Segovian shenanigans

Brad is visiting from San Francisco this week, so on Sunday we went on a little excursion to Segovia. A town famous for its Roman aqueduct:





its delicious local culinary specialty, the cochinillo, or suckling pig (YUM):





and assorted historical sculptures and statues:



There's also the Alcazar, the Cathedral, and about a gazillion other churches, though - it pains me to break the news - the museum of witchcraft closed last year due to poor attendance.

Nonetheless, Brad managed to track down what might reasonably be considered the most hideously inappropriate, ugliest souvenir your imagination could possibly conjure up. As this is a family blog, more or less, it is entirely impossible for me to provide photographic evidence. Let's just refer to it as a carved wooden "male fertility idol", and if that doesn't conjure the right kind of graphic image in your mind, perhaps the words "grotesquely oversized genitalia" will do the trick.

Now, far be it from me to criticize the souvenir choices of any of my houseguests, though frankly, my slight (and understandable, if you saw the bloody monstrosity) embarrassment when he insisted on roping me in as an interpreter during the purchase seemed to provoke an unnecessary amount of glee on his part.

Tables were turned when we got to the station on the way home, however, because all the bubble wrap in the world won't save you from embarrassment when you have to put your fertility idol with the grotesquely oversized genitalia through the X-ray screening machine required to board the train from Segovia to Madrid. I'm ashamed to admit that the one doing the gleeful cackling at that point was me.

We had a great day in Segovia.

I'm pleased to say that I managed to convince Brad that it wasn't really necessary to take the idol out of its bubble wrap for the cleaning lady's benefit yesterday