Breakfast came early today for the American tourists, whose route was to take them to Segovia all today. Segovia is of note for its cathedral, which is one of the best examples of baroque architecture in Spain, its ancient Roman aqueduct, which still looks in pretty good shape, and the coronation of Isabel la Catolica, the better half of the Reinos Catolicos (Catholic Regnants). (I don’t think I’ve mentioned the pertinent history here: los Reinos Catolics were the pair in power when the Reconquista, the reconquest of Spain by the Catholics, was completed in 1492 when Andalucía was retaken from the Moors. End lecture.) Speaking of breakfast, I took a good idea from Bianca at my breakfast table and put together a few bocadillas (little sammiches) of bread, cheese, and sausage slices for later.

Our little walking tour of the city brought us first to the famous Roman aqueduct. Dang, man, dang. The thing is massive, three stories high and stretching way ‘cross town. Also, it carries water from one side of town to the other. Roman civil engineers for the win!

Jorge, in his infinite wisdom, made sure to pad our morning with just a moment of rest in between the aqueduct (tiring just to look at!) and the rest of the tourist sites, at a chocolatería! The place was delicious; they offered great churros con chocolate (which we had to sample with great haste, as we were served last and Jorge got impatient), bombones (bon bons) such as chocolate-covered orange peels, and a fair cup of café solo.

Jorge told us that the cathedral was fancy, and it looked pretty groovy from the bus park, but gosh darn diggity was that an ornate catheral! That’s an awful lot of little sticky-outy ornamental bits on the numerous towers. The inside was just as impressive, but of course neither did I take pictures nor remember how to describe it. Our tour guide did point up an entertaining feature to the seats in the chorus: the seats either were folded down and functioned normally or could be folded up, where they had a little cheater seat for the sacerdote (bishop) to rest himself during services and look like he was still standing. Sneaky sneaky!

While we were taking photos in the cloisters of the cathedral, Meghan pointed out that tourists contort themselves into the goofiest positions in order to record that perfect angle. Well, when they have chicken wire strung all around the cloisters, you do need to look like these folks in order to make it look good.

Next stop: the Alcázar, or the Royal Palace, where Fernando VII was stationed. This place was built a bit later and looks more like your typical Lego castle, with a moat, squared-off corners, conical roofs, and a parqué (parquet, tower) with the cylinder/torch-style decorations.

Inside, the Palace was typically palatial and also like a keep. There were many well-appointed royal rooms, a chapel in the middle, and many velvet ropes to keep the tourists off the old thrones. Also, a dungeon and a museum-y section showing off old arms and armor. For another 2€, thanks to Jorge, we were able to ascend to the top of the tower to look out over the town and countryside; also, get our cardio workout for the day.

The Alcázar concluded the touristy part of the today, as we were released to take lunch and enjoy the town. We returned to the Plaza Mayor, the main plaza which in fact used to be the bull-fighting ring of the town, to eat at a cafe. They served us tapas with our drinks, surprisingly enough, little half-sized hamburgers; afterwards, I took a sandwich of Iberian ham (cured ham slices) with salmoreja. Good times with good folks — I’m definitely enjoying the opportunity to hang out with people in the study abroad group whom I typically only see during class.

Well, what else is there to do in a town once you’ve seen all the tourist sites? Jason and I just wandered … and wandered … yup. Also, I snuck onto some terrace to take some baller photos of the cityscape. Jason played an awful lot with his whip — I mean that literally; he bought a whip en route to the castle and we stood out front of the Alcázar before going in. That whip is Damn Loud in the middle of a small-town street. Just saying.

The rest of the night is summed up pretty well: we went out to eat at a nice, medium-price Italian place, then went back and headed out to the bars around 1 or 2am, and come home early at 4am, then sat around the room for an hour or two while everybody wandered back to the hotel to share stories about the bars and the clubs.

Oh, Madrid.