Tour de Zaragoza

I'm no Lance, but please join me on a little tour of Zaragoza. We can start where the last post left off -- at the top of el parque grande. This park overlooks Zaragoza and holds tons of hidden treasures like statues and fountains and parrots. Believe it or not, jungle green parrots fly around the parks in Zaragoza, which makes you think you're in a zoo. Once you realize you're not in a zoo and there are no goats to pet, you get a little sad. To the right is the view from our friends' apartment near the Logistics Center. They live near a small park but we have yet to see any goats in the area. Fifteen minutes away is my apartment, which

I share with four other guys from across the globe. Just ring the bell on one of those doors and one of us will come right down to let you in. Our address is Aparamento 4a, Fernando El Catolico 24, Zaragoza, Spain 50006. The address is posted mostly for my family who might send me peanut butter if I study hard, and also I don't know if my friends could figure out international postage. Our apartment is on one of the many divided streets in Zaragoza with a boulevard running through the middle of it. There are about a billion trees and shrubberies here so oxygen isn't a problem. There's even a bar in the middle of the boulevard where evening cocktails are served, but Anand, Marija, and Micah aren't thirsty. We walked from the apartment toward the river and the oldest part of the city, snapping pictures along the way. I felt like a tourist but until I start classes, I am. I like to take pictures of buildings and streets for some unknown reason, so bear with me. Speaking of bears, no, we have not seen any bears yet, but on Tuesday we're driving to the Pyrenees so keep your fingers crossed. Mopeds are very popular here, but they shouldn't call them Mopeds because you can't pedal them, you can only mo them. I hope to ride dozens of Mopeds while I'm in Spain, and maybe John can ride some when he gets to Paris.

After a while, we made it to the Pilar Basilica. The church was built in the 17th century in the Baroque style. Inside are many frescoes by Francisco Goya, a native of Zaragoza and local icon. If you look closely at the picture on the right, you can see the hawk that a Spaniard summoned to make the rainbow near our friends' apartment. It turns out Spaniards aren't that different from Canadians after all. The main differences are that Spaniards play futbol instead of hockey, drink sangria instead of molsen, look tan instead of pale, and talk with a lisp instead of saying "eh." Check out Francisco Goya looking like he's about to cry. Cheer up man, your frescoes rock.After such a journey, a feast is appropriate. Anand, Marija, Long Hai, Micah, and Jermaine pose for the camera.