Marbella...a week with both parents

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1. Tangers is the Tijuana of Moracco. Dont bother. Its not worth the money, headaches, and hepatitis C. That is what we were told, and Christina had already been there, so we skipped it.

2. "Bullfight anybody?" (asked to my parents, my little sister, Christina and both of her parents) Answer: 2 yeses, 4 maybes, and 1 no. Guesses on who said what?

3. The Christians are hilarious when they take over a muslim mosque. AND LAZY!!! They come across a beautiful Moorish temple that took 100 years to build and is considered the height of Moorish art and what do they do? They make it Christian. But, do they knock down the temple the infidels built and rebuild on the sight their own church? No (thank goodness, because that would have been a shame). They carve into the top of the main doorway a cross and a figure of Mary with Baby Jesus. That's it. Can't you just see the Christians coming across it and saying "yup, we can work with this. there we go. now it's Christian". Never mind that EVERYTHING ELSE is dedicated to muslim ideals.

4. Flamenco Show!!! This was suprisingly fun, but I've never understood why it takes people 20 minutes to tune their guitars, and another 20 for mic check, for a 30 minute show. This promted me to say to Christina "You're playing the Thursday night show at the Marriot. Get on with it". Which promted Christina to laugh sherry out of her nose.

This part of our trip should be titled "The Spoiled Week" because that is just what we were. Christina's parents gave us a week at their timeshare to trade as a wedding gift. Because the stars were aligned correctly and because of the very complicated trading process, we ended up with a week at a 5 star resort in Marbella with a three bedroom, three bathroom apartment, complete with a full kitchen, huge living space, etc., etc. In short, it was more than we needed. So, we thought it would be nice to invite both sets of parents to visit and fill out the other two rooms. They all agreed and we spent last week touring through Southern Spain. Here is what we did:

Day one: This day did not start out well considering Matts mom still had not received her luggage from Air France, who apparently is notorious for losing luggage, and Christinas dad was feeling a little sick. But it ended up alright with the luggage arriving and Keith feeling better after a nap in the car. We spent the day driving through the mountains to see the famous white towns Andulucia is known for. These are white washed towns stuck high up on the hills of Andalucia for protection. As picturesque as Spain can get, we were impressed.

Day two: This day included a spanish bullfight in Marbella (guesses on who attended?) and a tour of both Marbella and a great little town only 20 minutes away called Mijas, which is another white town. A wonderful relaxing day.

Day three: Power tourist time! We all headed for Granada to see the famous Alhambra. Everyone just loved the Alhambra, which is an old Moorish royal palace. The moors were not allowed to depict people in their artwork, so the palace was an amazing sight of geometric sights, water fountains, columns, and horseshoe arches. It is a must see for anyone in Spain.

Day four: We headed for Gilbralter, a British territory in the very south of spain that is hard to find since Spain is still mad at Britain for not giving it back to them. Finally, after no signs for it at all along the highways, we got off at this one exit which had "(gibralter)" written on the bottom of the sign for the border city. The day involved fish and chips, some really neat old caves and military tunnels, and a monkey on Christina´s head (photo op!).

Day five: After all our travels, we took the day off to relax by the pool around the resort. We headed into Mijas for dinner and a little shopping.

Day six: We woke up early again and headed for Seville. We arrived after driving through torrential rains and the skies cleared up long enough for a few hours in the city. We saw the cathedral and walked through the old streets of the Santa Cruz district where we had the best tapas ever. we headed for Marbella because we had tickets to a Flamenco show that night at our hotel. The rain started just after we left the city, ("the rain in spain falls mainly on the plain") and we made it back to the hotel to see the Flamenco show which involved a Kevin Federline-like male dancer who kept grabbing at his shirt like he was going to rip it off. It was a little awkward, but there you go.

Day seven: Relaxation day again since it was our last day at the resort

Day eight: This day started out great because at 5am Christina persuaded the Marriott security guard to let her into the computer room so she could find out whether she passed the Ca Bar exam, and she was happy to find out she did. Everyone was up early to catch their flights home, and Matt and Christina headed for Portugal.

Answer to the bullfight: Yeses - Kali and Marsay (matt's mom and 8 year old sister). Maybes (Matt, Keith Farrell, Lynda Farrell, and Charlie Pearson). Nos - Christina. And yes, Kali knew what happens in the bull fight and that it just doesn't "go to sleep" at the end. I bet that Kali would be a vegatarian by the end of the show, but I was wrong and she really enjoyed it.

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Comments

[Caroline]

I did talk to Kali about the bullfight. She wasn't traumatized at all. That's crap about Indians loving the 'sacred cow'!! THe 'rents did get back safely. They lost Kali's luggage this time. Supposedly it's on route back from Paris today. Matt and C'tina - I hear you do killer version of some German song. Looking forward to hearing that. See you soon!!! OH, and Congrats Christina on passing the bar! I had full confidence in you. Hugs, Caroline

[Tim]

Bullfights
Bullfights are terrible. That is till you see a really good one. Then they are remarkable. The first time you go, you spend most of the time trying to get over the shock of, ¨oh hey, they´re going to kill this bull. I mean seriously, on a long enough timeline, this bull has no way of winning.¨ Though when you see a fight that is truly fucking awesome, it really moves you. There is a complete poetry to a well executed ¨fight.¨ I mean, there is actually some sense of danger and excitement, and you find yourself rooting for the bull, until the matador gives a perfectly excecuted kill. I´ve only seen it once, but lets just put it this way, I get it now.

[Lee]

Another lawyer
Congrats on passing the bar!!

[Emily]

Congrats, Stina, on passing the bar! Love reading about your adventures. Can't wait to see you when you get back.