Merida, Spain

On Friday after work, we decided to take a weekend car ride to the boarder of Spain and Portugal. It is an area that will be out of our mission once the boundaries have changed in July. We knew that there were some interesting places to visit and so we took the opportunity to go. Merida, was a Roman city built around 25 B.C. It has one of the best preserved Roman Theaters and Antiteatro, in Spain, which was the place of many battles with Roman Gladiators. There was also a wonderful Roman Museum well worth our time.
It is hard to believe how old these ruins are, and how well preserved some of the structures are.
We also went to Caceres, a city close by Merida, and took the Sister Missionaries, Sister Ball and Sister Cannuci, out to lunch. Sister Ball comes from an LDS family living in Sandy, Utah. Sister Cannuci is from Italy and she is the only member of her family to join The Church. Richard felt very bad for them because they will be sent to the other mission when our boarders change. We had a great time with them and a so, so lunch (Spanish food isn't the best).

We returned home on Sunday afternoon and it is hotter than blazes... We only wish we had a cool swimming pool to cool off in.

The best part of Merida was the museum, where we were not allowed to take any pictures. They had preserved many fine statues and masonry artifacts. The most stunning were the huge mosaics measuring 20' x 30' or more. They were massive and both Hermana Seel and I marveled how they could be mounted so perfectly on tericota bricks, which is what the museum was built with. They were breathtaking and stunning both in their size and display. I wish we could have taken a few pictures so that you could see for yourself.

The drives between Merida and Caceras was like us driving from Martinez up to Redding. Especially the part of that drive between Red Bluff and Redding, where the hills gently roll and the oak trees pepper the landscape. We drove through the most beautiful rolling hills on the way up to Caceras. It was like going home.