Spanish Children in Seville, Spain
A chance meeting in the Seville Cathedral

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The Seville Cathedral

Seville Children
Lynn and I belong to the Cupertino Senior Center in Cupertino, California. A trip to Spain was planned at the senior center that turned out to be a great adventure for us. The tour covered a large portion of Spain that began in Madrid and ended in Barcelona. About midway in our tour route, we made a visit to Seville.

Our tour made a call on the very large cathedral in Seville where Columbus is buried*. There were a lot of people in the cathedral, however, because the church is so big, it didn't feel crowded.

I took an opportunity to explore the cathedral on my own, taking photos as I walked around. After walking around for a while I headed for the place where the earthly remains of Christopher Columbus are said to be located. His tomb is held up by four larger-than-life figures. They represent the four kingdoms of Spain during Columbus’ life. The kingdoms are: Aragon, Castille, Leon, and Navara.


The tomb of Columbus is supported by four larger than life figures

There were several groups of school children seen in and around the cathedral. As I moved through this big church toward Columbus' tomb, I saw one of the groups of children with their teacher touring the place. Suddenly I noticed that all the children were looking toward me. I guessed they were looking at somebody or something behind me. It didn't take very long to realize that the kids were headed my way. For some reason they picked me out of the crowd and they wanted to talk with me. Even though they spoke in heavily accented English, they seemed to be very comfortable speaking English. I still don't know why they picked me out of all the people in the cathedral.

The kids asked if I was American. After responding with “Yes”, one child asked, “What is your profession?” I told them briefly about a few of the technical jobs I had before retiring. Then I was asked, “Have you been in the military?” After telling them I had been in the U.S. Navy and little bit about the work I did (electronics technician), the kids took over.

From then on each took their turn telling me their name and what they wanted to do when they grew up. One boy said he wanted to be an engineer while another one said he wanted to be a soccer player. Once again each child took a turn to tell me what they liked to do now. A girl liked to play with her dolls. One boy said he really likes to play soccer. I could see the teacher behind the kids smiling as each child talked with me. I'm guessing that I was part of an English-language class exercise. The children were all very active (as seen in the photos) and well behaved. It was an amazing experience for me.


A fun bunch of Spanish kids

When it was time for the children to go, I asked for the kids to get together for a group photo. It took a while to get these energetic young people to get located so all would appear in the picture. After taking the group photo, the teacher offered to take another photograph, with my camera, so I could be in a picture with the kids. Then she thanked me for talking with her class and the group continued on with their tour of the cathedral. This became one of many great highlights that took place on a wonderful and comprehensive tour of Spain.


A selfie of me with this great group of young people
I sometimes am amazed at how many really nice people I meet on my adventures around the world. In all the places I've visited, I find that children are universally friendly. This chance encounter in Seville, Spain was truly one of many highlights I experienced on this trip.
Story Links
Cupertino Senior Center
Seville, Spain
Tomb of Christopher Columbus
Final resting place of Columbus?
A comprehensive story of Columbus on Wikipedia
Five myths about Christopher Columbus

 

NOTE: *There is a dispute as to the whereabouts of the remains of Columbus. Some say he is interred in the Dominican Republic while others insist that Columbus' last resting place is in Seville, Spain.


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