"Did it tickle?"

Here's to yet again, another wonderful weekend in Spain. To start off, my excursion to Segovia. We left the house a little after 8.00, catching the bus at UC3M at 9.30. The weather wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. The bus left, I immediately fell asleep (headphones in ears, not even realizing music wasn't playing). Awakened to stopped bus, we got off and walked a ways to a bridge. Supposedly there was an outstanding view of the mountains from there; however, the weather had changed in our travels and could barely see ten feet ahead of us with all the fog. We were given a lecture on the geological aspects of the area on the bridge, which was more heavily traveled than expected considering we had to clear the road several times for oncoming cars.

What was supposed to be an amazing view:

We all hurried back to the bus because it was colder than expected and no one had appropriate attire. The next stop was to be a rest stop, where we could relax and get a cup of coffee. We stopped in a little ski lodge in a very small town, had some coffee, some of us bought jackets and hats, and headed back to the bus for the rest of our journey.

View from the ski stop parking lot:

The lodge is in that fog somewhere...

Heading back to the bus.

If the rain in Spain stays on the plains, then the snow definitely stays in the mountains.

Climbing the mountain:

Back on the bus

Some backseat lovin'

We shortly arrived at our next destination: another ski lodge. While there wasn't toooo much snow on the ground, it was enough to make my mesh sneakers soaked. I avoided the snow at all cost, but evnturally, I just had to give in. We hiked up a snow covered trail to a place called Gypsy Rock. The view was amazing, despite the fog. We also went shoe skiing down the mountiain...some of us were better than others.

Destination #2:

Getting psyched for our hike?

Not exactly snow shoes...

Compass on Gypsy Rock

Adorable: Meghan and Neil on the top of the hill

Matt shoe skiing down the hill.

Taking a breather before heading back down to the bus

Back on the bus for only a few minutes as we headed to another location on the opposite side of the mountain before the actual town of Segovia. We had a little picnic here (even though it was a little chilly) and then went for a hike in the surrounding woods.

The trail blazers: Lauren, Natalie and Justine

We had lunch at Ass's Mouth

My little photographer

Justine was a little confused about her soggy lettuce and cheese bocadilla



Yay for hiking!

A cute little river

After our little hike, we headed back to the bus and went to the town of Segovia. We walked around the Royal Palace for a spell and the gardens and back to the bus to visit....THE AQUEDUCT!!!

The gates of the royal palace: they lock the peasants out at night

Palacio Real

Matt riding a labyrinth-- they had some really weird statues in the gardens.

They also had some outrageously ornate and facinating fountains and ponds and statues:

I found Poseidon! and his Adventure!!

We wandered around the labyrinth garden maze, but it was pretty dull considering the hedges were all dead for the season. I was kind of hoping for some Harry Potter action and the bushes starting to eat people whole. I was mildly disappointed...but it didn't take me long to cheer up again

Doodle.

(Drum roll please....)

Romulus and Remus statue in front of the aqueduct

AQUEDUCT!!! YAY!!!! (I'm sorry, I have no explanation for my obsession-perhaps none other than I am a dork)

A late Gothic cathedral--once again, did not go in because of the 2E they were charging at the door

Mom, they made a museum for you:

We went shopping on some free time...Matt found a sword, although it was not purchased. I however, found an awesome "Bota" which is a leather pouch used for carrying around wine, for 5E. It was obviously purchased just out of concept, but was also promptly filled when we returned home that night.



When we met back up with the group, we walked up to an old medeival castle on top a huge hill. The view was absolutely spectacular:




We hiked back down to the bottom of the hill where the bus was. Our excursion was coming to an end and it was so much more than I had hoped for.

Our awesome professor, Carlos...doin' his thing

"I like these big balls"

Medeival Castle

This is not an owl

An old monastary

Nuns!

This little river was so quaint...



The castle from the bottom of the hill

We got back on the bus, discussed some plans to celebrate St. Patty's day, and took a nap. When we finally got home, I was exhausted and cold and just wanted a shower, dinner and some down time. The plans we had made were kind of shakey and Matt and I were both exhausted, so we opted to stay in and watch a movie. We enjoyed my bota and watched Back to the Future, which I amazingly have never seen, and Jesus and Julian came in later with four other of their friends. I thought that my day had already come to a climax, I didn't realize that it was possible to go back up again. After the movie was over, we went in and joined the boys for some pizza and copas and we just had a very relaxing, social evening practicing our Spanish and sharing our culture with theirs. (unfortunately there are no pictures for this)

The next morning, Matt's senora invited us to her house in La Mancha. We hadn't made any real plans yet, and we've been wanted to go, so we agreed. Matt had seen pictures, but I had no idea what to expect. I have a feeling though that whatever he saw in pictures was nothing compared to what we experienced. I was under the impression that we were going to her house for the day. I hadn't realized that it was three hours away, and didn't bother to question. I later found out that we were going over night and that I should pack a bag. It wasn't until we actually got there that we found out that we were staying for three days...



(more to come)