From my handwritten travel journal:

May 19, Friday

We all slept as late as we possibly could this morning. Breakfast here at the San Juan de la Penetencia is served at 8:00 until 10:00 AM. We all wandered into the cafeteria at 9:50, ate, and showed up at our first class.

Professor Clouse met us in the one classroom here and lectured for a couple hours on archaeology. It was a very interesting introduction to the subject, and he brought along slides of many projects he has worked on.

Clouse is a wonderful lecturer, but every single one of us in the class began nodding off after a while. The air was too still or something. After he finished, we hurried back to our rooms for another nap.

At 1:00 PM, Yuki gathered everyone and we took a quick tour of our section of Toledo. She pointed out where the post office was, where to buy stamps and bus tickets, and where to find the best marzipan. She also pointed out things like a window high above the street, where a grey parrot sits in his cage and whistles at the people below. We also tried to get into the Alcazar, which is a library housed in a Praetorian palace. The guard would not allow a group to tour without advance notice, so we went back to the dorm for lunch.

After lunch, Jennifer and I decided to wander, even though it was siesta and nothing was open. The Spanish observe a late lunch called siesta, where all the shop fronts close for three to four hours in the afternoon. Jennifer and I did plenty of window shopping and even found a few shops that were still open. One of the souvenir shops has amazing chess boards. We also found an excellent marzipan shop, but did not buy. Yet.

We remembered that Melissa said that the McDonald's in the main square had ice cream cones for 60 pesetas apiece. Since the confectioner's shop was across the street from McD's, we decided to experience McDonald's in another country.

It was certainly a learning experience. The menu sports a "McPollo", and we had no idea what an ice cream cone was called. We read the menu, humored at how different and how the same it was. We eventually decided that "helado" looked right. It was a few minutes before I got the guts to try some Spanish, but I went up, I asked, and they replied that they were out of ice cream. In English.

So, we wandered some more. On Fish Street (named for its fish vendors), we saw a large crab sidling away from a fish merchant's storefront. I picked him up off the street. We talked about what to do with the escapee. He couldn't stay on the street; a car would squash him. We considered keeping him in bottled water at the dorm, but we had nothing to keep him in, except perhaps for the bidet in the bathroom. However, he would surely be discovered by the cleaning people the next day. So, we decided to give him back to the merchant. He could be alive with his buddies for a little while longer.

Jennifer and I then wandered down to the city walls and walked along the road there. We once again were able to find the Snail Wall, and I finally got a few photos. We then went back to the dorm for a crash course in Spanish.

A woman named Saro drove in from Madrid to teach us Spanish... in two hours. It was pouring out of our ears. I don't think I remember much. More often than not, I was replying in, or translating from, Russian. Katie answered a few queries in French. Jennifer obviously had German on her mind, and Ben was throwing in a lot of Portuguese.

After that, Jennifer and I went back out to find bottled water. We walked all the way around the Cathedral and found an excellent wine shop. On our way back to the dorm, we picked up our water, and then showed up for dinner.

After dinner, we all dressed up again and walked to the Plaza de Zocodovar, where the McDonald's is. The merchant next door to the McD's had a small cafe/bar, with chairs and tables on the plaza. We ordered wines and sherries and talked for an hour or so.

It was around 11:00 PM, and the plaza was packed. The crowds in the nightlife of Spain are noticeably older. Katie mentioned that in many European cultures that the youth don't party because they are studying. Once they are through with school, they become part of the nightlife and grow more a part of it as they age. The retired men and women are expected to be the heaviest partiers. That was evident in tonight's crowd.

We went back to the dorm after we managed to call the waiter over for our bill. It is considered rude here to be served a bill before you are finished dining, so you actually have to call for it.

Back at the dorm, Jennifer, Ben, Katie, Jamie and I went up to the tower and opened the shutters. Much to our amazement, the Cathedral is completely lit up at night, and it is gorgeous. We opened the windows to let the air in and so Katie could smoke. We sat and chatted more, mostly about friends. Jennifer also described Peep Wars to us:

How to Play Peep Wars:
1. Get a box of Peeps.
2. Get a box of toothpicks.
3. Sit in front of a microwave.
4. Thrust one toothpick into throat of each Peep.
5. Place two Peeps in microwave.
6. Watch the battle. Once one Peep stabs the other, that Peep has won.
7. Grab new opponent.

After we decided that a trip to Madrid tomorrow morning would be tough on little sleep, we went back to our room. Christy and Kelly wanted to see the Cathedral, too, so the three of us went back upstairs for more photos. As soon as we snapped the last photo at 1:10 AM, the lights on the Cathedral were turned off. Time to go to bed.

Commentary from the year 2006:

Sadly, we never did get to go back to the Alcazar for a tour. I also never managed to buy marzipan. And I still can't speak more than ten words of Spanish.

Those ten words? Seven of them are "Cuarto de libra con queso por favor." That's, "A Quarter Pounder with cheese, please." Take a wild guess where we wound up eating a lot.

All content copyright Melissa S. Kaercher, 2006. All rights reserved.