Weekend at Home

Yesterday Sophie and I planned to go on a special date together to visit a beautiful church with a famous statue of Mary, and then get a special treat from a bakery.

A long bus ride to a new part of the city

When we arrived we saw the basilica swarming with Will and Kate Wedding guest impersonators, including humongous hats. Is this a thing in America too? If so I have never been so grateful that most of my siblings and friends are already married. We asked what was going on and it turns out that this chapel hosts weddings on the weekend! At first someone told us we wouldn't be able to get in and we were disappointed that we come all that way for nothing. But we were persistent and (though we felt awkward in our tee shirts and flip flops) the museum guide let us in.

This is the famous "Virgen de la Esperanza de la Macarena." The statue was carved in the 1600's and is dear to the heart of Seville. She has real human hair, elaborate, luxurious clothing (including underwear) and five crystal tear drops showing her empathy for the worries and burdens of the people praying to her.

As Sophie and I tried to walk through the chapel inconspicuously we heard sudden joyful chords  from the organ and looked back to see the back doors shutting. We were trapped in the wedding! It was so fun to slink into the back and watch the bride walk down the aisle. We stayed for a few minutes, wondering what it must feel like to be her - to be Spanish, to be Catholic, to be so connected to this place and to her family and friends in the audience. Then a side door opened and we snuck out, amazed that what at first seemed to be the worst moment to visit the cathedral turned out to be the best!

We grabbed a chocolate croissant and a chocolate donut at a bakery, but the bakery had no outdoor tables and chairs and when we tried to sit somewhere else we were asked to leave. We walked around in the heat for awhile wishing we had a bench, but suddenly saw a reason to be glad we hadn't had a chair - who gets to eat a croissant leaning against a castle?!

Last night we ordered Domino's pizza and watched a movie at home, which was surprisingly comforting. Oh! And in the middle of the night we heard this shrill, weird alarm sound in our room... which I remembered after a minute was a sound I'd heard in Thailand when we had a gecko on our wall. So we must have a reptile friend living in our room!

We arrived late to church and had to stay in the foyer... just like home!! :)

Lucy lost another molar

And one of my favorite times of day... reading Harry Potter with Lucy. She had read 1-3 quickly but lost her momentum in Book 4, so I'm reading it with her almost every night before bed. I love our simpler life here that allows us to do that. That time is so precious to me.