Today is actually November 6t. I have to comment on the election. Yesterday, I was talking with a father at the girls’ school who is from Canada. I apologized that I couldn’t speak in Spanish, because I was concentrating on English. I told him that I had been listening to National Public Radio in the United States – listening to all of the political events. He said something to the effect that, “You now can understand how the United States is so global, when there are celebrations throughout the world of Obama being elected.” He also stated that he cried when he heard Obama and McCain speak. I have to say that I feel like I can be proud to be an American in Europe again – where there have been times I felt like saying I was from Canada, in order to avoid conflict.
Thursday October 9th
Today I picked up Grandpa and Grandma Alvar. We were sooo lucky to have Ana’s car during their whole visit – which was more than appreciated.
Grandpa and ma had a crazy schedule, and I was their tour guide. Friday (10-10) morning we drove to El Escorial to tour the Monastery. I did see a floor that I hadn’t seen before. As I explained to them, “It rains everytime I have come to El Escorial.” Well it poured, but the lucky thing was that we were inside. We got to examine how well the gutter systems worked on these historic buildings – I can say very effective.
Jocelyn had a field trip to the Botanical Gardens. She was taken with the nice busses and watching the Venus Fly Trap being fed!!!!
Saturday (10-11) we enjoyed churros and chocolate in Boadilla before we drove to Segovia as a whole family. We were a little squished in Ana’s 5 passenger car – but managed very well. We used the Tomtom to get there – indicating no toll roads. This drive was amazing. It was through the mountains with way curvy roads – good thing Jocelyn took her Dramamine. The villages along the way were beautiful. On the roads we could read writing that said, “Go Lance!” etc. Apparently this is a leg of the Tour de Spain (Voulver) and Lance Armstrong has participated in and ridden his bike on these same roads.
As we reached a round-about to change directions, I looked out the back window because there was lots of activity. Well, it was the Royal Family’s Summer Palace in Segovia – La Palacia de Fuentes y Jardins!!!! Yeah, I couldn’t have planned it if I tried. We got out and enjoyed much of the fountains before the rain started to ruin our parade. We then successfully maneuvered the aqueduct, ate suckling pig at the oldest restaurant, toured Fernando’s castle (Sleeping Bueaty), and then hung out in the rain waiting for Brent to run back and get the car.
Brent and his mom enjoyed the grocery store. Jim and Gayle spoiled us rotten by buying most of the groceries and cooking while they were here. It wasn’t much of a vacation for them – but an excellent one for us. On that same drab point, it rained everyday that Jim and Gayle were here!!! They definitely got the use of their raincoats.
Sunday (10-12) we (Jocelyn, Kelly, Chelsea, and I) took Gayle to the Flea Market. It was a first journey for everyone but the Alvars.
Monday (10-13) we drove to Toledo. We parked at the train depot and took the bus tour to the top. This was great for many reasons. 1 – Brent’s dad didn’t have to deal with uphill, elevation, and cobblestone streets etc. 2 – We got some valuable historical information that made the 2.50e per person worth it. It was amazing how close the cathedral is to the main square. I think I walked every avenue of Toledo when the Mejors were here. It was really only a few meters away from the center!!! We had a wonderful time.
Tuesday (10-14) we did a leisure day of Madrid. We did the Puerto del Sol, Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, the Palace, and the Jardins. After we got the girls from school, Grandma and the kids (Jocelyn, Bryce, Luke, Kelly, and Chelsea) tie dyed Halloween shirts. Steve and Laurie were in charge of dinner tonight. Now the only reason that I mention this is because they burned the garlic bread. So Brent had to take the battery out of the smoke detector. Cool!!! I didn’t think we had one, so we have one and it is very effective!!!
Wednesday (10-15) the kids then drew pumpkins all over their shirts!!! They were so dang cute. In fact, Kelly and Chelsea still use their shirts as night shirts. That evening, I asked Brent to put the battery back in the smoke detector. So he did. Then the house alarm started going off. Piercing!!!!! Screeching!!!! Nerve Racking!!! The thing would not go off. Brent then played with all of the breakers and figured out which one it was. This left only power in the kitchen and downstairs for the Ladies. It did leave some outlets along the hallway working. We called the owners to have them try and help. Nothing could be done until tomorrow. So we got to live in the house with only partial electricity. At least the hot water and heating system are in the kitchen.
Thursday (10-16) we stayed home waiting for the electrician to show up. He didn’t get here until 9 in the evening. All he did was cut all of the wires to the house alarm, which wasn’t hooked up anyway. So now we have electricity, there in no more ticking in the ticking room and throughout the house, the fire alarm is no longer blaring, and we have a simple battery in our smoke detector.
That evening, Brent, Steve and Laurie had a UEM (university) function. So all of the Alvars took Luke to our favorite “sandwich stop.” At the table there are paper menus, similar to when ordering sushi. You get little sandwiches on bread shaped like little hoagies that taste like bagels. We especially like the chocolate one!!! Steve gave me money for Luke, so I had him fill out his own order and pay on his own. I then let Jocelyn and Bryce do the same. It was sooo cool seeing how grownup these guys were.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
I am currently listening to NPR. We decided to go to bed at our regular time, and wake up early at 6 – midnight Washington DC time. My computer took forever to upload – but we got our fabulous information from our friend Amber. I did Skype my dad to find out that he did win!!!! I think I will keep listening to NPR until I’m tired of the news and then be good until we go home. In fact, I found that I was going nuts with all of the stimulus last night when we were listening. I like not having the TV.
Jocelyn had a cool story yesterday. Her math teacher was out, so she had a substitute teacher. The teacher asked why her desk was so close to Belin’s desk. Jocelyn explained that Belin helps her with Spanish translation. The teacher asked Jocelyn where she was from and Joc said, “The United States.” The teacher then asked what state, and Joc said, “Arizona.” The teacher said, “Isn’t the world small, I’m from Glendale Arizona!!!!!!” The teacher goes home to Az every summer to see her family.
Friday October 3rd
So we took the long walk through the city to go to the train station to go to Oktoberfest. Our first subway stop I saw a young man passed out with his hands down his lederhosen. The next interesting image was a young man who looked like he “wet” his lederhosen – the expensive leather pants!!! Rather shocking!!!
We were arriving at Oktoberfest at about 10 – this is the time Spain starts. Well, most of the people were starting to head home and there was a mass sea of people that were leaving. They had started to close entry into the tents – but they were still serving on the gardens. So I sat down with everyone and had my first official Oktober beer. It was raining and it was crazy to sit there in the rain and drink cold beer. Of course I couldn’t finish it – but I had helpers.
Saturday, October 4th
This morning, Mark left for Arizona, after a week of drinking. The crazy part was that he didn’t get home to AZ until Sunday evening Spanish time. He got stuck for six hours in PA, and then a few hours in AZ to get his baggage – crazy.
The rest of us got up and ventured to the train station. Did I mention that it was cold? How about that it was snowing as we waited at the train station!!! The first thing on our agenda was to go see the Glokenspiel clock. This is the center of old Munich. This clock is the town hall building. The clock chimes and the life size statues dance for about 15 minutes. It was pretty cool. While we were waiting, we were entertained by a PETA (people for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) demonstration. I did notice that there were a bunch of people wearing fur coats in Germany. I would attribute it to the German economy is the number 2 economy in Europe, and it is colder than anything in the Bavarian Alps!!!!
We then headed to Oktoberfest. The reason for going so early is because at 12, the horse drawn wagons bring all of the kegs of beer into the festival everyday – except when there is unfavorable weather. Guess what our weather was like and what I missed out on? I did get to walk all of the Oktoberfest grounds. It is a giant fairground with all of these tent buildings – which seemed permanent to me. There were rides, venders with wonderful food, trinket venders etc.
We found a spot to sit at the Lowenbrau tent. They had already closed the tents due to maximum occupancy at 12. So we sat out and drank cold beer in the pouring rain – I’m sure I had watered down beer – not on purpose. The rain was flooding off our umbrella and it was crazy. We sat and visited with a couple from Italy. He understood Spanish and she understood English, so my Spanglish worked great!!! Entertainment at least.
After buying souveniers and eating some good food, we headed to the Spaten tent. By now the weather gods had decided to take a nap and let it stop raining for a while. This tent was ALIVE!!! We sat with another group of Italian business men. Again, the Spanglish worked well. They had fun, because we were having fun. Our waitress was a hoot. At one point I asked her for “una mas cervesa por favor” and she looked at Brent and said in English, “Why is she speaking in Spanish?” So of course I answered her with, “Because these guys speak Italian.” I wasn’t drunk either – just mentally challenged!!! (I am still laughing at that one) We also met some crazy girls in glittering tights from Barbados and Miami. I did get my picture taken with the local drunk boys and their green hats. One picture I had to erase from my camera – being inappropriate. I felt so naïve!!!
After this we went to the Paulaner house for food. The group knew how to weave through the huge tent/restaurant and find a table. We were seated picnic style with three locals who were about our parents’ ages. It was a sister, brother, and his wife. They spoke English and we really enjoyed visiting with them. The best part was asking them about the food. I just pointed to one of the lady’s plates when ordering. It was goulash and the most amazing dish ever. Now, I think I finished this beer – it was only a half liter!!!
We had done Oktoberfest. We went home rested and then ate at a Greek restaurant. We had an early night, because we had an early flight home. I was bummed that I couldn’t spend more time in Germany. I will say, put Oktoberfest on your list of things to do. It was awesome – and I don’t drink that much!!!! Keep in mind that Oktoberfest is for three weeks long and ends the first weekend in October. It originally started as a wedding ceremony celebration, but with it being so cold and in order to capitalize on all of us foreigners going, they moved it to mostly September. When you go, go during the week – you will get into the tents.
Jocelyn had a cool story yesterday. Her math teacher was out, so she had a substitute teacher. The teacher asked why her desk was so close to Belin’s desk. Jocelyn explained that Belin helps her with Spanish translation. The teacher asked Jocelyn where she was from and Joc said, “The United States.” The teacher then asked what state, and Joc said, “Arizona.” The teacher said, “Isn’t the world small, I’m from Glendale Arizona!!!!!!” The teacher goes home to Az every summer to see her family.
Friday October 3rd
So we took the long walk through the city to go to the train station to go to Oktoberfest. Our first subway stop I saw a young man passed out with his hands down his lederhosen. The next interesting image was a young man who looked like he “wet” his lederhosen – the expensive leather pants!!! Rather shocking!!!
We were arriving at Oktoberfest at about 10 – this is the time Spain starts. Well, most of the people were starting to head home and there was a mass sea of people that were leaving. They had started to close entry into the tents – but they were still serving on the gardens. So I sat down with everyone and had my first official Oktober beer. It was raining and it was crazy to sit there in the rain and drink cold beer. Of course I couldn’t finish it – but I had helpers.
Saturday, October 4th
This morning, Mark left for Arizona, after a week of drinking. The crazy part was that he didn’t get home to AZ until Sunday evening Spanish time. He got stuck for six hours in PA, and then a few hours in AZ to get his baggage – crazy.
The rest of us got up and ventured to the train station. Did I mention that it was cold? How about that it was snowing as we waited at the train station!!! The first thing on our agenda was to go see the Glokenspiel clock. This is the center of old Munich. This clock is the town hall building. The clock chimes and the life size statues dance for about 15 minutes. It was pretty cool. While we were waiting, we were entertained by a PETA (people for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) demonstration. I did notice that there were a bunch of people wearing fur coats in Germany. I would attribute it to the German economy is the number 2 economy in Europe, and it is colder than anything in the Bavarian Alps!!!!
We then headed to Oktoberfest. The reason for going so early is because at 12, the horse drawn wagons bring all of the kegs of beer into the festival everyday – except when there is unfavorable weather. Guess what our weather was like and what I missed out on? I did get to walk all of the Oktoberfest grounds. It is a giant fairground with all of these tent buildings – which seemed permanent to me. There were rides, venders with wonderful food, trinket venders etc.
We found a spot to sit at the Lowenbrau tent. They had already closed the tents due to maximum occupancy at 12. So we sat out and drank cold beer in the pouring rain – I’m sure I had watered down beer – not on purpose. The rain was flooding off our umbrella and it was crazy. We sat and visited with a couple from Italy. He understood Spanish and she understood English, so my Spanglish worked great!!! Entertainment at least.
After buying souveniers and eating some good food, we headed to the Spaten tent. By now the weather gods had decided to take a nap and let it stop raining for a while. This tent was ALIVE!!! We sat with another group of Italian business men. Again, the Spanglish worked well. They had fun, because we were having fun. Our waitress was a hoot. At one point I asked her for “una mas cervesa por favor” and she looked at Brent and said in English, “Why is she speaking in Spanish?” So of course I answered her with, “Because these guys speak Italian.” I wasn’t drunk either – just mentally challenged!!! (I am still laughing at that one) We also met some crazy girls in glittering tights from Barbados and Miami. I did get my picture taken with the local drunk boys and their green hats. One picture I had to erase from my camera – being inappropriate. I felt so naïve!!!
After this we went to the Paulaner house for food. The group knew how to weave through the huge tent/restaurant and find a table. We were seated picnic style with three locals who were about our parents’ ages. It was a sister, brother, and his wife. They spoke English and we really enjoyed visiting with them. The best part was asking them about the food. I just pointed to one of the lady’s plates when ordering. It was goulash and the most amazing dish ever. Now, I think I finished this beer – it was only a half liter!!!
We had done Oktoberfest. We went home rested and then ate at a Greek restaurant. We had an early night, because we had an early flight home. I was bummed that I couldn’t spend more time in Germany. I will say, put Oktoberfest on your list of things to do. It was awesome – and I don’t drink that much!!!! Keep in mind that Oktoberfest is for three weeks long and ends the first weekend in October. It originally started as a wedding ceremony celebration, but with it being so cold and in order to capitalize on all of us foreigners going, they moved it to mostly September. When you go, go during the week – you will get into the tents.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Today is election day. I have already called my dad to wish him luck as he is running for County Commissioner in Delta Colorado. Brent has Camel Country on his computer and I have National Public Radio on. We are very excited to hear all of the news coverage. We were looking for live video feeds – but I think the radio will be easier. The bummer is that Brent and I have our mail forwarded to my sister – so she can help with the bills. I assume that because our mail was being forwarded – we didn’t receive our ballots. We basically ran out of time. So I hope you all have made the correct decisions for our country!!!!
As Jocelyn says, Today I had a fight with the bus in motion and gravity – I lost. I bought my usual amount of groceries and some fire wood. I bagged my groceries in my two bags and then the wood. So I had to carry the groceries in one hand and the wood in the other – to balance the load. I got on the bus and it was packed. So I had to pick a spot – not my usual by the exit. My stop was coming so I got up to push the button to signal the bus to stop. The button wasn’t where it usually is on the busses. I had to then scramble with my groceries to push the button. In my haste – I tripped over my groceries and fell FLAT ON MY FACE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FULLY LOADED BUS. I then jumped up fast to push the button. Dang it – I missed my stop and had to walk further home!!! It was bound to happen, I just hoped it would happen to someone else and not me!!!
Sunday, September 28th
Brent, Kelly, and Chelsea left today for Germany and Oktoberfest. They are going to meet Brent’s friend Mark for some drinking and culture.
Jocelyn, Bryce, and I decided to venture to Madrid. We walked around Retiro Park and then headed to the Hard Rock Café for dinner.
Tuesday, September 30th
I had meetings with Jocelyn’s teachers. Her English teacher and her Spanish tutor had both sent me notes that they wanted to meet with me. I was able to go to the administration desk and schedule both appointments on the same day. One was at 11:30 and the other was at 1:40 – so I hung out in the office between visits. I sat in the office until the teacher came up and then escorted me into a private meeting room/small conference room.
The first appointment was with Jocelyn’s English teacher. She was a lovely lady from Melbourne, Australia. She told me that she was sick, but came to school anyway, because she wanted to have the meeting with me. I think she went home sick afterwards!!! She basically wanted to make sure that Jocelyn was learning enough in her class. I brought the teacher all of Jocelyn’s US school books as well as the curriculums that her teacher had put together for me. The teacher makes Jocelyn do oral reports in front of the class to work on her presentation skills. She also makes Jocelyn do most of the oral reading in the class. She was genuinely enchanted with Jocelyn and wanted to make sure that she wasn’t bored in the English classes.
The second appointment was with Jocelyn’s Spanish tutor and two other ladies. The Spanish tutor’s English was as well as my Spanish. One of the other ladies was Jocelyn’s science teacher and the other was a counselor. These two ladies just sat there and looked pretty while the other teacher and I struggled through. Again, they were concerned that they covered what “I wanted Jocelyn to learn in school.”
I was truly amazed at how these teachers took it upon themselves to make sure that Jocelyn was getting a great education. I also liked how they were really interested in my input on the situation. I don’t think they knew that I was in education either. I came out of these visits feeling very humbled and happy that Spaniards are incredibly loving people as a whole!!!
Wednesday, October 1st
Today Kelly and Chelsea came back from Oktoberfest. I was really excited to see them and hear about their journeys. I had been emailing Brent while they were gone and most of the emails were “Going to have my first beer at…..”and “Going to have a beer at ……”. I at least knew that he was alive. I had already understood that having a beer was going to happen, so getting more information from the Ladies was interesting.
The Ladies bought traditional German dresses – extremely cute and good for them!!! The Ladies also brought home some of the beer steins that they had “acquired” from the beer tents. These things were massive and so dang thick – a liter is a LOT of beer. It was great to hear the excitement in the tents that they visited and the beers that they drank.
Friday, October 3rd My turn to go to Oktoberfest.
The Ladies (Kelly and Chelsea) were in charge of picking up the Girls (Jocelyn and Bryce) from school. Steve and Laurie were in charge of the girls during the evening, because the Ladies were going out to play. Saturday Bryce went with Pilar and her family to the Zoo all day long (12 to 22). Jocelyn stayed in her pajamas and watched movies with the Ladies all day. Steve and Laurie went to the airport to pick up Steve’s son Luke and Steve’s girlfriend Sarah. Sunday, Steve, Laurie and crew went to the Flea market with my two as well.
Germany. My flight was on a tiny plane – which was WAYYYY cool. I got to fly over the Alps and see everything – it was awesome. I was picked up by Brent and Mark, and Mark’s friends Tony and Amanda. We immediately went to the Haufbrau House for dinner. The only thing is that the weekend I went was the very last weekend of Oktoberfest. So this place was beyond packed. We couldn’t even get onto the sidewalk to the front door – there were sooo many people. We then visited Hard Rock which was across the way. That too was outrageous, so we all elected to go back to the city where the hotel was to unload my stuff.
We ended up eating at the neighborhood pub by the hotel. All of the guys had eaten there quite a few times. I could easily tell why. I walked in and Natasha (the owner/bar wench/entertainment/chef) greeted us at the door with a moan. Then said “1 beer, 2 beer, 3 beer, 4 beer, 5 beer?!” We all said yes. She then came over with five huge beers and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She then said “Schnitzel?” and we all said yes. She then came and asked “salad?” and we all said yes. She came back with these great very vinegar salads. She inspected our beers. I had only drank half of mine, while everyone else was empty. So she pushed me over in my chair and then proceeded to drink the rest of my beer. Then she asked “1 beer, 2 beer, 3 beer, 4 beer,” I stopped her there – there was no way I could do more. I think I got chewed out in German? I don’t know. She then brought more beers and the schnitzel. We could hear her pounding it out. It was way more than incredible – I loved the food in Germany!!!! She came by to bring another round of beers and started to growl at me because I wasn’t getting through my dinner. Brent persuaded me to feed the dog “Danny” so I didn’t get yelled at!!! What a crack up – throwing the most incredible schnitzel to the dog so I don’t get yelled at by a crazy German woman!!! That place was the bomb.
We then headed to the hotel to freshen up, before going to Oktoberfest.
As Jocelyn says, Today I had a fight with the bus in motion and gravity – I lost. I bought my usual amount of groceries and some fire wood. I bagged my groceries in my two bags and then the wood. So I had to carry the groceries in one hand and the wood in the other – to balance the load. I got on the bus and it was packed. So I had to pick a spot – not my usual by the exit. My stop was coming so I got up to push the button to signal the bus to stop. The button wasn’t where it usually is on the busses. I had to then scramble with my groceries to push the button. In my haste – I tripped over my groceries and fell FLAT ON MY FACE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FULLY LOADED BUS. I then jumped up fast to push the button. Dang it – I missed my stop and had to walk further home!!! It was bound to happen, I just hoped it would happen to someone else and not me!!!
Sunday, September 28th
Brent, Kelly, and Chelsea left today for Germany and Oktoberfest. They are going to meet Brent’s friend Mark for some drinking and culture.
Jocelyn, Bryce, and I decided to venture to Madrid. We walked around Retiro Park and then headed to the Hard Rock Café for dinner.
Tuesday, September 30th
I had meetings with Jocelyn’s teachers. Her English teacher and her Spanish tutor had both sent me notes that they wanted to meet with me. I was able to go to the administration desk and schedule both appointments on the same day. One was at 11:30 and the other was at 1:40 – so I hung out in the office between visits. I sat in the office until the teacher came up and then escorted me into a private meeting room/small conference room.
The first appointment was with Jocelyn’s English teacher. She was a lovely lady from Melbourne, Australia. She told me that she was sick, but came to school anyway, because she wanted to have the meeting with me. I think she went home sick afterwards!!! She basically wanted to make sure that Jocelyn was learning enough in her class. I brought the teacher all of Jocelyn’s US school books as well as the curriculums that her teacher had put together for me. The teacher makes Jocelyn do oral reports in front of the class to work on her presentation skills. She also makes Jocelyn do most of the oral reading in the class. She was genuinely enchanted with Jocelyn and wanted to make sure that she wasn’t bored in the English classes.
The second appointment was with Jocelyn’s Spanish tutor and two other ladies. The Spanish tutor’s English was as well as my Spanish. One of the other ladies was Jocelyn’s science teacher and the other was a counselor. These two ladies just sat there and looked pretty while the other teacher and I struggled through. Again, they were concerned that they covered what “I wanted Jocelyn to learn in school.”
I was truly amazed at how these teachers took it upon themselves to make sure that Jocelyn was getting a great education. I also liked how they were really interested in my input on the situation. I don’t think they knew that I was in education either. I came out of these visits feeling very humbled and happy that Spaniards are incredibly loving people as a whole!!!
Wednesday, October 1st
Today Kelly and Chelsea came back from Oktoberfest. I was really excited to see them and hear about their journeys. I had been emailing Brent while they were gone and most of the emails were “Going to have my first beer at…..”and “Going to have a beer at ……”. I at least knew that he was alive. I had already understood that having a beer was going to happen, so getting more information from the Ladies was interesting.
The Ladies bought traditional German dresses – extremely cute and good for them!!! The Ladies also brought home some of the beer steins that they had “acquired” from the beer tents. These things were massive and so dang thick – a liter is a LOT of beer. It was great to hear the excitement in the tents that they visited and the beers that they drank.
Friday, October 3rd My turn to go to Oktoberfest.
The Ladies (Kelly and Chelsea) were in charge of picking up the Girls (Jocelyn and Bryce) from school. Steve and Laurie were in charge of the girls during the evening, because the Ladies were going out to play. Saturday Bryce went with Pilar and her family to the Zoo all day long (12 to 22). Jocelyn stayed in her pajamas and watched movies with the Ladies all day. Steve and Laurie went to the airport to pick up Steve’s son Luke and Steve’s girlfriend Sarah. Sunday, Steve, Laurie and crew went to the Flea market with my two as well.
Germany. My flight was on a tiny plane – which was WAYYYY cool. I got to fly over the Alps and see everything – it was awesome. I was picked up by Brent and Mark, and Mark’s friends Tony and Amanda. We immediately went to the Haufbrau House for dinner. The only thing is that the weekend I went was the very last weekend of Oktoberfest. So this place was beyond packed. We couldn’t even get onto the sidewalk to the front door – there were sooo many people. We then visited Hard Rock which was across the way. That too was outrageous, so we all elected to go back to the city where the hotel was to unload my stuff.
We ended up eating at the neighborhood pub by the hotel. All of the guys had eaten there quite a few times. I could easily tell why. I walked in and Natasha (the owner/bar wench/entertainment/chef) greeted us at the door with a moan. Then said “1 beer, 2 beer, 3 beer, 4 beer, 5 beer?!” We all said yes. She then came over with five huge beers and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She then said “Schnitzel?” and we all said yes. She then came and asked “salad?” and we all said yes. She came back with these great very vinegar salads. She inspected our beers. I had only drank half of mine, while everyone else was empty. So she pushed me over in my chair and then proceeded to drink the rest of my beer. Then she asked “1 beer, 2 beer, 3 beer, 4 beer,” I stopped her there – there was no way I could do more. I think I got chewed out in German? I don’t know. She then brought more beers and the schnitzel. We could hear her pounding it out. It was way more than incredible – I loved the food in Germany!!!! She came by to bring another round of beers and started to growl at me because I wasn’t getting through my dinner. Brent persuaded me to feed the dog “Danny” so I didn’t get yelled at!!! What a crack up – throwing the most incredible schnitzel to the dog so I don’t get yelled at by a crazy German woman!!! That place was the bomb.
We then headed to the hotel to freshen up, before going to Oktoberfest.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Wednesday, September 24
I have to get caught up – this is killing me that I’m this far behind. The nice thing is that I have my notes written down in my “Handy Dandy Notebook!!!”
I forgot to mention that we toured the Barcelona Mercado. This was utterly amazing. I think it was so cool because we walked in at the candy section. I don’t remember seeing a candy section in any of the other Mercado’s in Spain. This one was truly sweet!!! We got to see octopus, goat heads, gizzards galore, rabbit, fish that were still bubbling through their gills, tons of yummy vegetables and fruit.
We started off the day headed to Gaudi’s park, the Gruell Park. This was a community that Gruell had designed. It was going to have a center market area and park, with about 20 houses built all around. I think about five houses were completed and the project went bankrupt. The cool thing is that the market area was completed, as were Gaudi’s home and Gruell’s home. The walk to the park was strictly uphill. Jen and I had been on an exercise kick (what the heck were we thinking) and taking the stairs up everytime. Well, it was soooo uphill, that there were escalators on the city street. You couldn’t see the top – all you could see were never ending stairs. I pooped out and took the escalators – Jen walked and yeah for her!!! The park overlooked the whole city. You could see the cathedral that Gaudi was building and were he is entombed. The grounds were incredible. He truly thought of everything. The covered walkways had the elements used as canopies of plants and earth. I especially loved the market place with all of the mosaic tile. I thought the ribbed seating on the top looked like the tea cups from Disneyland. The ceiling was just exquisite – and the colors were so imaginary and awe inspiring.
We made a decision that with the limited time remaining, we would go see the Gruell apartment building – a must by Aunt Cold. So we headed on the long walk there. We found it without any circumstances and waited in a short line. I have to say, that you don’t appreciate Gaudi until you do the apartment building. It is now a museum/walking tour of the stables/basement, the attic, one complete floor/apartment, and the roof. He was so in tune with nature and human nature. He designed furniture, door knobs, doors, chimneys/exhaust fans, railings, etc, not to mention ways to heat, cool, and light apartments economically and efficiently. After that, I was Gaudi’ed out.
We then found lunch. Another fabulous choice from Jen’s book – Flash. It totally reminded me of a Liza Minelli or Audrey Hepburn establishment. The place was all white with only black silhouettes of girls taking pictures, and their flashes from their cameras was the lighting. They are known for their tortilla (an egg/potato like omelets). It was wonderful. Everyone in there were locals except for us and a couple from Japan. We looked over and saw them reading from a Japanese Spanish tour book – I wanted to take a picture of it – but didn’t have the guts.
After this we found the theater. This place was designed during the Gaudi period, very Gaudi, but by another designer. The stained glass ceiling was an hour worth of entertainment in itself. They had statues all over the place, mosaic ceilings, floors, walls, pillars – There was so much beauty that you seriously didn’t want to move very fast – because you would miss something.
We then checked out and had some time to kill – so why not hang out on Las Ramblas!!! Great decision. The same parade that we saw the night before was happening, except this time everyone was sober. We then sat down for some tappas. We ended up making friends with these crazy Australian girls. They told us where the Hard Rock Café was – on Las Ramblas. We were sooo close. So we crossed over the parade and made it to Hard Rock. We then decided that we needed some Cava as gifts and walked all of Las Ramblas trying to find a store open. We were successful here as well. Then we headed back to the train station to close this chapter.
Thursday, September 25th
We were successful here as well. Our train was a sleeper car. There were six bunks and Jen and I got the top two. This was not so great in that there were four other chicks in our car and they didn’t want talking or lights on. There wasn’t all that much room to even lay up and read. We got to Madrid without any incident. We took the metro and train home. I had Brent’s blackberry and had texted/emailed him throughout our journey. So he timed it where he and the girls met us at the train station. We then got to take Jocelyn and Bryce to school. Brent then loaded up all of the students and Aunt Jen to take them on a road trip to Valencia. I had enticed them that this was the place to go.
I got to stay home alone with the internet!!! Bryce had a field trip at school. They went to the Museum of Natural History. It is weird – we parent’s don’t even get a heads up that they are going. It is only if the child wishes to share what they did today that you get this information.
Friday, September 26
Bryce had a playdate with Pilar after school today. I don’t know if I have mentioned Pilar and her family – but Pilar was born at Chandler Regional while her parents were going to school at Arizona State!!!! Since Bryce had her playdate, Jocelyn and I were going to get chocolate and watch movies. We headed to the grocery store. As we were looking for chocolate, we met Richie and his mother. Richie is from the UK. His family just moved to Madrid from another part of Spain. Richie is in Jocelyn’s class. The best part of this story is when Richie’s mom stated that they had loaded all of the groceries into the car when Richie saw Jocelyn in the parking lot. He told his mother that they had to go back into the store so that he could see Jocelyn!!! Jocelyn’s face still gets red with embarrassment when I tell this story. We then headed to McDonald’s in Majadahonda to go pick up Bryce. When we finally got there, Brent and the gang had beat us. So we all got to pile into Chicken Little with groceries and head home. Aunt Jen then went home on Saturday. (insert sad face here)
I have to get caught up – this is killing me that I’m this far behind. The nice thing is that I have my notes written down in my “Handy Dandy Notebook!!!”
I forgot to mention that we toured the Barcelona Mercado. This was utterly amazing. I think it was so cool because we walked in at the candy section. I don’t remember seeing a candy section in any of the other Mercado’s in Spain. This one was truly sweet!!! We got to see octopus, goat heads, gizzards galore, rabbit, fish that were still bubbling through their gills, tons of yummy vegetables and fruit.
We started off the day headed to Gaudi’s park, the Gruell Park. This was a community that Gruell had designed. It was going to have a center market area and park, with about 20 houses built all around. I think about five houses were completed and the project went bankrupt. The cool thing is that the market area was completed, as were Gaudi’s home and Gruell’s home. The walk to the park was strictly uphill. Jen and I had been on an exercise kick (what the heck were we thinking) and taking the stairs up everytime. Well, it was soooo uphill, that there were escalators on the city street. You couldn’t see the top – all you could see were never ending stairs. I pooped out and took the escalators – Jen walked and yeah for her!!! The park overlooked the whole city. You could see the cathedral that Gaudi was building and were he is entombed. The grounds were incredible. He truly thought of everything. The covered walkways had the elements used as canopies of plants and earth. I especially loved the market place with all of the mosaic tile. I thought the ribbed seating on the top looked like the tea cups from Disneyland. The ceiling was just exquisite – and the colors were so imaginary and awe inspiring.
We made a decision that with the limited time remaining, we would go see the Gruell apartment building – a must by Aunt Cold. So we headed on the long walk there. We found it without any circumstances and waited in a short line. I have to say, that you don’t appreciate Gaudi until you do the apartment building. It is now a museum/walking tour of the stables/basement, the attic, one complete floor/apartment, and the roof. He was so in tune with nature and human nature. He designed furniture, door knobs, doors, chimneys/exhaust fans, railings, etc, not to mention ways to heat, cool, and light apartments economically and efficiently. After that, I was Gaudi’ed out.
We then found lunch. Another fabulous choice from Jen’s book – Flash. It totally reminded me of a Liza Minelli or Audrey Hepburn establishment. The place was all white with only black silhouettes of girls taking pictures, and their flashes from their cameras was the lighting. They are known for their tortilla (an egg/potato like omelets). It was wonderful. Everyone in there were locals except for us and a couple from Japan. We looked over and saw them reading from a Japanese Spanish tour book – I wanted to take a picture of it – but didn’t have the guts.
After this we found the theater. This place was designed during the Gaudi period, very Gaudi, but by another designer. The stained glass ceiling was an hour worth of entertainment in itself. They had statues all over the place, mosaic ceilings, floors, walls, pillars – There was so much beauty that you seriously didn’t want to move very fast – because you would miss something.
We then checked out and had some time to kill – so why not hang out on Las Ramblas!!! Great decision. The same parade that we saw the night before was happening, except this time everyone was sober. We then sat down for some tappas. We ended up making friends with these crazy Australian girls. They told us where the Hard Rock Café was – on Las Ramblas. We were sooo close. So we crossed over the parade and made it to Hard Rock. We then decided that we needed some Cava as gifts and walked all of Las Ramblas trying to find a store open. We were successful here as well. Then we headed back to the train station to close this chapter.
Thursday, September 25th
We were successful here as well. Our train was a sleeper car. There were six bunks and Jen and I got the top two. This was not so great in that there were four other chicks in our car and they didn’t want talking or lights on. There wasn’t all that much room to even lay up and read. We got to Madrid without any incident. We took the metro and train home. I had Brent’s blackberry and had texted/emailed him throughout our journey. So he timed it where he and the girls met us at the train station. We then got to take Jocelyn and Bryce to school. Brent then loaded up all of the students and Aunt Jen to take them on a road trip to Valencia. I had enticed them that this was the place to go.
I got to stay home alone with the internet!!! Bryce had a field trip at school. They went to the Museum of Natural History. It is weird – we parent’s don’t even get a heads up that they are going. It is only if the child wishes to share what they did today that you get this information.
Friday, September 26
Bryce had a playdate with Pilar after school today. I don’t know if I have mentioned Pilar and her family – but Pilar was born at Chandler Regional while her parents were going to school at Arizona State!!!! Since Bryce had her playdate, Jocelyn and I were going to get chocolate and watch movies. We headed to the grocery store. As we were looking for chocolate, we met Richie and his mother. Richie is from the UK. His family just moved to Madrid from another part of Spain. Richie is in Jocelyn’s class. The best part of this story is when Richie’s mom stated that they had loaded all of the groceries into the car when Richie saw Jocelyn in the parking lot. He told his mother that they had to go back into the store so that he could see Jocelyn!!! Jocelyn’s face still gets red with embarrassment when I tell this story. We then headed to McDonald’s in Majadahonda to go pick up Bryce. When we finally got there, Brent and the gang had beat us. So we all got to pile into Chicken Little with groceries and head home. Aunt Jen then went home on Saturday. (insert sad face here)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thursday, October 30
So I am a little behind. I am currently sitting on the veranda, waiting for the house to blow down. When Liza Doolittle says “The Rain in Spain….” She just needs to stop there. It rains in Spain all the time. Like 24 hours plus, every day or every other day at the least. A friend has said that Spain’s seasons are Summer Hot, Fall Rain, Winter Cold, Spring Rain. Well, did we mention that there are huge winds here as well. So it is cold, rainy, and windy – we are basically freezing. I’m thinking Chicago. It was 5c degrees (39f) yesterday with –1c (27f) degree windchill!!! And home is still in the 90’s!!! We have turned on the furnace and we had a fire on the last rainy night. I’m thinking we will have to have a fire again tonight. I’m so glad that I brought all of our full winter parkas. I also brought hats, scarves, and gloves. Bryce brought boots, and Jocelyn and I purchased fancy boots in Leon – to keep our toeseys warm. Brent has purchased a scarf, gloves, and a wool hat as well. We all brought umbrellas. The wind has ruined at least two of them, so we continue to purchase umbrellas. I did finally buy the girls uniform tights – to keep their little legs warm.
When we visited the American school two years ago, they stated that the Fall semester was a big waste, because of all of the holidays. Well this year, all of the holidays fall on the weekend, so we have only seen one – that involved school being off. Well El Dia De Los Muertos/All Saints Day is on Saturday November 1. Since it is on a Saturday and it is a National Holiday, the girls get school of on Halloween. Well, they don’t celebrate Halloween like we do, so the Alvar family is going on a family play day. We are going to go and see High School Musical 3 en espanol, and then have dinner at The Original Texas Rib House – Jocelyn’s choosing. We’ll keep you posted on that one.
Continuing on Halloween. Jocelyn’s class watched “The Curse of the Ware Rabbit” in English class yesterday. Bryce today got to dress up for Halloween. I don’t know if she had to change into her uniform later, so I sent her with her PE attire and her complete uniform. Thank goodness the girls have their suitcases – because they have sooooo much stuff to haul around. For Bryce’s attire, we sent her in a black long sleeve shirt and her Halloween sequined pumpkin shirt that Aunt Jen brought. She also wore jeans and her black boots (which are against dress code except for Halloween). Brent found her a witch’s hat that was orange with silver spider webs and black trim. She looked very cute. I will post pictures when I become a computer intellectual.
Someone said that we are going to be very lucky during our four months in Spain. We saw the end of summer, are experiencing fall now, and will see the beginning of winter. Yeah – I can’t wait for it to get colder!!!
Another crazy thing. We did daylight savings last weekend, a first for this Arizona native. You all not living in Az don’t get to do daylight savings until this weekend. I’m assuming that all of Europe has changed and that we Spaniards aren’t just trying to get “ahead of the times!!!”
Fall. It is soooo cool to see all of the leaves change colors. We have these gigantic trees in the backyard that have these huge leaves. We have acorns – a fun first. We have a lot of pine trees, so tons of pine needles – which aren’t my favorite to clean up. We have some rose bushes as well. I didn’t realize it until we had a single giant red rose that lasted a real long time. The nice thing was that we could enjoy it from the veranda.
As I have been reviewing my notes, there are some things that I have missed.
I forgot to mention that Steve asked Ana to bring her clippers when we had the Argentinean Barbeque, so he could shave his head. Well, Brent got Ana to shave his head as well. It is really cool and I love it. It is cut to a number 1 – so some hair but not a lot. It is amazing how fast that man’s hair grows. We had his parents bring out his trimmers and I have had the pleasure of shaving his head a few times since. Very stressful, but cool.
The school buses here are chartered buses. Very glamorous. Jocelyn’s friend Bilen from Chile says that the buses there are yellow and yucky like ours.
It is crazy to look at the grocery adds – octopus, rabbit, goat heads.
The reason that Spaniards are so thin, is because meal time is forever. If you are dining with people you like and a comfortable chair – this is an awesome experience. It is amazing when you order one tappa dish at a time and you share it with the people around you, you don’t eat very much and your tummy has ample time to tell your brain that you are full.
Graffiti is everywhere. I have seen some workers clean it up on the glass walkways over the freeways. I haven’t seen a lot of painting over the mess. I have almost gotten used to seeing it. I do make a point to state to the girls how sad it is that the kids are doing this to their city. It is in our neighborhood, on the girls’ school – pretty much everywhere, regardless of the social classes. But there is some graffiti that is great to look at.
I was wrong when I spelled Nicole’s girl friends majors, it should be mejors!!!
Also, Pedro’s girlfriend is Paloma – not Pabloma – I have hearing translation issues on top of everything else.
If you want to see a “grown up” view of Spain, you can visit Brent’s blog at docswanderings.blogspot.com. He is more on top of his blogging and has more pictures. Can I just whine and say that it is because everytime he is blogging, he takes up my time getting pictures from me – so I don’t get my blogging done. He’s at school now.
Family wise, we are all excellent. The girls have so much fun playing with each other, and then playing with Steve-Laurie and Kelly-Chelsea, and Brent-me. Brent and I are doing great. This has been wonderful on our relationship. I think it is because we are spending so much time together and experiencing the stresses together, versus coming home with our own burdens and not wanting to burden our spouse with it all etc.
We have decided to take the girls out of the Spanish school at the end of November. Firstly, we have to pay a whole month tuition, even though they are only going to be in school for two weeks, saving us 1300e/$1800. Secondly, I am behind on their studies from AZ. If I spend that two weeks getting them caught up, they will probably have a smoother transition going back to school in January. Lastly, there are going to be a ton of people and activity happening in the house for the last two weeks. Bryce didn’t care one way or another. Jocelyn was bummed. I know they will miss their friends. I will miss them having one hour of physical activity every day and their Spanish lessons. Again, parent guilt comes shining through!!!
And blogging, yes I’m wordy. This is mainly my journal. When I get home, I’m going to print it all out and put it in a huge memories box with all of my pictures – that you haven’t been able to see yet!!! What joy, what rapture!!!
So I am a little behind. I am currently sitting on the veranda, waiting for the house to blow down. When Liza Doolittle says “The Rain in Spain….” She just needs to stop there. It rains in Spain all the time. Like 24 hours plus, every day or every other day at the least. A friend has said that Spain’s seasons are Summer Hot, Fall Rain, Winter Cold, Spring Rain. Well, did we mention that there are huge winds here as well. So it is cold, rainy, and windy – we are basically freezing. I’m thinking Chicago. It was 5c degrees (39f) yesterday with –1c (27f) degree windchill!!! And home is still in the 90’s!!! We have turned on the furnace and we had a fire on the last rainy night. I’m thinking we will have to have a fire again tonight. I’m so glad that I brought all of our full winter parkas. I also brought hats, scarves, and gloves. Bryce brought boots, and Jocelyn and I purchased fancy boots in Leon – to keep our toeseys warm. Brent has purchased a scarf, gloves, and a wool hat as well. We all brought umbrellas. The wind has ruined at least two of them, so we continue to purchase umbrellas. I did finally buy the girls uniform tights – to keep their little legs warm.
When we visited the American school two years ago, they stated that the Fall semester was a big waste, because of all of the holidays. Well this year, all of the holidays fall on the weekend, so we have only seen one – that involved school being off. Well El Dia De Los Muertos/All Saints Day is on Saturday November 1. Since it is on a Saturday and it is a National Holiday, the girls get school of on Halloween. Well, they don’t celebrate Halloween like we do, so the Alvar family is going on a family play day. We are going to go and see High School Musical 3 en espanol, and then have dinner at The Original Texas Rib House – Jocelyn’s choosing. We’ll keep you posted on that one.
Continuing on Halloween. Jocelyn’s class watched “The Curse of the Ware Rabbit” in English class yesterday. Bryce today got to dress up for Halloween. I don’t know if she had to change into her uniform later, so I sent her with her PE attire and her complete uniform. Thank goodness the girls have their suitcases – because they have sooooo much stuff to haul around. For Bryce’s attire, we sent her in a black long sleeve shirt and her Halloween sequined pumpkin shirt that Aunt Jen brought. She also wore jeans and her black boots (which are against dress code except for Halloween). Brent found her a witch’s hat that was orange with silver spider webs and black trim. She looked very cute. I will post pictures when I become a computer intellectual.
Someone said that we are going to be very lucky during our four months in Spain. We saw the end of summer, are experiencing fall now, and will see the beginning of winter. Yeah – I can’t wait for it to get colder!!!
Another crazy thing. We did daylight savings last weekend, a first for this Arizona native. You all not living in Az don’t get to do daylight savings until this weekend. I’m assuming that all of Europe has changed and that we Spaniards aren’t just trying to get “ahead of the times!!!”
Fall. It is soooo cool to see all of the leaves change colors. We have these gigantic trees in the backyard that have these huge leaves. We have acorns – a fun first. We have a lot of pine trees, so tons of pine needles – which aren’t my favorite to clean up. We have some rose bushes as well. I didn’t realize it until we had a single giant red rose that lasted a real long time. The nice thing was that we could enjoy it from the veranda.
As I have been reviewing my notes, there are some things that I have missed.
I forgot to mention that Steve asked Ana to bring her clippers when we had the Argentinean Barbeque, so he could shave his head. Well, Brent got Ana to shave his head as well. It is really cool and I love it. It is cut to a number 1 – so some hair but not a lot. It is amazing how fast that man’s hair grows. We had his parents bring out his trimmers and I have had the pleasure of shaving his head a few times since. Very stressful, but cool.
The school buses here are chartered buses. Very glamorous. Jocelyn’s friend Bilen from Chile says that the buses there are yellow and yucky like ours.
It is crazy to look at the grocery adds – octopus, rabbit, goat heads.
The reason that Spaniards are so thin, is because meal time is forever. If you are dining with people you like and a comfortable chair – this is an awesome experience. It is amazing when you order one tappa dish at a time and you share it with the people around you, you don’t eat very much and your tummy has ample time to tell your brain that you are full.
Graffiti is everywhere. I have seen some workers clean it up on the glass walkways over the freeways. I haven’t seen a lot of painting over the mess. I have almost gotten used to seeing it. I do make a point to state to the girls how sad it is that the kids are doing this to their city. It is in our neighborhood, on the girls’ school – pretty much everywhere, regardless of the social classes. But there is some graffiti that is great to look at.
I was wrong when I spelled Nicole’s girl friends majors, it should be mejors!!!
Also, Pedro’s girlfriend is Paloma – not Pabloma – I have hearing translation issues on top of everything else.
If you want to see a “grown up” view of Spain, you can visit Brent’s blog at docswanderings.blogspot.com. He is more on top of his blogging and has more pictures. Can I just whine and say that it is because everytime he is blogging, he takes up my time getting pictures from me – so I don’t get my blogging done. He’s at school now.
Family wise, we are all excellent. The girls have so much fun playing with each other, and then playing with Steve-Laurie and Kelly-Chelsea, and Brent-me. Brent and I are doing great. This has been wonderful on our relationship. I think it is because we are spending so much time together and experiencing the stresses together, versus coming home with our own burdens and not wanting to burden our spouse with it all etc.
We have decided to take the girls out of the Spanish school at the end of November. Firstly, we have to pay a whole month tuition, even though they are only going to be in school for two weeks, saving us 1300e/$1800. Secondly, I am behind on their studies from AZ. If I spend that two weeks getting them caught up, they will probably have a smoother transition going back to school in January. Lastly, there are going to be a ton of people and activity happening in the house for the last two weeks. Bryce didn’t care one way or another. Jocelyn was bummed. I know they will miss their friends. I will miss them having one hour of physical activity every day and their Spanish lessons. Again, parent guilt comes shining through!!!
And blogging, yes I’m wordy. This is mainly my journal. When I get home, I’m going to print it all out and put it in a huge memories box with all of my pictures – that you haven’t been able to see yet!!! What joy, what rapture!!!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Tuesday, 23 September
We arrived in Barcelona, tried to figure out the subway, and find our hostel. As we were walking, Jen and I realized that we were passing all of these places from our tour book – check that off etc. We found our hostel which was up 3 flights of stairs and was exhausting. We could have taken the elevator (about 6 feet tall, three feet by five feet – teeny tiny), but we were a bit claustrophobic and opted for the stairs. Our room was ready and we unpacked and then headed out to Barcelona.
Now, if you know our family history, you understand Jen and my relationship. Let’s just say that yes, we did fight, but only every hour on the hour, so that left 50 minutes of every hour to enjoy Barcelona!!!! She had her tour book and I had mine, she wanted to lolley gag and I was purpose driven, she kept us going in circles and I kept checking things off of my tour book list. Overall, it was fabulous for both of us!!!!
We made our way through Las Ramblas, which is the main walking street down the center of Barcelona. We found the Placa de la Boqueria – mosaic sidewalk and the Art Deco dragon umbrella shop. We walked to the Gaudi’s Palau Guell restoration building with the cool colorful chimneys. We took the tour which only included the ground floor gift shop and the basement. The remainder of the building was closed for restoration. We made it to the pier, which was full of shops. Mind you, that all of this is taking part during rain. You can tell the chapter in my book from Barcelona – it is all wrinkly from getting rained on.
Then Jen got brave and crazy and we walked the boardwalk and found some cool artwork. We found out from someone that most of the artwork was the American interpretation of Gaudi. We found this restaurant that was highly recommended in her book. We found it and celebrated – even though it wasn’t open yet and people were lined up. We figured we would join the wait. It was worth it, because we actually got in on the first round of seats!!!! This place was called something like Chef Pep – Jen will correct me. Well there are only 23 seats at the bar and that’s it. The English friend sitting next to me said that he comes to Barcelona every year for festival (what luck that we were there during the best time of the year!!!!) and he has been number 24 more times than he can count. Which means that you have to wait until people at the bar finish eating so you can take their place. The person who helped us was Chef Pep – his picture is on the placemats. He has the raspiest smokey voice – and he was so excited about his food etc – you could feel the energy. He asked us if we wanted to try the best – we said yes. They spoke English here – so that was relaxing – just like Valencia. We have no idea what we did get, some was amazing and some was questionable as to what it was. We sat and visited with our English friend and he gave us lots of pointers for what to do. We got our pictures taken with that guy, as well as with Chef Pep.
We then headed out and found the Central Government Buildings – which had a stage in front of – something we would have to check out later. We headed back to the hostel for a nap.
After resting we headed out to see the Picasso Museum (I am very spoiled after partaking of such beauty!!!) and the Olympic Village. We also found the beach and ran and stuck our feet in the sea – in the dark.
I saw this cool restaurant that people were waiting to go into. I told Jen that we were going to have dinner there “Now!” It was great. We had Australians sitting next to us – who were very entertaining. Our waiter was from Switzerland. We asked him how he got to Spain – he said “Love.” We smiled and then he said – “It isn’t what you think. My girlfriend is English, I won’t live there and she won’t live in Switzerland, so we live in Spain!” We ordered Cava – which is Barcelona’s champagne – yummy! Our friend Sandra would really love it – if she hasn’t had it already. Jen asked him about the Spanish cheese plate – his response “I am from Switzerland and you want to ask me about Spanish cheese?” We didn’t order that!!! We had sooo much fun!!!
We then walked back to the Central Government Building to see if anything was happening. We couldn’t go very far – because the center was jammed with people. They had the coolest light show happening. It was reflecting images off of the other building. The show was so detailed and very long – It was truly an experience I won’t forget.
We decided that we were too awake to go home – so let’s go to Las Ramblas and have a beer!!! Excellent idea!!! The festival parade was beginning to start and we stumbled upon it, and got to watch the whole thing. Tons of kids throwing confetti – right at breast level – so Jen and I had tons in our bras. They had marching bands, bands on top of trucks with people singing, dancing dolls that were 20 feet tall. These dolls remind me of the part in the Nutcracker where the woman has all of her children under her dress. These dolls are made on top of a stool with a harness. The people get under the stool and lift the harness on their shoulders and then march along. They take lots of breaks to rest and change carriers – I imagine because they have to be really heavy. We followed the parade down our hostel street. Once they stopped, we decided we would get a beverage at a bar. It was such a fun day.
We arrived in Barcelona, tried to figure out the subway, and find our hostel. As we were walking, Jen and I realized that we were passing all of these places from our tour book – check that off etc. We found our hostel which was up 3 flights of stairs and was exhausting. We could have taken the elevator (about 6 feet tall, three feet by five feet – teeny tiny), but we were a bit claustrophobic and opted for the stairs. Our room was ready and we unpacked and then headed out to Barcelona.
Now, if you know our family history, you understand Jen and my relationship. Let’s just say that yes, we did fight, but only every hour on the hour, so that left 50 minutes of every hour to enjoy Barcelona!!!! She had her tour book and I had mine, she wanted to lolley gag and I was purpose driven, she kept us going in circles and I kept checking things off of my tour book list. Overall, it was fabulous for both of us!!!!
We made our way through Las Ramblas, which is the main walking street down the center of Barcelona. We found the Placa de la Boqueria – mosaic sidewalk and the Art Deco dragon umbrella shop. We walked to the Gaudi’s Palau Guell restoration building with the cool colorful chimneys. We took the tour which only included the ground floor gift shop and the basement. The remainder of the building was closed for restoration. We made it to the pier, which was full of shops. Mind you, that all of this is taking part during rain. You can tell the chapter in my book from Barcelona – it is all wrinkly from getting rained on.
Then Jen got brave and crazy and we walked the boardwalk and found some cool artwork. We found out from someone that most of the artwork was the American interpretation of Gaudi. We found this restaurant that was highly recommended in her book. We found it and celebrated – even though it wasn’t open yet and people were lined up. We figured we would join the wait. It was worth it, because we actually got in on the first round of seats!!!! This place was called something like Chef Pep – Jen will correct me. Well there are only 23 seats at the bar and that’s it. The English friend sitting next to me said that he comes to Barcelona every year for festival (what luck that we were there during the best time of the year!!!!) and he has been number 24 more times than he can count. Which means that you have to wait until people at the bar finish eating so you can take their place. The person who helped us was Chef Pep – his picture is on the placemats. He has the raspiest smokey voice – and he was so excited about his food etc – you could feel the energy. He asked us if we wanted to try the best – we said yes. They spoke English here – so that was relaxing – just like Valencia. We have no idea what we did get, some was amazing and some was questionable as to what it was. We sat and visited with our English friend and he gave us lots of pointers for what to do. We got our pictures taken with that guy, as well as with Chef Pep.
We then headed out and found the Central Government Buildings – which had a stage in front of – something we would have to check out later. We headed back to the hostel for a nap.
After resting we headed out to see the Picasso Museum (I am very spoiled after partaking of such beauty!!!) and the Olympic Village. We also found the beach and ran and stuck our feet in the sea – in the dark.
I saw this cool restaurant that people were waiting to go into. I told Jen that we were going to have dinner there “Now!” It was great. We had Australians sitting next to us – who were very entertaining. Our waiter was from Switzerland. We asked him how he got to Spain – he said “Love.” We smiled and then he said – “It isn’t what you think. My girlfriend is English, I won’t live there and she won’t live in Switzerland, so we live in Spain!” We ordered Cava – which is Barcelona’s champagne – yummy! Our friend Sandra would really love it – if she hasn’t had it already. Jen asked him about the Spanish cheese plate – his response “I am from Switzerland and you want to ask me about Spanish cheese?” We didn’t order that!!! We had sooo much fun!!!
We then walked back to the Central Government Building to see if anything was happening. We couldn’t go very far – because the center was jammed with people. They had the coolest light show happening. It was reflecting images off of the other building. The show was so detailed and very long – It was truly an experience I won’t forget.
We decided that we were too awake to go home – so let’s go to Las Ramblas and have a beer!!! Excellent idea!!! The festival parade was beginning to start and we stumbled upon it, and got to watch the whole thing. Tons of kids throwing confetti – right at breast level – so Jen and I had tons in our bras. They had marching bands, bands on top of trucks with people singing, dancing dolls that were 20 feet tall. These dolls remind me of the part in the Nutcracker where the woman has all of her children under her dress. These dolls are made on top of a stool with a harness. The people get under the stool and lift the harness on their shoulders and then march along. They take lots of breaks to rest and change carriers – I imagine because they have to be really heavy. We followed the parade down our hostel street. Once they stopped, we decided we would get a beverage at a bar. It was such a fun day.
Sunday, 21 September
This was a leisure day. We got up and took Aunt Jen to tour Madrid. Sunday is the only day for the flea market, so we started there. Wow – it was crazy!! Aunt Jen bought me a beautiful brown leather purse.
We then walked to the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, the Palace, and the Gardens. By then, we were pooped. We took the metro to the train station, so we could buy our train tickets to Barcelona. We wanted to take the Sunday night train. We had already booked the hostel. Well, the train was full for Sunday, so we got tickets for Monday night. We then went home and rescheduled everything successfully.
Monday, 22 September
Jen and I got the girls off to school, and then headed to Madrid to do the rest of it. We went to Puerta Del Sol and then walked down to Banco Espana. This is such a marvelous walk, because you get to see all of the beautiful architecture of Madrid. We headed to the Hard Rock Café. It wasn’t open yet, so we toured the Columbus Center across the street, until the Hard Rock opened. We then walked Retiro Park. The race started in the Park – but I didn’t look at it for scenic value. Jen and I walked around and found the center lake with the amazing fountains. Retiro Park used to be a palace. It was destroyed, but the agriculture and gardens are still there. This is when it started to drizzle aggressively. As we got to the gardens, we could see colors – but couldn’t make out the individual flowers due to torrential rain. We walked as fast as we could (I was wearing loafers, so running wasn’t an option) through the flooding waters. By now, our brown paper bag from Hard Rock was turning into machee and leaving brown blotches all over my jacket. I was nice enough to have Jen use the umbrella, while I had my rain/wind breaker jacket. My jacket was soaked through, my tan pants were totally wet and looked like I wasn’t wearing any, Jen was also soaked from the chest down – due to horizontal rain. We finally made it to the metro and laughed once we got under cover. Everyone looked a tad bit drier than we did – but did they have as much fun?
We got home in time to have Brent drive us to go get the girls from school. He had Chicken Little. We headed down our normal main street, but we had to stop. There was a river flowing from the construction site, down our street like a wash. The barricades from the construction were floating down the “river” as well. Brent debated driving through it and I freaked. He successfully turned around, Aunt Jen took pictures, and we got the girls. By the time we had picked up the girls, the rain had stopped, the river had stopped, and our street was a disaster – but still single lane drivable.
We made sure after school, that we called Papa to wish him a Happy Birthday. And then Jen and I left for the train station as everyone was getting ready for dinner. We made it to the station with an hour to spare – so I was able to give her the tortuga/turtle tour. We bought some snacks and migrated to the gates. We were abruptly stopped when the guard said that our train didn’t leave from the main stations, but from another station. We tried to ask her questions, but she was so concerned that we spoke English (she didn’t even try to listen to my broken Spanish), and she was so concerned with the people trickling in after us, that we waited forever for her to tell us that we had to go to the subway to go to the other train stop. We got on the subway going in the correct direction and then panicked that we might not have enough time. We did end up at the correct station, on the correct train with 10 minutes to spare.
The train. As I keep taking trains, they keep getting worse. We had seats for the 8 hour night train ride to Barcelona, but sleeper car for the ride back. The train was about 30 years old and basically sucked. We stopped every hour or so to pick up more travelers, or to pull over so a freight train could pass by. We did nap a little – but resting was questionable. We did manage to save two people when we arrived in Barcelona. One lady left her purse on the train, Jen and I gave it to the conductor and then raced in the station to find her and let her know – in our broken Spanish. Then when we were in the bathroom refreshing, a lady was locked in the stall and couldn’t get out. I understood her and kicked the door open to rescue her. A great start to our adventure.
This was a leisure day. We got up and took Aunt Jen to tour Madrid. Sunday is the only day for the flea market, so we started there. Wow – it was crazy!! Aunt Jen bought me a beautiful brown leather purse.
We then walked to the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, the Palace, and the Gardens. By then, we were pooped. We took the metro to the train station, so we could buy our train tickets to Barcelona. We wanted to take the Sunday night train. We had already booked the hostel. Well, the train was full for Sunday, so we got tickets for Monday night. We then went home and rescheduled everything successfully.
Monday, 22 September
Jen and I got the girls off to school, and then headed to Madrid to do the rest of it. We went to Puerta Del Sol and then walked down to Banco Espana. This is such a marvelous walk, because you get to see all of the beautiful architecture of Madrid. We headed to the Hard Rock Café. It wasn’t open yet, so we toured the Columbus Center across the street, until the Hard Rock opened. We then walked Retiro Park. The race started in the Park – but I didn’t look at it for scenic value. Jen and I walked around and found the center lake with the amazing fountains. Retiro Park used to be a palace. It was destroyed, but the agriculture and gardens are still there. This is when it started to drizzle aggressively. As we got to the gardens, we could see colors – but couldn’t make out the individual flowers due to torrential rain. We walked as fast as we could (I was wearing loafers, so running wasn’t an option) through the flooding waters. By now, our brown paper bag from Hard Rock was turning into machee and leaving brown blotches all over my jacket. I was nice enough to have Jen use the umbrella, while I had my rain/wind breaker jacket. My jacket was soaked through, my tan pants were totally wet and looked like I wasn’t wearing any, Jen was also soaked from the chest down – due to horizontal rain. We finally made it to the metro and laughed once we got under cover. Everyone looked a tad bit drier than we did – but did they have as much fun?
We got home in time to have Brent drive us to go get the girls from school. He had Chicken Little. We headed down our normal main street, but we had to stop. There was a river flowing from the construction site, down our street like a wash. The barricades from the construction were floating down the “river” as well. Brent debated driving through it and I freaked. He successfully turned around, Aunt Jen took pictures, and we got the girls. By the time we had picked up the girls, the rain had stopped, the river had stopped, and our street was a disaster – but still single lane drivable.
We made sure after school, that we called Papa to wish him a Happy Birthday. And then Jen and I left for the train station as everyone was getting ready for dinner. We made it to the station with an hour to spare – so I was able to give her the tortuga/turtle tour. We bought some snacks and migrated to the gates. We were abruptly stopped when the guard said that our train didn’t leave from the main stations, but from another station. We tried to ask her questions, but she was so concerned that we spoke English (she didn’t even try to listen to my broken Spanish), and she was so concerned with the people trickling in after us, that we waited forever for her to tell us that we had to go to the subway to go to the other train stop. We got on the subway going in the correct direction and then panicked that we might not have enough time. We did end up at the correct station, on the correct train with 10 minutes to spare.
The train. As I keep taking trains, they keep getting worse. We had seats for the 8 hour night train ride to Barcelona, but sleeper car for the ride back. The train was about 30 years old and basically sucked. We stopped every hour or so to pick up more travelers, or to pull over so a freight train could pass by. We did nap a little – but resting was questionable. We did manage to save two people when we arrived in Barcelona. One lady left her purse on the train, Jen and I gave it to the conductor and then raced in the station to find her and let her know – in our broken Spanish. Then when we were in the bathroom refreshing, a lady was locked in the stall and couldn’t get out. I understood her and kicked the door open to rescue her. A great start to our adventure.
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