Monday, June 20, 2011

Espana: Days 3 & 4; Ronda

After Gau-theen, we got to Rhonda. This quickly became, and stayed, our favorite city. We pent quite a bit more time there than we planned do to a little mishap with the Cafe Colòn. (As in Christopher Columbus, who is known simply as Colòn here.)

The mishap went like this: we were hungry, so we stopped in and ordered some pastries. When she handed us the pastries, Hubby handed her the credit card. She said (in spanish of course) "No, no cards, only cash please". We of course had not stopped for cash yet. Mistake #1. So Alex said, ok, I'll run to a cash machine and get some. But she said we should sit and eat first, he could get the cash later. So we ate. Mistake #2. I stayed at the Cafe while Hubby ran to the cash machine. While he was out, I watched the Federer/Nadal tennis match, thinking silly things like: "Oh this is so fun, this will be a great story to tell!" or "This is something that people do in movies!" or even better "this is kind of romantic!". Forty-five minutes later, Alex comes back. Without cash. Because we didn't have the PIN number for our credit card, and we didn't bring our debit cards with us that day. Mistake #3.

We decided the best thing to do was to ask our hostess what she thought would be best since we were out of ideas. She was very kind, and said to come back and pay her tomorrow since we were so far from our hotel and she would be closing soon. We love opportunities to be honest!

So we spent the remainder of that afternoon walking around the BEAUTIFUL city of Ronda, then came back the next day for some more! On Monday, day 2, we ate lunch at the Hotel Don Miguel which is right on the chasm that splits the city. We had the most beautiful view, and the food was fantastic. Our first taste of Gazpacho was to die for!






Hotel and Restaurant Don Miguel. The bridge below is just to the left of it, we were standing on the end of the bridge to take the picture.


 Lunch, and the view at Hotel Don Miguel!

Ronda is famous for its bull fighting ring. 




Espana: Day 3; Gaucin

We got up this morning, but were too late to get to a nearby church. So we watched a general conference talk, and decided to take a scenic drive to Ronda. The scenic part was that all along the two hour drive there were the most beautiful white cities! Apparently they were border towns between the Spanish and the Moors, but who cares! Look at them!

We stopped and got out in Gaucin. I of course said it with a strong french accent. After all, if I'm not speaking english, it must be french, non? So my dear hubby corrected me each time. "No, its Gau-theen". ok.

Driving through Gau-theen was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The roads were barely wide enough for our little hyundai, and each lovely home was whitewashed with a lovely terra-cotta colored roof... it all looked very Grecian to me. But I've never been to Greece.












Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Decision

As many of you know, we have been waiting to officially decide where to head for medical school for Hubby. Well, the ballots have been cast, the chips have fallen, and now we're showing our cards. So come the end of  July, we'll be packing a truck and heading for...


Any tips on the Windy City? I've never been there before.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Espana: Days 1&2

Day 1: We started off late. Of course. Ah well. We got the the airport on time, got to Chicago (O'Hare is huge, and I think its kinda ugly, but thats just me), printed our tickets. Got on the plane for Madrid (!), and I got my first taste of having NO IDEA what is going on. No hablo espanol.

Cutest little boy ever was sitting in front of us. He was very bouncy. We played Peek-a-boo. He was probably 3. His mom was funny too, and kept telling him to sit down. Silly Juan.

Took Lunesta to try and sleep. It worked for approx 2 hours. Restless the rest of the flight.

Arrive in Madrid at 7:40 am. Longest. Layover. Ever. I took 15 minute naps in hubbys lap. We watched How to Train a Dragon on the laptop. Flight to Malaga at 4:30 ish. Slept.

Luggage lost.....

Day 2: Was told that my luggage would arrive at the hotel by 11... Didn't see it til 1 (13:00). Slept in all morning as I didn't have anything to change into, or shower with, or brush my teeth with..... Hubby watched TV, :)

Luggage! So we immediately head out to the pool. Lounge for a couple hours, try the beach... However the Mediterranean is not geologically old. Meaning it was rocky. Very rocky. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try later this week.

After baking in the sun for awhile, we head to the Mercadona. Bingo! Make meals in the room and save a chunck of change!

Ronda tomorrow, with lots of pictures!