In Gray Paris

We're in Paris!  It's kind of gray here... and cooler than Spain.  Last night I didn't get to the hotel until about 8:30 I think - there was a lot of traffic from the airport.  I arrived at the hotel at the same time as a few others from the opera.

The hotel is cool - contemporary with LED mood lighting, both in the rooms and hallways.  It's just a couple blocks from the Arc de Triomphe which is a very nice location except the metro line we're on is having troubles.

From France and Italy 2010

Last night we had to rush rush to meet Florencia for dinner because kitchens close around 10 pm here - as opposed to Spain when that's when a lot of people are just heading out for dinner!  Our train stopped halfway there (and dumped us right at Moulin Rouge) so we took a cab the rest of the way and made it just in time to have a simple but delicious roasted chicken dinner with these AWESOME round, flat french fry type things that had garlic on them, salad and we all got dessert.  I got a creme brulee, Florencia got a coconut cake and Jose got this thing I can't remember the name of - it's like meringue in a pool of creme and caramel.

We walked around for a little bit - Flo and I are going to hang out for some before the opera while Jose rehearses and then she'll go see it - I'll probably walk around somewhere or go to a museum that she suggested.

A little of this, a little of that.

Jose and I went to have coffee (well, I had another hot chocolate) with Enrique back at Circulo de las Belles Artes.  We chatted with him for a couple of hours (what a great guy) and Jose had to run to the opera.

I tried to find the San Miguel market again and got some delicious canapes.  I also got a couple of shirts at Zara - I love being in Europe because the clothes fit me.  I'm a medium here!

I sat at the restaurant near the theater and had a glass of sangria and people watched for a little while before running back to the apartment to drop off my bag and wait for Jose outside the artist's entrance after the opera was done.  Heading back I got turned around TWICE.  I've never gotten lost so much in my life...

From Spain 2010

We ended up going back to the restaurant with many of the cast members and hung out there for a couple of hours and had a great time - they are all very nice!  We went to a little party on a roof before getting home at 3:30.  Beautiful view from up there.

Let's take a train... or not.

From Spain 2010

Jose and I went to see if we could take a train to Toledo but they were on strike so most of the trains weren't running.  We were going to try to go to the monastery near Madrid but that needs a train, too, and one of the security guards said the train hadn't come in over an hour.  Jose couldn't risk not getting back in time for the opera tonight, so we did plan C.

We walked through Retiro park again and walked around the fancy shopping Salamanca neighborhood, looping back around to the park.  We got some delicious treats at the Moulin Chocolat just as it started raining.  We took the metro one stop and now we're back at the apartment.

I'm foreseeing eating out while Jose's at the opera but otherwise laying kind of low today.  Tomorrow afternoon we head to Paris!

Ottavia, Ottavia...

From Spain 2010

The Prado Museum was great - lots of art that was generally violent or naked, LOL.

We went to Circulo de Bellas Artes for a "snack" - I got two canapes expecting small ones like I've always gotten, but these were huge: anchovies and tomato, and salmon with a cream-cheese like stuff.  With it I got a delicious not-very-sweet hot chocolate with amaretto flavor, but I couldn't really taste the almond much.  Jose got a strawberry white chocolate cake that he was too moved by.

We went back to the apartment and I ironed my clothes for the opera, which was good because he got called last minute for a rehearsal because they recorded the performance tonight for a dvd.  I got to see Siobhan for a little bit before and after the show.  The audience seemed to love it... long applause!  I enjoyed it very much - and it was the first time I had seen it in person.  I liked many of the singers a lot... and it was a good-looking cast.

I ended up sitting next to conductor Alan Curtis who was a very nice guy - Jose noticed where I was sitting and told me who it was.

It's 1:30 am and I'm not particularly tired... we're planning on sleeping in because Jose has to perform again, but we're planning on going to Toledo for a little while.

No Segovia para mi

My plans to go to Segovia today are in the crapper - what a mess the train station was this morning - the ticket counters numbering system was all whacked and then once I got to a person I found that I had to get to another station to go... and by then it was getting late and I couldn't figure out how to use my Eurail pass to get to the Chamartin station from Atoche.

Well, anyway.  I just had lunch with Jose - he made this good chicken dish with rice.  We're going to the Prado Museum in a few...

Observations in Spain

Gross generalizations.  Spainards...

• seem to be really nice and polite once you engage them.  Otherwise they mind their own business - the flight down was the quietest and well-behaved flight I think I've been on - even with children.
• pick their noses with aplomb (men anyway)
• cough and sneeze without covering their mouths
• like to roll their own - especially girls???
• people like the streets to be clean... sort of.  They kick litter around until it's out of the way.  In general, Spain is very clean.

I never looked for a barber! Dagnabbit!

Seville was very nice! It was like a bigger version of Cordoba. We took the bus to the Santa Cruz neighborhood after the 2.5 hour train ride (and getting up at 6:30 am) and walked around that neighborhood and the Jardines de Catalina de Ribera and Jardines de Murillo before settling on a place to eat near the Hospital de los Venerables.

We both had great food - we shared duck pate and Jose had beef stew with the meat falling apart and I had a casserole of fish, squid and shrimp. Our waiter was a nice guy and offered to take our picture.

Next we went to the Cathedral which was HUGE. The brochure said it was the biggest gothic cathedral in the world. Christopher Columbus's tomb is there. We spent quite a while there. Outside Jose got his (very expensive) fortune read by a gypsy. Another kept trying to give me a sprig of something or other but I just kept saying in Spanish, "No thanks! No thanks! I don't understand you!" Then she wanted me to pay. Yeah, right.

We walked down more streets toward the bull ring which was closed and we sat near the river to rest our feet which were very tired by then. Cobblestones and windy and slightly hilly roads take their toll.

We weren't quite sure what to do next, but I wanted to see these gardens on the map that we first thought we walked through at the beginning (the city/map are confusing just like the rest of Spain!).  Turns out they were part of the Royal Alcazar palace which was also gigantic.  We wanted a photo of the two of us and we asked these two girls, one of which was from Boston and the other from Rio!  Daniella and Vanessa.  Vanessa and Jose chatted in Portuguese and Danielle and I talked for a bit - she was enjoying our graduation present.

From Spain 2010

We were pretty tired after that so we headed to the train station to change our tickets but Jose couldn't change his, so we just hung out for a while and rested.

After returning to Madrid, we went to Vaca Argentina for dinner and had some good grub... an EXCELLENT appetizer of fried wild mushrooms with garlic mayo, I had skirt steak that was tough, Jose had a delicious flank steak and cheesy potatoes, and I had cheesecake ice cream for dessert.

I have NO idea what I'm doing tomorrow.  I'm supposed to go to the opera but Jose planted the idea in my head to go to Marrakech!

Sunnuvabuggerboo

From Spain 2010

Córdoba

From Spain 2010

I got up relatively early and left for the train station and promptly got lost.  Again.  I tried to take a shorter route and ended up doing a big, useless loop.  Streets in Spain are totally effed up, kids.

I got my tickets to and from Córdoba and tickets for me and Jose to Seville for tomorrow.  Hopefully I can walk tomorrow because it felt like the skin on my feet was burned off today!

About an hour and forty five minutes gets one from Madrid to Córdoba and the land between the two is not incredibly riveting, though it's interesting.  LOTS of olive bushes.  I mean, lots.  No wonder they eat so much olive oil with everything.  Lots of red flowers everywhere too... not sure what those were.

I walked from the train station to the ancient semi-walled area that's the barrio La Judería.  I wrote in my little book when I got there:

From Spain 2010

I'm in the cathedral-inside-of-a-mosque in Córdoba and it's one of the most amazing things I've seen.  It's very dim and relatively quiet considering the number of people in here.  The red and white archways are everywhere and the cathedral is mixed in, with the main part in the center.  I think I've gone around twice but don't want to leave!

Later:  My feet are f'ing killing me!  I've been wandering around the old section of Córdoba, whic is kind of like a bigger, broken-walled version of Murten.  I had lunch at a nice restaurant with very friendly waiters and had fried calamari (not very good), these meatball and french fries in a thick sauce (very good) and fried eggplant in a sweet almond and cinnamon sauce (the best).

I'm resting on a bench now; there are more things I'd like to see but I don't think I will have any skin on my feet for tomorrow.

Later (5:00):  So I asked a guy about his horse-drawn carriage ride and it was 46 euros for a carriage load but since I was by myself I said no thank-you and moved on.  The dude chased me down for half a block (I thought I heard someone yelling!) and ended up whittling it down to 30 euros so I did it.  I didn't want to walk!  It wasn't worth the money but still a nice ride.  I think I showed up on a lot of people's cameras on that ride and he went down some NARROW streets and almost ran down a couple of people!  They literally had to leap out of the way and press themselves against walls.

I still have three and a half hours and my feet are dead.  I still have to haul my ass back to the train station.

Later later:  Well I hung around in the shade for a little longer and then walked back to the station and changed my ticket to come back earlier.  Glad I did, really.

When I got back to the train station, I think I walked all the way around trying to find my way back home.  It's a big station too, and I had to ask a policeman directions.  I think I'm gonna make a grilled ham and cheese, Spanish style.

My feetos hurto

From Spain 2010

Lots of walking. That's what we did today. We trekked around a good portion of the Centro neighborhood, seeing many of the major points of interest: the Opera house, Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol and a bunch of other stuff between our apartment and the Palacio Real.

We were going to go in the palacio but the line was huge, so we went in the cathedral of Nuestra Senora de la Almudena museum and dome instead. I technically went outside around the dome, just disregard the fact that I was pressed up against the wall with the world tilting swiftly under my feet. There was a big thick glass partition but phobias are by nature illogical.

We got a little something to eat... I had anchovies on toast with mooshed tomato - it was very good. Jose had a potato/egg pancake thingy that is common around these parts.

I was pooped and dehydrated so we came back and I took a nap and Jose went off to the opera. I went to the botanical gardens and was going to look into train tickets but I realized I forgot my Eurail pass at the apartment. I'll just have to go tomorrow morning early.

I picked up some grub from a cute little vegetarian buffet place and had some other odds and ends like these potato chips that are so good - thick and crunchy and greasy.

From Spain 2010

SLEEP finally

Well, I think after two naps I went to bed around 9:00 last night and woke up after 11 this morning! Jose's making a little breakfast and then I am going to figure out what I'm going to do this week.

I'm thinking of a train trip to at least Cordova and maybe Seville tomorrow... not sure how much I can do in a day.

Jose just made breakfast that we shared with the sweet lady that cleans the apartment - toast with ham and cheese and I had a little bit of duck pate on crackers which is so good.

Now we're going to look up some stuff to do in Madrid - I have no desire to see a bull fight although I wouldn't mind seeing the building. We'll see...

Madrid Arrival

I arrived in Madrid in perfect weather.  After walking down an ENDLESS corridor from the jetway to immigration, I went through a pretty quick immigration/customs process and met Jose.

We took the metro to the apartment where I promptly took a nap, since I had only gotten about 2 hours of sleep since I left home Saturday morning and we were meeting friends at a park for a picnic for lunch.

From Spain 2010

Jose got some food while I slept and we met Anna and Frank at Retiro Park for our picnic.  We had all kinds of delicious stuff (WAY too much for four people), including La Duree macarons!!  Anna is a great cook - she made delicious Italian sandwiches (mozz, tomato, lettuce, a little bit of pesto) and I think the other had mortadella.

We hung out there for about 5 hours I think!  It was a very nice, relaxing time.

Jose's off to a coaching and I'm chilling at the apartment because I'm fading fast but trying to stay up longer so I don't wake up at 2 am.