Cafe con Leche con Hielo

Spring has finally arrived in Zaragoza, which made for a pretty nice weekend. Friday after work we all went for churros con chocolate. Churros were fantastic (even more like funnel cake than usual), but I wasn't overly impressed by the chocolate sauce - maybe because I got the cheapest one. Spent too much money on tapas and wine for dinner, sadly, so it's looking like peanut butter sandwiches and dinner at home this week. Saturday I woke up to a note that my box of goodies from GA had arrived, so I went on a little adventure to find the post office. Super-nice day for a walk, except I could feel my face burning. Must find face sunscreen this week. By lunchtime I had already read the nice card from grandma and half the Cosmo, and dug into the grits, peanut brittle, and girl scout cookies. Fail. Feeling like I needed another walk after all that sugar, I hoofed it to the Carrefour to buy a bottle of Jack for my friend Jack's birthday. Win of the day: on the way to Jack's, Mike definitely asked me if I brushed my teeth with it, a la Ke$ha, ha. Fun times Saturday night playing an interesting board game called 'Pass Out' and a British/American hybrid Circle of Death card game, and then out for karaoke. We were a bit disappointed by this particular karaoke bar, because they kept playing songs that no one requested instead of our requests. Possibly because our requests were mostly in English, but since we were practically the only ones there this shouldn't have been an issue. I did get to scream 'Livin on a Prayer,' so the night wasn't a total loss, ha. The plan is to try a different place Friday night. Sunday everyone was sluggish in the apartment due to the time change, and we didn't eat lunch until 3, but it was a colossal lunch of smoked salmon, guac, multiple salads (I made balsamic-tomato-cucumber in honor of spring), roasted veggies, and steak, which apparently everyone eats practically raw here - ew. I left mine on for 20 more minutes and it was still delicious:P Later met up with friends at the aptly named Drinks&Pool, but instead drank iced coffee (hence this post's title) and played whist (which is like spades). Overall, a pretty low-key weekend in Zaragoza. Looking forward to buen tiempo this week and possibly Aljafería!

Viva Madrid!

Arrived in Madrid Friday morning....took the Rick Steves tour from Puerta del Sol to the Royal Palace, and actually met a couple of groups with the same guidebook, doing the same tour. Awesome. Puerta del Sol was a bit disappointing, as there is no actual door there anymore, and it´s basically a huge concrete plaza surrounded by shops, and a McDonalds, of course. Is nothing authentic anymore??? I did get a pic of the cute bear & madroño tree statue, which is the symbol of Madrid, and also makes an excellent sugary sweet alcohol, served in a shot glass sized ice cream cone-cup-thing, dipped in chocolate. Plaza Mayor was cool, almost totally enclosed by buildings painted in the democratically chosen color of burgundy. Yep, the city, excited about the right to vote for anything after Franco, actually voted on the color a few decades ago. Rick suggested I try a typical calamare sandwich, which was a bad choice because I don't particularly like calamare, even when fried and in sandwich form. The lovely upscale Mercado de San Miguel with its gourmet wine and tapas bars was a vast improvement.
I explored the Royal Palace Friday afternoon and was amazed by the regality of it all. I, like a typical American, am fascinated by royalty. Also, even though it is pretty young, by European standards, Palacio Real is the biggest royal palace in western Europe. The best parts were the armor of King Ferdinand and the gentlemen's 'smoking' room, with Asian designs covering the walls. I wonder what they smoked. Later I saw the Templo de Debod that the Egyptians sent as a thank-you gift to Franco in the 1960's. A 2000 year old temple in the middle of modern-day Madrid is a jarring sight to see, but not as jarring as all of the enamored couples lounging about the surrounding park. Get a room, people.

Went out on my own for tapas, and met a Dutch couple at one place, where we all got free drinks, and 2 older couples at El Madroño, who bought my drinks for the rest of the night. They said they were my parents for the evening, and took me to the nice Casa Lucio, where Hollywood actors tend to frequent. No Taylor Swift sighting though.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to visit the Prado. Interesting art, mostly religious or royal-portrait in nature. It gets a bit redundant, lots of paintings of Mary, naked ladies, and kings. Las Meninas has a 3D effect, extremely advanced for its time. It's like the people in the painting are posing, and at any moment they will break character and step out of the frame. Rick Steves' unique interpretations of the artwork made it a more juicy experience, for sure, revealing the historical and sometimes scandalous secrets behind the masterpieces, such as the crucified Christ one that some king had commissioned after he cheated on his wife. After wandering about the Prado for about 3 hours, I grabbed some delicious vegetarian takeout and went to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were pretty but probably more interesting if one studies Horticulture. I had no idea what half those plants were. The Retiro park was much more lively, as it was Saturday afternoon and ripe for people-watching.
I limped across the park, which was definitely much bigger than I thought, to find Reina Sofía and Picasso's Guernica. It was a bit more difficult to find, not obvious like the Prado, which was on Paseo del Prado and surrounded by beautiful grounds. However, seeing the Guernica and Dali's works was well worth a bit of foot and leg pain - truly moving, and I'm not even an art person. I definitely think I understand Dali and Goya's crazy mind benders - it's like they paint thoughts instead of merely attempting to paint photographs of things in real life, which I think is a lot harder to do. Still, they had to be on some major stuff to come up with some of those thoughts.

After a quick shower, I made it to the Taylor Swift concert early, and my girl didn't let me down. The show was amazing, and I managed to squeeze my way up to the second row! I may have cried a tear or two of pure joy when she finally took the stage at 9:45, singing my favorite, "Sparks Fly." I love going to concerts where I know all the words to every song. Also, Taylor strikes the perfect balance between being that sassy girl you love to hate, and the vulnerable girl you who makes you want to personally face-punch any guy who ever did her wrong. And she doesn't even have to dress like a skank. All in all, I'm extremely impressed and can't wait for her next album/tour!

I was starving after the show, so I found my way back to the Mercado de San Miguel to check out the nightlife there. An excellent spinach empanada, sangria, and chocolate truffle later, I was talking to a middle-aged couple from Orange County. And yes, they were 100% representing the stereotype. This woman could have been a "Real Housewife," no joke. But they were really nice and told me stories about California in the 70's over glasses of "good" sangria. Maybe I'm just getting older, but I honestly enjoyed having a chill time with these older couples both nights in Madrid slightly more than a typical night of clubbing with people my own age.

Sunday was a lazy day of browsing booths at El Rastro (biggest flea market in Europe - it took up like 10 streets), and later opting out of more museums in favor of a siesta at Retiro. Win of the day: goodies for all my girlfriends back home:)

Travel tip: It is worth it to spend a little more and take the train between cities. The bus is susceptible to traffic.

'Hola, soy el Papa. ¡Bienvenido a España!'

The title of this post is the best quote of the many memorable ones from the Cincomarzarda festivities Saturday. More on that later. I want to talk about how amazingly beautiful the Pyrenees are first. They definitely elicited a stronger reaction from me than either of the beaches I have seen so far. I don't even care that it's even more frigid there, I would definitely live there. I wonder if the Rockies are as grand, because I would much rather actually live somewhere English-speaking. Unless the Rosetta Stone that I will be purchasing upon my return to the States helps my Spanish A LOT. I feel like simply being around all the Spanish is not really helping because, as I've said before, I am not an auditory learner. I find myself zoning out of group conversations when the pace becomes too fast for me, and it's frustrating. Lots of smiling and nodding, which means I rarely know what is going on. I don't know why I just assumed that people in Spain all speak perfect English. It's not that I don't want to learn, but it's easier when people can explain things in English. For example, the definitions in the dictionaries in my Spanish class are in SPANISH! If I don't know what one word means, then how the hell am I supposed to know what the synonyms mean?


Apart from the negativity stemming from my language inadequacy, I had a great time. They don't even need snow blowers for the slopes here; it's all natural powder. I was really happy about this because I was using borrowed, too-long skis, and thus did not need ice patches to further complicate matters. After warming up on the lower slopes and watching my friend's progress at a beginner's pace, I ventured up to the more difficult 'pistas.' My friends said later that I am an adrenalina junkie, ha.

After a brief siesta, we got ready for a night out. Cincomarzada is a bit like halloween, in that people wear costumes, only I think there was a higher concentration of religious-themed outfits. Hence my picture with the 'Pope':

We drank cider and wine and tried lots of tapas, and the fried shrimp with 'special sauce' was the best. I will eat most anything as long as I don't have to look at it, and so I had to draw the line at the squid when the tentacles squirted out. Typically American, I prefer my food to be unrecognizable, or at least not staring at me. I ate rabbit paella in Valencia, but then I saw whole skinned rabbits at the market and that was the end of that.

Felt pretty down yesterday, but mostly because of all of the rapid-fire spanish conversations I was forced to endure in silence. The worst was the chocolate shop owner who was desperately trying to explain to me something radio-related, I think a contest involving the U.S. It helps if I understand a concept in English, but I know nothing about the radio business. *Blank stare* *Blank stare* *Blink blink blink*

Gran aventura del día

My afternoon mission yesterday was to obtain a Carnet Joven card (youth discount card for train tickets and such) and my Taylor Swift ticket. For the CJ card, I read online that train stations usually have them (this was in english, not spanish, so it was not a problem of me misunderstanding). So I go across town to Estacion Delicias, take a number, wait my turn, all to find out that no, they do not have them - you can only get them at banks. Banks? Really? Defeated, I ventured back out into the frigid wind to the bus stop, got on what I was sure was the right bus to Carrefour (a Walmart-type store where I could hopefully pick up my concert ticket), because I HAD checked the location online, after all, only to be told by the bus driver that it was actually the opposite direction from the bus route! However, I was not going to give up, as Taylor Swift was at stake, so I walked about 2 miles down the road in the unrelenting wind to the Carrefour. At least streets are walkable here; there is no way in hell I would walk to Walmart or Kroger from my house in Athens - complete lack of sidewalks once you get out of downtown and campus. But anyway, I asked this old lady at the Carrefour info desk, in spanish, where I should go, and she had no clue what I was talking about. Luckily, another, more knowledgeable employee came to the rescue and directed me to the Carrefour travel agency office, where I successfully got my ticket. I wonder why things are sold at the oddest places here - concert tickets at the travel agency (the concert is in Madrid, hardly what I would call 'travel'), stamps and phone recharges at the tobacco shop, bus card recharges at the grocery store. It's like they do it that way on purpose to confuse foreigners. I am figuring out the system, however, so soon I will pass for a local and world domination is mine! Mwahahaha...

Travel tips of the day: don't trust everything you read online, and when trying to make complicated requests, like 'where can I get my concert ticket,' be sure to bring along a friend who speaks the language better, or at least locate a store employee who looks like he/she would know about such things (i.e., not a sour old lady).