexi of course.
Phone rings and Pepe Senior is there, 5 minutes early. Well I hope not to
repeat that performance but now know we can pack up in 10 minutes, something I
didn’t need to know. First time ever I’ve gone outside without the little bit
of makeup I wear, a shower, within 10 minutes of waking and NO coffee.
Pepe Senior I think knows what has happened, takes
us for coffee, tostados
(toast with tomato and you add olive oil), anise liquor,
that was a surprise considering the time of day but tasted good and helped our
rolling stomachs. Much appreciated, all
of it! His wife and a friend come along and want to see Lexi so I brought over
her in her box. Lots of oohing and awing. Great laughter over the fact we don’t
wear socks. Now I wish I had, forgot how cold the tile floors are here, will
have to buy slippers because I still can’t be bothered wearing socks.
Get to the temporary flat, pile everything in and
go for a coffee. Beautiful sunny day and quite warm.
Aside, what I mean by everything: two large rolling
suitcases, two backpacks, two boxes for Lexi (her train, travel, one on
collapsible wheels and her airline box), Bruce’s wheels which are the heaviest
but collapse into two pieces and Christoph said we pack light!
They are today, Friday, setting up the Christmas
markets in Alameda Plaza! We’ll go back but they had mule and donkey rides,
even camel rides!
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| Tired little babe donkey. |
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| Burros for children to ride |
Four bored looking camels were tethered to what will be their
enclosure. Weird to see camels and donkeys in the middle of the city.
They are also hauling in many small rides for
children, a bouncy castle and a trampoline so it does look like a very much
children oriented event half market, half circus.
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| These figurines move to music |
Sitting at a café and a child from the next table grabbed
Bruce’s arm, she didn’t seem to have a problem, just was fascinated with his
arm. Father laughed and gently removed her, Bruce didn’t mind.
Oranges are still somewhat green on the trees but a
good size. Oh, even with the problematic accommodation we do enjoy it here, as
we do Freiburg just differently.
Out to shop on a Saturday in preparation for Sunday
and the shops are closed! It’s Constitution Day, public holiday. Bruce got
overwhelmed with stomach cramps so I walked him home and made my rounds to the
Oriental grocers that are open. So much for my list of food to get. The term
grocers applies rather loosely to these shops but at least they have something
one can scrounge. Beautiful sunny day again, I just wanted to turtle in a café
but also wanted to get home to Bruce and all cafes were jambed with people.
Monday is also a holiday, Immaculate Conception Day, so we won’t be buying much
then either. Tuesday hopefully we’ll get into the right apartment and then can
stock up. We left a bundle buggy here but I don’t know where Pepe has put it.
We did have a coffee in Plaza Duque and the waitress recognised us, brought us
a table to sit outside. Very kind of her. Haven’t seen Alonso yet, Bruce wasn’t
feeling up to it, but look forward to seeing him again.
Moving in has been slow and rather frustrating
honestly.
Sunday, Bruce needed cigarettes and I had found a
kiosk yesterday that sells them, the Oriental grocers don’t. (P.S. they are
called the Oriental or Chinese markets because they are owned exclusively by
people of that or those ethnic groups.) We walked up to the Museum Plaza to
find an enormous outdoor art market. It’s outside the Bellas Artes Museum so
location was fitting. No pictures allowed of the artwork, understood. Sunny, cool day so no one had to worry about the art
getting wet. Such variety, in method, subject and technique! Marvelous works of
gallery quality almost all. I wanted to buy up at minimum some of it but then
my practical nature kicked in. It’s really hard to describe the beauty and
uniqueness of it all. An unexpected treat for the eyes!
We went to see our Venezualan friend and waiter
Alonso at Amillo Albero, a bodega we spent much time in last year. He welcomed
us with open arms as did the manager. A wedding party, mostly men were dressed
in suits and watching the soccer game; found out they were likely waiting for
their ladies to dress because many paraded past about an hour later. They wear
wonderful hats, mantillas and very high heeled shoes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantilla
Dresses are fabulous in style and colour, a real
parade of fashion. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while I mentioned
this last year. It’s a sight to behold! Would have liked to stay out longer but
I got very chilled and became uncomfortable so needed to come back to the flat
to warm up.
The following is a nativity scene set up along one entire wall of the temporary apartment we stayed in. It is the usual nativity scene but shows life in the village also. Must have taken hours to put together and much room to store every year! So detailed I couldn't get it all on camera.
Monday evening we moved into our final flat for our
stay with a hurried push of luggage a block and a half down the road thanks to Ivan and his friend Marianne.
It’s a two bedroom, has lots of natural light and, yes, the floors are
cold, as they are everywhere it seems. Kitchen is galley style with a
dishwasher, clothes washer, full sized fridge, range, oven and microwave, well
stocked appliance wise. Clothes driers (or tumblers) are not found often in Europe, they use
wire racks and take advantage of sunny days to hang clothing out a window. Oh, I'm sorry I can't go on a date with you, I have to wash my clothing (hair).
With a prolonged move in process we are happy to be
here and Ivan has made suggestions for trips both in the City and out so there
is much to look forward to.
Cheers Bx2 and packed Lexi Cat
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