TOLEDO
“. . .rocky gravity, glory of Spain and light of her cities.” - Cervantes
“…the most brilliant and evocative summary of Spain’s history.” - Cossío

Lette Hola todos in the good ol' USA ,

Only two weeks left and everyone is both sadly stupefied at where the time went and anxious to get back to the land of beef hamburgers, sports besides soccer, and believe it or not South Bend (well, Notre Dame anyways). Final exams end on December 11 th , and nearly everyone has post-semester travel plans. Soon enough Italy , France , England , Switzerland , and others will find themselves invaded by Domers.

If I do say so, I've done enough traveling to start writing full-time for our indispensable Let's Go guide. As of “press” date I've soaked up Madrid, Salamanca, Avila, Granada, Sevilla, Consuegra (to see Don Quijote's monster windmills), Barcelona, El Escorial, London, Prague, and of course our old stomping ground, Toledo.

It was Prague , in fact, that's given me the sharpest pang of longing for the States. A week before Thanksgiving and the city was already in the yuletide swing, decked out with fir trees, garland, vendor's kiosks, and stringed lights.

But along with my teary dreams of the mammoth Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center (which I sadly won't see this year) comes the anticipation of experiencing my all-time favorite holiday of the year in Vienna , Austria , and then meeting my entire family in Madrid afterwards for a week-long tour of Spain .

Here in Toledo the holiday season started off with a bang. Although, as you know, Thanksgiving is a distinctly north American holiday, the Fundación pulled out all the stops for us in presenting an impressive and surprisingly accurate feast. Turkey , mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, creamed green beans and myriad appetizers met us along with a dining room of white tablecloths and candles. The simple fact that they served us a real roast turkey was impressive in itself; turkey on any Spanish menu is a very rare find.

It wasn't mom's, but it was good, and the only thing I would recommend to them for future years would be the ritual second dinner after everyone's stomachs have settled and the microwave gets the workout of its life as the leftovers come out of the fridge.

By extremely happy coincidence, Bar Enebro around the corner celebrated its birthday that very night with free beer and tapas. With the music playing and all the youth of Toledo bundled up in their hats and scarves, everyone agreed that it was as close to a Turtle Creek party as we'd get this semester.

Now, after that fairly succinct “all is well” report, please excuse this abrupt conclusion, but I have a date with a pitcher of sangria and a paper to write afterwards.

Hasta luego!

Nick

P.S. I can't lie. There is no paper – just wanted to make you workhorses feel a little better. I'll think of you as I sip my drink.