Best of Intentions

OK...So I HAD the best of intentions.

Before leaving on this trip, I thought it would be fun to blog every few days from Spain, and I was really looking forward to doing it.  Well obviously, that hasn't happened. The truth of the matter is is that we have been so busy since the first day I arrived that the blogging has taken a back seat to visiting family, playing with the kids, and well, hanging out in the park.  Sorry about that!  But the good news is is that I will have a lot of material to write about when I get home...our trip to Lanzarote, the Toledo tapas crawl, the role of jamon in everyday life, the properties in Toledo we'd love to restore...my list goes on and on.  And I have some great photos to share as well!

But to keep you interested, here is a photo taken last week on our trip to Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands.  One of the most touristy things you can do there is take a short camel ride in the Timanfaya National Park.  It was probably the dumbest thing I've ever done, but we've got some good photos from it! 

Also, the first annual Pancake Merienda is coming up this Saturday.  Pedro and I decided to do a trial run of actually making our pancakes here in Spain yesterday, and as it turned out, that was a great idea.  Before I left Reno, Pedro assured me that his mom had all the appropriate kitchen tools, including measuring cups and spoons, even if they were in metric measurements.  No problem...I could deal with that.  But as we began to make our pancakes, I discovered that that was not exactly true.  His mom had a tiny, tiny measuring cup that would only hold 100 grams of whatever.  He just figured that we'd measure everything out in 100 gram increments.  WRONG!  That was not going to work for the big day, but we managed to make it work yesterday and made our first batch, which turned out OK...just OK, but at least we know the adjustments that need to be made for Saturday. And this morning we went to the Spainsh version of the Dollar Store and bought my much-needed measuring cup and spoons and I think we are finally all set.  But perhaps the best part of the experiment yesterday was snapping this photo of my father-in-law, Miguel, getting ready to try his first-ever batch of orange chocolate chip pancakes.  His expression is, as they say, priceless!

I plan to post photos of the real first annual Pancake Merienda next week.  Until then..hasta luego!  Or as they say in Toledo,"...'ta luego!"



Toledo at Night

One of my favorite things to do in Toledo is to simply walk the streets of the old town, and it’s even better when a few stops for tapas are thrown in for good measure.  Here’s a few photos of our walks in town this past Saturday and Sunday night.  Obviously my night photography skills need some work, but I tried to get a few typical scenes that one would expect to see on a warm, Spring weekend evening in Toledo. 

Here's a few of the many bars in town:

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, the city illuminates the important buildings in the old town:

Alcazar

La Catedral

San Juan de los Reyes

Wish the lighting on this was better, but I love abuela (Grandma) watching over the boys in the street:

This was taken on Sunday night about midnight.  After all the festivities of the weekend, one of the old town's busiest streets was deserted!  Don't think I've seen that before!

It SOUNDED Nice…

In my last blog entry, I anticipated what my first day in Spain would be like based on my previous 20 or so trips here. Strangely enough it didn’t turn out that way, but it had a memorable ending nonetheless.

I was glad to have had the three day Memorial Day weekend to prepare for this trip, as between work, freelance grantwriting projects, visits to the physical therapist and other assorted appointments the week before, I had no time to pack.  So that weekend, I ran around trying to get everything organized and fit neatly into my suitcase (hearing  Pedro’s voice in the background telling me I was taking too much).  But for some reason, I became really stressed about the whole thing.  Normally, I am pretty Zen, and like I mentioned above, I’ve done this trip many times, but I became frantic and barely slept at all for two days before I left – and could only manage a catnap or two on the plane.

A little beat up...

So when I arrived in Madrid on Wednesday morning, I was exhausted. Absolutely exhausted.  But I was determined to keep my “no big naps on the first day in Spain” jet lag-control pledge anyway.  So Pedro and I took a walk around the park, and then we went to the store to buy stuff for breakfast.  At that point, however, my body had a different idea.  Standing in line at the store, I felt like I was going to pass out and within a few moments,  I had a raging headache.  Heading home, I told Pedro that I was going to have to sleep, much to his pleas “not to turn to the dark side.”  When we came home from the store, I collapsed on the bed and didn’t wake up – or move for that matter – for four and a half hours.  I was OUT.  When I finally woke up at 5pm (missing my first lunch – bummer!), I felt better…and well, my first day actually turned out to be one for the record books.

...but still enjoyed my tapas!!

That night, I set a new "personal best” for the number of bars I visited in the space of my first 24 hours in Spain!  After my unplanned nap, I was bound and determined to stay awake until at least midnight, so Pedro and I went to the nearest “zona de copas” where we visited a record THREE bars and indulged in some of my favorite tapas: yummy tuna and red piquillo pepper pulgas, a salmon and blue cheese pulga, a mix of patatas bravas and alioli and pisto mini-empanadas. 

Three bars in one night, watching soccer games with fanatic Spanish fans and walking home at 1am - I think I am back in Spain…or am I still dreaming?