Hers: Nesting ... mmmmm

It was a fabulous first full day in Sevilla. Although the bed is rock hard (we may have to request a mattress pad from el landlord) and twice I awoke when someone's cigarette smoke wafted lazily through our open window in the deepest hours of the night, I still slept well. This morning, Billy -- officially our Sevillano chef -- fixed coffee, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and toast in a frying pan (we didn't recognize the toaster ... it's different). Umm ... yummy.

Eventually, we made our way to the Mercado de Triana, where we planned to buy vegetables and fruit. We didn't exactly go the direct route, but it turned out to be a wonderful excursion as we crossed a bridge north of the market and, walking along the river, bumped into a virtual artists' colony. People were outside, painting with oils and watercolors, and some of the work was wonderful. Finally, after asking a couple of locals for directions ... we found the mercado.

It's not an outdoor market, as we expected. It is a bunch of individual stalls/shops inside a big building. There was beautiful fresh produce of every variety (except grapes ... we couldn't find any), spices, meats and seafood. We got there a little late so some vendors had already closed up shop for the day. But we communicated well with a produce man and bought una cebolla (an onion), dos papas (two potatoes), un pepino (a cucumber), dos tomates (two tomatoes), un calabacin (a squash), cerezas (cherries), quatro naranjas (four oranges), una sandia (a watermelon ... well, a piece of one), y tres platanos (three bananas).

We wandered around the market for a bit, looking primarily at the meat vendors. Some had whole rabbits hanging (bunnies ... I don't think so) and chickens with feathers on, which they will prepare at the customer's request. It seemed there were ham hocks everywhere. In fact, we saw a stall where one could order ham and eat it as well. One man was enjoying a meal sitting at a counter where a gigantic pork leg with the hoof still attached was bolted down so the butcher could carve off individual portions. I'm not sure we will buy any meat at the mercado ... it's a little too fresh for me, if you know what I mean.

But believe it or not, I especially enjoyed doing the laundry. We had accumulated 16 days worth of dirty clothes, and after I sorted everything into small piles that would fit in our little washing machine ... and finally figured out how to operate it ... I washed all but two loads and either hung the clothes out on the roof to dry in the sun, or meticulously draped them on a fold-up steel rack that I put in front of the open balcony doors. I'm not sure why I found this so satisfying, but I did. Bill made an incredible dinner ... want to see it? Just ignore that drying laundry in the background:

Although we've walked around Seville's center quite a bit, I'm very tired and haven't been in tourist mode. I'm so happy we have eight weeks here ... time to settle in and become part of the city. It's incredibly beautiful, with a surprise around every corner. One thing I have seen ... Sevillano women appear to be very feminine, and the clothes and shoes in the store windows are glorious. I'm going to have to go shopping.