Oviedo, Santander, and Bilbao

Sorry it's been a while since I have updated about our trip. There has been way too much tell it all! It's been a blast and tomorrow we spend our last night in Bilbao. I think Bilbao has been my favorite city in Spain so far. It's amazing here. Here are some pics of what Micah and I have been up to, of course most of them include food:)

Micah couldn't stop talking about getting fabada, a traditonal Asturian dish
made with beans, ham, chorizo, and blood sausage. I was a little
scared to try it especially when I heard there was blood sausage in it
but it was amazing!

Arroz con leche (rice pudding), a very popular Spanish dessert.
It was so delicious and the chocolate bowl it was served in was
equally as delicious.

Have any of you ever had kinder eggs? I pretty much think they are the
yummiest things ever! So you could imagine how happy I was when I saw
this kinder egg gelato. Kinder eggs with gelato-I knew this would be good-and it was!

Micah very excited to go into his favorite place in the world-Carrefour!
I must admit, this place is amazing. If you are a foodie it has everything
you could ever want. Especially if you have a sweet tooth and enjoy
fine European chocolate, this place has the best selection!

The French aren't the only ones who know a thing or two
about pastries-infact, these Spanish pastries which I have been
eating way too much of are probably the best I have ever had.
My favorites, the Palmeras dipped in chocolate and the napolitanas.
(Napolitanas are the second from the right on the bottom-the log shaped
pastries with chocolate in them and the palmeras
are the big heart shaped pastries)

A closer look at the napolitana...
I couldn't resist putting this photo up. I came acrossed this lovely
statue in Oviedo and the name of it was "The Maternity"
.....I am really hoping this isn't an accurate depiction!
Over looking the beautiful city of Bilbao, notice the Gugenheim to the
left of my head. Our hotel is right next to it, it's amazing!We have had a wonderful trip-even though there has been
a bit of drama with some sleepless nights, it is really
going to be hard to leave such a beautiful, fun, and delicious place.
Good thing we have one more day!

From Hell to Heaven...meeting missionaries on the way...

We flew into Gijon yesterday and had reservations at the Hotel Castillo for three nights. We got to our hotel and it wasn't much to say the least. We were also not expecting much because it was only 44 Euros a night. I was fine with it, plus I knew it was only going to be for 3 nights, I could endure anything for just three nights right?? I couldn't have been more wrong. We decided to go to bed around 11:30, our room was super hot and humid, both of us tried to squeeze into one of the beds (our room had a twin bed and a bed that was a little smaller than a full), immediately we were tossing and turning. The bed had only one super long pillow-I would pull it and then he would pull it back. An immediate tug of war broke out over the pillow. The streets were very noisy, but I was sure it was going to die down any minute. Again, I couldn't have been more wrong. Our hotel was right by a few clubs along a very busy street. It was non stop yelling, laughing, screaming, and music all night! To top it off the other people in our hotel would run up and down the stairs as loud as possible, yelling, laughing and banging things. I think our door was literally only an 1/8 inch thick so I was expecting any minute for a bunch of drunk people to come kicking our door down, coming in our room and attacking us. Yes- I am paranoid, but I think anyone in our circumstance would have felt the same, Micah was even worried-and he never is! So....between the constant noise, heat, pillow tug of war, and paranoia of being attacked, it chalked up to be a pretty horrible night. I had a bit of a break down-ok a BIG break down, and expressed to my husband in a not so calm way that there was no way on earth I could take two more nights of this. I moved to the separate bed, we both took sleeping pills which semi knocked us out for a few hours (I say semi because I never stopped hearing the noise!) It was Hell. We got up the next morning, packed our things, cancelled the next two nights at the hotel and searched for another one. Now onto Heaven....

We found a hotel right by the beach in Gijon, we trecked quit a few miles wich seemed like a hundred, with our heavy back packs and suitcases, delirious from no sleep, my eyes still burning from crying all night, down the streets of Gijon to our hotel. I finally saw it, after an hour of walking, I saw our hotel. It was beautiful! We walked up to it when I turned my head and saw down the road two young men with black coats walking. I yelled to Micah who was ahead of me and said "I think I see missionaries!" Micah looked and saw two missionaries, walking the same exact streets he had walked a few years ago, doing the same exact thing that he had done for two years. We ran up to them and shouted "élderes!" They looked up and were shocked someone had shouted to them, shocked but excited. We ended up talking to them for quit a long time. One of the Elders was from Washington and the other was from Germany. It was really neat to see them. Micah was really excited to talk with them, they live in the same apartment complex that Micah did. It was really neat to see LDS missionaries walking the streets of Spain because I pictured Micah doing the same thing for two years. I grew to love my sweetheart even more in that moment:)

Seeing the missionaries lifted my spirits:) This is a long post already so I wont go into detail about our circumstances in our hotel now, but they are 100 times better than before! I don't think I have ever loved or enjoyed a hotel room ever before in my life! There are big towels, soft pillows, a king bed, and air conditioning!! It is HEAVEN! I am looking forward to a wonderful nights sleep:) ADIOS!