Jack takes Europe: Day One

I know I've said it eight thousand times, but it is SO great to have my dad in Granada! We've had so much fun so far and I know the rest of the trip is going to be just as awesome.

Yesterday, I met my dad at the hotel after I got done with class. I was SO excited to see him (I don't think a class has ever lasted so long in my life-- I couldn't wait to be done reading about Latin American romanticism and to get to see my dad)! So we hung out at the hotel for awhile, then headed out to get some lunch. After lunch, we went to Café Fútbol for some churros con chocolate (yummm!) and then got my dad a Cuban cigar at the cigar shop in Puerta Real. Then we came back to the hotel for a nap and to get ready for the night. The hotel is awesome and has the coolest shower I've ever seen in my life. I decided that I needed to take a forty-five minute shower to take advantage of the fact that there was water pressure, more than one temperature setting, and no time limit! It was the best shower of my life... especially after five weeks of garden hose-esque showers!

After siesta, we went over to my piso for dinner with Rosario and the kids. It was so much fun and a really interesting dynamic because of the language barrier. We had some great pasta and salad for dinner, and Rosario made flan for dessert. Spainards love to entertain and are always very concerned about their guests being happy, so she insisted on using an entire can of whipped cream on the flan... we got a big kick out of that. My dad brought Rosario and the kids gifts and they were obsessed with them-- it was really cute! Rosario loves the beach (talks about it all the time) so my dad brought her a thing of sand and seashells from Miami. Maria got Hannah Montana pens, and Carlos got a little American Airlines airplane that makes the take-off and landing noises. Carlos loves planes and wants to be a pilot when he grows up, so he was absolutely ecstatic. He spent the whole night flying the plane around the apartment and telling my dad how cool it was. So cute!

After dinner, we went to BADos (our favorite tapas place) for some tinto de verano. Alé, our favorite bartender (the one who let me bartend one night when I told him I work in a bar) gave us our drinks for free because he said it was a special day because my dad was visiting-- sometimes the people here are so nice! After that, we took my dad to Dolce Vita, which is one of our chuipterias (shot bars). We had an oatmeal cookie shot and a gingerbread shot, which were both delicious, and we taught him the "arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro" toast ("up, down, in the middle, to the mouth") My dad got to meet a lot of my friends, which was great!

Today, I had class and came back with torta de chocolate for us. My dad wants everyone to know that it's even better than he imagined. It's just so good! Now we're going to head out for some lunch and a walk by the river!