Call Sign Charlie

Yall...I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried. So the big news around here is that James finally lost his cool. The fact that he's held onto for this long is pretty remarkable considering that I've already had a least two meltdowns.

Let me back way up. On Tuesday we went to Segovia, which is hailed as one of the most beautiful, monument-filled cities in Spain. I have to agree. This was by far our favorite excursion on the Spanish leg of our European vacation.

Segovia is about 60 miles northwest of Madrid and has a taste of Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures. There are three monuments in the city that are "must sees" in our book. The first one is a Roman aqueduct that was built in the 1st century. It is made completely of stone and the amazing thing is they didn't use mortar to hold the stones together. This aqueduct is 2,670 feet long and has 165 arches. I wouldn't stand underneath the arches for pictures. I didn't trust the fact that there was nothing holding the stones together but Roman engineering. 

The second monument you must see is the last gothic cathedral built in Spain. The Santa Iglesia Cathedral was built in the 16th century and was breathtaking. The original Cathedral, called Santa Maria, was destroyed in 1521 during the Comuneros War. Charles V decided to rebuild immediately but this time, bigger and better. Construction of the new Cathedral began in 1525 and ended in 1768. I'm not sure if we could get a 250 year construction loan approved today. To reduce construction expenses, various pieces, including the choir, the cloister and the baptismal font, were salvaged from the original Cathedral and brought to the new church.

The final "must see" is a castle called Alcazar of Segovia. The castle is shaped like a bow of a ship and was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, and royal college, and a military academy since then. It is so beautiful.

We ate a late lunch in Segovia at Pórtico Real. It was simply amazing. We had ham, ham and more ham! The restaurant brought out three full, cooked (smaller sized) pigs on a tray so large that four men had to carry it out. The owner of the restaurant read a proclamation and then proceeded to cut up the three little pigs (sorry...couldn't help myself) by beating them with a plate. Yep...you heard me right. Afterwards, he screamed "salute" and threw the plate right on the tile floor. I totally didn't see that coming! James was laughing and clapping and then leaned over to Mark and said, "I'll be doing that at home!" Don't bet money on it.

On Wednesday we slept in, had brunch with Chrissy and walked around the city one last time. The weather was amazing. We hit all the highlights; Plaza Mayor, the Chocolateria (ie...the Cafe Du Monde of Madrid and yes, that was straight melted chocolate, not coffee), the botanical gardens and the beautiful parks.

Around 5:00 we said our goodbyes to Chrissy and took a taxi to the train station. It was at this point that I made a huge error in judgment and said, "I am so excited about the overnight train ride to Paris . It's going to be so glamorous and 1940's." 

We got to the train station with no problems, then chaos and pandemonium ensued. We were on the same coach as 20 Asians who had at least five large bags a piece. None of them spoke a lick of Spanish, French or English. They were screaming at each other, blocking the entrance to the train, dropping their luggage in the middle of the isle and laughing when James asked them to move. After 20 minutes of this, I said to James, "you do realize that you, me and all of our stuff have to be on this train in 10 minutes or it will leave without us?" Well James' composure completely changed and he looked like a soldier fighting the Vietcong. He grabbed our luggage and starting pushing little Asian people (to be referred to as Charlie from here forward) out of the isle. I was right behind him, stepping on top of their luggage. It was like nothing I've ever seen before.

Finally the Charlies were defeated (they were in their bunks), we found our cabin and all was well until Barney realized that we would be in a 3x3 cell for the next 13 hours. The meltdown of one James Barnett continued...