Glaring Omissions

Alternate title: Can I still call it a blog if I never blog in it?

What's that? I owe you, my two readers, a wedding/honeymoon post? I know, I know.

Before I can write about our wedding and honeymoon – which were both fantastic, by the way – I would be remiss if I didn’t finish what I started a year ago and wrap up my post about Spain.

(Photo: Madrid, putting up her holiday lights in November)

One morning, we started out thinking we'd go to Toledo for an afternoon. But after spending a couple hours in the wrong lines at the train station, we ended up heading to Segovia instead. (I'm still not sure how that happened.) No worries, because I had visited Segovia on my first trip to Spain, and I really wanted to take Shane there.

(Photos: The amazing Roman aqueduct; the Alcazar)

I was fascinated by the cathedral in Segovia the first time I saw it, and it was no less impressive the second time.

We also visted the Alcazar, and Shane enjoyed the military history -- and made some new friends. (And had me worried we'd get kicked out of Spain for good...) And, of course, we climbed the tower to see the amazing view of Segovia.

A highlight of the trip was definitely meeting one of my favorite expatriate bloggers, Sal. (Soon to be ex-expatriate?) This meeting did not occur without its difficulties.

First: Convincing the Fiancé that Sal would be harmless. The Fiancé, cautious by nature and admittedly blessed with a much better developed sense of logic than me, wanted to know how I “knew” Sal.

"Ehm… he writes funny things on the Internet about life in Spain, and coconuts, and barbecued pork,” I stammered.

“But you’ve never actually met him?”

“Well, no…”

The Fiancé didn't think this was sufficient evidence that Sal was not, in fact, a serial killer, but I used my feminine wiles and convinced him. It was at this point that I realized I should have probably sent the Fiancé a couple links to Sal’s blog before we left home. If there’s one thing he understands, it’s food, and it probably would have only taken one smoker post to lure him in.

What can I say about Sal? Well, I spotted him several blocks from our prearranged meeting point, but his steady diet of haggis and BBQ have apparently given him superhuman speed. He was hard to catch.

We finally did, and proceeded on to a bar (name long forgotten), where Sal introduced me to that potent poison, anis, and we all shared tapas and really good wine, of course.

(Note to readers who may have read Sal's post: I am not as tall as Andre the Giant. I'm 5'7".)

Eventually we made it to the medieval city of Toledo, which is one of my favorite places I've ever visited, despite the fact that I get hopelessly lost on its winding streets.

(Photos: Outside the city, pretending I know where I'm going; Resting our weary feet after a LOT of walking! Hey, it's the best -- and pretty much the only -- way to see Toledo.)

My computer isn't cooperating too well, so, to be continued, and hopefully within a year (kidding!): We finish up our trip with flamenco!