Of Candy, Travels, Pictures, Landscapes, and a Baby!

 Goog morning, afternoon, evening, or night, whenever and wherever you are. Welcome!

 First let's start with the best and happiest part of the week. I have a new niece! First let me clarify, yes that was NIECE, not NEPHEW, the Fickett's have had a girl. Trust me, I'm more shocked than you are :) But she is absolutely gorgeous and I love here so very, über much! Her name is Xylia (ZYE-lee-ah, meaning "wood dweller") Joy Fickett. She was born this past Sunday. Awgh, ain't she just adorbs! (I love babies).

And of course, I followed my own recipe of adding happiness to each day. I get to see her precious, smiling face ever time I turn on my phone.

Tuesday, as usual, I didn't do much. I got to sleep in after our long day in Salamanca, and I wrote the blog update.

Wednesday I had a pretty productive morning. I got up the courage to enter the pharmacy all by myself and I bought cough drops all by myself. Yes, go me and my little Spanish abilities! I also spent an talking with Reneé over tea and coffee at a cafe, just having good team chat and friend talk. Then an hour of Spanish tutoring before stopping by the candy shop. You got that right, I entered two shops in one day, I'm all grown up now. Well, I guess one of them was a candy shop, that's not that grown up, but the candy wasn't exactly for me, it was for our English class.
So yes, needless to say, English class went quite a bit better on Wednesday. We divided the kids into three teams and awarded points for good behavior and participation and took away points for bad behavior, and with candy as the promised and visible and tangible reward, there was a lot more motivation to learn and be good. It really is amazing how great of a motivator candy is, try it sometime if you need to get someone to listen, it works wonders on all ages.

Thursday was a bit of a long day. My morning mainly consisted of getting ready for our weekend trip (which you'll hear about in a bit) and a few other little odds and ends. Reneé and I were going to be staying the night in Madrid since we were going to be leaving early the next morning from Madrid. So after lunch I headed into Madrid lugging with me a backpack and carry-on sized suitcase. My first stop was the B.'s to have my team meeting the B. And then from there I lugged my stuff to the friend's house where Reneé would be staying because those who I'd be staying with weren't going to be home for a while, so I went first to have dinner with Reneé. We had some nice American food, Burger King. I finished my day off by once again lugging my stuff from there to the house I'd be staying at that night. By the end of the day I wished that I was a lighter packer. Got to bed around 1:00 in the morning, which isn't too bad, except that...

We were up at 6:30 Friday morning. Our friend, Annette, is doing some schooling with a university here that has quite a few study abroad type students from lots of different countries. So, this university had organized a weekend trip for any foreigners from the school to go to Asturias in the north of Spain. Annette knows the professor leading the trip and since Reneé and I are also foreigners, she got permission for us to go as well. So we were up and at 'em early Friday morning to (for me) shower and eat breakfast before heading out to the bus pick-up. The group filled one couch bus, so I'm not sure how many that is, probably around 70 people. There were quite a few people from China, one or two Japanese girls, a couple Germans, couple Italians, couple Russians, some Americans, a Brazilian guy, two guys from Taiwan, and probably some more I don't know or am forgetting right now. The funny thing was that most everyone spoke English, and they were actually here learning Spanish as their third language, so there was a lot of communicating, throughout the whole trip, in both Spanish and English with everyone else. It reminded me of a joke that is actually more of a reality than a joke, but it goes like this:
   Q. What do you call someone who speaks three languages?
   A. Trilingual.
   Q. What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
   A. Bilingual.
   Q. And what do you call someone who speaks one language?
   A. American.
Yes, this is a bit how I felt, but I did get to practice my Spanish, and review my English, so win-win situation, right :)
So, we were going to Asturias, a region in the north of Spain. Before I went someone had described it as a combination of the Rockies, Pennsylvania's rolling hills, and the coast. After having visited I would revise that to the Scottish Highlands, Pennsylvania's rolling hills, and the the coast, I don't think I'd say the mountains in Asturias were of Rockies size, but that sure didn't effect their grandeur and beauty. It gave me a nice taste of home, and I loved it all. Except for the fact that it rained most of the weekend, but oh well, it was still all so stunning. I just love God's creation. As, apparently, my brother and sister-in-law do as well since they name their daughter "wood dweller." Yes, I'm still on that, I just love her so much! She does have such a pretty name!
So anyways, let's get to this. I'll mostly let the pictures tell the story, but I'll give a quick overview. The trip, by bus, was about five hours. We left Friday morning and returned Sunday evening, each time with one rest stop on the way for bathrooms and a small snacks. Most of the day we would be out visiting monuments or old buildings or nature and then would return in the evening to the hotel. Something important to understand about Asturias is that it holds a special place and pride in the hearts of all Spaniards, because just about every time the Spanish have conquered or reconquered Spain it was from Asturias. Most armies would leave it alone because it was comprised mostly of small towns, shepperds, fishermen, farmers, ect, and they didn't want to have to deal with the mountainous terrain. For example, during the seven hundred years when Spain was under Arab rule, they sort of just let a small area alone in the mountains of Asturias that eventually became the starting ground in reconquering of Spain. (Disclaimer: I am not a Spanish historian, so this isn't exact, it's a brief sort of overview, pleas do not get offended).

This is just a small sample of some of the great country side we drove through on our way there. The weather was bit gloomy and I was taking photos through the window of a moving bus, but hopefully you get the idea.

Oviedo

This town/city was our first stop in Asturias. We had lunch here and then visited the Cathedral, which, as usual, was impressive, though smaller than some of the ones I've seen. Also, as I was taking photos inside a guy walked up to me and told me I wasn't allowed to be taking photos. Oops, I guess walking in behind a crowd and with my neck crained back to look at the impressive grandeur I missed the small sign that said no photography allowed.

Here are some of the photos I took inside before I was told to put away my camera.

Rain and umbrella bombed my photo, but you get the idea.

Pre-romantic Buildings

These are two buildings built in 9th century (before the romantic period). Unfortunately it kept on raining a lot, but it was still quite incredible.

This was built as a sort of community building for banquets, meetings, ect—a sort of odds and ends type place.

Most all of it is the original structure. The floor was re-done in 2005, but mostly everything is still intact.

This is a replica of the alter that was moved here when the church (which you'll see in a bit) broke down. The original is in a museum somewhere.

Yes, there is also a downstairs area.

This is the remains/rebuiltness of the church. I think they said it was sometime in the 11th century that, do to being structurally unsound and possibly due to ground movement due to being right next to a creak, the building mostly fell apart. What's left is what they rebuilt from the remains back onto what survived.

The back side.

The red bricked area is where it used to go out to. Also, if you look at the wall in this picture you can see it's odds-and-ends type look from being rebuilt from the wreckage. You can even spot something similar the the fluted pillars in the other building.

And coming back down.

Saturday, Starting with Picos de Europa and Los Lagos de Covadonga

Saturday started with a trip up into the mountains. First we visited a little cave church thing that was built into the side of the cliff above a waterfall. From there we took buses up the mountain to some lakes in the snowy peaks. I was kind of sad that we took buses the whole way up, because, especially in the lower areas, there were some very gorgeous views and great mountains sides that I would have liked to traversed some. But unfortunately, from bottom to top and back again the buses didn't stop, so views weren't fully appreciated and good photos weren't really taken. On the other hand, I got to see it anyways, I was just too excited to really care at the moment, it was just all too beautiful. I really do love God's creation, have I mentioned that? I also really love my nephew and niece, just in case you didn't know.

Where we were dropped off by our coach bus, already part way up into the mountains.

The tunnel to the cave church.

Part way through the tunnel :D

Coming out of the tunnel.

Now descending the stairs down beside it.

At the bottom with the whole thing in perspective. So awesome.

Now at the top of the mountain. Big jump, but here we are.

I really don't think there is anything to explain about these photos, or that they need explanation. They're lakes.

Proof I was there :)

Pictures don't even begin to capture the whole sight you see and feel when you're there in person, but panoramic photos do help a bit.

Gijón

From the mountains we got back on our bus and drove to Gijón for lunch and a bit of tourism. Best part, it was on the coast :) This city was started by the Romans, but more about that later, for now just enjoy the modern sights :)

Just a building in the plaza where we had lunch.

Apparently there is an old Roman Bath House beneath this statue, witch I don't really understand. Maybe they meant that this is just where it was, or maybe it's just buried and they don't feel like excavating it, but cool, whatever.

And of course, more wonderful mountain ranges.

How many modern artist does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Fish.
(I really have no clue what this is.)
(Also, "fish" was the answer to the lightbulb question. If you were confused, that's the point.)

Hmmmm...fresh sea air.

We took a little trip out of Gijón down to a little coast town. This is just some more gorgeous mountain.

I love quant little towns :) Also, for any George MacDonald fans, this reminded me a bit of Malcolm.

Just look how cute it all is.

Candid shot of Reneé and Annette. True models.

Hey look, it's me again, I really was there.

It was just all so breathtaking, and yet so full of life and breath. Plus (since I wasn't literally breathless) breathing was so refreshing and clean and salty. Hmmm.

A Night Walk.

After the coast we came went back to the hotel and had some free time for the evening. After a bit of a rest, Reneé, Annette, and I walked about a twenty minute walk to the town close to the hotel we were staying.

We took some pictures with this Cuban flag for a friend of ours who is from Cuba.

Look, I walked on the beach :)

A really awesome looking old, broken down house on one of the street corners in town.

Sunday, Starting With an Old Roman Village

Sunday we started our day at Campa Torre (Tower Camp), an archeological park containing stuff from the Romans. And this is the part where we get more into Gijón being originally Roman. This place here was originally just some local Asutrians living off the land and surviving and what not. They lived on this peninsula protrusion from the main land in an area where there was actually quite a bit of gold. To the Asturians, the gold was just another thing to be used when needed and they didn't, at that time, realize what part it could play for them in the world. Well, along comes the Romans, and in their Roman way, they take over and establish this as their place. Being an empire, they take advantage of the gold. They build a big wall (originally around 15ft), start a town, and things flourish. Well, this is where Gijón comes in. They got too big for this area and so moved down the coast and started what is now Gijón (you'll be able to see the modern art thing in some of the pictures). So yeah, there's Asher's Spanish History Lesson, please don't sue me.

Arriving. I do love the coast.

Here's that "modern artist? fish" thing in Gijón and visible from where we were. So yeah, the Romans moved down there.

Look, the name of where we were, because that is just so intriguing.

This is the remains of the city/town wall. If I'm not mistaken, this also contains no mortar, like the aqueduct in Segovia. And yes, there is also a big trench/moat.

If I understood the Spanish guide, the wall was built with these breaks in it so that if one part was damaged or fell apart, it wouldn't effect the whole wall and the structure of the whole thing wouldn't be threatened.

The trench.

The remains that still remain of the Roman village.

Annette. She kept getting mad at me for taking close ups, but out of like the fifty random shots I took I did got one good one ;)

This is an example of what their houses would have looked like. The hut on the right is what the Asturians live in and then the house on the left is what the Romans lived in. As you can see, the doorways are facing away from the sea, this is because back in the day they didn't have actual doors in the door frames, so they turned them away from the strong winds blowing in from the sea.

Some artifacts from the village.

Look, it's a tiny pair of tweezers. I guess even the great Roman Empire wasn't able to figure out a convenient way to eliminate splinters, those nasty little buggers. Actually, I think the tour guide said they were probably used for plucking hairs.

An example of the types of food they ate.

Some of their small metal work. I'm not sure if these were from the Asturians or  the Romans.

A model of what the peninsula looks like today.

Now back out from the museum and still going hard at it taking pictures. Here I am being a poor pauper Asturian.

And here I am being a royal Roman.

And here is Annette being...Eve?

More pictures of the coast from the Roman village.

León

From there we started on our way back to Madrid with a slight detour. Our next stop was León to have some lunch, do a bit of looking around, and then we'd really be off to Madrid.

So here we are back to modern(er) architecture and way of life.

That was one big cathedral. We didn't go in this one because a) we didn't have time, and b) it wasn't a planned part of the trip so we would have had to pay ourselves. But our trip leader said that this particular cathedral's best feature is it's magnificent exterior, so we got to see the best part for free anyway.

One of my favorite parts of the Gothic style is their portrayal of Mary. They actually give her a smile. Now I just kind of wish they'd give Jesus the crown and Mary the plain humanness she was. And we wonder why lots of muslims think that the Trinity is God, Jesus, and Mary?

After our stop it was back on the bus, and back to Madrid with a rest stop in the middle. From there, Reneé and I headed back to Hoyo, and that's when I found out that Xylia was born, so it just made the best finish to a great weekend. And just in case you forgot how cute she is, here's another picture :D

Monday I got to chill and relax after my long weekend. Wisconsin even sent me a bit of home, some nice Wisconsin spring weather. Course, it was all gone by midday, but at least Wisconsin was able to stay for a bit ;)

Really, the best thing that happened, and really the only thing exciting in anyway that happened on Tuesday was that they finally put up pictures of Xylia, so that was pretty fabs. Another pretty chill day besides that, I spent some time in the afternoon with the B.'s in Madrid.

And that's were we'll drop you, so this is where I'll say think you for dropping by, why don't you drop in again sometime soon and see else I've been up too. Have a great week, and hope to see you soon.

With lots of Loves and Misses,

~Asher Fickett~