Burgos

As you might expect, many of the Spanish cities are surrounded by some pretty impressive walls.  Although the current growth of the cities expands far beyond these walls, the city centers are tucked into these protective cocoons.  Entering Burgos the exterior feels like a hard candy shell hiding ancient treasures within.

Those treasures of course begin with breathtaking cathedrals.  Pointing you towards God is their job, and they have been doing a pretty good job for oh let's say 7 centuries. 

We planned our second rest day for Burgos.  The cities have lots to show off, and we aren't interested in rushing through them.  They also have AirBnBs, which is such a deal for a family traveling internationally.  It provides more of a feel of home than a hotel at a great price.  I'm gonna let Claire show you this one and just say that even with this view it was cheaper than staying at the Super Eight in Greenville.

I would never say that I love cooking, but I actually do miss it.  Being on the road we have had just about every variation of a ham/cheese sandwich that one can possibly eat.  By variation I mean sometimes we have ham and cheese and other times cheese and ham. One of the huge benefits of a rest day and an AirBnB is that you get a kitchen.  I was bound and determined to make my family a homecooked meal.   In the morning I took off for the pescadería (fish shop) which was a vocab word from my Spanish 102 course with Brian Reinhard.  Needless to say, I was feeling pretty dang confident. The smell was also a notable clue for what pescadería meant. I thought I can do this!  ¡No Problemo! I waited at the huge counter gawking at the multiple colors of squids, mussels, live crabs, and about 50 varieties of whole fish. Suddenly, it was my turn, and the fishmonger rattled off something to me that I completely missed and I froze.  In hindsight, it was probably "what do you want" but at the time it felt like he was asking me about my views on Spanish politics.  I was in way over my head, and realized I had no idea how to ask, "Where are the Captain Gorton's fish sticks?"  As I was standing in my stumper, a well-dressed Spanish woman, about my age, who had no time for my games in her pescadería pushed passed me.  She commanded some very specific and exact directions, even correcting the fishmonger when he cut it wrong. She knew what she wanted and knew how to get it.  I just watched her in awe, wishing I could take life with such determination.  When she was done, she grabbed her package and took off for her next stop.  I rallied, stood up to the counter and said,  "lo mismo, por favor" (the same, please).    So here is my fish, absolutely no idea what kind of fish it is, or how to cook it but "Lo mismo" turned out to be pretty good.

Or at least the view is pretty good, and these guys will eat anything that isn't ham or cheese.