The second weekend with Bippy and Gramps was a little bit more mellow. We stayed at home and took a trip ino Granada on Saturday. On Friday afternoon I had started to feel a bit sick and by the time Saturday came around I was feeling no better, but I went anyway. I really like downtown Granada!
We drove in and parked in an overstuffed parking garage after a bit of driving in circles (which is inevitable in any old city, I've found) and set off walking to the tourist information office. The lady in there gave Gramps a map and suggested an itinerary around the Albaycin (the old area) and through the major tourist spots, like the Cathedral and stuff. The first part of the trip was a bit boring and icky because I was feeling pretty bad and it was really hot out. We were walking around a lot and not going into anything except for a little church and an ice cream shop (that gave me a bit nof energy but ice cream only lasts so long).
We stopped for lunch in a square, but I didn't order anything except for a ton of water and orange juice because I wasn't hungry. I just ate the paella we got for tapas which was really good. After we got out of the Albaycin it was much more fun. We walked over to the Cathedral and waited a little while for it to open. The Cathedral was really cool! And I mean that literally. They had the air conditioning on way too high in there because walking in the door was like walking straight from the Sahara desert into Siberia. Other than the temperature issues it actually was really awesome. You walk in theough the bishop's robing room (which, I must say, was way bigger than a closet has any right to be), and the on into the main Cathedral. When you walk in you sort of just stop and say wow because the Gothic styled architecture makes it look much taller than it actually is. It doesn't help to walk in to the side of the cathedral where there is a sort of forest of gigantic columns between you and the aisle. I am proud to say that I have been in a fair number of cathedrals, but I think the reason that it was so surprising to walk into this one was because we were entering from the side. All the other cathedrals we have been in were entered from the big doors exactly opposite from the alter. Whatever the reason, most of the big cathedrals in Spain are entered from the side. I kind of like it because there is a bit of suspense before you get to the big fancy gilded bit at the alter.
After the cathedral we made our way back to the car and drove back home. For the next two days I was a permanent resident of the couch! On Monday I was feeling a bit better but I decided that it is not fair to be sick on the weekend and still have to go to school, so I stayed home to fully recover. We had decided to skip Wednesday to Friday of that week to go to Toledo and then Paris for Kayley and I and northern Spain for the other two. I only had to go to one day of school that week and I am pretty sure it was the best day of school yet. Mostly that was because there was very little schooling going on. I watched a movie for two of the hours, had special Spanish class for another two hours, had English class for one ( where I only sit and read), and I was let out an hour early because the teacher never showed up for last period. Just shows how bad that school is, if I can go there and not go to a single real class!! But it was a great day, and while I walked home I probably looked like an absolute idiot because I was grinning, skipping and humming the whole way! It was like "Yes! I'm freeeeee!!".
Pretty much promptly after Zander got back from school we set out for Toledo. It was a big fat three hour drive and we spent it eating the food Bippy had packed for lunch and passing around the electronics we had and trying not to get too bored. When we finally got to the hotel in Toledo, it was a relief! Zander and Kayley were all but in a fist fight, and things were getting kind of tense. Toledo was absolutely amazing! We stayed in the Parador Hotel which has the best view of the city, and we all had beds (woo hoo!). Bippy and Gramps got two three person rooms and the girls stayed in one and Bippy and Gramps stayed in the other with Zander.
We spent the rest of the day watching TV and lying around in the room.At 8:39 we had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was on a big balcony with the most amazing view on earth. You just sit there and stare at it and every time we ate there we had to get the camera out and take about a gazillion pictures because it was just so beautiful. You could see out over the town with the cathedrals, the palace thingy, and all sorts of other cool stuff at the top of the hill, the houses all the way down the hill to the walls, and the two bridges over the river that circles half of the edge. The food was really good there too, and the waiters were really nice.
The next day we went into town and spent about 2hours in the Cathedral of Toledo which has all the extra rooms off it like the robing room (complete with some really uncomfortable looking robes), the treasury (with some really nice treasure), the monastery thingy, etc. It was a little bit bigger than the Granada cathedral, and much nicer. Then we went to lunch where I had some really delicious lasagna.
After lunch we went to the El Greco museum and then visited a synagogue. By then we were about to fall on our faces and it was super hot, so we went back to the car and went back to the Parador. We had a few hours before dinner time and we were going to go swimming, but it turned out that the pool isn't open until June! We were so mad because we were leaving the day before June started. So we just watched some more TV until dinner. We sat out there on the balcony eating our fancy food and fancy desserts, watching the sun set over Toledo. It was perfect! And I loved it.
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