So my sister Lauren, her husband Leon, and their son Quin arrived in Oviedo last Friday, and we immediately took them out for sidra. We're going to have to get some again tonight, because Lauren wants to film the whole pouring ritual, so you may be able to check out her Facebook page to see what it looks like. We did a day trip to Gijon with them on Saturday, tooled around Oviedo on Sunday, and then yesterday we went to Leon for the night, to celebrate the city and the province named after Leon. (I'm deliberately not using an accent mark just to confuse you.) Before we get into the celebration of all things LEE-awn and lay-OHN, however, here are a few pictures from Gijon and Oviedo.
These are from the park on the point of Gijon sticking into the ocean, well above the city with wonderful views in all directions. The kids loved running wild in this huge park. It was extremely windy, although the wind is blowing into Leon's face in the shot above, so does not explain this crazy lean. It was way too windy and chilly for any sane person to go swimming in the ocean, so of course the kids insisted, and we chose the less interesting but also more sheltered beach.
Doesn't that just look like an ad for the city, with extremely good-looking professional models posing on the sign? They won't look quite as good in a minute on another sign in another city, but the fault in that case will be that of the very unprofessional photographer. The next couple of shots are on the big hill to the northwest of Oviedo. We took the opportunity of them having a rental car to buzz up to the top of the hill and say hi to the Big Jesus.
In the picture above Lauren is showing Quin what a cow looks like. We also saw sheep and lizards up close.
The weather was beautiful through most of our first day in Leon, as some of these pictures indicate. Now our long stretch of good weather has and we're looking at rain for the rest of their visit, unfortunately. But we enjoyed the sunny weather in the mid-70s, yes we did, in case any of you folks in rainy Seattle or chilly Fairbanks were wondering.
We had a great deal of fun with the fact that so many things in this Spanish city are named after Leon, like this sign advertising the "flavors of Leon." He felt very tall around all the short people, and began noting all the other short things in the city, like this bus.
I couldn't resist including the picture below, because it shows Leon's attitude toward the entire Leon-centric experience. The rest of us were just walking around the city, but Leon was strutting.
While Leon gloated, the rest of us shopped or climbed trees and leaped around in the park, or drank beer. Later we all went out and watched one of the Semana Santa processions. Those are the ones with the penitents in what look like Klu Klux Klan outfits. There were fifteen thousand people participating in three different processions that night, and we didn't even make it entirely through one of the three. The fact that it started raining gave us an excuse to go find dinner, but actually we were tired of standing against the wall, and our beer was gone. Lots of the little ones shook Annabel's and Quin's hands, for some reason. This particular group, associated with the Virgin of Anguish and Solitude, was dressed in black, and the small children with their black masks and gloves were a bit creepy. I didn't take my camera, but Annabel, Leon, and Lauren all took lots of pictures, and if none of them make it into this blog, you can always check Facebook (where Leon has probably already posted several).
By the way, to faithful readers like Tim and Siri and Ryan and Jen who request more pictures of food, Quin is always taking pictures of food, so I may be able to link to some on Facebook or even port a couple over here. Last night he had tremendous fun with his octopus tentacle, and we managed to photograph some of the food hijinks.
Their visit is half over, but the best is yet to come, as we head to France to celebrate Quin's thirteenth birthday. From all things Leon to all things Quin--some fun! I'll leave you with the cousins in the lobby of our very cool art deco hotel in Leon, and then, sadly, one of the rainy cloister of the Collegiata de San Isidro, with the leftover Palm Sunday debris and the rain making it look like a hurricane hit north-central Spain. Hasta luego.
These are from the park on the point of Gijon sticking into the ocean, well above the city with wonderful views in all directions. The kids loved running wild in this huge park. It was extremely windy, although the wind is blowing into Leon's face in the shot above, so does not explain this crazy lean. It was way too windy and chilly for any sane person to go swimming in the ocean, so of course the kids insisted, and we chose the less interesting but also more sheltered beach.
Doesn't that just look like an ad for the city, with extremely good-looking professional models posing on the sign? They won't look quite as good in a minute on another sign in another city, but the fault in that case will be that of the very unprofessional photographer. The next couple of shots are on the big hill to the northwest of Oviedo. We took the opportunity of them having a rental car to buzz up to the top of the hill and say hi to the Big Jesus.
In the picture above Lauren is showing Quin what a cow looks like. We also saw sheep and lizards up close.
The weather was beautiful through most of our first day in Leon, as some of these pictures indicate. Now our long stretch of good weather has and we're looking at rain for the rest of their visit, unfortunately. But we enjoyed the sunny weather in the mid-70s, yes we did, in case any of you folks in rainy Seattle or chilly Fairbanks were wondering.
We had a great deal of fun with the fact that so many things in this Spanish city are named after Leon, like this sign advertising the "flavors of Leon." He felt very tall around all the short people, and began noting all the other short things in the city, like this bus.
I couldn't resist including the picture below, because it shows Leon's attitude toward the entire Leon-centric experience. The rest of us were just walking around the city, but Leon was strutting.
While Leon gloated, the rest of us shopped or climbed trees and leaped around in the park, or drank beer. Later we all went out and watched one of the Semana Santa processions. Those are the ones with the penitents in what look like Klu Klux Klan outfits. There were fifteen thousand people participating in three different processions that night, and we didn't even make it entirely through one of the three. The fact that it started raining gave us an excuse to go find dinner, but actually we were tired of standing against the wall, and our beer was gone. Lots of the little ones shook Annabel's and Quin's hands, for some reason. This particular group, associated with the Virgin of Anguish and Solitude, was dressed in black, and the small children with their black masks and gloves were a bit creepy. I didn't take my camera, but Annabel, Leon, and Lauren all took lots of pictures, and if none of them make it into this blog, you can always check Facebook (where Leon has probably already posted several).
By the way, to faithful readers like Tim and Siri and Ryan and Jen who request more pictures of food, Quin is always taking pictures of food, so I may be able to link to some on Facebook or even port a couple over here. Last night he had tremendous fun with his octopus tentacle, and we managed to photograph some of the food hijinks.
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