Thursday, March 16, 2006

A Day in Seville

I have one day left. I have not packed. It seems I am a slob...and even after all these years with husband and children, I have reverted to some kind of teenage slovenly chaos. It could take me five hours to pack. My hotel room is covered in piles of clothes... food... flowers... shoes... flamenco posters... camera batteries... malfunctioning equipment of all sorts... high heels... assorted tickets.. and spent phone cards.

I weigh the odds. Be responsible, pack, sort papers and bills, clean my filthy clothes, throw away garbage so that Maria (who cleans the room and has kids the same age as mine) doesn't have to deal with it... or GO TO SEVILLE FOR THE DAY - SHOP AND EXPLORE!!!!! No hard decision here! Maria will forgive me.

Whooo hooo - Pat arrives at 9 am, and we go to the train station full of plans. I need to connect with wholesalers...CORDOBEZ Hats... Montons...Basque Berets... Flamenco Posters for the Spanish cafés we do at the store.. flowers for my costumes... flamenco shoes... and I'm hoping to have a flamenco dress jump out at me for less than the price I know they really are.





Seville turns out to more beautiful than I could have imagined. It is, as Pat says, a Flamenco woman's paradise. Stores and stores and stores and stores of Flamenco EVERYTHING, every price ...every imaginable colour... it is absolutely the the most intoxicating and sensual experience EVER. The buildings are golden and close together. The ancient walls are covered in ironwork. Flowers spilling from ledges. Windows that make you think the lover of your dreams is standing under each one. Music and smells coming from everywhere. There are more tourists here - more languages - more non-flamencos. Different, and more fancy than Jerez. Jerez seems to me more "real" in some ways... But this is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.



Pat takes me to what she thinks is the right hat shop for me to connect with. She is absolutely right. They have been in business forever. They make their own hats for the horse shows and racing, stock many of the traditional and classic hats I want, and are established wholesalers. Likewise, the Monton store and warehouse we visit also has beautiful stuff. I am thrilled! We celebrate by lunching in a courtyard with a fountain flanked by Seville Orange trees with birds singing in them. It SMELLS of oranges!!!! I want to die from the sheer beauty of it.

Hot, tired and burnt out, we make our way back to the train station. We have missed the 6 pm train . Do I care? Not enough, it seems. I'm going to have to stay up all night to pack - my flight leaves Jerez at 7am.

We roll in at 10-ish, meeting Sylvia on the train back. She is is staying another two weeks or so. She and Pat trade class info. I kiss her goodbye and tell her I'll see her next year.

I go to my hotel, climb the stairs to my room, and begin the transformation process...

Click here for more pics of Seville!

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