Some of the online reviews that Valerie has read say that Segovia can be seen in a 3 hour daytrip. They are correct.

There are three major attractions in Segovia: the cathedral, the alcazar, and the aqueduct. The cathedral is a lot like other mid-size cathedrals in Europe. Its main draws are that it is close to the center of town and it is technically free to enter (although a small donation is requested). The alcazar is an old castle on a hill and is much like other castles on hills except more Moorish. For an extra 2 euro, one can make the exhausting climb to the top of the tower for a slightly better view. Finally, the ancient Roman aqueduct is a fairly impressive feat of engineering, but we could not figure out how to view the top of it up close. (Although we saw what looked like a person on top of it, so it is possible.)

We have noticed that many restaurants offer a “typical” menu from the area (where typical seems to refer to local specialties). Valerie was excited to try roasted suckling pig, a typical food of Segovia. At the restaurant we visited, the meal also included local beans, local soup, and a bottle of wine.

We are staying at the Hotel Don Felipe, which is a pretty darn nice hotel for being located in the old town. Tomorrow, we are heading out early for Toledo and on Thursday we are heading to Sevilla.

We woke up pretty late today and had to rush to see today’s sights. On our way to the Royal Palace, we picked up two ham sandwiches to go and ate them on the walk over. About halfway through the sandwiches, we arrived at the palace and began our tour. Equipped with a Rick Steves walking tour and a palace audioguide (4 euro), we quickly walked around the palace and its many rooms admiring the frescos, furniture, and matching wallpaper made of cloth (wallcloth?). Like many palaces, the Royal Palace lacks hallways, with each room connected directly to several other rooms. Unlike many palaces, this palace has air conditioning, which provided much needed relief from the Madrid heat.

From the palace, we took metro to the Prado Museum. After 6pm, the Prado has free admission! Using Rick Steves as our guide, we quickly followed his self-guided tour before being shooed out by security when the museum closed. There was a lot of art, which Valerie seemed to enjoy. I enjoyed sitting at the many benches dispersed throughout the museum. Afterward, we picked up a quick meal of pimientos and beer at a nearby tapas place.

Finally, we followed Rick’s advice and took bus 27 to its northern terminus so we could see modern metropolitan Madrid, which was much more city-like than the old town. We looked around for a couple minutes before hopping on a metro back to our hotel room.

Tomorrow, we are taking a train to Segovia.

Today is our first day overseas on this trip! After heading to our hotel, we promptly took a long nap. (I like to think of it as our first siesta.) After waking up, we took a Rick Steves self-guided walking tour of the area around Puerta del Sol, stopping to pick up some pastries that he recommended along the way.

After the walk, we had tapas and beers at several tapas places near the Prado before heading back to the hotel to go to sleep. Tomorrow, we hope to see the National Palace and the Prado Museum.

After packing up our bags, we walked around downtown to find some Chicago hot dogs and Chicago mix popcorn for lunch. We got a bit lost and departed for the airport about a half hour later than expected. Luckily, our flight was delayed for about an hour, so we didn’t miss our flight and had ample time to relax in the airport lounge prior to departure.

For brunch, we ate at The Purple Pig, one of the top rated restaurants near our hotel according to Yelp. The bone marrow smear was particularly fatty and delicious. After eating, we rushed down to Navy Pier to catch a show, Cirque Shanghai. The show involved feats of acrobatics performed by people possibly from Shanghai and was surprisingly entertaining.

After resting a while at the hotel, we headed to Morton’s Steakhouse for happy hour bar bites and cocktails. Tomorrow, we are taking the red eye to Madrid!

Coincidentally, Belinda and Joe were also in Chicago today. We met up with them for lunch at Seven on State, the slightly upscale food court in Macys. Afterward, we walked around Millennium Park. Valerie and I had already seen the “bean” (not its official name) before, so we focused our attention on the “face fountain” (also not its official name), a pair of pillars that display pictures of faces which “spit” water at children who are playing near the fountain. We picked up some beverages from a nearby coffee shop and headed at a comic book store. Belinda purchased several graphic novels, which Valerie and I hope to read when we return to the Bay Area.

We eventually split up from Belinda and Joe and went to Lou Malnati’s for some delicious deep dish pizza. They were able to make a pie with no cheese on half of it so Valerie could eat it too. For dessert, I had a cookie pizza, also delicious.

Tomorrow, we’re going to try to eat some more yummy Chicago food and see a show.

Valerie and I are off on another exciting globetrotting adventure… is probably what I would say if I liked to travel. We’ve begun our long journey to the east! Our first stop is Chicago where we’ll be staying for the next three days. Our flight pulled into the gate around 8:40pm, about half an hour behind schedule. While I didn’t mind the delay, I fear that many of our fellow passengers missed their connecting flights because of it.

We’re staying at the Swissotel in downtown Chicago. It’s about a half mile slightly uphill walk from the Loop. By the time we made it to the hotel, most of the restaurants nearby were closed, so we walked to Bockwinkels, a nearby grocery store / deli and picked up some microwavable dinner and snacks for tomorrow’s breakfast.

Tomorrow, we will probably try to eat some delicious Chicago food at some fine eateries that do not require reservations (both because we don’t have any and because we don’t have any clothes fancy enough to eat at a place that does).

When Valerie and I booked our flight to Europe last year, we used a British Airways companion pass to get two tickets for the price of one. However, the companion pass is only valid for round-trips. Since we were returning to the US on a Transatlantic cruise, there was no need for a return flight. Not knowing what to do, we just booked a return flight from Paris for as far in the future as BA would allow with the intention of canceling it after the cruise. Fast forward half a year and we’ve decided to use that ticket. Next week, Valerie and I are leaving for a trip to Eastern Europe, Turkey, and France!

Valerie will be describing our travels in her blog at http://valeriechang.net/blog/.

After several weeks of trying to book a flight from SFO to LHR on British Airways using our Avios points (frequent flyer miles), we finally found a flight departing on Friday afternoon. Finding a flight has been quite an ordeal. Both of us have been checking the American Airlines website every two hours for available rewards flights for weeks now. (We used the AA website since the BA availablity checker is strictly worse than AA.) Since BA allows a free stopover in London, we’ll be staying in Great Britain for 5 days before continuing on to Oslo. Despite the fact that neither of us has ever flown on British Airways, over the past couple years we’ve accumulated a ridiculolus quantity of Avios points using our BA Chase credit card. (As a side note, for BA Chase card holders who are reading this, don’t try to get the companion pass unless you plan to fly from JFK or ORD or DFW to LHR. Trying to find a BA-only route from anywhere other than those airports is a pain.)

This was the first (and probably only) time that either Valerie or I have flown first class. Ever since she started reading travel blogs, it’s been Valerie’s dream to fly in first class. First (as BA calls it) was nice, but probably not worth it. The SFO first class lounge is smaller than the business class lounge. The fully reclining seats, turndown service, and free cotton pajamas are certainly very nice. However, Valerie can’t sleep in any moving vehicle that is smaller than a cruise ship, so many of the amenities of first class are somewhat wasted on us.

My New Year’s Resolution for 2010 is to write at least one entry in my blog.  Success!