L-and-N: Seville, Spain

Two Americans and an Australian went on a road trip........ sounds like great beginning to a hilarious joke. Well it was, as all three of us and our luggage had to fit into this tiny car, at least it was a convertible.

I skipped our last class on Friday to run and grab the car because the rental car shop closes for 3 hours so they can take a siesta (gotta love Spain). I was running late so I literally ran there because it was 30 minutes away on foot. I made it just in time to see a beautiful sign "be back in 5" I was not the only person waiting for their return. Finally they came back and it was my turn to speak the best Spanish I had because I had been practicing what I was going to say in my head all day so I wouldn't sound stupid. I approached the counter and the jolly man said, clear as day, "Hello, How are you doing today? What's the name on your reservation?" I was shocked but determined to practice my Spanish so I answered in Spanish, " Me llama Lauren Stevens" He responded, "Oh you prefer Spanish, Okay" Then he proceeds to speak very fast and I gave him the deer in the headlights look and he said, "That's what I thought!" I made the transaction in English :(

I took my time checking over the car and figuring out where the buttons were for everything then I took off to find a parking spot near our apartment. I was shocked how easy it was to jump back in to driving a 5 speed because I hadn't driven one in 8 years. As I was concentrating on both finding a parking spot and not killing the car I had to drive around the block twice before I found a parking spot. On my second time around someone yelled at me. I quickly recognized the man from church. We had been over to his house a few times and he doesn't speak any English. I pulled over and he yells, "Esposo correr" I thought my husband is running.... NEVER.. and Yelled back, " Ropas en Melletas, Adios" and I drove away slowly as I was so confused. Next thing I see is Nick in front of me huffing and puffing and it hits me like a ton of bricks, OH NICK WAS RUNNING AFTER ME!! JAJAJAJAJA! Turns out that I passed him in front of our apartment but didn't see him. He decided to run after me yelling and screaming in the street like an idiot. I never heard him.

We packed up our stuff and went to pick up Kylie, we were running late and had no way to tell her so when we got there she was nowhere to be found, so we waited. She arrived and told us that she second guessed herself and walked across the street to make sure she was in the right spot. She added her bags, jumped in and we took off for Seville!

Our ride was wonderful here are some of the views.

The bull billboards are everywhere and they were fun to look at. We wondered why they are there and if there is a certain purpose to them. Turns out there is a really cool reason read about it here.

We arrived in Seville with plenty of time to explore but we had to find our AirBNB first. We got lucky and found a great parking spot so we jumped out and went searching on foot. Nick was told through text we would have a parking spot available to us and all we needed to do was talk to the "gordo, gordo hombre" (she wrote those words in the text) As we were searching we knew we had the right building when we saw the fat man guarding the door. We said hello and walked upstairs to our apartment. When we exited we didn't see him so we decided to search for the parking garage on foot first before we got the car. We found the garage quickly and went to grab the car. When we arrived back to the garage it was open so we went in and parked. As we opened our car doors we heard the gate closing. We all got a little worried at this point because we didn't know how to make it open. Nick ran to see if the metal door was really closed and if he could open it. It was shut and there wasn't a button to let us out. We had an "oh shiz" moment then we knew we had to act if we wanted out!

Nick and Kylie picked me up so that I could see out of the top and then I proceeded to yell at people walking by. Finally a lady stopped and in my panicked Spanish I told her our situation and to please to get the "Gordo, Gordo Hombre" she left and a few minutes later returned with the fat man. He let us out but he would not open the garage so we could get the car out. The conversation turned a little heated so Nick, trying to think quickly on his feet, showed him the messages from owner of the apartment. The man became enraged and started yelling at us and then he just walked away. As he walked away Nick looked at his phone and realized that the man had read and realized that he was the "Gordo Gordo Hombre" Whoops!

A minute later a woman pulled up and opened the garage with a clicker. She laughed at our story and helped up get the car out.

Us inside the garage.

Us outside the garage.

Once we parked the car in a free area we ate and walked into the main part of the city. The views on the way were beautiful. If the sun was going down then it's around 9 or 9:30 PM.

Right when we entered the city we were attacked by a man who wanted us to purchase a fan. Kylie and I walked away..... we thought Nick was right behind us but when we turned around the man had Nick and wouldn't let him leave. We walked over and snapped a picture. The man displayed his fans for Nick and then realized we took a picture so he posed for the second one. Nick bought a fan.

We decided since we only had so much time to spend on Saturday that we would go see one of the places now. Our 25 minute walk turned out to be a 1 hour walk but the sight was worth it. The
Basílica de la Macarena was beautiful!

We walked back to our apartment and we took pictures a long the way.

The next morning we got up and walked into town again to visit the Plaza de Espana. Guess who passed us on a bicycle? Yup, the gordo, gordo hombre. Then, we passed him as he took a smoke break. We couldn't help but laugh.

Next on the list was the Real Alcázar de Sevilla. It was a beautiful palace with amazing gardens and tile work. It was one of my favorite places out of our whole trip!