The tale of (Anna's last) two cities...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. I suppose you have already read that tale of two cities. Or at least the Cliffnotes version of it.

The tale of Anna's last two cities takes place Alcalá and Sevilla. On Monday morning I opted to skip Spanish class because I hadn't done the homework and I didn't want to be harassed by the teacher for not doing it. Besides, Anna was in town and it was better not to leave her all alone in Alcalá all morning. That afternoon we started our first tour: Sevilla.

This tour consisted of visits to the Catedral/Giralda (again), the Plaza de España, Torre del Oro, Parque María Luisa and Plaza Alfalfa. In the plaza we drank sangría and people-watched:

Then we went to dinner, where Anna had goat cheese with fruit and I had cod with onions and oranges and we shared a pitcher white wine sangría. After dinner we booked it back to the bus stop and back to Alcalá where we made cookies (and ate a ton of them), drank wine (from Sevilla- Espartinas, in fact) and talked. We also discovered that the time it takes to climb the stairs up to our piso is equal to the time it takes to get there via the elevator.

My iPod takes terrible photos.

We saved the Tour de Alcalá for the last day (Tuesday). I took Anna to the dragon bridge, the castle, and the mall.

Los Alcores Mall in Alcalá.

As if that weren't enough, she even got to go to school with me again. On the way there we stopped and arranged for a taxi to swing by the piso at 5 AM the next morning to take her to the airport. At school, Anna observed/participated in two of my conversation classes (a fourth year and a first year). She did quite well. She just has to work on getting a British accent.

After class we had a drink/tapas and watched the Semana Santa practice procession. Ever since Thursday night on the way to the Mexican restaurant, when we saw some costaleros practicing for the big week, Anna had been hoping to see more Semana Santa action. This was her big chance. Clarisse and José joined us as well. Afterwards, (for the last supper) Anna, José and I went to another tapas restaurant and had wine, mayo with potatoes and veggies (its real name is ensalada rusa, I know), goat cheese with jam and bread with a sauce that I thought was solmorejo, but I'm not really sure.

Bed time didn't come until about 1 AM, which made 5 AM all that much earlier. I helped Anna carry her suitcases down to the taxi that awaited her and we said our goodbyes. I stood and watched as the taxi drove away.

Saying goodbye to all my visitors has been hard, but I've managed to keep it together. I don't know if it was because Anna was the last visitor or because it was 5 AM or because I'd been drinking more than usual, but as I turned to go back up to the piso, I started to cry.