She eats tapas, but still won't say "Hola"

Kaitlin munches on some tapas.  She's been a trooper.  She had a great time playing with the dogs in Gratallops.  There were a couple of old women with little dogs and Kaitlin had a blast chasing them.  Here Kaitlin faces off with the old German Shepherd at one of the wineries in Gratallops.

 

Barcelona

Sorry for the delay in posting, but Gratallops is not exactly on the wifi map.  The one hotel in town does have wifi but it was a hike up the hill to get to it and I wasn't going to take the time to post to the blog while we were there.  

We had a great time in Gratallops.  It is a Medieval town with TINY streets.  The first night we were there I scraped the side of the car as I drove up to the top of the town/hotel.  I couldn't believe cars could drive on some of the the streets, but low and behold, we ducked into  entryways a few times so that cars could get by.  That top step in the photo was the offending party.  How do you say "goodbye damage waiver" in spanish? 

Kaitlin is determined to walk by herself now.  She will only hold your hand if she's crossing a street or climbing a step.  She insisted on walking down the steep stone streets and of course she fell down.  She got her hands out but then toppled onto her face.  She's got a nice bruise on her forehead.  I imagine all of the kids in Gratallops have had their fair share of tumbles.  When we said goodbye at the bakery, they asked what happened and then gave a knowing nod when we described the tumble.

The apartment we stayed in was once a barn for animals.  It was pretty small and rustic.  Downstairs there was a living room and kitchen with an enclosed bathroom outside and a little courtyard.  Upstairs there were two bedrooms and a little space at the top of the stairs that could be described as a library/study.  The interior was tile/stucco/plaster with exposed beams and some exposed stone masonry.

Today we drove to Barcelona.  We spent about three hours trying to change U.S. Dollars (do they still have any value???) to Euros.  We've wasted a lot of time trying to change currency.  I think the saying "Take half as much stuff and twice as much money" should be followed to the letter.  I would amend it slightly, by adding "no matter how good of an idea it may seem at the time, do not purchase a stroller."  Damn that thing.  It's awkward, hard to fit in the car and makes steps/stairs a real pain.

We're having a great time.  I would love to come back with a bicycle.  The roads around Gratallops and Falset are begging to be ridden.  We saw a pack of riders one day and dozens of riders in Falset.  Good god, what more could you ask for?  Winding mountain roads, good food, great wine, beautiful scenery...  Surely there is a all-carbon Orbea loaded with Campi Record and a classic Banesto wool jersey with my name on it...  Sweet dreams, sweet dreams.

Food Fotos

I'm trying to take photos of our meals, but I forget sometimes.  Sometimes it's only after a bite or two, but sometimes it's all gone before I think about it.

Cafes and Bikes in Madrid

We love the cafe scene with all of the motorbikes and scooters.  Shanna made the comment that she's glad she already has a vespa or she would be so jealous.  Motorcycles and scooters park on the sidewalk.  There were very few bicycles and I didn't see any single speed bikes.  The motorbike culture extends to fashion as well.  There were a lot of leather motorcycle jackets, but we also saw plenty of businessmen in suits riding scooters. I only saw a handful of cruiser style bikes and maybe a few Harleys.  There were plenty of BMW, Ducati, Honda, and Suzuki bike.  Mostly Vespa, Piaggio, Aprilla, and BMW scooters.

Photos from Santiago Bernabau - Tour and Game

Here are some of the pictures we took on the tour of the stadium and then a couple from the game.

Hostal Santa Isabel

Spain - Day Three - Sunday (game day)

Sunday.  Ah, we got our A/C unit working and closed the windows last night and pulled the steel blinds down.  It was really dark, pretty cool and we were beat.  We slept until 9ish and when we got up we hand-washed some diapers.  by the time we left the hostal room it was after noon.  We got some lunch and then bought a stroller. I think we both immediately regretted it.  Suddenly there were stairs that I hadn't noticed before.  I actually got squeezed in so much on a sidewalk by parked cars that I had to backup and lift the stroller into the street.  Good times...  Kaitlin is having a really bad case of the mommies.  She cries constantly when she's with me.  Shanna can't even go to the bathroom without Kaitlin crying. 

We walked around and saw more monuments and plazas.  We looked for places to eat, but we always seem to wait too long.  Eventually we caught the metro back to the hostal room and Shanna and Kaitlin took a nap while I went in search of pizza.  I wandered all around the neighborhood, but couldn't find a pizzaria. I did find a really cool middle eastern restaurant with a little jazz band playing outside.  There were tables in the plaza and it was a great family atmosphere.  I eventually settled for a serrano ham pizza from the pizza hut and headed back to the room.  We ate and then got ready for the game.

more later...

Spain - Day Two - Saturday

What a difference a night of sleep makes...  We headed to the cafeteria across the street from our hostal for cafe con leche and pastries.  It's official, this is our home base.  Good service, good food, across the street.  What more do you need?

We spent Saturday morning making up for the time lost on Friday in our sleepwalking state.  We changed US Dollars to euros and then began our scenic journey back to get tickets to see the Real Madrid game.  Along the way we bought a sweater for Kaitlin.   The mornings are pretty cool.  Many of the spaniards are bundled up, but then they probably rode a motorbike.  We walked along one of the big parks.  There were many sculptures along the street.  We wound our way through the museum district and several shopping districts.  I was looking for the Belstaff store, but it's not open yet.  We eventually made our way to the stadium and bought two tickets to the game.  The service fees I tried so hard to avoid were collected by the ticket scalper.  Oh well, I'm supporting the local economy, right?

We headed toward home before rush hour and discovered that in our sleepy state, we had taken a VERY indirect route on Friday.  We got off at Sol, one of the biggest plazas in Madrid.  It was packed with tourists and vendors selling all kinds of junk.  We did our best to get out of the madness got turned around and finally had to stop for a snack and a drink.  We figured out where we were and then found our way to a little tapas bar for a bite to eat and a beer.  Shanna and Kaitlin were getting tired so we headed home. 

Saturday is a big day for football so I headed back to our neighborhood cafeteria for the Barcelona vs. Athletico Madrid game.  When I got there it was just a few old men watching.  One man explained to me that Barca had already scored 3 goals in the first few minutes.  As I watched, Barca scored again.  Heartbreak for these guys as I expect that At. Madrid is the working-class team. As the game wore on, the little bar became packed.  I went to the bathroom and lost my stool.  I started talking to a couple of guys from France that live in the neighborhood.  One of the guys was surprised that I was a tourist.  He said that tourists never came to that bar.  He asked where in England I was from and I told him that I was from Texas, USA.  I assured him that I was no fan of president Bush and he laughed and said that it is rare to find an American in Europe that is.  Barca ended up winning the game 6-1.  It was a rough night for the home crowd.

Note:  The beer they serve here is very light.  Most places serve draft beer and it seems that both men and women drink beer.  I saw the bartender mix a few beers with water for a lighter colored drink.  When they pour a beer, they get a good head on it and then tap the glass on the counter to get even more head.  I have never seen that before.

Addendum to Day One - Our room at the Hostal Santa Isabel

I forgot to describe our room at the Hostal Santa Isabel.  Calle Santa Isabel is a little side street in a working-class neighborhood of Madrid.  The hostal is located on the 4th floor of an old building.  Most of the rooms in our part of the building are apartments.  There is a traditional elevator/lift with the cage and wooden/glass doors to the cabin and a white marble staircase that winds around the elevator shaft.  We're on the 4th floor so that means that we have five flights of stairs to climb.  They don't count the first floor in Spain.

Our room is tiny!  Not that we planned to spend a lot of time in the room, but with three of us fighting for floor space, it is tight.  Not to get too graphic, but while seated on the toilet, I can easily touch both walls with one elbow and one hand.  Within that width, there is a toilet, sink, and shower.  I've seen bigger bathrooms on airplanes... 

The room has a double bed, two night stands, plastic chair, corner closet, small wall-mounted t.v. (never figured out how to turn it on) and french doors to a small balcony.

The hallway has motion-sensors on the lights so they click on and off as you walk down the short hall.  We decided we need this in the breezeway at home.

First Post from Spain - Day One - Friday

I'll attempt to bring you up to speed on out trip so far...  After a long overnight flight from Miami, we landed in Madrid early Friday morning.  We took a cab ride to our hotel and dropped our bags off and headed out to check out the neighborhood and grab a cafe con leche.  Day one was pretty frustrating.  We rode the metro to Santiago Bernabau (home of Real Madrid football club) and tried to get tickets to the Sunday game.  We tried to change dollars to euros, but couldn't find a bank that would do it.  We ended up taking a tour of the stadium which was fun and then headed back to the hotel.  Both Shanna and I were falling asleep on the metro and in our sleepy state we missed a connection and had to backtrack in order to get back to our hotel.  Rather than going straight to bed at 6:30PM we showered and headed out for tapas and a beer.  I think we rallied for half an hour before crashing again.  The Spaniards were just starting to come out as we had our low point and we headed back to the hotel room for some much needed sleep.  Our room overlooked the street and we spent a restless night listening to the locals enjoying a Friday night/Saturday morning out enjoying themselves.  About the time they quieted down, the garbage trucks started making their way through the street.