2. Segovia- Fried Egg
3. Toledo- Bacon Bits
4. Soaking up Madrid
5. Pretty Paris
6. Chateaus in France
7. Long Travel Day
1. World Cup in Madrid and San Miguel
On Sunday, July 11th, I met up with Mom and Sarah at the Madrid airport. After settling into our hostal (small hotel), we walked over to the Plaza Mayor and the Plaza del Sol with our Spanish fans and water bottles. The streets were buzzing with excited fans for the World Cup- red and gold capes, shirts, face paint, wigs, crazy glasses, really annoying plastic horns. . . the works. To watch the game, we stumbled across the Mercado de San Miguel where we enjoyed sangria, tapas, and watched Spain win the world cup on one of the several TV screens. It was such a cool experience to see the whole city celebrating, and I felt like we were able to partake in Spanish history!
The Mercado de San Miguel turned out to be one of our favorite places in the city. Inside the glass and iron building were 33 vendors or mini-restaurants selling tapas, pastries, fruits, drinks, and sea food. For the rest of the week, we began each morning there in the mercado, sipping on cafe con leche and nibbling on some bread and fruit. We also enjoyed the olive and fish tapas and pickled squash for our pre-dinner appetizers.
2. Segovia
On Monday, we took a high speed train to the Medieval town of Segovia which I would highly recommend. It is usually cooler than Madrid due to its location in the mountains, and there is plenty to see for a full day. We saw the huge Roman 
aqueduct that leads into the city, passed by the last cathedral in Spain to be built in the Gothic style, and had a nice lunch before touring the Alcazar, the castle that supposedly inspired the Sleeping Beauty's castle down in Disney World. The castle was so interesting with a very low entrance fee. I still love learning about the Middle Ages and I was relieved to see something different than the gaudy, heavily-ornamented styles that would emerge later. Before leaving Segovia, we walked through the tree-covered paths at the base of the Alcazar and enjoyed the scenery and winding stream.
Breakfast food analogy for Segovia: Fried Egg. The beautiful, old city and castle is easily walkable with a delicious, condensed atmosphere like the yolk of a fried egg and the egg white on the outside represent all of the trails and surrounding scenery which are also very nice, but if you only have time for one, go for the yolk.
By a lucky chance, we got back to Madrid just as huge crowds of red and gold began to assemble along the streets. We decided to stick around and see what the hub bub was all about, and then we saw the floats. It was the Spain Futbol team coming back from South Africa! We saw them live, in person! I mean, they were not close enough shake hands with, but we could definitely pick out the different players, including my favorite- Alonso #14.
3. Toledo
We took another train on Tuesday south of Madrid to the historic city of Toledo, a city of metal-working, ceramics, marzipan, a giant cathedral, and heat. We wandered the streets and bought some yemas, a traditional, regional specialty of candied egg yolks. It was pretty good- not my favorite dessert in the world but "when in Toledo. . ." Our adventurous spirit did not extend, however, to eating cuchinillo, a roasted 28-day old piglet.
We enjoyed Toledo, but the experience would have been better if it had not been quite so hot. When we walked back to the train station, we found out that it was 104 degrees Fahrenheit. No wonder we were hot!
Breakfast food analogy for Toledo: Bacon bits. It is dry and kind of crumbly city that is worth a visit as an accompaniment to something else, but I would not necessarily recommend it as the city to visit if you only have time for one in Spain. It also has a long history, like bacon, and the city is a reminder of that history (bacon bits are not the real deal, but they are a reminder of real bacon.)
4. Soaking Up Madrid
We spent the rest of the week in Madrid, searching for good tapas and real paella, shopping, walking, visiting the Thiessen Art Museum, having picnics in the Retiro
Park, smelling the flowers in the Botanical Garden, taking siestas during the hot part of the day, and meeting Mattieau, Sarah's boyfriend, who has been studying intensive Spanish in the city of Salamanca. The four of us had a great time sitting at cafes, talking and sharing tapas (spinach and seafood croquettes, tomatoes and goat cheese, tostados with crushed tomatoes, etc.) 5. Pretty Paris
I said hasta luego to Spain on Sunday, July 18th, and we flew to Paris. For the rest of the week, we stayed at Sarah's apartment were we cooked a lot of our meals. Sarah had to work during the day, but mom and I would explore neighborhoods on our own(the Islands, the Marais, the Latin Quarter), eat a packed lunch, and then meet up with Sarah in the evenings.
Paris is so pretty- the food, the people, the buildings, the flowers, the clothes. . . sigh, everything. And although some things such as rent are expensive, other aspects are incredibly cheaper than in the U.S. Because bread is subsidized by the government, the amazing baguettes are less than a euro. Cheese and yogurt is very cheap, too, and there are so many varieties. French food also incorporates a lot more vegetables than Spanish food. I do not count potatoes as vegetables. Yes, technically they are BUT. . .
During our week, Mom and I went on a Fat Tire Bike tour (fun, but oh-so scary when you are trying to cross heavy-traffic streets or share sidewalks with pedestrians and 26 other fat-tire bikers.) We also ate delicious falafel in the Jewish section of the Marais neighborhood and toured the Rhodin Garden which is such a good deal. It is only a euro to walk through the gardens and see quite a bit of his sculpture including The Thinker and The Gates of Hell.
For our last night in Paris, Mom, Sarah, and I went to this nice, little restaurant that was the perfect place to celebrate the end of our trip. Tucked into a small, cobblestone street with rope lights strung between the buildings and cafes. We sat on a curved, red plush bench and talked about little things and big things, past memories and future hopes. Before walking back to the apartment, we stopped for gelato sculpted into roses and passed by the Eiffel Tower with its sparkling lights one more time- haha, but not too close so we could avoid the tourists.
6. Chateaus in France
Let me back up just for a moment. Before we left Paris, Mom and I went on a tour of several chateaus in the Loire Valley. The van with a French guide, couple from Ohio, and family of three from Paraguay, picked us up early on Wednesday morning. Our first visit was Ambroise and then Leonardo DaVinci' house. We had lunch at L'Orange before seeing the third chateau and the gardens. Before driving back through the sunflower and wheat fields to Paris, we stopped quickly at several other chateaus to view from the outside. The grounds at Leonardo DaVinci's home were very beautiful, and along the paths were life-sized replicas of his inventions.
7. Long Travel Day
Mom and I left the apartment at 9 am on Friday, July 23rd. After a the long metro and RER train rides, we made our way through all of the security and other pleasantries of airports before boarding the plane a little after 1 pm. Ten hours later, we were in Detroit where several violent thunderstorms caused delays and cancellations. Luckily, our flight was not canceled but simply postponed, and we arrived in Des Moines at 12:30 Iowa time (7:30 Paris time.) Dad picked us up and drove us home where we were finally able to sleep.
It is good to be back, Iowa!
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