We stayed four nights in Madrid at the Palace Hotel. Here is the famous atrium where stars and heads of state have noshed. A couple of days that we were there, there was a great deal of police presence and secret service type people. We never did figure out who the bigwig was staying there. Everytime I came in or out of the hotel though, I thought, "Serious looking men in suits." The place was crawling with them.
Of course we toured the Prado which was right across the street. We weren't supposed to take any photos, but I just had to sneak one of this. It's famous. Also, as museums and clothes shopping tend to have that effect on me, I pooped at the Prado.
There was lots of free art around the city and in the parks too. This was called something like upside down elephant on its trunk.
The glass palace in Retiro park was a nice opportunity for pics. Doesn't Serge look European?
Here we are in Plaza Mayor. It's a nice place for a stroll, but beware of sitting down for a drink, as you'll be reamed. Mom and I split a calamari and had two diet cokes there and it was thirty bucks!
We also dined at the oldest restaurant in the world, Botin, and as we were leaving I got this shot of all the little dead suckling pigs. We didn't order that here because we had had it already in Segovia.
In front of the Post Office building. Madrid has changed a lot since I was there 27 years ago (I suppose that could be said of any place) and the changes are mostly positive. There was far less poverty on display and Serge kept commenting on how clean it was.
One night, our family friend Jose invited us to dinner at his place. He was an exchange student and stayed with us one summer when I was 15. Now he's got the most charming 7 children you'd ever meet. Honestly, it was right out of the Sound of Music. We were so stuffed when we left!
It was also great to hook up with one of my old coworkers from Southern California who now lives in Madrid. Similar to what I did, she packed up and moved to Spain, married Francisco (pictured) and now teaches English. It was really fun hanging out with them and touring the city.
Our last big meal together at Casa Paco, a steak joint. What a fabulous way to end a fabulous trip. Now we are at home and must face reality. First up is going to get Georgie. I hope he will be as excited to see me as I am him. Have a great weekend!
Well that last night in Valencia was a wild one. Bro liked this picture we discovered the next morning and said that if he were on Facebook, this would be his profile picture. He was a little upset for having smoked since he had been clean for 2 months, but hey, it was a party.
It was easy to blame Julie who kept plying us with some kind of rum punch she had brought. While we were waiting for the burning of the fallas to begin, we drank in the street and met these girls from France. They howled at my accent as all the Frenchies from France do. I think it would be like if a French person learned English in Texas and had a kind of French drawl. It must sound really weird to them.
Then they burned and burned and wet ash rained down on us. Firemen were on hand dowsing the flames so that no one would get hurt.
It was a hangovery drive to Toledo the next day. Toledo is an ancient city, some might say the birthplace of Spain. We stayed just outside the town at one of Spain's Paradors, the government run chain of classy hostelry.
We have been enjoying the food immensely. I wasn't all that into this dish, but I loved the anchovies in vinegar. I don't think I've eaten as many olives in all my life the last week, but I think it will be a nice new habit to take on.
Ooh look, here's Serge eating baby eels. I had some too and they were pretty much like eating noodles. Hard to wrap your head around though.
Then we went on to Segovia. Here you see the ancient Roman aquqeduct that carried water to the city for many centuries. It was in use until recently. Those Romans sure knew how to construct things.
We finally got a shot of our whole gang together. We have been travelling in one luggage packed vehicle and sharing two hotel rooms. Cozy but fun. You wouldn't want to stay in our room though with me Serge and bro because the farting contest has really been serious. Serge is still in the lead. Today we head to Madrid. Later!
We have fallen in love with all things Valencian. Serge said to me today that of all the places we've traveled together, this is his favorite place of all. I asked if it was better than Paris and Rome and he said yes. High praise for this city. Of course he hasn't been to Madrid yet. We've been feasting on the local cuisine and paella figures highly in our diet. You can see a large pan of it being prepared on the street behind me in the picture.
We are here for the festival Las Fallas which is an amazing thing to experience. There really is nothing else like it in the world. You can see a falla in the picture above. It is one of hundreds around the city erected for the week (though worked on all year) in a kind of competition. The theme this year seems to be the economy and there are many depictions of greed as you might imagine. Fireworks are a huge part of this festival and all day long you hear explosions as children and adults alike light firecrackers in the street. There is not 2 seconds that goes by without you hearing them. When they go off near you, you jump, though after three days we are starting to become numb to it. At night they shoot off the pretty kind of fireworks. I'm not talking sissy American fireworks, there are constant M-80s, roman candles and bottle rockets in addition to the city displays. In addition, everyone is drinking in the street and I can only describe the atmosphere here as pure merriment. If you ever get a chance in your life, come to this festival.
Even though it is an ancient and very European city, there is a modern side as well. They must be very proud of their city!
All day long there are marching bands and parades, and the senses are truly overloaded. I liked this shot of Serge and me.
Tonight, the 19th of March, all of the fallas will be set ablaze. A kind of purging of all the evils depicted. It is sad in a way, but awesome too. This is my second Fallas, and I remember this night to be one to remember. Really, what other city basically sets itself on fire. They bring in firefighters from all over the region to hose down the buildings before the torching begins.
Of course we had to visit a bullfight. I know there are many against this kind of spectacle, and I am conflicted. At best it is no worse than fishing for fun. I loved the moments where you get adrenaline, will the matador get gored or will he prevail. Pretty scary stuff to watch. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, because I did.
The parades are groups of traditionally dressed citizens and marching bands winding through the streets. The little girls are just adorable.
Beer with breakfast. When in Rome, well you know the rest. We're just trying to fit in after all. Plus it's vacation. Don't judge.
I don't know why but this is my favorite shot here so far. Tonight's the last night. Serge and bro are napping before dinner and then it's the big night of setting all the fallas on fire. Oh and a final balls to the wall fireworks show. Maybe tomorrow I'll get some sleep because during this festival, it's nearly impossible to get more than a few hours a day. Don't know when I'll have internet again, but until then adios amigos!
We made the six hour drive (with stops) to Barcelona on Sunday. You see these giant bull billboards everywhere along the way. Apparently they were a sort of advertisement for a liquor company and when the company shut down or changed hands, people had become so attached to them that there was uproar so they stayed. We kept focusing on the sizeable nutsack. Once you notice it, it is difficult to ignore. (Even my straight brother said so, so it isn't just me.
There is snow here. Well not here in Barcelona, but all along the way in the interior of Spain. It is getting warmer though (60ish, 15ish C ) so it will be gone soon. The weather has been perfect. A light jacket is all one needs and it has been sunny every day.
We were happy about availing ourselves of the duty free shop in Philly. We have had a nice little bar going since we arrived. I don't know what Serge ate but he has been the gassiest gasbag I've ever seen lately. My brother and I are avid farters and thus highly skilled at it, but Serge is truly the champion. So much so that....
It was necessary to buy this shirt. (Or at least take a picture of it and make it his screensaver tee hee.)
He has gotten a little better today though. This is down in the port of Barcelona.
There is a huge open air market off of La Rambla where you can get pretty much anything. The (I don't know the Spanish or Catalan term for it) smoked, aged pig legs are pretty good, but I get a little grossed out when I see the cloven hoof. Best to ignore that part. We have been picnicking on the patio of the folks' room for lunch with yummies from the market. Chorizo, foie gras, myriad cheeses, baguettes, olives, anchovies etc. etc.
Yesterday, I dragged Serge and bro over to the gay area of town to have a cocktail before dinner. It was dead of course, apparently things don't really get going until 1am and I am officially too old for that nonsense. I loved the decor in the bar though. We were saddened once again at the vodka martini that we ordered. It looked like it was going to be okay since it was served in a martini glass with olives. Unfortunately it was equal parts vodka and vermouth. Yuck. At least it wasn't like the one in Paris when they mixed it with sweet vermouth as that was unpotable. It was unpleasant to pay $8.50 Euro for it (twelve bucks) but at least we could drink it.
Cuisine is heavy on the seafood here. I like it, but it was a bit of work to eat these little guys. I didn't eat the heads though.
Today we went to the Sagrada Familia, the famous unfinished cathedral designed by Gaudi. We saw it a couple of years ago when we were here but didn't go up to the top then. This is the view from up there. That weird building in the background is known as the big cucumber (or dildo, or lipstick, the story seems to vary) Even though it was Serge's idea to go up, he really had a hard time with his vertigo. He always thinks he can handle it and then he panics at the top. Poor guy. Tonight is our last night here and we will dine at a traditional Catalan restaurant. Tomorrow we head to Valencia for the big festival. Driving into town will certainly be an adventure. Don't know when the next internet availability will be, but for now you're all caught up. As am I. Smooches!
Blasphemous I know, but we've arrived in Spain in a place called Alcalà de Henares for a jet lag stay of one night. Instead of sleeping (like everyone else right now - fools) I thought I'd take advantage of the free internet and post. Who knows when the next free internet will be. This is in our hotel which is very modern inside but built in a 17th century convent. We almost didn't make it to Spain because our first flight to Philly was canceled and it was only because an earlier flight was delayed that we were able to make it to the airport and onto that plane. We would not be here if we'd missed it. You can imagine the panicked start to the trip. In the rush I forgot my ipod touch. No music, no checking email on it (or Grinder ahem) no books to read and perhaps most upsetting of all, no solitaire (for pooptime don't you know.) Let's forget that for now though.
This is looking up from the same spot in the previous picture. We didn't sleep much on the overnight flight to Madrid, but I'm planning to make up for that tonight.
We had a drink when we got here and then went for a walk around the hotel which is the old part of this city founded by the Romans. Cobblestone streets everywhere.
I thought this thing was so cool. If you required service, push the service button. If you'd like the check, push the check button. No craning one's neck looking for a waiter.
Oh did I mention this is the birthplace of Cervantes of Don Quixote fame. We toured his house located behind the smoking security guard.
All the raingutters here look like this. It reminds me of the detailed lamppost bases we saw in Florence.
There are all kinds of buildings like this around.
And there are storks nesting on all of them. I don't know the story behind it but I'll go check Wikipedia after I finish to see if there is one. There is!
Serge with the little brother. They are sleeping as I type. We were so gassy when we got off that plane but I'd have to say that Serge won this round of the festival of flatulence. You are so lucky you are not sharing a room with us. We are laughing plenty though.
I love shots like this. I don't know why.
This is the entrance to our hotel. Old and new blended.
The elevator is weird and infinitizes your image. Sorry for the dearth of pics of yours truly, but I was taking pictures of everything but me.
What a funny surprise to find this place. Quebec is simply everywhere.
One more sleep until Spain. Unless you count the overnight flight. But I don't think I'll sleep much since I only really sleep on my stomach and that's impossible on the plane. Perhaps I'll doze. It'll be something like 4am my time when we arrive in Madrid and then the advice is to stay awake until it gets dark and pop melatonins to reset your clock. It worked fairly well coming back from Hawaii where the time change was the same. I'm sad about leaving Georgie for so long. I really would like to have another family to trade pets with on vacations. Maybe I should look on Craig's list or post something there to that effect. He has exercise time outside of the cage at the kennel, but it's not the same as sleeping with people in a real home. Plus the moolah. Over three hundred bucks for 15 days in the kennel. That comes to about five bucks a turd to pick up and five bucks a feeding. I told Serge we should turn our house into a mini kennel but he reminded me that we live on top of people who might not like the ticky ticky ticky of the pet paws constantly on the hard wood floors.
I don't know how often we'll have internet access but I'll try to update a couple of times during our stay. It's apparently unseasonably cold there with freezing temps still. It figures since we have been above normal for weeks. Sticky blocking patterns in the atmosphere this year.
I was looking yesterday for something like a GPS drive narrative for our long drives between cities in Spain. Something that would talk about the little towns we would be passing, historical tidbits and any trivial information. I was surprised that that didn't exist. There are plenty of podcasts in cities and walking tours, but not for when you're on the road. It would be a zillion dollar idea, no? Well, now somebody will do it and make all that money. I should have probably kept my mouth shut.
The weekend went by so fast. I gave Georgie a bath, boy was he stinkified, so that we could take him with us to dinner at Serge's mom's house. He was pretty good though he piddled once down in the basement. I don't know why, he's fully housebroken at our place. We sure take a lot of pictures of him, a product of our obsession love I guess. Here he is in one of his favorite spots on the armrest of the couch. He loves to gaze out that window at the comings and goings of all the creatures. We live on a corner where only one is residential (ours) and the other three are commercial so there are plenty of goings on to entertain him.
Oh but before that, I attended the meet and greet for the flight attendant position. I'm only half serious about it and even less so after meeting them. Still, it might be a fun summer gig. I only applied for a summer position as I don't want to permanently change residences. Oh yeah, I'd have to be based in Toronto. Anyway, there were hundreds of people there and that was at the start of a two day recruitment session. They had a quick first interview with each candidate and we'll be called back if they're interested in giving a second interview. The interview had all the usual questions. Tell me about a part of your personality you'd like to change. Tell me about a time you were frustrated at work. Tell me about a time a customer was frustrated. Why do you want to be a flight attendant. Ugh. I think I did pretty well though. We shall see. It certainly doesn't pay well, I make much more teaching, but I imagine the travel benefits are decent. On Friday I found out there will be a bunch of 10 week contracts teaching beginning in April, so all of this may be moot anyway.
The rest of the weekend was okay. Took Georgie to the doggie park where he got pretty wet. The snow is nearly gone now, and though we usually get a big dump sometime in March, the long range isn't showing it. Went to the library to pick up the travel books for Spain. OMG we're leaving Friday, wheeeee! And generally puttered around. Didn't watch the academy awards but 60 Minutes had a full hour on bullfighting in Spain. Coincidence? Those don't exist. It was a nice travel amuse bouche. Okay let's bookend this with another Georgie pic. Here he is on Serge's lap. Oh how he loves to sit in our laps. It's nice for about 5 minutes and then your legs start to hurt.
This has been the best winter that I've experienced up here. One major snowstorm which we missed because we were in Cuba and then a couple of 4 inchers which didn't even trigger snow removal. I haven't seen a snow removal operation since this time last year when I was SOOOO over the copious snowfalls. February broke sun records and I bet this winter overall is going to be one of the mildest on records. It's weird, it's like all the nasty stuff went South this year which happens to be an El Nino year. We were really cold the last El Nino, but this year was very nice. We are in perfect maple syrup production temps right now. 40ish during the afternoon 20ish at night. I bet this is going to be a high production year up here.
OMG less than a week and we'll be in Spain. I picked up a couple hundred euros for pocket money and of course the next day the Canadian dollar surged. I swear you could make money off my timing for currency exchange. It never fails to rise significantly the day after I buy the foreign currency. I'll go the library later today and pick up a couple guides to the cities we'll be visiting. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo and Segovia are the principal cities we'll be exploring. I saw an article about how 80% of young people disagree with the tradition of bullfighting and that it may be dying out. I was aghast the first time I saw one, but that feeling lessened upon further visits. The art and pageantry of it finally was appealing. I don't know if we'll go see one, but regardless of my attendance, the matadors are still heroes for many and the sport has at least two decade legs.
There's another little brouhaha up here over the niqab this time. That's the garment that covers the face completely of a Muslim woman with only a slit for the eyes to see through. Apparently a new immigrant attending the free French language classes immigrants receive caused problems in the class. She had real issues about the males in the class, didn't want them near her or looking at her and it finally came to a head and the college kicked her out of the class. Now she is going before the human rights commission with a complaint about it. If she had been in my class, I would have said pretty early on that the teacher runs the class and if you don't like how it's run, go find another. Which I think is finally how it went down. Anyway, I love stories like this because my job gets so easy. Instant long conversation topic. A lot of people are offput because she's not assimilating enough into our secular culture. At the same time, she has a right to freedom of religion like everyone in our society. Most feel she tested the limit of that right by asking others to accommodate her wishes in the class. Some feel very strongly about it, especially those who see religion as the true evil of this world. I love teasing the students too. "Why can't you all just learn English and give up the ghost of French culture and assimilate already? You're 7 million in a sea of 330 million English speakers?" Ahh, but there's one big difference, they say, an immigrant arrives from elsewhere while we have always been here. I wonder what the First Nation's people would say about that.
I got some bad news last Friday and I've been angsting about it ever since. It turns out the night classes that were supposed to start this week, well, aint. At least not for me. Not enough sign-ups is the word I got from the college. It sucks too because I reserved blocks of time for them and turned down at least one contract because of it. Anyway, it means I'm a few grand short going into (what now just turned into 5 months) a long summer season. As of April 7th, I've got no work. What I'd really like is to take the five months and enjoy it but then I'd have to pull from the (very small) savings account.
There are lots of options. I can teach for less money and pick up some work that way, but I get kind of burned out on the teaching and look forward to some time away from it to charge my batteries.
I could do a restaurant gig for the summer. I know I've said I will never do it again, and I probably won't, but that didn't stop me from putting out some feelers at the last place I worked.
Oh and Air Canada is hiring flight attendants. I may pop into the HR meet and greet thing this weekend. I went through that process before with TWA (that dates me) and was refused due to my 6'3" height. As I recall, the limit was 6'2" but maybe that's changed now. Plus I'd have to move to Toronto or have a pied-a-terre there.
The dinner cruise tourist boat will be hiring as well. When I mentioned it to Serge, he seemed embarrassed by the prospect of having to tell someone that his husband was working as a waiter on the riverboat.
In the end, I'm hoping an easy contract of a month or so will pop up for me teaching to tide me over. Universe, are you listening?
In other news, Georgie got sick the other day. He must have eaten something bad because he really shit brown water there for a day. Poor little guy. Oh and then yesterday, I took him on a really long walk and just as we were coming home there was a guy with his two unleashed pitbulls. He had a carton of milk in one hand and a carton of orange juice in the other and he started trying to distract his dogs from seeing Georgie by batting at them with his legs. This maneuver didn't work and one of them came running over to Georgie. Georgie wagged his tale and the pitbull started low growling at him. The owner started shouting at his dog as the other pitbull started to come over. I grabbed (dirty, muddy) Georgie in my arms, the guy threw down his cartons and grabbed one of the dogs while the other now started jumping on me trying to get to Georgie. I turned and started walking away as the guy shouted out, "Sorry about that man!" I said nothing, I mean what is there to say? It's shocking to be reminded of the level of irresponsibility some individuals exhibit, but I doubt my yelling at them is going to change it. What a freaking moron. It's called a leash dude.
Went to the show on Friday. Saw It's Complicated which, at $12.50 for a matinee, was a bit overpriced. I liked it though since I could pretty much watch Meryl Streep sleep and be riveted. And who doesn't like Jack Dona, oh wait, Alec Baldwin? The music really tickled me too which is why when I thought about it the following day, I looked it up on Itunes. Right there while I was seated busying myself with morning duties, I bought the theme song. It felt so 2010 plus the whole two birds thing. It is cool to be alive these days.
So I've been all narded up about my body again. It's so lame, I'm 44, nowhere near overweight, and yet the tire is developing cellulitey areas which Serge is quick to mention. (It's only fair, he gave into his buddha belly ages ago.I may have teased him once or a million times about it.) However, when I poke around to find what is supposed to be my "ideal weight", the result is about two pounds less than where I'm at right now. Two pounds. What am I a 15 year old girl? I was on the phone with em the other day and I asked her. "When is letting go a good thing and when is it a bad thing?" See because you know when you meet someone that you haven't seen in a long time and you think, "Wow, he really let himself go." That would be the bad kind of letting go, right? Em said, "Letting go is ALWAYS a good thing." I'm not so sure.
Things I've noticed:
* Pectoral jiggling while dancing. Moreso than before anyway.
* When I sit in a hard backed chair, it feels like a little roll of fat spills over the top a bit.
* My face looks younger.
* Two words. Pubic pillow.
Alec Baldwin takes his shirt off in the movie and acts insecure about his weight. (Well his character anyway.) I'm sure he'd be considered overweight, possibly obese, but he still looks pretty good. Plus he's in his 50's. I think once I hit 50, I'll stop trying to have the physique of a 25 year old.
*****
On Saturday, Serge and I hammered out the details for a will. When we got to the part about what happens if we both die at the same time, I was ready to put down pretty much anything because it seems like that scenario is the most highly unlikely, and how could I possibly care anyway, because I'll be dead. Serge agonized about who should get what while I kept saying, "Why do you care, you'll be dead?" He told me that I was the only one in the world who thinks like that. I don't know. I mean we don't have any kids and if the logical thing happens and we outlive our parents, who's left? He took it very seriously though talking about that practical certainty of both of us perishing in an automobile accident. Or a plane crash, after all, we do fly two or three times a year. We finally figured it out but now we have to take the next step and get it notarised. One thing I found out is that in the absence of a will, if one of us dies, the other only inherits 2/3s of the property. Ugh, what a nightmare that would be.
Hey, guess what? Today makes 20 months smoke free. Wahoomalunga!
We stayed four nights in Madrid at the Palace Hotel. Here is the famous atrium where stars and heads of state have noshed. A couple of days that we were there, there was a great deal of police presence and secret service type people. We never did figure out who the bigwig was staying there. Everytime I came in or out of the hotel though, I thought, "Serious looking men in suits." The place was crawling with them.
Of course we toured the Prado which was right across the street. We weren't supposed to take any photos, but I just had to sneak one of this. It's famous. Also, as museums and clothes shopping tend to have that effect on me, I pooped at the Prado.
There was lots of free art around the city and in the parks too. This was called something like upside down elephant on its trunk.
The glass palace in Retiro park was a nice opportunity for pics. Doesn't Serge look European?
Here we are in Plaza Mayor. It's a nice place for a stroll, but beware of sitting down for a drink, as you'll be reamed. Mom and I split a calamari and had two diet cokes there and it was thirty bucks!
We also dined at the oldest restaurant in the world, Botin, and as we were leaving I got this shot of all the little dead suckling pigs. We didn't order that here because we had had it already in Segovia.
In front of the Post Office building. Madrid has changed a lot since I was there 27 years ago (I suppose that could be said of any place) and the changes are mostly positive. There was far less poverty on display and Serge kept commenting on how clean it was.
One night, our family friend Jose invited us to dinner at his place. He was an exchange student and stayed with us one summer when I was 15. Now he's got the most charming 7 children you'd ever meet. Honestly, it was right out of the Sound of Music. We were so stuffed when we left!
It was also great to hook up with one of my old coworkers from Southern California who now lives in Madrid. Similar to what I did, she packed up and moved to Spain, married Francisco (pictured) and now teaches English. It was really fun hanging out with them and touring the city.
Our last big meal together at Casa Paco, a steak joint. What a fabulous way to end a fabulous trip. Now we are at home and must face reality. First up is going to get Georgie. I hope he will be as excited to see me as I am him. Have a great weekend!
