Feelin HOT HOT HOT-45 degrees to be exact!!

SO we decided to go to the Reales Alkasares to draw on the hottest day we have experienced so far here in Sevilla.

11am and temperatures had already reached 45!!! (thats like over 100 degrees farenheight)

But we chose a place in the shade and drew one of the many beautiful fuentes in the extensive gardens behind the Alkasares. After several hours baking in the sun- i mean sketching, we walked around to see if we could spot the famoso pavo real!! And after about haf an hour we were just about to give up when we practically stepped on the thing as we rounded a corner.  It was just sitting calmly in a pile of leaves enjoying the shade.

Needless to say we took loads of pictures and we were amazed at how close we were able to get to the beautiful bird ...perhaps he is used to the paparazzi -i mean after all his feathers really are exquisite.

The only funny thing was that compared to the female, the macho was much more beautiful and she looked extremely plain.  But the grounds keeper was saying that the reason for the colorful feathers was merely to show off for the female and the rest of the time he had to drag the heavy load behind him lol its amazing what some creatures do to attract a mate.

Mas manana!!

Out on the Town

As my time in Sevilla comes to an end...I am trying to aprovechar all of the beauty, excitement and culture the city has to offer. This past weekend we went for tapas and a flamenco show at La Carbonería.


It makes me smile to see families out for a walk or just sitting down to dinner at 11:30 or midnight. Apparently as the summer nights get warmer the Sevillanos stay out later and later...

Sorry for the abbreviated posts- but exam time is also here and I am definitely feeling the time crunch!! 


Más Mañana!!

We Are Family :)

Mom and Dad came to visit this past week and it was a whirlwind of travel, sightseeing and fun times :)

It was a wonderful and a much needed dose of family :)

We went all around Sevilla including a riverside bar with mojitos and great music, a traditional flamenco performance full of duende, La Catedral, La Giralda, Los Reales Alkasares and then the Costa del Sol.

We also sampled all sorts of tapas and local cuisine...here is a picture taken by our waiter who had studied abroad guess where??? JAX, FL lol it is such a small world!

We missed Mattman but I am sure we will have more adventures this summer with the whole family :)

Looking The Part...Moroccan Style

Except for an unfortunate run in with a carpet seller who offered to show us some of the rugs his family had been weaving for centuries and would never pressure us to buy only to have a look, we had no real trouble with walking through the town and looking in little shops and bakeries. 

Our first official perchase in Chaoen was a headscarf for me, because, as I mentioned it is a rural town and so the women there were more conservative and after a few too many glances in my direction I realized that it was perhaps improper for me to be flaunting my light colored hair which inadvertinly also announced that I was a tourist. So we popped into a small shop where the man was watching a Spanish novella and spoke a bit of broken English and found a reasonably process scarf to cover my head. Once covered we began to blend much better (Justin in a traditional Moroccan shirt and me in the scarf and a longsleeved blouse)

The next day after a bit of exploring and a formal lesson on how to wear on a headscarf- I asked the cook if she would mind showing me how to put it on properly to which she smiled and replied in polite french that it would be a pleasure. So several pins and some time later I emerged with my hair tucked away and looking rather local if I do say so my self. J