Chocolate and Fish Bones

Sevilla has had the pleasure of welcoming my blogger buddy, Peter (Tippin' the Scales) for a four-day visit. Peter arrived from Amsterdam Friday night to see the sights and taste the tapas. He appears to be enjoying both. His first night here, we went to Dos de Mayo for dinner. After a bit of input from Peter, San Geraldo went up to the bar and did the ordering. There's always some special fish dish being plugged; I usually turn them down. Not San Geraldo. He said, "I don't know what kind of fish it was, but I was shown something special and ordered it."

'Oh, no, I'm not going to like this," I said to myself. And, boy, was I ever right! A platter of three whole fish (heads, tails, fins) came out a few minutes later. 'How long has San Geraldo lived with me?' I thought, 'He's got to know there's no way I'll eat that.'

SAN GERALDO HOLDING THE REMAINS OF SOME FISH OR OTHER AT DOS DE MAYO.
PETER LOOKING ON.

San Geraldo tasted it and said it was delicious. I tasted and agreed. But, you know, you had to peel it from the bones. And then you had to pick tiny bones out of what you peeled. And then you still had to pull little bones out of your mouth. And then the head and tail — and skeleton that didn't get in your mouth — remained on your plate. Definitely not for me! The only positive (well other than the taste) was the fact that the fish eyes were either coated in breading or they had been removed. Staring at the dead fish and seeing it stare back at me would have pushed me right over the edge. Peter admired the fish from a cautious distance.

AT THE CATHEDRAL
PIGEONS DESECRATING ONE OF THE FRESHLY CLEANED STATUES.

Peter has been on his own the last two days for in-depth exploration and we get the pleasure of his company for dinner. It took me the first two days of his visit to finally remember that in Spanish his country is called Holanda and not Holandia. I'm surprised one of my Spanish friends didn't finally just slap me upside the head.

OUTSIDE THE CATHEDRAL SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

Saturday, Peter and I went over to the Cathedral. The line was monstrous, so we didn't go inside, but a wedding was about to begin in one of the side chapels, so we enjoyed seeing the women in their mantillas and the men in tailcoats. We had drinks nearby and then moved on to the Metropol Parasol. We walked the entire loop at the top and then enjoyed lunch at one of the cafés.

ATOP METROPOL PARASOL WITH SEVILLA'S SKYSCRAPER RISING IN BACKGROUND.
(DUTCH SKYSCRAPER FOREGROUND.  I'M 6'2"/188CM AND HE MAKES ME FEEL SHORT).

Peter has read enough of my blog, and I have commented often enough on his, for him to know that I (along with San Geraldo) have a more than passing fondness for chocolate. He arrived with an assortment of gourmet chocolates from his favorite chocolate shop in Amsterdam. Amazingly, we haven't opened any of them yet because we're so overwhelmed that we can't figure out where to begin.

WHERE DO I BEGIN...
TO TELL THE STORY OF HOW SWEET A LOVE CAN BE?

There are chocolate bars with Serrano pepper; black truffle (mushroom) and sea salt; olive oil; vanilla and smoke; and even bacon. Bacon Bar sounds like it should be for breakfast, with a side of eggs. Maybe tomorrow morning. I'm afraid the minute I open one bar, I'm going to inhale them all.

Well, I've done worse things in my life. (Just kidding, Dowager Duchess. I've never done anything bad in my entire life.)