Mom Meets Madre!

On Tuesday March 2nd, mom and I made our way on the train back to the Italy airport. Then by plane to Madrid, the metro to my bus station, and from the bus to Segovia! It was helpful that I've had to do that many times before. The bus ride to Segovia was dark so mom didn't get to see the pretty mountains. I led my mom up the hills to Julia's piso. It felt like the first day all over again, because I was pulling mom's big rolly suit case and I thought we'd never be there.

When we made it to her house, Julia's was very excited to see us! She was so welcoming and already had dinner cooking. My mom talked and I translated the whole night. It was a bit tiring, but it was fun to have both of them there. I learned a lot about Julia too, because mom asked a lot of questions from the beginning! We ate food that's very typical in Segovia. Like Sopa Castellana, tortilla de patatas, pan, y natilla. Basically soup with soggy bread and meat, eggs with potatoes and onions, bread, and pudding. Most of it is pretty good, but it's all very bad for you.

The next day, Julia left the house and we set up a surprise for her. Mom brought: 2 place mats, 2 napkin holders, 2 hand towels, a candle, Indianapolis magnet, a recipe book for tapas, and dough to make sugar cookies! We set that all up while she was gone, wrote a thank you note in her tapas book, and made the cookies. We struggled with the cookies because she has a convention oven and we weren't at first sure how to do it. Then we had to make sure to convert the degrees to Celsius and change the amount of time they were in the oven. So I ran to computer from the kitchen reading about temperatures, times, and convention ovens-the whole time worrying that she would walk in. haha Basically it was a lot more complicated than a little break and bake package of cookies should ever be. But it turned out great and she was very surprised!!

That day we walked to the aqueducts, the cathedral (but I made my mom promise we wouldn't go it), and to the castle. We went inside the castle, read about each room, and climbed the tower! There are 152 winding steps up to the tower. It's a bit of a climb, but we made it. Afterwards, mom kept calling herself Barbara Juan Bravo. (There's a statue in Segovia of a hero, Juan Bravo) It was great to show her where I've been staying and to see her excitement.

That night, we took Julia out to the restaurant of her choice. We got ready and set out on the town. I hadn't been out with Julia since the first week I got here. It was fun! We got to the restaurant, El Duque Maestro Asador and tried to decide what to do. She kept asking me do you want to have tapas down here or go up to the restaurant. I said up and then she would ask if I was sure, and I told her whatever she wanted to do was fine. However, it took us awhile to figure it out. Mom wasn't sure I understood right, but I'm pretty sure I was. It was a really nice restaurant and since it was Wednesday, we were the only ones for awhile. We all got different types of fish and it was fun to try each others. Mom also got langostinos, which looks like crawfish. She had no idea what they were and she wasn't going to eat them, but Julia insisted. She even went so far as to cut them up for my mom! Haha it was funny! At the end Julia told my mom she would have to come back to Segovia and my mom said, " if you cut up my langostinos again, I will." hah They were funny together.

That night it was already time to pack up again! While mom and I packed, Julia made us sandwiches for our travels. It was so nice of her to open her house up. It is definitely not their custom to invite people over, so it was extra nice of Julia. I'm so glad my mom got to see and experience where I have been staying!

My favorite part of Segovia: having my mom there!