Our Trip to Spain

************DISCLAIMER - I am going back and trying to recall / recreate events after several days, so things are a little spotty right now - I will fill in as I go and between siestas *********


December 28 - 30, 2007

December 24th - Santiago de Compestela / slept / sick

December 25th - Santiago de Compestela


December 26th - visited the Cathedral at Santiago de Compestela and travel from Santiago de Compestela to A Coruna


Thursday, December 27th

Tower de Hercules - Roman lighthouse


Friday, December 28th

Enjoyed dinner at O Friedel again tonight. Had to wait until 11:00 for a table as once again we did not make a reservation despite our lesson of the previous visit. I ordered my own plate of Chicken and Rice and let Jerry share this time. Helped finish off two pitchers of sangria (did I mention that it is fabulous).



Saturday, December 29th

Today we focused on shopping and the children's science museum in A Coruna. The Science museum was really cool - lots of interactive, hands-on activities with a planetarium show (in Espanol of course) at the end. The museum is in an original windmill, so small in circumference with 5 floors including the planetarium in the dome of the windmill.

We had lunch in a nice little restaurant in the main shopping district. Riley had Sollomillio con queso y patata which was pork steak with potatoes covered in a cheese sauce - pretty yummy. Jerry and I shared a seafood dish for two which was fish, mussels and shrimp in a chicken type broth with lots of paprika and oil and rice. Good, but pretty reminiscent of the dish we had right before I got sick, so I didn't eat too much of it. It was tasty though and I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't gotten sick earlier in the trip.

Shopping in A Coruna was pretty overwhelming, lots and lots and lots of shops. I will insert some photos later of the main shopping center - it was packed with people (being Saturday) - and really crazy. We picked up some cool gifts for family and have some ideas for when we go back on Sunday / Monday.

We were pretty exhausted and ate dinner in the hotel room ordering room service. Just a club sandwich and fruit plate shared between the three of us but it was enough considering the huge lunch we ate. Watched a DVD and passed out...


Sunday, December 30th

Today we slept in really late (like until noon) and so got a late start but made it to the Aquarium which at first I thought was going to be disappointing. The first part goes into what seems to be simulating a submarine and has lots of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea posters and memorabilia - nice aquarium with a variety of fish, including a shark and some manta rays - I think after Shedd's Aquarium in Chicago though, most things are going to look second rate. The next section of the Aquarium was pretty cool though with lots of great, hands-on displays explaining the local ocean currents, tides and history of the ocean on the area. Even with our limited (excrutiatingly limited) Spanish, it was interesting and worthwhile.

Lunch was over in A Coruna by the time we finished in the Aquarium and the restaurants were closed, so we found a little grocery story (Open Cor) chain and picked up some pears, cheese, salami and chips. Grabbed our coats from the hotel and had a car picnic for lunch. It was perfect considering our belated time line today.

After our improptu lunch, we headed to the Picasso exhibit and went through it. I spent quite a bit of time translating the signs for the exhibits which I enjoyed as it improved my spanish. I learned woman (mujer) - and other words which I will hopefully remember later. I don't think Riley was as impressed as he wanted to be - he mostly wanted to find one particular portrait, which wasn't on display because his art teacher has them doing a project related to it at school. I told him he would find it online though so he was happy then.

We spent some time walking around the shopping district of A Coruna after Picasso, but I was getting tired by then - we had a lovely glass of wine sitting at an outdoor patio of a local cafe. The nice thing about Spain is that they have a good mixture of cafes and restaurants, which are totally different. In a cafe, you can get a drink and maybe a snack (depends) and they open earlier in the evening (around 4 - 6 depending on the owner). Restaurants serve meals and do not open until at least 8:00 - usually 9:00. Some don't open at all certain days of the week and many close for several weeks of the year. Definitely not the American attitude to commerce. LOL. Anyway, we spent some time deciding where to eat dinner and ended up back in the same place we had lunch the day before - Jerry and I both had steak and Riley enjoyed the pork steak meal again. That boy can eat!! He cleared every bite off his plate and then helped with desert (chocoalate mousse and flan).

Back to the hotel - DVD and bed.....