Week 48: Cordoba (posted by Wade)

We are now in Spain with the O'Rouke family! Our eleven-day journey together began at the Madrid airport. We didn't dilly-dally in Spain's capital, though. Instead, we mobilized our army of weary travelers and went straight to the train station, making our way to Cordoba. This was an epic day of traveling for the O'Roukes -- over 24 hours, door-to-door. Needless to say, the O'Rouke girls were troupers and excited to see their cousins.

We spent four nights in Cordoba, the famed capital of the medieval Umayyad caliphate. We wandered the narrow streets, looking for shade, enjoyed ice cream, and hit up the big sites. The famous Cordoba Mezquita did not disappoint. I had been using photos of the Mezquita -- a mosque-turned-cathedral -- for years during classroom lessons on Islamic architecture, but seeing it in-person was fantastic. The Mezquita's 800 stone pillars feel like a forrest of palm trees and wowed everyone in the Morris-O'Rouke clan.

There were plenty of other highlights from Cordoba. Cold cervezas after long siestas. Tapas meals. A flamenco dancing performance. Plenty of time for the cousins to hang out and play. Jason even tried eating some olives.

My personal favorite Cordoba experience was when we crashed the annual Cordoba fair. This was a massive gathering of thousands of Cordobans of all ages. People put on their fanciest clothes; flamenco dresses and carnations for the ladies, blazers and penny loafers for the men. The fairgrounds included dozens of tents that served as dance halls. Plenty of cervezas and churros for everyone. As a final icing on the cake, there were epic rides that spun Cordobans around in circles. It was a special treat to get away from the touristy spots and participate in some local fun.

Week 47: Zaragoza (posted by Eliza)

 

On Sunday, May 17, we woke up at 15 minutes to 5 and walked like hobos to the train station where we had a 6:30 departure on our train from Lyon to Nimes where we took ANOTHER train from Nimes to Zaragoza.

Zaragoza had a lot of surprises. I played basketball with a fifteen year old boy named Gio (I even beat him at "Horse" once).  We visited old Roman ruins (Although that wasn't much of a surprise). We visited a very old church funded by the silver the Conquistadors brought back with them from Peru. We went to a medieval palace that was originally Islamic and now is the seat of government for Zaragoza. For some reason, Zaragoza also has an origami museum. 

We also went to a art museum about my dad's favorite artist Francisco Goya. He was born near Zaragoza and they took a lot of pride in him. At the start of his career, all of his paintings were light and funny; but at the end of his career, he painted lots of dark, moody, and scary paintings. That probably had something to do with the fact that he went deaf and his country was in the middle of a war.

Finally, our favorite thing was mostly just walking around on the pedestrian streets and courtyards and watching the world go by.

Week 46: Lyon (posted by Annie)

On Tuesday, May 12, we rode the train from Zurich to Lyon. This was the first time that I had ever been to France. 

Lyon had several big cathedrals that looked like they were out of a Disney movie. Lyon is known for its food so for lunch on the first day we ate a traditional bistro. I had the three cheeses toast.  It was very yummy. 

We stopped to look at the famous Lyon mural that included all of the famous people from Lyon painted on the apartment building. The next day, when we were walking around Lyon's biggest park, it started pouring on us. This was tough because no place to get out of the rain so we got soaked.

Some other highlights included was the rock climbing gym which was fun. In the process, though, we got a few blisters. Jane and I also purchased French skin care. We heard that it is known to be very, very good.

And, of course, there was an art museum. It has lots of cool artifacts from Egypt and cool French paintings. I remember seeing Rodin and Degas' ballerinas, and many more!

Overall, France was great because of the great food and cool architecture. Next up: Spain!