1/10/10

Good morning to you readers!  It's almost 5 PM here in Oviedo, which is about 10 AM back in the Midwest.  We really haven't been awake too long, because Abigail and I slept from 9 PM last night till about 2 PM today.  17 hours!  I think we are officially set to the time difference.

The greatest personal accomplishment so far was that we were able to order food in Spanish, twice!  For late lunch yesterday we went to Cafe del Vino, and Americans that we are, we ordered our drinks (water) first, and then we expected the waiter to come back and take our food order.  Nope, that's not how they do things around here.  You order both drinks and food together right away.  We had to flag down the waiter again and then we ordered some sandwiches, but they turned out to be grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  After that, we weren't sure how to pay, because he didn't come by with a check.  So we went up to the register and paid.

Today for our pseudo-breakfast we went to a place that seemed like an Italian restaurant, called Yuppi.  They served pizza, pasta, and even burgers.  Abigail got a burger, and I got spaghetti.  Do any of my food choices surprise you, parents?  Well, here's a to do: on the spaghetti there was chopped up veal (like what you'd put on a taco) and black olives.  That's right - black olives.  I even ate some, keeping to my pact that I'd try everything at least once.  Guess what, Mom and Dad?  They were so gross.  Abigail even suggested I eat them with pasta, which I did, but I still didn't like them.

After eating at Yuppi, Abigail and I walked around town, and found this fantastic gated building called the Principado de Asturias, which we thought might be a residency for the royal family, since the Crown Prince is known as the Prince of Asturias.  Abigail thinks the Prince, who is married, is gorgeous.  She's so much fun to be traveling with, since she knows so much more than I do about the city and the architecture.

We also passed by the Campo de San Francisco, which is the equivalent to Central Park in New York.  It's huge and beautiful!  There were also several palm trees covered in snow.  That is a living oxymoron.

And I can't forget about the shops!  Everywhere there are stores with "rebaja" signs, meaning sale or clearance, but none of them are open today, which was so weird at first, since we live in a instant gratification society.  I actually like the idea of closing everything on Sundays for the sake of keeping the Sabbath holy.

All for now.  Hasta la vista!