Biking in Madrid....

... is a TERRIBLE idea.  But today, I had few choices.

See, this whole economic crisis is causing problems all over the world, which we are all aware of.  Here in Spain, the government decided to cut the pay of the Metro workers 5% to help with some of their money problems.  BUT, not surprisingly, none of the Metro workers really appreciated this.  So, they're on strike.  And this means that ALL of the city's Metro stations are shut down.  Monday, the first day of the strike, the Metro trains were running at 50% - a government imposed minimum service.  I had no idea that there was a strike going on until after I arrived late at my spanish tutoring session, and my teacher informed me that the reason my commute was so slow was because of the strike.  Since the government didn't come to an agreement on the pay cuts, the workers have now completely shut down the metro system, putting the city into chaos.

Buses are still running, but you're pretty lucky if you can even shove your way onto one, since everyone is trying this form of transportation.  In the morning, I've heard it is absolutely impossible to get a taxi.  Here's a photo from the national newspaper of people waiting in line to get a taxi.

Thankfully, our lives have not been TOO disrupted by the strike, yet.  Brian takes a regional train to work, and those are running on their normal schedule.  But, to get to that train station, he takes a bus a short distance, and he has had to get in on the bus through the back door (which you're not really supposed to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures).  

For me, getting to and from my tutoring sessions is a little more difficult now.  Typically I can walk about 10 minutes to a metro station, hop on the metro, make a connection, and get to my destination in about 25 minutes.  Today, that wasn't an option, so I got creative, thus the title of this post.  

Let me preface this with a fact I'm sure you've figured out - Madrid is NOT a bike friendly city.  So, I knew I was taking a bit of a risk attempting this, but hey, I'm adventuresome, and I didn't feel like spending an hour walking today.  It's hot. 

I biked to the main station, the same one Brian goes to everyday to catch his train (Atocha).   From there, I hopped on a regional train that took me 2 stops north to a major public transportation interchange (Nuevos Ministerios).  The train ride was perfect and really fast, and no one looked at me like I was completely insane for having a bike on the train, which was nice.  From that stop, I biked about 1/2 a mile to my class, mostly on sidewalks, avoiding pedestrians, and a bit on the street, trying to avoid taxis, buses, and cars.  I was so pleased with my accomplishment of arriving on time, and without injury!  

Class went great, and my plan, after class, was to do the same route in reverse - bike, train, bike.  As I was changing clothes to leave, my heart raced as I realized my wallet wasn't in my bag.  Had someone stolen it while I was in my commute?  Not possible, I was super protective of my bag, and no one could have caught me on my bike.  Did it fall out of my bag in class?  I went to look, but nothing was there.  The only option was that in my hurry to leave the house with my bike and all my biking things, I must have left it on the kitchen table.  I had put enough change in my pocket for the ride on the train TO class, but now I didn't have any money to take the train back.  I realized I was going to have to bike all the way home, a sort of scary prospect, since the best route I knew home was on the largest, most crowded, and insane main road in Madrid (the Castellana, which is the major north/south artery).  I don't have a picture of the Castellana with cars on it, but I took this picture below when Brian was running his 10K, when they shut down the road for the runners.  This picture is totally deceptive in it's peacefulness, so imagine this road, chock full of cars, and you'll see a bit of what I faced (though I stayed mostly on the side roads, to the right and left of the main lanes, behind the trees)

It started off well, I was really attentive and nervous enough to pay very close attention to the chaos around me.  Trying to go along with traffic, and sometimes hopping onto the sidewalks when necessary, I started to make my way home.  I would bike in and out of traffic, around parked cars, through roundabouts, past sidewalk cafe's, around yippy dogs and playing children, and in the bus lane, behind big stinky buses (which proved to be the best of all options).  I almost hit some pedestrians and got a little gash on my leg from the gears, and as I was crossing in a pedestrian walkway, a guy in a Lexus didn't look and pulled out in front of me, prompting some choice words in English from me (which I'm sure really did a lot of good).  I can't believe I didn't hit more pedestrians because I was on the sidewalk a lot, since I figured hitting a pedestrian was a lot less damaging than being hit by a car.  I knew once I got down the Castellana and into Retiro, I would be home free.  Entering those big gates into the park, I took a huge sigh of relief, as I could finally enjoy my bike ride a little bit as my final 10 minutes took me through the park.

And now, 45 minutes after I began my biking journey through Madrid, I am home safe.  Sweaty, a little dirty, but extremely pleased that I survived my biking adventure through the city.  But, I wouldn't recommend it.  And we'll see if I have to continue my biking adventures if this strike continues...

On another note, I've been trying to work up the motivation to sort & edit photos as well as write posts from our last adventures.  The 3rd weekend in May, Brian and I went to the Costa del Sol in Spain (Southern Coast) and had a long weekend at the beach and exploring small towns.  We came back to Madrid for 2.5 days, and proceeded to take off for an 11 day trip to Germany & Amsterdam.  I promise, soon, I'll get some pictures and stories up.  We had an absolutely amazing time, and we're really glad we got to explore these new places!  For now, my time has been taken up with learning spanish, trying to cook a bunch of new spanish foods, watching World Cup, and planning our August trip when the factory shuts down - to Ireland.  Any suggestions are welcome!

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Notes from Brian....Sturgis Falls, World Cup and Bacon Shrimp

Much to my deep regret, I wasn't able to attend Sturgis Falls this year.  It's three days of pure culinary and musical bliss.  If you're not familiar, start making plans for next year. For all those in attendance, have a turkey leg for me....

Much to my delight, World Cup is in full swing and being in Europe for this grand event has been great.  People will actually recognize soccer as a sport and March Madness isn't even a blimp on the radar compared to La Liga final or Champions League finals.  After reading a few of the uninformed and uncreative rants from the American newscasters or said sport's experts that seem to be recycled every 4 years, it makes me glad to be in Spain for the World Cup.

Much to my dismay, the US was eliminated after a hard fought 120 minutes with Ghana.  No worries, plenty more good futbol to come.

On a tastier note.....

On the blog we've shared many gastronomic adventures, some home cooked, some not, some extravagant and some pretty basic, but I believe we've happened upon a gem today that I had to share, and I'll even give you the recipe for........BACON SHRIMP.

Step 1: Cook bacon on a ridged skillet for breakfast.  We recommend bacon from a nice Iberian pig fed on a strict diet of acorns and red wine but the stuff at your local grocer will do.

Step 2: Get lazy and don't clean the skillet, spend the day meandering about the city and developing an appetite.

Step 3: Happen upon some tasty looking, reasonably priced pre-cooked shrimp. We recommend what they offer at Jose's Market but the selection at Sam's Club will work.

Step 4: Use "pre-greased" pan used from cooking bacon for grilling shrimp, grill until hot.  Add salt, pepper and lemon juice and voila! Gambas a la plancha.

Step 5: Consume your Bacon shrimp and drift off into sheer bliss.

Enjoy!

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A Fishy Weekend & Simple Pleasures

We have been back in Madrid, and LOVING settling back into a more consistent routine of life.  We were really excited to have a weekend to relax, hang out around home, and get to accomplish some things on our to-do lists.  At the top of Brian's list has been to try to cook fish.  We have a great supermarket next door that has a pretty spectacular fresh fish section - there are a couple of fishmongers who clean and prepare the fish for you right there.  Saturday morning we went out for breakfast and to another fresh market for fruits and vegetables, and then got a bunch of fish at the supermarket to cook that weekend.  Here's a little bit of what we made...

On Saturday, we started with fried boquerones (also known as anchovies).  I would have never touched them in the states (I only knew them as greasy fishies that Garfield would put on pizza).  But here, they are something really delicious.  Little fish, breaded and fried to a golden deliciousness.

On Sunday, we tried making trout (at least we think that's what the name translates to).  Brian had a lot of fun with the fish, as you can see in the pictures below.  That fish also attempted to have conversations with me throughout it's entire preparation, our consumption, and it even talked to me after we ate all of it.  I have such a talented husband :)

We used a recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook that my Aunt Donna & Uncle Tom gave us for our wedding.  I think it is our absolute favorite cookbook, and we've been able to use it a LOT!  We have more access here in Spain to the fresh ingredients he uses frequently, so we've loved getting to try new things.

EXTRA CREDIT:  Who can guess what the piece of pottery at the top left of this picture is used for?  I picked it up last week at our little pottery shopping day.

The fish turned out wonderfully.  Fresh rosemary, lemon, olive oil, and butter were the only ingredients - simple and delicious!

Our last fish for the weekend was mussels.  On Sunday night, Brian cleaned them (which takes forever!) and then steamed them, and we ate them with butter.  They were surprisingly delicious!

We had a lot of fun trying a bunch of new things!  If you come and visit us, and you like fish, hopefully you'll enjoy trying some new things with us.

Onto the simple pleasures part of this post...

While we were in the Netherlands I did a little bit of souvenir shopping.  I picked up some very cool things, but these are probably my very favorite.  I think that Brian thought I was the biggest nerd for getting them, but I've worn them almost every day since we got back!  They are so very comfortable, and completely awesome in their dutch-ness.  Don't be too jealous, everyone.

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American BBQ!

Do you remember the Paella cooking class I posted about last month?  Well, I guess this cooking class is a monthly event, and today (Tuesday), we had a cooking class on having an American BBQ!  So this morning, I drove out to the suburbs to hang out with more new friends.  The family that hosted it works with NATO, and have access to an American grocery store at one of the bases in Spain.  Molly, our hostess, was able to pick up some pork shoulder and make pulled pork - not something you can easily create here!  We also had potato salad, cucumber salad, cornbread, lemonade and sweet tea!  We sat outside, by the pool, and it was such a great way to spend my afternoon.  The women are from all over the world, and we always seem to have fabulous conversations.

Now, it may not seem like a big deal that we had pulled pork, but let me tell you, having some great home cooked food, from the states, with other americans and even international friends, is pretty fantastic.  The woman who hosted it is even from Kansas, so we get to share our midwest roots.  She's pretty fantastic!  I also met a woman from Minnesota, who grew up in Crystal Lake.  It's a small world, folks!

Our dessert was even made by an Aussie!  Meringue with fresh fruit and cream... tasty :)

Also, if you think of it, could you pray for me?  A few weeks ago, I had a terrible cold, I thought I had strep throat, I felt lethargic and awful, and I just chalked it up to the stress of moving and my body finally having time to get sick as we started to settle in.  I went to the doctor just to check, and I found out earlier this week that I have mono.  Bummer.  I can't believe that I successfully made it through our last 2 weeks of traveling, but I can definitely see how much more exhausted I was during that time than I have been in the past.  This week, I'm really feeling it, and I've been sleeping a lot.  At least I'm feeling MUCH better than I was a couple of weeks ago, but hopefully this won't last too long!

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the secret powers of time

Borrowed from our lovely friend Calais' blog.  She always finds such interesting things, and I usually resist re-posting ALL of them to not seem like too much of a stalker.  But, this one really got to Brian and I when we watched it.  For us, it helps explain why Spain is the way it is. Definitely worth the 10 minutes of your time.

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Pottery Day!

Brian and I had a fantastic time on our trip to Germany & the Netherlands.  We got back early on Sunday, and we're readjusting to the rhythm of Madrid life again.  No matter how wonderful it is to go on a vacation, see some new things, visit old friends, and try new foods, there is something comforting about coming home.  And, even though this is only a temporary home, it's still a place that is full of comfort & peace for us.

Brian went back to work today, with lots to catch up on from our 11 days away, and I spent the day with some friends on a shopping trip!  These ladies have been wonderful to me, and have created a very comfortable community that I get to hang out with every Wednesday morning.  The first week we arrived, we checked out a church in the suburbs, and I met some women who invited me to join them for a Wednesday morning Beth Moore bible study.  I went the first week, and I've been hooked since!  Theres about 15 of us involved in the study, and we get together in the morning, have coffee, talk about our homework from the previous week, watch the teaching video (we've been learning from Revelations - it's deep and challenging, and so rewarding to study!) and then share prayer requests.  I usually go out for lunch with someone afterwords, and it truly has become a highlight of my week here.  The study is wrapping up this week, and I'm going to be really bummed to not see everyone each week throughout the summer.  But we'll be starting again in the fall :)

Back to this shopping trip...  about 2 hours away from Madrid, there is a warehouse for Cruz pottery.  Here's a website I found that sold their stuff (if you go to the link, I actually saw those two guys at the top working that day).  When we walked in, one of the women was painting a water jug, and she patiently walked us through their small storefront, and then back to their large warehouse, with pottery piled everywhere!  It's a family owned business, and they live across the street from the store, and spend most days working with the pottery.  One of the women told me you can find this pottery in the states for approximately 2 to 3 times the prices that we would get at the warehouse.  So, I had to pick up a few pieces, if I could find them that inexpensively!  I know that they will be fabulous reminders of our time here.  Plus, I'm sure I'll be going back in the near future, so if you see something you'd like, let me know.  You'd probably have to come here to get it though!  Or, don't be too surprised if you get something from here as a birthday/christmas/anniversary gift someday :)

They took a bunch of pottery out of the kiln while we were there.

See those little spanish ladies in the left foreground?  They are bells!  I picked a couple of those up :)

This shows about 3/4 of the warehouse.  Isn't it all so pretty!

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Semana Santa Part 6 - Monserrat & The Last Day

On our last day, we decided to swing past some beautiful mountains we had seen in the distance on our drive up to Girona.  Thankfully, it was on the way home during our 7 hour drive, so we were able to easily see them without going too far out of our way.

Monserrat is the name of this mountain range.  It's an easy one hour drive from Barcelona, and there is a train (you can see in the background of the above picture) that takes people to the top to see a monastery & church.  We didn't have the time that day to go up and look around, but maybe we will in the future.

Above is the view of the mountains from the north, and the image below is the mountians from the south (I took it from the highway as we drove).

That evening, we got home, had a beer on the deck, unpacked, and relished in being home.  We really love traveling, but it is still so nice to come home at the end.

Thanks for following along with my Semana Santa series, covering our trip in April 2010, hopefully you enjoyed it at least a fraction of how much we enjoyed the whole thing!

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Semana Santa, Part 5 - Figures & the Salvador Dali Museum

After visiting the bodega, we headed into the nearby town of Figures, where Salvador Dali made his home.  He was a Spanish surrealist painter, who was prolific, self absorbed, and extremely quirky.  Here is the outside of his museum, which he designed and organized before his death, so it would be just as he wanted it to be for all time.

The eggs on top are a nice touch...  of crazy.

Although we didn't see this painting below at his museum (it's at MoMA in NYC) it's his most famous piece of art, and I'm sure you'll recognize it (or elements from it that have been reproduced in pop culture)

We honestly debated in front of the museum for about 20 minutes whether it was actually worth going into.  It was one of those places where you walk into the (free) gift shop, see the reproductions of ALL the stuff you're going to see in the museum, and you wonder if it's really worth the 15 bucks to get in.  But, since we had driven to the city specifically to see the museum, and we didn't really have anything else planned, we decided to go in and check things out.

Here's an excerpt from Rick Steve's travel guide about the place:  

The Dali Museum is the essential Dalí sight and, if you like Dalí, one of Europe's most enjoyable museums. Inaugurated in 1974, the museum is a work of art in itself. Dalí personally conceptualized, designed, decorated, and painted it. Ever the entertainer and promoter — this would showcase his life's work. The museum is also a kind of mausoleum to Dalí's creative spirit. There's no logical order to the museum — that would be un-surrealistic. And, naturally, there's no audio guide. Dalí said there are two kinds of visitors: those who don't need a description and those who aren't worth a description.

He used part of an old theater that had partially burned down (which he then restored) and created the addition you see above, with all the eggs.  In the middle of the courtyard, there is this cadillac - and you can put a coin into a machine near the car, and it makes it rain inside the car!  Here's another little excerpt about "The Rainy Taxi":

"... the famous Cadillac, of which six exist, that Dalí gave Gala (his wife and muse) as a present. One of them had belonged to President Roosevelt, another to Clark Gable, etc. This is the fourth reproduction of the famous Rainy Taxi, all now destroyed. 

The first was exhibited, with great success, at the surrealist exhibition in Paris, the second at the World Exhibition in New York, and the third at the surrealist retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The fourth is this one on permanent exhibition at the Dalí Museum."

We might add that this Cadillac-Rainy Taxi was the central feature in the stalls section of the former municipal theatre of Figueres, now converted into the Dalí Theatre-Museum, and it has attracted the attention of the more than ten million people who have visited the museum to date. It is the Cadillac that Gala used to drive and in which the couple had, during their stay in the United States, driven from coast to coast.

And now he has it raining inside... 

I wish that these pictures captured the pure craziness of what we were seeing there.  It was honestly hard to capture it, but trust me when I say that I saw the sort of things that a first-year architecture student would cobble together and call art :) 

One last excerpt from Rick Steves:

Was he on drugs? When asked, he said "I am the drug...take me." He was passionate about the dark side of things and, with Gala, he managed never to go off the deep end.  You can spend hours here wondering, is it real or not real? Am I crazy or is it you? Beethoven is painted with the ink of squid applied by a shoe on a stormy night. Jesus is made with candle smoke and an eraser. It's fun to see the Dalí-ization of art classics. 

In conjunction with the main museum, there was a special gallery exhibiting several items of jewelry he created.  These items were spectacular, unique, weird, and contrived out of his crazy mind.  Can you see the little hands on the broach on the right?  And the smiling mouth - rubies for lips and pearls for the teeth.  Actually very cool.  He also had created a heart out of rubies with a little crown on top of it, and it moved!  The heart looked like it was beating....

On the left, a painting on the ceiling in one of the rooms - it was really detailed and fantastic.  On the right is Mr. Dali himself, in all of his craziness.  I'm thinking that one of our friends should grow their mustaches like his...

I'm looking back at what I've written so far, and I'm really sounding like I'm putting the guy down a lot.  That's not my intention!  I actually think that he is an incredible artist - his hand drawings in pencil and other mediums are spectacularly detailed and well organized - he often just chooses odd subject matter.  If you have the time, Google him, and just see a sampling of his work - you'll find that its different than almost anything you've seen before, and that he really pushed some things to the limits.  His artwork has continued to be influential throughout the years, and although I think he's a bit crazy, I still like his work.

After a couple of hours at the museum, we had enough of art, and headed back to our hotel for some relaxing and a good bottle of Spanish wine.  Our next installation of the Semana Santa trip will be our last, as we drive back to Madrid!  

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Quick Update

Hello everyone!  I'm going to take a quick break from the Semana Santa posts to give you a quick update about our current trip.  Last Thursday we left for Germany and Amsterdam.  We're having an awesome time.  We spent a couple of days in Cologe, Germany, then went to Kassel, Germany to see some family friends of Brian, and now we're exploring Amsterdam.  Today we're heading to the Heineken Brewery, taking a canal tour, and hanging out with a high school friend of Brian's in the afternoon (who is also so very generously letting us stay at her house!)

We just wanted everyone to know that we're doing great, and I'm completely in love with my Dutch roots!  Now I just need to go find some wooden shoes...

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Semana Santa, Part 4 - Winery/Bodega Visit

The next morning, we started by trying to find a winery I had found on the internet.  I didn't write down the address, so we wandered the countryside just a bit and found a few other interesting sites.  There was a city called, which was a tiny, pretty little town, but they unfortunately had Pereladra converted their cathedral into a casino.  Still, it was pretty enough to take a picture of!  They were also well known for their Cava - sparkling wine.  We picked up a couple of bottles, and we have yet to try them!  We're waiting for some special visitors from the states to come over so we can try them.

Although we never found the winery I intended us to find, we did stumble upon a bodega (wine cellar) out in the country.  This place was AWESOME.  Lining one wall were huge wooden casks full of wine, and along the other wall were large stainless steel containers with more wine.  There were these paper signs taped to each cask/container, stating the price of the wine.  The cheapest was 1 Euro/liter and the most expensive was 3.50 Euros/liter.  It was so cheap, and so delicious!

We walked around the place for at least 15 minutes watching other people, just trying to figure out what we were supposed to do, since it seemed like the place was not so much of a tourist destination, but just a warehouse-type spot for locals to come pick up some great wine.  Tons of people were just coming in and out, filling up huge bottles and getting their wine for the Easter celebration. Near the check out counter, we found small tasting cups, so first we tried a bunch of the different wines to see what we wanted.

There were people bringing in 20 liter plastic bottles and just filling them full, but thankfully there were smaller sized bottles that you could buy there to fill on your own.  We picked up a couple of one liter bottles, and decided on the wines we wanted to try.

I filled up the bottle for the sweet, white Moscato, while Brian filled up the other with a Cabernet.  

About 5 Euros and two liters of wine later, we happily went on our way.  

At the Bodega, they also had local olive oil, and we picked up a big jug.  It has been the tastiest olive oil I've ever had, and it has been really fun cooking with it since we got back!

We stopped at a tourist office and picked up a map of the surrounding area, with hopes of finding some other wineries or olive oil producers.  We didn't have much luck, and after a lot of driving around the countryside without much success, we ended up just pulling off on the side of the road to relax for a bit before heading that afternoon into Figures, the city that Salvador Dali lived in and created his museum in.  But that's for the next post...

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