Rocio and I went to Divine Saviour Collegiate Church or Iglesia Colegial del Divino Salvador. We walked arm in arm as ladies do here which was both nice and awkward for me. Awkward because it was just before Christmas Day and we had to go through the shopping streets to get there, read CROWDED! Very crowded, with groups of people gathering to chat in the middle of the street with no notion or care of blocking access. Anyway, off the negative, the church was exceptionally beautiful, cameras weren't allowed which I didn't click to (pun intended) until I noticed there were very few cell phones being used. Oops, this is what I got before the penny dropped.
Here is the website where you will see how beautiful the church is.
https://www.catedraldesevilla.es/iglesia-de-el-salvador/
Paul and Paula are in town to spend their annual holiday with their daughter, husband and his family. The wrinkle this year is that part of the family got Covid so most plans had to be cancelled. I did get to see them for a drink at the top of El Cortes Ingles and lunch at my favourite restaurant Al Aljiba https://www.restaurantealaljibe.com/ We have been there many times so I had to order the spinach and rucola (rocket salad green) risotto and send a picture to Ryan and Angela, it's his favourite dish there, perhaps I was being a bit mean?
We also went to an Italian one, rated best Italian in Sevilla #1 of 2444 restaurants on Tripadvisor) called Alimentari E Diversi. https://alimentariediversi.es/ Here's my opinion, the food was good, service good but on the downside... my first bite of fish had a bone in it, the only one thank goodness. They brought a bottle of water to the table and some bread, and charged us for both. I think because of the rating, they are so popular at the moment, they think they can get away with that, and did with us. I took a wood fired pizza home for consumption the next day and to be honest it was only okay.
So as you can tell this will not be my favourite restaurant to return to. No, I did not write a review, my mother always said "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".
Paul and Paula live in Montpelier, France but are originally from California, USA. They have been visiting Sevilla for years now and I still cannot remember who hooked us up. Paula had a lot of questions the first year they were here and I helped her a bit with some answers and we've been friends ever since. Paula's birthday is the same day as mine.
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| The gang together about Christmas 2017. L-R: Ryan, Paul, Angela, Paula, Bruce and I, great memory of a lovely day. |
Here are a couple of pictures encountered on my walks about town that you don't see every day.
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| This fellow was teaching kids how to form bubbles, very colourful ones! |
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| Stumbled on this Magic store for Wizards, okay, good to have, but I've never seen one before. |
video The Fork This is a film about a couple, one a big eat meater and the other a vegetarian who tour the USA to discover and rationalize the methods of agriculture employed today including why and when they were employed. I enjoyed it, I cringed about it, and learned from it. I hope if you choose to watch it you will learn something about where your food comes from and why.
Rant start, I was in a major grocery store about mid-week last and this young fellow clearly had a cold, coughing and sneezing, no mask, and was buying a box of four doughnuts. Not knowing his back story but not appreciating him potentially infecting the rest of us, I was not happy. Saturday evening it hit, Sunday looked for Covid testing kit, out of date, I have one mask left. Stayed at home Sunday and Monday but needed to go out Tuesday, I wore a mask in stores even though I am probably not contagious anymore. First stop, Farmacia to get test kit and more masks. As we know Covid is not over and probably will never be, rant concluded. I dosed myself with ginger and green tea and it wasn't too bad, still have a cough but... enough about that.
Over Christmas Pepe, Marta, Daniel and Mom and I had lunch and walked past a new venture, hairstylists. Mom has lived in this area for years and, as Pepe says, knows everything about everyone here. So we stopped in to satisfy her curiosity and mine too. I had a hair cut appointment scheduled for the next day and didn't feel it fair to them to cancel last minute so no appointment that day. It's been about a month so I booked with Jaime Sevilla for today and am I ever impressed! The fellow is an artist, blew dried my hair straight which showcased the grey, silver colour. Last time I had it blown dry straight was in my twenties in Victoria, read humid, and I could actually hear the curls pop back. Anyway I will link his Instagram post if he thinks it worthy because he did take four photos for that platform, I guess he didn't, but here is his link https://www.instagram.com/jaimesevillapeluqueros/ I think his pricing is too cheap at 25,00 Euros. He didn't get water in my ears or down my neck which has happened before because I am short to the opening of the sink.
My regular curls were back the next day of course but it was good to look different for a day.
From me to you my friends wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!
