Get ready to be impressed.....John and I got up this morning and did our two mile run, and SHAVED off 45 seconds from our last time (which, in all fairness, is basically slower than a speed walker, so it's barely considered a jog). Still, I am pretty impressed with us. Before we left for our run though we were treated to a processional right outside our window that clearly had to do with honoring some religious person, but we never did figure out who or what it was for (all we knew is it wasn't a funeral). There was a parade, cymbals and drums involved which definitely helped wake Ava & Lucia up.
Today bike riding was on our list. The morning meandered along slowly even though we were trying to hurry. But even our "hurry" was still done on Spanish time (i.e., super slow). Romeo wanted to use his allowance on a Swatch watch he saw yesterday (that is too big for him but he declared it "super cool" and then began his borderline OCD quest for it.). We walked there and the store was closed on Sundays. Insert major disappointment here. I love that retail stores are closed on Sunday (not all, but a good majority). Romeo got over his Swatch but only after we walked what was essentially a junk import shop of random stuff and he spotted a not too terrible watch for 7 euros. Done, and done. He's like a crow that just goes for whatever shiny thing is in his line of sight. But 7 euros is far better than the 55 he was willing to spend for a brand name that he at age 8 had never heard of.
In the end, to get our 6 bikes, we had to go to three different bike shops because the first 2 didn't have enough. It took almost two hours to figure out the whole thing....but part of that was that we stopped for coffee, a sandwich, Lucia stopped for a veggie/humus pack, Romeo saw donuts he wanted (but then hated because they had a weird filling), and then a prosciutto sandwich.....and John of course had to look at every menu of every restaurant on his mission to pre-determine all the essential tapas to eat before we leave Spain.
Eventually we found the bike shop that had 6 bikes, and then spent a chunk of time rising and lowering seats, adjusting baskets, toping off tires with airs. Basically, the entire thing was a major production but, by 2 p.m. we all were on bikes and moving thru the Sevillian heat like the transplanted Von Trapp family. My one request was that we stayed on the bike paths along the river or in the park because there were a LOT of people walking about in the city, and trolleys riding by, and dogs darting about. Even in the park (which is A-mazing....it's incredible), with nice big bike paths, it was still a mine field of near misses. My strategy was to put John at the helm and I took up the rear, but the problem was that I spent the entire time catastrophizing in my head of possible issues. Ledges along the river that invited accidental swerves and dives into the river; hill declines where Romeo might forget to use his back breaks first, opting for front breaks first and a bike summersault; little old ladies coming within an inch of Ava who had a freakishly poor sense of a personal space caution zone.
Miraculously though, everyone managed to do just fine, and we biked all over the place, and it was the perfect way to see the city and keep the heat at bay (it was mid-90's....fun fact, Seville is the hottest city in Europe in the summer.) There were big shady trees along most of the river, and we had no real need for speed so we meandered at a totally relaxed pace. It's a great activity for all of us (as long as no one runs over anyone, OR gets run over) because it reduces a lot of noise--if they complained at all, I sure couldn't hear it from the back.
We finally got home around 5:30, with just enough time to shower and get dressed for our freakishly early flamenco show. I made those reservations back when I thought the kids would go to sleep before 11:00 p.m. We had to leave by 6:15 to walk the 20 minutes with enough time to get seats which weren't assigned despite buying tickets early. The Casa del Flamenco is tiny, there isn't really a bad seat to be had, but we wanted to all sit together so it was good we got there 15 minutes early. I've never really watched flamenco dancing before, and it was pretty darn amazing. There was a guitarist, a singer, a female dancer and a male dancer. It's hard to describe flamenco if you've never seen it (which was me 24 hours ago), but visually it's an unusual marriage between tap, a dash of belly dance hands, a dash of tango, and two shakes of the river dance. The history is disputed, but suffice it to say it's probably a combination of influences from the moors, jews, NW India migrants and the Andalusian gypsy culture. It's roots are super old, diverse, and the result is this incredibly interesting dance full of rhythmic stomping, castanets, snaps, claps, and sometimes what almost resembled tap dancing. The woman who danced was great, but the gentlemen who had a solo next was even more amazing. It sort of looks like it might be simple at first and then you watch how intricate his feet movements are, and how much stamina he has to have to maintain them. It was an hour long performance and the perfect length of time--everyone was engaged from start to finish (hard to do sometimes).
Tapas in an outdoor restaurant concluded the day, the littles were tired though and didn't last very long so we had them home and showered by 10:00 p.m. A lot of sun, and a lot of exercise, I think everyone was pretty exhausted. On the walk home we strolled by the "mushroom" building, that probably has a proper name but I don't know what it is. Apparently it was built about 8 years ago, took forever to build, and it's this weird architectural feat of wood (and reinforced with steel according to our architect landlord.). It's sort of beautiful, and sort of weird to see something so modern and futuristic in a city that is so old. It looks a bit like those little wood 3-D puzzles you buy for kids.
For some crazy reason I promised the kids we'd go to the water park/amusement park tomorrow (which oddly enough is walking distance from us, you wouldn't believe it by looking at the beautiful old section of the city we are in, but nearby by is a small amusement/water park.). I dread it. Amusement parks of any kind make my skin crawl and I realize that I sound like a hater right now, but it's so low on my list it falls off my list. I'm taking one for the team tomorrow and am just doing it (not without complaining obviously) even though I'd rather go shopping in this darling city with all of its darling shops. Definitely could have spent another 2-3 days here at least.
Signed, ME {lv}
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