Jack takes Europe: Days Two and Three

Fountain in Granada

My favorite part of the Cathedra-- "avemaria" is inscribed right over the entrance

Granada's Cathedral

Our paella!

My dad's first torta de chocolate... that was the legit face he made. Told you they were that good!

We have arrived in Rome safe and sound! It was a long day of traveling, but traveling with my dad is always a great time.

First, I'll backtrack to yesterday. After I posted, we went to the Plaza Bib-Rambla for lunch. We ended up eating at this great little restaurant and split paella and some wine. It was an awesome lunch! The paella was, surprisingly, the first paella I've had in Spain, and I loved it. Although I think I may have discovered that I'm allergic to shellfish, so that may have been my last seafood paella, unfortunately! Hopefully I'm not allergic and can keep eating it-- it's too good!

After lunch, we walked by the cathedral, which never stops amazing me. My friends and I walk past it every time we go out and we always inevitably end up stopping in our tracks and staring at it for a few minutes. It's absolutely breathtaking. I was so glad I got to show it to my dad. The only bad thing about the cathedral area is that gypsies loiter there 24/7. I had forgotten to warn my dad about them, but he was (luckily) savvy enough the be weary of women trying to give him sprigs of rosemary. The common gypsy trick is to give a "free" sprig of rosemary to somebody, then grab their hand and read their palm. So the rosemary is free, but the palm reading will cost you. If you try to give them one or two euro, they will scream at you that coins are bad luck and that you need to give them paper money. The smallest paper bill is 5 euro (read: about $7.50). So sneaky! We were definitely glad to escape the gypsy area.

We then walked down to the river to watch the sunset and botellón (botellón (bow-tay-OWN), v. to buy alcoholic beverages at a supermarket, convenience store, or alimentación and drink them outside. Perfectly legal in Spain, and considered economically responsible). We went to the Mercadona and bought some little bottles of vino tinto for dad and a bottle of sangria for me and went and sat on a bench by the river and a fountain and had a great time just sitting, relaxing, and talking. It was such a great night and was exactly what we wanted to do. Nothing too fancy, nothing too tiring, just sitting and enjoying being able to be together in Spain. Right up our alley! After botellóning, we went back to the hotel, relaxed, and went to bed early.

Today was our travel day. We flew from Granada to Madrid, then changed airlines in Madrid, had a bit of a layover, and then flew from Madrid to Rome. When we got here, we checked into our hotel, which is AWESOME! We checked out the concierge lounge (we are concierge lounge/regency club/executive lounge/whatever it's called rats every time we stay in a hotel with one... our plans on our trip to Hawaii when I was 14 revolved around when they put out the chocolate chip cookies) and then went upstairs to get some dinner at one of the hotel's restaurants. I have to say, it was one of the best meals of my life. We had amazing bread with olive oil, a bottle of red wine, and then I had swordfish for my entree and my dad had filet. For dessert, our server wheeled over a cart with cakes and tarts on it and asked us which we would like. I chose the chocolate cake, and my dad chose a tart with vanilla custard and pineapple. The best part about this desert cart is that she put one (small) piece on a plate, then asked us if we'd like another. Ummmm, double dessert? Yes, please! So we each had a double helping (which, in all honesty and at the risk of sounding like the grammar teacher I can't stand, was about the size of a normal American dessert), and LOVED it. It's about four hours later now and I'm still completely stuffed. I'm loving Italian food!

Tomorrow, we've got a tour planned of the Vatican and then are planning on doing some more exploring of the city. I can't wait to see Rome! I'll make sure to put up a lot of pictures in the blog tomorrow.