And you thought snails were only in France

Okay, pictures first this time, since this computer is confusing and all the blogger controls are in Japanese. I know, I´m just as confused as you. The moorish-style tile of the Alcázar, a Moorish palace in Sevilla.

The individual provincial capital placards around the Plaza de España. Each is made from tile. The next picture explains this specific plaza.

La Plaza de España. Built for the World´s Fair expo in 1929, it became just a museum when the US stock market crashed and no one from the US could come. It´s beautifully tiled.

A leg of ham with a chain mail glove. These ham legs are hanging in almost every bar in the city. It´s the traditional food of Sevilla, jamon iberico (Iberian Ham), which is the meat from the back legs of black pigs fed only on acorns. Delicious.

A typical Sevillano street. No, not alleyway. Street.

The cathedral.

The cool, 3-D floor of the cathedral.

My travels:

I took the 3:30 AM bus to the center of London, and then took the 4 AM bus to Stansted Airport, which is about an hour outside of the city. I flew on my first flight with discount airline Ryanair, and found out some pretty interesting things:

Stansted, at 5 AM on a Monday morning, is PACKED with people. I have no idea why, either. Also, Ryanair affords to be so cheap because their terminal was the very last terminal, probably about a mile from security. I walked around corners, down hallways, down escalators, around more corners, up some escalators, until I finally got to the terminal. Then, I found out 10 minutes before my flight, that the gate had changed, so I had to run all the way back through the airport to some other airline´s gate, where my flight had already boarded. At least the flight was only $50.

Sevilla, by the way, is a dream. The pace of life is so slow here. If it weren´t for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, smoking, it would be the best place. The narrow, winding, cobblestone alleyways evoke memories of Alsace-Lorraine in France. The cars, trucks, and endless motorcycles that drive down them, when you can almost touch both walls with your arms, are incredible. The fact that everything closes from 2-5, and then stays open until 9, or sometimes even 2 AM, is also amazing. The siesta and late afternoon lifestyle are so relaxing. Nobody seems in a hurry here.

The tapas bars, which are a staple of Spanish life, are also amazing. You go in, order 3 or 5 tapas between 2 or 3 people, a couple of cañas of beer (small, OJ glass size), and eat. (For those unfamiliar, tapas are small little tastes of larger meals. Appetizers, if you will, but not the 8 dollar huge appetizers that we have in the states. A tiny plate of food designed to be shared.

The first place I went to was this little bodega. We ordered 5 tapas, two cañas of beer, one cup of coffee, and one glass of wine, all for 13 euro. It´s a steal. To top it off, they bring you out a plate of olives and peanuts before the tapas come, and you could just throw the pits and shells on the floor. There were pigeons hopping around, eating the leftovers, and the guys behind the bar were smoking while they were preparing the food. Definitely in Spain.

Also, I went out for tapas around 1:30 AM last night, and I ordered three things, but the bartender listed five things, and said, "vale? vale?" So I said ok, and was treated to two soup bowls of snails. You could still see their little eyes, mouths, and ears sticking up. Some even looked like they were crying in pain. But boy, were they delicious. I never thought I´d like snails, but there you go. You get hungry at 1 AM and you never know what you´re going to enjoy.

Also, I went to a flamenco show last night. 4 euros for an hour-long show and one beer. Amazing. It was a Japanese woman who moved to Spain when she was 18 to further her study of flamenco dance. Quite interesting. She was fantastic, and the guitarist was out of this world. The stomping and clapping were just the way you would imagine them.

Well, cheers for now. Off to Granada and Barcelona soon.