Segovia

I almost forgot today was Sunday. Yikes. I didn't go to church (gasp!), but I did drop in for a few minutes of mass at a church built in the 11th century in the city of Segovia. Segovia's main attraction is the Roman aqueduct. What's crazy is that the city didn't stop actually using the thing to transport water until the 20th century. Like in the 19-teens or something. Spain was conquered by a lot of people (before they conquered a lot of people), among them, the Romans.

If you know anything about me, you know how I am about the Romans . . . I began to wonder if Mark Antony was in Segovia or anywhere in Spain at some time. I mean, he was a member of the 2nd Triumvirate (that was before Octavian bumped my boy and Lepidus and became the famous Caesar Augustus), so didn't he have to kind of check up on the provinces or whatever at some time? Just so I could say I've been where Mark Antony's been. Actually, I have. But that was when we lived in Italy back in the day. And that was before I cared about Mark Antony.

The Alcázar in Segovia (Arabic name for castle--the Arabs, or "Moors" at the time, were another group that conquered Spain after the Roman Empire fell) contains a room were King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sat on their thrones and heard the petitions of Christopher Columbus in before he discovered the New World. I tried to imagine him kneeling respectfully before them, trying his best to persuade them to sponsor his voyage. We went to the very top of one of the towers and got some spectacular views. Sidenote about the Alcázar in Segovia: it is the model for Cinderella's castle at Disney World.

We also took a small stop by the city of Ávila. We didn't have time to explore, but we stopped at a lookout point and took some awesome pictures--it's surrounded by this spectacular wall that goes all around the city.

Oh, and lastly, I included pictures of another outdoor jazz concert we went to last night. We had a blast. It hit me why we were the only ones getting excited about the music: Jazz originated in the United States. As Americans, we couldn't help but get into it because it is the music of our homeland! I could tell you a story about a creepy guy who came up to us afterward and told us some stuff that was overwhelmingly TMI, but that would not be expedient. Lawful, perhaps, but not expedient. lol. More to come!