20.07.2007

20.07.2007 is a wonderful date, isn´t it? Yeh, seems perfect and unforgettable.
We were trying hard this time to get married exactly this date..

We decided already a year ago or more, that it would be great to get married. In the beginning of this year we went to the beach and Marquito asked me again if I want to marry him. The moment was just perfect and my answer was again Yes. In February we started to prepare all necessary paperwork. Mine was completed within 1 month this time (much easier than the paperwork required for Bolivia) but Marquito´s arrived like 2 weeks ago. Marquito´s mum had a hard time to collect all the important documentation, spending a lot of energy, time and money. Finally the Spanish Embassy in La Paz needed incredible 2 months to put 2 stemps!!! Really unbelievable, I guess in one more month they will maybe answer my pushing emails from April! :) Furthermore here in Spain, they need another 3 months to verify everything and give the last approvel .. till then my papers will expire and in addition, I will be already in Ireland.
It seems like no marrige this time neither :( I just hope Marquito´s mum will have an energy to collect new documents for some other perfect date. For now we are tired from paperwork and bureaucracy.

First thoughts about Ireland

I am going to Ireland on the 25th of August, I booked a ticket exactly one day after my internship here in Spain finishes and exactly one day before the Blocked seminar in Dublin starts.
Now I´m 100% sure there is no accommodation arranged by the University for me. I was not lucky in the lottery :( I´ve contacted @Ireland asking for some help, but I haven´t received any answer yet. I´ve replied some ads on internet with the same success. I realized I´ll arrive around 10 p.m., Saturday and there are no buses from the airport at this hour..And finally I haven´t met anybody who knows Dublin and is at least a bit positive while talking about it. I´m just wondering that it is not possible, it just can´t be so bad! and simply for being different I decided to give Dublin a chance and arrive with an attitude that I like it and want to enjoy my stay, let´s see how long I will be able to pretend.. :-)
Now, if anybody has some friends in Dublin who will be able to help me with the accommodation at least for the first night or to give me some good tips please let me know. I would appreciate it.

Saturday in Santiago de Compostela

We had a great weekend, really a great weekend :)
On Saturday we went to Santiago de Compostela , the capital of Galicia, app. 1,5 hour far from Vigo.

I blogged about the weather here so many times that it' s kind of boring to blog again that it was different from our expectations and from the official forecast. However it is an important part of this story, since I had been freezing with shorts and sunglasses almost 4 hours before the temperature crossed finally 20 degrees. Well at least it was not raining. Later I burnt :(
Marquito started his new classes in Santiago and he tempted me to come with him and pretend being "a tourist". Why not, I definitely needed to do something like this. :)
So I joined the pilgrims walking after their long trip to the Cathedral in the city center and around 12 o'clock I entered the Cathedral where the mass for the pilgrims just started and even if I am not a Catholic I stayed the whole time staring at the ceremony and I liked it. The atmosphere was just incredible cause the whole Cathedral was full of pilgrims.
After the mass I continued viewing the place and taking pictures, (in the Cathedral you can take pictures withou flash - anyway most of the turists break the rule, fyi. I didn't). I wanted to visit a museum of the Cathedral but it was closing for siesta at 2 p.m. so I decided to do that later. Instead I chose to make sight-seeing around the historical center. You can see some pictures here.
After 2 hours of walking I came back to the Cathedral and made some more pictures since the sun put the place into another light.
Then I went through a large park going from the city center exactly to the University where Marquito was. We eat together our sandwiches and decided to see the museum. It was absolutely great, well if I omit the origin of all the gold, silver and other treasure (as Marquito commented that most of it was stolen in South America). However, after so many years in my life I do not need to pretend in the museum that I know what is the exposition about. Marquito taught me to see the details and really enjoy the art thinking about the handiwork hidden behind it. While I am with him I feel like a kid exploring the history. Yeh, it took as like 3 hours to see the whole museum and almost all the time we were alone there, the other visitors were just passing without enjoying and appreciating the place, exactly as I used to do before.
After the visit we had a coffee (and beer) in one of many Santiago' s restaurants and we took a train back to Vigo around 8:30 p.m. meeting our new friend Fiona with her parents. We arrived in Vigo around 10 p.m. and went home to have a dinner and watch some movie. It was really a great day!

CowParade

From April till the end of July there is a CowParade in Vigo. CowParade is the world’s largest public art event. Since 1999 it’s taken a place in cities as Chicago, New York, London, Zurich, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Prague, etc. ... and finally there are more than 50 cows in Vigo now :)

It is a great opportunity for city’s artists, inspired by the cultural influences of their city, to present their own interpretation of the cow as an art object. At the conclusion of each event, the cows might be auctioned, with a substantial portion of the proceeds benefiting charity.

So what do you think about the gallegos sence of humor? You can check Vigo' s collection right here. My favourite cow is number 26 called Vaca Corda (Cord Cow) because of its originality.

New flat

Saturday we moved to a new flat. I am happy. Marquito is happy. I hope our new neighbours are happy ... :)
We have more light and space, the place is even warmer. We have own balcony and all the little things that make from lodging something like home.
Finally there is the incredible advanture of finding the best way to work, beach, supermarket, etc. Today in the morning it took me almost 30 minutes, so I hope I will orientate myself fast :)
Btw. I lost my daily view (see below) but I saw already other, unfortunately Vigo is cold and cloudy again..