Weekend Trip #1- Segovia, aka Disney's Ground Zero

For the past 2 weeks I've been waiting to go on one of our big group trips, and finally today was the first of many yet to come! To ease us into the idea of traveling on a packed bus full of 28 19-year-old girls and 2 children under the age of 3, we only went on a day trip to Segovia, an hour or so northwest of Madrid.

I'm sure this wouldn't phase you, but the concept of being in "sunny" Spain during winter still leads me to believe that the weather shouldn't be colder than a Bay Area winter= 50 degrees, more or less. Let me stop all of the presumptions right there and tell you that although it may be a little bit nippy in Madrid during the middle of January, Segovia during the middle of January=ANTARCTICA. It was COLD. I was wearing leggings underneath my jeans (at the suggestion of Luisa and her conversational Spanish teacher), a long sleeve shirt, a thick sweatshirt and then my pea coat, and I was still cold. The windchill cut right through my clothes and froze every uncovered appendage I have, namely my nose and fingers. Thankfully our group traveled to a couple places that sheltered us from the bitter chill, but the problem with thawing fingers is that they burn, and just when the burning stops, you have to leave your sanctuary and return from whence you came, which means that the refreezing cycle starts all over again. The only good thing that came out of this vicious cycle is that at least my poor little fingers suffered today in the name of art. I will never rethink bringing gloves to one of these trips again.

We saw three main sights that Segovia is known for: the Roman Aqueduct that bisects the city, the Catedral de Segovia, and Alcazar de Segovia. All three are well known not only in Spain, but in Europe, and after you see pictures, I'm sure you'll recognize at least 2 of the 3.

Cathedral of Segovia

The Roman Aqueduct

The group from left to right: Katy, Michelle, Becca, Ashley, and ME! Despite being really sunny, it was FREEZING!

Alcazar of Segovia
This is the castle that inspired the Disney castle, so it's pretty legit. Who knew Disney did its homework?



Jumping pic!

A sweet statue from the courtyard inside Alcazar castle of one of the kings of Spain who looks like a cross between one of the old man Muppet hecklers and George Washington.


Below are pictures of other sights from Segovia:

A cathedral that we saw on the way to the aqueduct


The Segovian skyline





Romulus and Remus suckling the she-wolf, though not the original statue which is in Rome, naturally

As we passed a meat market, we saw some lovely animal stomach for sale...

...and tongue and intestines...

...as well as baby pigs, or cochinillo, which is what Segovia is known for...

...roasted baby pig. Unfortunately I didn't try it--we didn't have enough time, otherwise I totally would have. If only PETA could have seen this...