Toledo

Not ohio, way better. The first night in Toledo we got to the hotel and just chilled out. The place had a beautiful resort-ish pool. We went on a walking tour of the city, and had the most hilarious guide. From the outside, Toledo has these castle-like walls, and there are a few main entrances. The streets are all small, wind-y, and crowded. The main plaza Zocodover has a bunch of little restaurants and shops and Marzipan. Our guide explained that Toledo has ‘santos, cantos, cuestos, ?, sabios, y encantos.’ Which is ‘saints, stones, hills, knowledge, and charm’ or something like that. I added ‘gatos’ to the list, because there are a TON of stray cats. We saw one sitting on a motorcycle looking at a bird. Aww. He also taught us that when Japanese people take pictures, the photographer says ‘Ichi tas Ichi’ and everyone else goes ‘niiiiiiiiiii!’. In spain, he said it’s boring, people go ‘pataaataaaa’ or ‘luiiiiiiiiis’ or ‘whiiiskeeeeeeeey’.

Also, he told us a couple little traditions. If you want a girlfriend in Toledo, you go to this place and ring a bell, and then go somewhere else to pray. If you're a girl and you want a boyfriend, you poke yourself in the ass with a pin and then go drop it off by this little virgin mary. Hilarious.

We were in toledo for the last night of this jazz festival, which was out in the street at night and right in front of one of spain’s biggest cathedrals. Really cool. After all that, we had to take a taxi home, but it was a little too late for them to be out everywhere. So we started walking, and of course, there was a thunderstorm. It was great though, we were running through the streets and got soaked. A lot of people from the group are from California, where apparently there are no thunderstorms. When we finally got taxis and got back to the hotel, everyone hung out on the balconies and watched the storm. The next morning, we left for Barcelona.

*Toledo Photos