Jerez de la Frontera

so the weekend of the 17th, antonios parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in jerez, where his dad is from

antonio and i took one of the high speed trains (not the ave) down to jerez in four hours
we stayed at a super awesome hotel where i had a balcony overlooking the pool
(plus any place that leaves me chocolates EVERY day gets mondo points)

on friday after we got there we hung out downstairs
eventually ate dinner with antonio, his parents, his moms younger sister and her family, his moms older sister and her husband, his moms parents, and his dads mom
(ps i may not have told you all but i am going to steal a small spanish child)
((pps i am also going to steal antonios grandfather))

on saturday we left the hotel at 11 30 am for the party
they had it at a super cool bodega (wine cellar, basically)
before we went in, i met MASSIVE amounts of spanish family (antonio has seven aunts and uncles on his dads side and four on his moms plus a million cousins and cousins of cousins and best friends and their families)
so as a pre-party kind of thing, we went on a tour of the bodega
i learned about vino fino, sherry, sweet wines, vinegars, etc.
there was a video with horses

then we got to try all their products, served thusly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ6hLlaoy2I
vino fino was yummy, but the sweet wine was AMAZING and i am having withdrawal
they were also serving hors d'oeuvres, the best of which was a shrimp roll with ali oli (spain absolutely has the best shrimp ever)

then we had lunch
spanish ham, more shrimp, and two other appetizers before a first course of a kind of shrimp risotto, a second course of veal cutlets, and a white chocolate mousse for dessert
all served with three more glasses of wine (white for appetizers, red for main course, and champagne for dessert)
then there was an open bar for the rest of the party (until midnight)

in the course of the evening, i very much enjoyed my ron miel with diet coke
and was eventually persuaded to make a number of terrible attempts at flamenco (made more embarrassing by the fact that antonio has a cousin and an aunt who are both very talented dancers) and karaoke
the karaoke, however, was made better by the fact that english songs are highly entertaining when sung by large groups of intoxicated spaniards

after the party, some of the younger people went to another bar
some random old guy tried to teach me how to dance; that was fun

on sunday we got a buffet breakfast and went for a swim before the drive back with his parents
we got lunch in a village from like the 13th century with a fun mix of muslim and roman architecture

all in all
excellent weekend
everyone thought i was nice and pretty and what have you
and im invited to a wedding in september