Semana Santa

Oh man. I feel like I have neglected this blog. But I have been busy, I promise, despite my week-and-a-half-long vacation. I've been busy trotting the globe... and living it up in Toledo. Good excuses, I think.

To begin: the globe-trotting. Destinations: Budapest and Vienna.
Both were freaking awesome cities. They were very different, though. Budapest was the first eastern European city that I've been to, and it was really cool. We packed our days FULL of walking and sight-seeing. My TOMS, I am afraid, have seen their last days. Or, they are about to. The sole is worn so thin that you can poke your finger through it. Not good!
Our hostel was... interesting. Not bad, but our "roommates" were, to put it euphemistically, less than ideal. But I don't know what "ideal" means when you are talking about sleeping in a room with 9 strangers.
The food was good, and relatively cheap. We had to convert everything into Forint, the Hungarian currency, which was rather mind boggling. If you ever thought the Euro/Dollar conversion was a pain, you haven't seen anything yet. A 1.5/1 ratio is easy enough to figure out. But a 266/1 conversion of Forint/Euro just made things difficult. Naturally, I would feel uneasy paying 450 for a lemonade or 2,500 for a lunch entree. But I have to admit that having a wallet full of 500, 1,000, and 5,000 bills made me feel like royalty for a few days. Now if only we could convert THAT into Euros..........
Highlight of Budapest though? The Turkish baths. Soooo great. Sitting in a huge pool of steamy water? Yes please, especially after our marathon days of walking and sightseeing.

Next stop, Vienna. GORGEOUS. Quite possibly one of the cleanest cities that I have ever seen. It was beautiful. There were gardens everywhere! In Vienna, I wasn't dying to see any sights in particular, I was just enjoying the beauty of everything. Every building looks like it could be a palace or museum or something. It actually gets a little confusing.
We stayed with a friend of a friend kind of deal, but it was awesome. I had to conquer my fear of heights and sleep in a loft that was only accessible by ladder. QUE MIEDO. But really, once I was up there, no problem.
In Vienna, I decided that I might want to learn German. I've decided that about a lot of languages, a lot of times. But this time, I might be serious.

Back to Toledo!
As you may or may not know, Semana Santa is a HUGE deal in Spain. It's a whole week of festivities -- processions, torrijas, masses, and, apparently tourism. Toledo has been HOPPING since I got back. I love seeing Toledo like this. I mean, the tourists get a little annoying at times, but I definitely enjoy seeing the streets full of people. It makes me want to be outside ALL OF THE TIME, because you know, I can't stand to miss out on anything -- which is why I always used to hate being absent from school.

Anyway, the weather wasn't very cooperative with all of the festivities. Many processions had to be canceled because of the rain. So disappointing! We went to one of my flatmates' pueblos to see her dress up in a procession, but that was canceled as well. But despite it all, we had a nice little trip to the pueblo!

And luckily, I did get to see a few processions in Toledo. One passed right by my apartment on Wednesday night after getting home from my trip. It was so awesome to stand at the window and watch it all from above. (My street is too narrow to stand on the side and watch -- the people were all gathered at the little plazas at the ends of the street.) On Friday night, at 1:00am, I saw another procession leaving from San Juan de los Reyes, one of the big churches here. It was so cool. And then on Saturday night, we got to see the 1:00am processions of the Resurrected Jesus and the Jubilant Mary meet in the plaza in front of the cathedral. It was really cool, and so different from anything I have ever seen. Maybe it's not quite on Sevilla's level, but being in Toledo for these celebrations makes me love the city even more than I already do. It's great to see the people fill the streets and get excited about things. And you know, there's always next year for Sevilla -- hopefully with better weather, too!

Perhaps one of the best things that I encountered this Semana Santa was a little delicious dish called Torrijas, which is essentially French Toast, covered in sugar. Can't go wrong with that, right? We tried torrijas when we went to the pueblo, and decided to try to make them ourselves when we got home. Ours turned out well! But of course, we were lacking the magical touch of a Spanish mom... so I wouldn't exactly enter them into any torrija-making contests just yet.

Easter was a really nice day though. The rain held off until late at night, so we had a nice sunny day for most of it. We went to mass at the cathedral in the morning, then went to the chino to buy scraps of food to turn into a brunch. And then we made our tasty little brunch. After we ate, we sat around, listened to music and chatted, and later on went for a walk. We read in the plaza for a while, then went out to get cañas and sandwiches. And, after we got home, when it finally did rain, it was such a heavy rain that was super relaxing to listen to. What a great day!

Of course I missed my family, as always, but when I fill my days with moments like these, it's hard to not enjoy my life. :)