First off, according to what I´ve read the two bigger Cathedrals are #1 St. Peter´s in Rome, and #2 St. Paul´s in London.

Well I´ve since, left Sevilla, been to Toledo and am now freezing my butt of in Segovia! Toledo was a really neat city. It was a mess of winding streets and the whole city was essentially built on a massive rock surrounded by the river Trajo on 3 sides. I went for a nice run all around the outskirts of the city the first day that we were there which let me see the whole area from far away. It´s pretty hilly in and around Toledo, and supposedly girls from Toledo have the best rear ends in Spain because of all the walking up and down the hills.

We visited the Cathedral in both Sevilla and Toledo, and went to the top of the Giralda tower that was still standing fr0m the Moors at the Cathedral in Sevilla. The Cathedral in Sevilla was built quickly in less then 100 years, the one in Toledo however took closer to 300 years so there are many more different stylistic influences in that Cathedral.

Toledo is know for its steel work and it´s gold. The style of jewlery that is famous from this area is Damascene or Damsquinado. Traditionaly this jewlelry is made by laying gold threads down on dark black pieces of steal in various designs. The geometric designs are the Arabic style and then there are pieces with flowers and birds which are the Rennaisance style.

Today is our first day in Segovia, which like I said has been frigid and windy so far, I´m glad I brought a few warm clothes! Tomorrow we´re taking a walking tour of the city and visiting the famous Alcazár from which they Cindarella castle in Disney world was modeled. After the walking tour we are dining at the famous restaurant José María and eating Cochinillo (little pig), where the presentation of the pig is done with great pomp and circumstance (usually done by the waiter, however when Valerie and students are there the owner and chef José María does it.) This restaurant is also where the King of Spain dines when he visits Segovia so I´m pretty excited to go eat there.

That´s all for now! Adíos!

"Quien no ha visto Sevilla no ha visto maravilla" He who hasn't seen
Sevilla, hasn't seen wonder. (So true!)

Spain is awesome so far and the weather has been perfect, 75 and
sunny, so far. We arrived safely Friday after a quick little plane
ride across the pond. After we got our bags we boarded the metro which
is connected to the airport and rode it to the Atocha trial station.
We then boarded the high speed AVE train for a 3 hr. trip to Sevilla.

Our nice little hotel is in the old Jewish quarter called Santa Cruz.
The city has some unbelievable buildings including the third largest
cathedral in the world. (10 bonus points to whoever can tell me the 2
larger ones) Sevilla is heavily influenced by the reign of the moors
fwhich was from 711-1492, and thus the architecture here has a very
Morrocan look.

We'll be here one more day and then it will be off to the city of
Toledo via the AVE and Madrid.