Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Happy Birthday to Mom!
Today is my mom's birthday and I want to wish her a very Happy Birthday! Here are two pictures of Mom - one from the past and one from the present. Here's hoping she's having a very nice day today.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Car inspection in Spain
Well, the car we drive (which is Miguel's car) has been out of compliance for a few days - the inspection ended at the end of February. So, we finally figured out what we need to do today and where to take it.
So, we drive ALL the way out to over by the airport and we get to the inspection place where they look over our papers and tell us we're missing 2 papers - the original title to the car and some other green paper. Aarrgghh!!
There was nothing we could do except try to get those two papers so we decided to go back to the place where Miguel bought the car. The guy at that car lot comes out to our car and looks in some shelf that we hadn't even noticed above the front windshield. Sure enough, there were the two papers that we needed.
So, we drove all the way back to the car inspection place, we were accepted this time and we get in the long line to wait for our turn for the inspection. When we finally get in the bay, it was amazing what they do. It is certainly nowhere near like what they do in the US (thank goodness). They go over the car like their life depended on it. Checking the brakes in these little things on the floor that rattle the car front and back. They check the emissions TWICE, the go over all the lights and horn and stuff, they look under the hood, they shake the car back and forth looking for who knows what, they look over the tires and so much more.
When we finally get out of the bay, we thought we were done but we weren't. They said the car didn't pass inspection. Two of the tires were no good, a brake light in back didn't work, and there was no light over the license plate. And that if we didn't get the three things fixed by the time they closed today, we'd have to pay all over again for a new inspection. We had no choice but to find a place where we could get those three things taken care of.
Fortunately, nearby we found a garage which told us they couldn't do the tires but if we went to the business next door, they could take care of us. So we went over there and they waited on us right away. When they took the car to the back, we decided to go to a nearby restaurant for lunch which turned out to be really good. It was actually a restaurant at that first garage and from the outside it looked rough, but walk in the door, and you were inside a really nice restaurant. It was so surprising!
Anyway, soon after we finished lunch, our car was ready. We took the car back to the inspection place, the guy looked for the three things that had been wrong, he was satisfied and we got our sticker. Whew!!! What an ordeal that was. We started at 9 from the house and by the time we were finished with the inspection place, it was 1:30.
Sure makes me appreciate the inspection process in the United States!!
So, we drive ALL the way out to over by the airport and we get to the inspection place where they look over our papers and tell us we're missing 2 papers - the original title to the car and some other green paper. Aarrgghh!!
There was nothing we could do except try to get those two papers so we decided to go back to the place where Miguel bought the car. The guy at that car lot comes out to our car and looks in some shelf that we hadn't even noticed above the front windshield. Sure enough, there were the two papers that we needed.
So, we drove all the way back to the car inspection place, we were accepted this time and we get in the long line to wait for our turn for the inspection. When we finally get in the bay, it was amazing what they do. It is certainly nowhere near like what they do in the US (thank goodness). They go over the car like their life depended on it. Checking the brakes in these little things on the floor that rattle the car front and back. They check the emissions TWICE, the go over all the lights and horn and stuff, they look under the hood, they shake the car back and forth looking for who knows what, they look over the tires and so much more.
When we finally get out of the bay, we thought we were done but we weren't. They said the car didn't pass inspection. Two of the tires were no good, a brake light in back didn't work, and there was no light over the license plate. And that if we didn't get the three things fixed by the time they closed today, we'd have to pay all over again for a new inspection. We had no choice but to find a place where we could get those three things taken care of.
Fortunately, nearby we found a garage which told us they couldn't do the tires but if we went to the business next door, they could take care of us. So we went over there and they waited on us right away. When they took the car to the back, we decided to go to a nearby restaurant for lunch which turned out to be really good. It was actually a restaurant at that first garage and from the outside it looked rough, but walk in the door, and you were inside a really nice restaurant. It was so surprising!
Anyway, soon after we finished lunch, our car was ready. We took the car back to the inspection place, the guy looked for the three things that had been wrong, he was satisfied and we got our sticker. Whew!!! What an ordeal that was. We started at 9 from the house and by the time we were finished with the inspection place, it was 1:30.
Sure makes me appreciate the inspection process in the United States!!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
It's still quite cool here
Even though it's March already, it is still cool here by Alicante. The daytime highs are in the low 60s and the nighttime lows are in the low 40s. Which would be no big deal if this whole house was warm, but it's not. The sun is usually out every day, so when you're in the sun, it feels nice and warm. Today, when we got back from the store, I put on a jacket to go IN to the house. The sun doesn't really come in to the house all that much, so there's no getting any of that passive solar heating which would be so good.
At least we have the little heater to help heat up the room we are in. That has been really helpful especially when we go to bed and when we get up in the morning. Really, I thought it'd be getting warmer here by now. I am so glad we were in San Antonio for January and February when it was much colder here in Spain than it is now. So, I'm thankful for that, anyway.
Yesterday we went to the market to buy our fruits and vegetables and that was something we had missed in San Antonio. The quantity of good fruits and vegetables here is amazing! And yesterday we also went grocery shopping to resupply the house after being gone. That first grocery outing when we get to a place is always a high-priced one but now that we have all the staples again, it will be much better next time.
Facebook hasn't been working for me on my usual browser of Chrome. Not sure what the deal is there, but at least it works sometimes in Internet Explorer, which I'm not a fan of, but it's my friend now!!! ;-)
At least we have the little heater to help heat up the room we are in. That has been really helpful especially when we go to bed and when we get up in the morning. Really, I thought it'd be getting warmer here by now. I am so glad we were in San Antonio for January and February when it was much colder here in Spain than it is now. So, I'm thankful for that, anyway.
Yesterday we went to the market to buy our fruits and vegetables and that was something we had missed in San Antonio. The quantity of good fruits and vegetables here is amazing! And yesterday we also went grocery shopping to resupply the house after being gone. That first grocery outing when we get to a place is always a high-priced one but now that we have all the staples again, it will be much better next time.
Facebook hasn't been working for me on my usual browser of Chrome. Not sure what the deal is there, but at least it works sometimes in Internet Explorer, which I'm not a fan of, but it's my friend now!!! ;-)
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
March 5th and 6th
March 6th
Today we needed to return the rental car so we got up early and drove both cars into El Campello, parking our car there and driving the rental car to Alicante. We found the car rental place at the train station and it was easy dropping the car off. From there we went to the Movistar store to get our phones reactivated and to start up our internet again. That took a LONG time, probably 2 hours, but it needed to be done. We were so glad to get out of there.
We walked up to one of our favorite restaurants to get some lunch and then we took the tram back to El Campello, got our car, picked up a few groceries and went back to the house.
The next thing I did was unpack everything from my big suitcase and wouldn't you know it, there among my clothes were the house keys!!!! You'd have thought it'd be exciting to find them, but my first thought was "Oh, no!" Yes, I was glad to find the keys because that meant that now we knew where they were and didn't have to wonder anymore. But just knowing that we could have saved ourselves a lot of stress if we had just looked inside my big suitcase a little more carefully when we first arrived in Madrid took away the excitement of finding them later. If we had found those keys when we first arrived in Madrid - THAT would have been a huge happy excitement. There would have been no stress, no phone calls, no having to meet people bringing another set of keys, no worrying if those new keys REALLY would fit. Finding the keys after having to go through all of that, although a good thing, was more like I said above, "Oh, no."
This is what we think happened. When we weighed my big suitcase at the hotel in San Antonio, we found we had ten pounds to work with, so I was looking for things to take out of my carry-ons to make those lighter. I had taken the keys out of my backpack and placed them in an extra purse and this extra purse I had placed in my rolling carry-on. Looking for more stuff to put in the big suitcase, I took the extra purse out of my rolling carry-on and placed it in the big suitcase. At some airport, the inspectors probably went through that purse and left all the little compartments unzipped, causing the keys to fall into the clothes. When I didn't see the keys in that purse when we were at the hotel in Madrid, and I didn't feel any keys when rifling through the clothes in the suitcase, I just assumed that somehow I had lost those keys somewhere. It didn't help that all this searching for those keys was taking place when we were so very tired from that long trip.
March 5th.
Left the hotel early, took a taxi to the train station. Rental car place was packed with people so it was a long wait to get our rental car. Renting a car at the train station in Madrid is horrible. There is no good place for the taxi to drop you off, so you walk a LONG way to get to the rental car office. Then, once you get the paperwork done at the office, they make you walk a very long way, over rough pavement with your luggage to the lot where the cars are. Thank goodness, that even though it was quite cold, it wasn't raining.
Our drive to Cala D'Or went just fine. And what a relief it was when we got to the driveway and the key
to the gate worked! Then the key to the front door worked! We were in. We were so happy. It was such an incredible relief.
Today we needed to return the rental car so we got up early and drove both cars into El Campello, parking our car there and driving the rental car to Alicante. We found the car rental place at the train station and it was easy dropping the car off. From there we went to the Movistar store to get our phones reactivated and to start up our internet again. That took a LONG time, probably 2 hours, but it needed to be done. We were so glad to get out of there.
We walked up to one of our favorite restaurants to get some lunch and then we took the tram back to El Campello, got our car, picked up a few groceries and went back to the house.
The next thing I did was unpack everything from my big suitcase and wouldn't you know it, there among my clothes were the house keys!!!! You'd have thought it'd be exciting to find them, but my first thought was "Oh, no!" Yes, I was glad to find the keys because that meant that now we knew where they were and didn't have to wonder anymore. But just knowing that we could have saved ourselves a lot of stress if we had just looked inside my big suitcase a little more carefully when we first arrived in Madrid took away the excitement of finding them later. If we had found those keys when we first arrived in Madrid - THAT would have been a huge happy excitement. There would have been no stress, no phone calls, no having to meet people bringing another set of keys, no worrying if those new keys REALLY would fit. Finding the keys after having to go through all of that, although a good thing, was more like I said above, "Oh, no."
This is what we think happened. When we weighed my big suitcase at the hotel in San Antonio, we found we had ten pounds to work with, so I was looking for things to take out of my carry-ons to make those lighter. I had taken the keys out of my backpack and placed them in an extra purse and this extra purse I had placed in my rolling carry-on. Looking for more stuff to put in the big suitcase, I took the extra purse out of my rolling carry-on and placed it in the big suitcase. At some airport, the inspectors probably went through that purse and left all the little compartments unzipped, causing the keys to fall into the clothes. When I didn't see the keys in that purse when we were at the hotel in Madrid, and I didn't feel any keys when rifling through the clothes in the suitcase, I just assumed that somehow I had lost those keys somewhere. It didn't help that all this searching for those keys was taking place when we were so very tired from that long trip.
March 5th.
Left the hotel early, took a taxi to the train station. Rental car place was packed with people so it was a long wait to get our rental car. Renting a car at the train station in Madrid is horrible. There is no good place for the taxi to drop you off, so you walk a LONG way to get to the rental car office. Then, once you get the paperwork done at the office, they make you walk a very long way, over rough pavement with your luggage to the lot where the cars are. Thank goodness, that even though it was quite cold, it wasn't raining.
Our drive to Cala D'Or went just fine. And what a relief it was when we got to the driveway and the key
to the gate worked! Then the key to the front door worked! We were in. We were so happy. It was such an incredible relief.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
What we've done in Madrid
Sunday, March 4th.
We had breakfast in our room today with stuff that we had picked up from a little grocery yesterday, so that made the morning nice and leisurely. Then we got ready to go to another art museum today - the Sorolla Museum. We found our way quite easily through the maze of the metro system to another section of Madrid. The Sorolla Museum was a painter's home so going to this museum was basically touring the home where his paintings were hanging on the walls and there were still pieces of furniture on display.
Two pictures outside the museum.
Some of the paintings in one of the rooms.
A fun place to sleep.
The dining room
After the Sorolla Museum we walked to a different metro stop to catch another metro to Madrid's Retiro Park. We walked through the park, and by the lake where most of the people were hanging out. We watched the boats on the lake for a while and then found a bench where we could sit and eat a few potato chips. There were vendors across the way from us who had their wares all spread out on sheets on the ground. They were selling stuff like CDs or sunglasses or iphone cases - stuff like that. As we were sitting there, we all of a sudden saw one of the vendors grab a string in the center of his wares which effectively pulled that sheet up from all four corners and made a quick bundle of his wares. In seconds, he had his stuff packed up and was walking away. Then we saw the other vendors doing the same thing and it was about then that we noticed a police car slowly coming up the lane behind us. When the police car had passed, we noticed that the vendors had already started setting up shop again just a few feet down from where they had been and from where the police car had passed. It was amazing how fast they could pack up their stuff!
Boating on the lake there in Retiro Park.
Guillermo on the Paseo de la Argentina. As we walked this pathway to our next museum, we remembered how we had walked this same path with Rebeca and Fernando back in 1984.
So, our next museum was the Thyssen Museum which is another art museum. This museum was very nice and very big, so again, we enjoyed the art but it was very tiring. We had a little lunch before starting the museum and after we were done at the museum, we stopped at a Starbucks for a little while to rest.
We were going to take another metro back to our hotel, but decided it was just as close to walk back. After a short rest in our room, we went out again looking for a place to have dinner. The place we had in mind to eat at tonight was closed and we were very disappointed about that. Now we had no idea where we were going to go. We ended up at an outdoor table at a restaurant by the Plaza Mayor, which was nice but nothing memorable.
Saturday, March 3rd.
On this day we took a metro to Plaza de Cibeles from where we planned to walk to the Prado Museum. There was a big police presence in the area around Cibeles because a bunch of protestors were gathering there, evidently to protest the economy in Spain.
Standing near the Plaza Cibeles. We had just gotten off the metro.
Looking in the other direction
The Cibeles Fountain
Part of the Police presence
Some of the protestors
Then we walked to the Prado museum and were shocked to see the lines all around the building. Guillermo tried to get information from employees there and we decided it wouldn't be worth it to wait in those lines, since we have been in the museum before. This picture doesn't show the extent of the lines, I just couldn't get it all in.
So, we decided instead to visit the Queen Sofia Art Museum, which was a little further up the street. Along the way, we passed this statue of Velazquez.
The Art Museum was very nice but VERY big and it was quite tiring. By the time we got out, it was time for lunch and we stopped at this little place to have a Fried Clam Sandwich, Potatoes with hot sauce and a Tortilla Espanola, which is sort of like a quiche.
From there we walked back to our hotel and rested for a while. We went out again in the evening to find a place to have dinner. We walked around for a while, not sure which place we should pick to eat at - and there were TONS of places from which to choose. We ended up at an excellent restaurant called Cuevas El Secreto. We were seated at a table down below in a very nice cozy room. We had a really good glass of wine, Gambas a la Plancha (which is grilled shrimp) and a salad, followed by a Tangerine sorbet, which was delicious!
Friday, March 2, 2012
We made it to Madrid
All our flights were good. Our flight over the ocean was EXCELLENT!!! We asked to change our seats when we were in San Antonio, and we ended up getting 3 seats in the middle of the aircraft ALL TO OURSELVES!! It was great. We were able to spread out, lie down and generally be quite comfortable.
It is quite cool here in Madrid. One bit of bad news is we cannot find the keys to Miguels house. So, we do not know what happened to them, but hopefully, in a few minutes, we will be meeting his cousin who might have keys to the house. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Can you BELIEVE it???
Anyway, other than that little worry there, things are good and we hope to be totally recovered from the flight by tomorrow so that we can do a little looking around here in Madrid.
So, an update to what is above.
After a short rest in our hotel room (Hostal Adriano), we walked to Plaza Mayor. It was very interesting there, with so many people milling about and people trying to earn a little money doing different things. We stopped at a little cafe to have some churros with hot chocolate and that was good. Then we made our way back so that we could meet with Miguel's cousin Manolo and Ana in front of our hotel. When they came we talked a while and then they handed us the keys which look like they could work. Both of them were so nice and we were grateful to them for coming into town to give us those keys. We invited them to have a tapa or two and so we went to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a some wine, beer and juice with a small slice of bread and ham. We felt so much better, and although we aren't inside the door yet to the house, at least there's some hope that we'll be able to get inside the house.
Later that evening, we walked back to the Plaza Mayor and from there tried to find a restaurant that Manolo and Ana recommended - Casa de Lucio. After walking just a LITTLE more than we thought we'd have to, we found the place. It was PACKED inside and we had to wait a little for a table, but once we were seated we were able to enjoy a good wine with some bread before our meal arrived which was very good. It was a good choice for an evening meal.
It is quite cool here in Madrid. One bit of bad news is we cannot find the keys to Miguels house. So, we do not know what happened to them, but hopefully, in a few minutes, we will be meeting his cousin who might have keys to the house. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Can you BELIEVE it???
Anyway, other than that little worry there, things are good and we hope to be totally recovered from the flight by tomorrow so that we can do a little looking around here in Madrid.
So, an update to what is above.
After a short rest in our hotel room (Hostal Adriano), we walked to Plaza Mayor. It was very interesting there, with so many people milling about and people trying to earn a little money doing different things. We stopped at a little cafe to have some churros with hot chocolate and that was good. Then we made our way back so that we could meet with Miguel's cousin Manolo and Ana in front of our hotel. When they came we talked a while and then they handed us the keys which look like they could work. Both of them were so nice and we were grateful to them for coming into town to give us those keys. We invited them to have a tapa or two and so we went to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a some wine, beer and juice with a small slice of bread and ham. We felt so much better, and although we aren't inside the door yet to the house, at least there's some hope that we'll be able to get inside the house.
Later that evening, we walked back to the Plaza Mayor and from there tried to find a restaurant that Manolo and Ana recommended - Casa de Lucio. After walking just a LITTLE more than we thought we'd have to, we found the place. It was PACKED inside and we had to wait a little for a table, but once we were seated we were able to enjoy a good wine with some bread before our meal arrived which was very good. It was a good choice for an evening meal.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
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