Spain Part II - Madrid and Toledo

To Madrid on the Fast Train -- 

and fast it was - a bit over 300kmh (187mph) at the highest speed over sometimes desert-like and sometimes green landscape and through mountains, the train so smooth and quiet. There were olive groves and other fruit orchards and vegetable fields.  Spain pretty much feeds Germany green and fresh things in winter!

We'd briefly considered renting a van and driving, but Google told us it would take at least 6 1/2 hours driving time. No contest there. Since we left at 7am we arrived too early in Madrid to check in to our apartment, and since it was still early, we found a place for breakfast with lots of food and slow service, and then it was time to check in! To the taxi stand.

Taxis are ubiquitous in Europe and in some instances, almost the same outlay as public transport.  But when you have no idea where you're going, with bags, well, a taxi is good.

Paula met us at the apartment, explained everything, let us know how much she had enjoyed her time in the US and how excited she was to go back, and gave us all kind of tips. So friendly! And  the apartment was really great, located minutes from busy streets but on a quiet square - with a church, of course.

Off to the flea market!  The Rastro is a once-a-week market with everything you can imagine.  Clothes.  Art.  Old military stuff.  Junk.  Furniture.  More junk.  But the people flock there and it is an event. It was also probably our warmest day in Spain - maybe 88°F.

Werner and I found a local artisan brewer who brewed some good beer and we bought four bottles of that. (Three were a good Pils and one was a ginger/something mix that I wanted to try.  We took the beers to Malaga and the ginger beer never got tried.  We left it in the fridge. Go figure.) Maybe that was the extent of our purchases? But it was food time - actually, it seems to be food time a lot!  Hunter and Hannah mostly choose pizza or pasta or hamburgers, and that's pretty easy to find - paired with the ubiquitous Tapas.

We headed over to the Plaza Major.

It's a meeting ground for tourists and locals.  We found an umbrella to sit under and some food to order.

While waiting for the food, Hannah found a painting she liked and bargained with the artist for a good price!  (If I remember correctly, it's the sunflowers on the upper right.)

Then we wandered a bit more in the general direction of the apartment and found ourselves in a church, the Catedral de la Almudena, the central cathedral in Madrid, though not nearly as old as many others we've seen.

 

And then a look around the outside of the Royal Palace - visit for tomorrow.  There are lots of churches and plenty of palaces in our old Europe.

Taxis aren't the only way to get around - lots of bikes in Madrid (and Barcelona and Malaga) that you can rent, pick up and drop off at another station.  Seems they tried that in NY but it didn't work out so well there.

Back to do laundry!  The balconies were warm and sunny, line in the central light well just outside the window, so it all dried really fast.  And it smelled so good!! Wish I could get that detergent here in Germany.

 
  Monday was Prado and Palace Day.  I had the pre-purchased tickets, but as we discovered, that doesn't mean you can just walk in.  Seems you have to turn in the voucher for a ticket and finding that place took some time. But we managed, and put in a few more miles on our feet.

The Prado is of course a world-class museum with an amazing collection, much of it (no surprise here) Spanish: El Greco, Velázquez, Goya are all well  represented. But there's so much more. And an unexpected treat -- a special exhibit of Hieronymus Bosch.  Werner and I spent most of our allotted museum time there looking at his strange/fantastical/bizarre images, so minutely detailed.  So, some other parts of the museum got short shrift, but it was still great. (Check the link to see images of the interior - no picture-taking allowed in there!)

Walking along the boulevard after the museum visit, I asked Hannah how she liked it.  "I hate museums!"  Really?  "They're so boring."  Oh.  Of course I love them, but I'm really glad that Hunter and Hannah will play along and go and look with us all.  Later, maybe, something will take root.

Heading to the subway, Hunter and Hannah found one of those little machines that presses a 5-cent piece into a souvenir coin.  I think they must have a drawer full of these!

Then the palace.  Well.

Like the museum, no interior picture taking allowed.  I don't know why - obnoxious selfies?  Security?  Impossible to say, but so it is.  Over 1000 rooms.  Compared to many of the palaces I've visited, it's in great shape - draperies and wall coverings and furniture are almost pristine, no obvious cracks or such in the walls and the paintings and frescoes are wonderful.  This palace, unlike many others, is still in regular use for official events and I guess there are private apartments there for royalty.  Somewhere. There's certainly place for an apartment or two.

 I think we took a nap after that.  We did take a nap or two.  And we watched football/futbol/soccer, too!

Tuesday means Toledo.
We'd  bought the  train tickets the day before not really knowing what kind of time we'd  want to spend there.  Five hours? 

Sounds like a lot. 
But it was not! 

The trip was about 45 minutes and there are a good many trains back and forth each day.

Sigh.  the first view of the citadel of La Mancha.

In these newer days, you don't have to trudge up endless stairs.  There's an escalator! Actually, three or four this high!

The Alcázar dates from Roman times and looks like the fortress it is.

On the other hand, Toledo's associated with Don Quixote, The Man of La Mancha, and his sidekick Sancho Panza.  Werner's doing a reasonable imitation here of dear Sancho!

The cathedral may be the most opulent I have ever seen outside of St. Peter's in Rome.  Another of the stops that leaves one without words.  The majesty of it, the gold and the carvings in wood and stone and the architecture and the play of light and dark and the quiet and the hugeness of it all. One hardly needs to be told to keep silence in such a place.

 There were El Grecos to see here in the church.  Truly amazing color and composition.

The younger folks looked around the cathedral and then took the stairs to the tower while we contemplated the cloister garden.  Worked well for all of us. Somehow, that was not a good day for me - maybe it was the altitude.

 

Toledo is also the home of fabulous sword makers. That was like nectar to bees for Hunter - he COULD NOT WAIT to look at and evaluate and compare and buy a knife or sword or two.  What fun he had!

Lunch under trees and umbrellas - and water mists ! - in an ancient square!  The mist was soon too much, the Tapas we have had enough of.  The Gazpacho was great though.  Service - not so much.

Michelle, Werner and I wanted to see the El Greco masterpiece in the local church - The Burial of Count Orgaz considered by all to be his masterpiece - while Joey took the kids in search of more swords and knives.

And then we had to hoof it!! Time to meet the train.  We walked really fast to make it to the train station in time for our scheduled trip. But we did it.  Notice though we are clinging to the shady side of the walks.  It might not have been incredibly warm that day, but those stones can hold some heat.

 Since the attack in Madrid last year, there's more security at the train stations - not quite as intensive as at airports, but there's a screening for bags, so it takes a bit more time.

Back in Madrid, it was nap time (we did that now and again :-) ) and then the question was dinner.  What to do?  One of the advantages of staying in an apartment rather than a hotel is you can do some take out.  So we did!  How easy is that?  Everyone gets something they like. Hannah put on some heels to go out.  Lordy, that child is TALL when she puts on those shoes!

Odd shots:  Football cookies

 and Churros. It's really popular, they told us.  Fried bread.  Well, OK.  I sure do like fried stuff, and we tried it so you don't have to.  It's really, really fatty and has practically no flavor.  Sugar would help.  Or cinnamon.  Or bacon.

We've done laundry - twice - and watched the Euro Cup - twice - and now it's time to pack up and leave.

Next morning, we took taxis to the train station for our trip to Malaga; we're starting to love taxis.  This time our taxi driver - a woman - had family in the US.  Where, we ask (Aside:  That "we" is Michelle and Werner who can manage a bit of Spanish.  The "we" does not include me!) Alabama.  Really? Where in Alabama?  Mobile.  You are kidding!!    There are friends everywhere you go....
 

Family Adventure 2016 - Spain - Part I Barcelona

Wow.  That was fun!

Many months ago, Lee and family booked a Med cruise from Barcelona to Athens.  Then somebody said, Wouldn't it be fun for all of us to meet up in Barcelona? And I shook my head.  Are you kidding? That will never happen, I said to myself.  But the seed was planted and it grew and grew and grew. And they did it. It happened. Wild.

So, BARCELONA

Werner and I arrived Thursday, since that's the day cheapo RyanAir flies from Bremen to Barcelona.  We checked in to the Hotel Reding where the cruisers had already booked.  It was a good location:  at the top of the Las Ramblas, near a subway station, not far from assorted food places.

We scouted the transportation from the airport and prepared for the Friday arrivals:  Michelle&Co at 8am, Lee&Co at noon.  Not a hitch!  We love public transport here.  If you can drag your suitcase, you can take the subway and tram to where you're going.  So we did.  These guys (and kids!) are all troupers.

We needed sustenance before the tour.  Food!  Flautas!  We can put these babies away! Missing, however, was the butter on the bread.  On the other hand, there was plenty of fat in the meat.

Eleven people in tow, our first stop was Sagrada Familia.  This is Gaudi's masterpiece, begun about 100 years ago and still unfinished.  Nervous Nellie that I am, we arrived too early for our admission slot and had to walk around a bit and find a gelato and take a picture or two.

 

 

What an amazing place. You love it or hate it or have mixed feelings.  It dominates the skyline, it is outside of all architectural norms, but it is captivating.  

We each took our own pace and then met for the view from the tower - but not our tower!  Our elevator was out of service, so we had to wait (again) to get up to the top and enjoy the view of Barcelona. (What glamorous kids!)

Then down, down, down the narrow spiral staircase. It is beautiful, but not so easy to navigate.

We found dinner at a nearby place - something for everyone, tasty and so reasonable! Nancy, Crissy's mom, opted for a hamburger and early bed. Wise choice.

Flamenco was next on the agenda.  The performers were great, and loud! The lone guy in the line up had a serious man-bun.  Did that originate in Catalanya?? There was lots of clapping and stomping and singing, but all the Americans were of course running on fumes and the little kids were past done - they slept through most of it, noise, lights and all.  Then the walk back to the hotel and collapse.

Saturday morning we went up to Montjuic on the cable car, though finding the connection with the Funicular was tricky and we were saved by a very nice local who apologized for his poor English. Are you kidding?  If I could only speak Spanish...  Hayden of course stood in the very front, fascinated with the train workings.  Up top, Hunter asked about the birds we saw. They're  seagulls we said - and he went on a riff about them.  But then he said "segels." Segels?  What's that?  Well, it's seagulls, but fast, he said. You talk too slow!  It sounds just the same!  No, not even, we countered!   But he insisted it sounded just the same!  No, I don't think so, but it was worth a laugh!

Montjuic is a castle/fort overlooking the city and the harbor, built about 1750.  It looks peaceful now, and there are acres of park and recreation space surrounding it, but it has seen some awful battles.

Hayden tried hard to be our tour guide and keep us going from station to station in order, but we weren't very cooperative! 

High atop Barcelona!

  

 The not-so-often picture of me and mine. I love these two!! I think this togetherness happens about every second or third year.

And one last group photo before we separate.

 Back on the subway and then the Loucks' were off to the ship that we saw from the

ramparts of Montjuic.

Afternoon in Barcelona was market:  fish, fruit, sweets, you-name-it,

and churches, here the Barcelona Cathedral,  and shops and such.

And after dinner, an early to-bed for our 7am train to....

MADRID


...on the fast train.

Stay tuned.

Birthday and Carpet

What do they have in common - carpets and birthdays? Practically nothing except that the new carpeting is still dominating our time, and, since it is Werner's birthday, his birthday!

Happy Birthday, Werner!  Here's his handsome face, at the breakfast table, smiley and happy.  That's Werner.

But back up a couple of weeks to see what has been going on in most of our spare time. 

Good grief, golly, and geeze. It has been a bit of a mess here to say the least.  It was so way past due for new carpet, but since we are handy and also like to save a buck (or euro) here and there, we opted to do a lot of the work ourselves.  Werner removed the old carpet, cleaned up the base, hauled the old stuff away.  We moved the furniture around to accommodate the carpet layers.


Disruption!!  It was a two stage process.  Front room first. Then the living room, hallway and small study.

Funny aside:  the carpet layers were a firm called Gonzalez and they spoke to each other in Spanish.  So, since we have this trip to Spain planned, I asked, Where are you from?  Cuba!

Well, not the answer I expected.  And he says Where are you from?  I am just a bit hesitant to say, USofA.  But we had a couple of good conversations about Cuba and the US and even current US politics.   (We agreed on the better candidate.)

And the Cubans were more than competent and finished their work and then it was up to us.  To be clear, though we are "retired," spare time is not all that abundant.  Werner does volunteer work at least two days a week, sometimes three.  I have 15 hours of classes a week that require more or less some prep and travel.So we're squeezing it all in.

New trim.

 Cleaned up thresholds. 

 And how it looks.

And back to the birthday ... we had a great dinner and took the long way home through lovely fields and evening sunshine.

It's all good.