I am back home.
It was a Fantastic trip to take especially for a mother and daughter trip.
The best purchase I made on the entire trip was a 2 euro hand held fan.
I can flick it open and shut in an instant.
I used it every day as it was pretty hot in Italy.
They sort of skipped spring this year and rolled right into summer.
Walking all day, going up stairs constantly, running to catch and ride metros gets a woman heated.
The 2 euro fan saved my life many times by keeping me from over heating.
Liz/Healy has one as well and she will agree that for a few bucks it is a great investment.
AMAZING was all we did, ate and saw. And Vennice is a maze. the streets so skinny and they never run straight for any amount of time. You walk down the skinny streets turning right then left then right then left after short stretches. It turly is like walking in a maze. The boat metro is great. they have boat taxi's as well so I can not say I am talking about the boat taxi. It is what Vennice developed to make up for not having a metro. As it is all water below (and some times on land) in Vennice they can not have a true metro system. The boats work like the under ground metros in the rest of europe.
You ride the boats just like you ride the metro. You visit the other islands around Vennice on the metro boat or take it to get to other sides of Vennice.
We always walked unless we had to cross water to get there.
We got a 12 hour metro boat pass which allowed us to island hop. That was pretty cool.
Liz/Healy and I did not blog while I was with her as you noticed.
Being together and having so much to see and do there just was not time for it.
Also we happened to be in areas where getting your hands on a computer for any amount of time was not possible.
One hotel had a computer you could use for 6 euro an hour.
That is about $12.00 us dollars for an hour of internet use.
It takes a quarter of that time for the thing to boot up, get to your web page and then try to get it to switch to english besides the time it takes to find the keys you want. It could end up being a $40.00 blog up date process when you really need to be out enjoying the sights.
When she is traveling alone and stays in hostels it is a little easier.
Students stay in hostals and the computer is cheaper to use, already hot and running, and mostly set on english. However the key boards are still diff. in each country. It takes time to find where the keys are. The hardest thing that is diff. on each computer is the @ sign. You never notice how much you use that till you can not find it. When you find it it is not easy to figure out how to get it in the right place. It can share a peg with two other signs and often you have to hold down two pegs to get that @ to go where you want it.
We saw a bull fight in Spain, A flamenco dance in Spain and a Italian Opera in Rome.
We visited more historic sights and buildings than we can keep track of, enjoyed so much art and sculpture we are stunned and ate so much great food that we were glad to get up every morning and start our full day of walking so we could eat more and still fit into our clothing.
We met lots of people in many places.
You think that you are taking a train, metros, going from one city to another, so that you talk to some one for a few moments and walk away thinking you will never see that person again.
Yet we did run into the same people days later in another city as if all of europe is one small town.
Days later in some street, church, resturant, in front of your hotel you just arrived at you see someone you met for a moment a few days before or a week before and spoke to.
Two girls on our night train from Barcelona to Milan departed ways the morning we arrived in Millan.
We ran into them many days later after we went from Milan to Vennice to Pisa, to Rome. We saw them in Rome at least twice as places so hugh and busy with crowds and crowds of people u would think you could never find each other if you got seperated.
It is sort of funny and interesting how that happens.
So so strange if you stay in hostels as they are full of young people traveling but for us after we started staying in hotels I thought it more unusual.
The blogging is over for me.
Liz will keep up her section when she can and I am sure she will set up a blog connection for Eric when he gets to Europe and starts to travel with her as well.
I do want to say that it was a great trip. Liz may not have long legs and look like the athletic type but she can run you ragged, she can hang and she will not miss taking advantage of the sights where she is at any time. Never did she feel she was too tired or wore out to climb those steps, walk that mile or what ever. She had a great sence of direction, knows her way around a metro, gets the hang of a new city or country very quickly and figures out how to communicate with people who do not speak english and she does not speak their language.
I am confident that the remainder of her trip will continue to be full speed ahead and she will be making the most of every day.
And for a girl who use to be really picky about foods and other things. I think she has reborn.
She will try anything. Wants to experiance all the flavors of the area and has no fear of what she might be eating.
If they eat it then she needs to try it if she can afford to on her budget.(which was expanded while I was with her of course) For awhile we decided we were turning into "foodies".
Where shall we eat next? What food are they noted for? WE must try that.
It was interesting to see the daughter you raised, watch grow up suddenly change in so many ways.
I am proud of her for the changes she has made to allow herself to make the most of this trip.
She still have several weeks left to travel in Europe. She has more countries to visit.
Keep her in your prayers that she remains safe and continues to have a great trip.
Thank you for supporting her during her travels.
If you are reading her blog then I know you are wishing her well and hoping for her good health and safty to continue.
Home with lots to do.
My car wont start. It has to be towed into the shop.
In addition to just trying to remember where I left off when I left to have my Lizzy DoesEurope adventure for 2 weeks.
Love & Best wishes,
Debra
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
pizza,pizza, pizza
First let me say that I did not see a large pink bird with stick like legs doing a super fast stomping tap dance. I did say flamingo and ment flamenco dance show. also baecelona won over madrid on saturdays soccer match. not barcelonia against all of spain.
but that being corrected let me go onto our arrival in italy.
our fist food in italy was pizza and it was soooo goood. we had lunch in milano and dinner in venice. last night in venice we had pasta dishes and they were both good but my dish was great.
I do not know who this girls is that i am traveling with some times as she is not the daughter i have known for 19 years. that girl was a fussy eater. this girl orders everything she thinks will be interesting and a new experiance. she ordered a pasta with a egg and bacon sauce. i suppose like scrambled eggs mixed in with pasta. that is not as unusual as other things she is eating these days but she would not have ordered something all mixed up like that in the past. that must mean she is growing up. when will i grow up. she eats things i still will not eat.
italy key boards are not the same as spain key boards, which are not the same as usa keyboards. we never had to pay to use the bathroom in spain but they often did not have toiklet paper. not even a place to hang toilet paper. so it was not that they ran out. they just do not put it in the bathrooms. even in the train station.
in italy they make you pay to use the bathroom. even in the train station.
last night we had a extra charge on our dinner bill that they said was just for walking in . the bill had 12 percent tip included and 2.50 euro each for showing up. that is about $4.oo each.
nothing like spain where they do not tip, do not add a additional charge for being nice enough to give them your business.
they do "suck face" in public here like they do in spain.
we are going to spend all day roaming venice. got on our walking shoes and ready to head out.
it is hot here.
we also plan to take a boat ride around venice and see some the islands.
take care,
D
but that being corrected let me go onto our arrival in italy.
our fist food in italy was pizza and it was soooo goood. we had lunch in milano and dinner in venice. last night in venice we had pasta dishes and they were both good but my dish was great.
I do not know who this girls is that i am traveling with some times as she is not the daughter i have known for 19 years. that girl was a fussy eater. this girl orders everything she thinks will be interesting and a new experiance. she ordered a pasta with a egg and bacon sauce. i suppose like scrambled eggs mixed in with pasta. that is not as unusual as other things she is eating these days but she would not have ordered something all mixed up like that in the past. that must mean she is growing up. when will i grow up. she eats things i still will not eat.
italy key boards are not the same as spain key boards, which are not the same as usa keyboards. we never had to pay to use the bathroom in spain but they often did not have toiklet paper. not even a place to hang toilet paper. so it was not that they ran out. they just do not put it in the bathrooms. even in the train station.
in italy they make you pay to use the bathroom. even in the train station.
last night we had a extra charge on our dinner bill that they said was just for walking in . the bill had 12 percent tip included and 2.50 euro each for showing up. that is about $4.oo each.
nothing like spain where they do not tip, do not add a additional charge for being nice enough to give them your business.
they do "suck face" in public here like they do in spain.
we are going to spend all day roaming venice. got on our walking shoes and ready to head out.
it is hot here.
we also plan to take a boat ride around venice and see some the islands.
take care,
D
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
location,locatin,location
we moved to another hotel and although it is not nearly as nice as the one we left it is in a much better location.
We discovered where all the people are.
Here in this area.
Our last day in Spain.
Italy here we come.
I like Barcelona the best of all the places in Spain we visited.
It has the old and the new.
Although not many people speak english here either there are more tourist who do.
and maybe a few more residents speak a tiny bit of english.
This area of Barcolna has all the old spanish style I did not see in our first hotels area.
we walked all around the olympic area. they are getting to have a major car show there.
so the banners that had the countries symbols flying now have logos like BMW flying.
Sure is a large area to cover but interesting.
We have seen all the sights including a flamigo dance show and a bull fight.
What they do not have here even in the so called asain area ( and I am talking about every city in spain we have been to) is nail salons.
No one does their nails here.
there are no places to have
just nails done.
I do not think they do pedicures around Spain.
and no one has fake nails.
And another thing you do not see unless it is on a tourist is boob jobs.
Just sort of interesting that fake nails and boobs are pretty much a american thing.
As is flashy jewelry.
I know the street my hotel is on because there is a mcdonald on one side of it and a pizza hut on the other but believe me there are other cafe´s and stores all spanish plenty.
liz is taking a picture of a dog laying on its back.
he is a nice dog belonging to the guy who checked us into this hotel.
so she has a dog belly photo to share... go figure.
off to italy...got to catch a train.
tomorrow..Pasta , no oil please...
Till then..
We discovered where all the people are.
Here in this area.
Our last day in Spain.
Italy here we come.
I like Barcelona the best of all the places in Spain we visited.
It has the old and the new.
Although not many people speak english here either there are more tourist who do.
and maybe a few more residents speak a tiny bit of english.
This area of Barcolna has all the old spanish style I did not see in our first hotels area.
we walked all around the olympic area. they are getting to have a major car show there.
so the banners that had the countries symbols flying now have logos like BMW flying.
Sure is a large area to cover but interesting.
We have seen all the sights including a flamigo dance show and a bull fight.
What they do not have here even in the so called asain area ( and I am talking about every city in spain we have been to) is nail salons.
No one does their nails here.
there are no places to have
just nails done.
I do not think they do pedicures around Spain.
and no one has fake nails.
And another thing you do not see unless it is on a tourist is boob jobs.
Just sort of interesting that fake nails and boobs are pretty much a american thing.
As is flashy jewelry.
I know the street my hotel is on because there is a mcdonald on one side of it and a pizza hut on the other but believe me there are other cafe´s and stores all spanish plenty.
liz is taking a picture of a dog laying on its back.
he is a nice dog belonging to the guy who checked us into this hotel.
so she has a dog belly photo to share... go figure.
off to italy...got to catch a train.
tomorrow..Pasta , no oil please...
Till then..
Monday, May 18, 2009
It all works out for the best,
Thank God it does. Who knew?
We had no idea what we missed till after the fact when we saw it on the news.
Barcelona beat Spain in Saturday soccer game.
Barcelona went nuts and the area we are moving to today as well as all of Barcelona except where we were had such a celebration that 60 some (almost 70) people arrested and almost as many ended up in hospitals.
We got off the metro Sat probably while the game was still going on and wondered where everyone was. We figured maybe we were here at the peak of off season.
Got to our hotel after walking, eating and walking some more.
The next day heard it on the news.
Great thing about a nice hotel is there are two stations on tv in english. they are both news stations and that is perfect for me.
Till we arrived at this hotel we did not have any english tv or any tv period.
Talking about soccer. We walked along a good portion of the Barcelona beach yesterday and came upon a area where they play beach volly ball. However it is really soccer beach volly ball.
I took a tiny bit of video with my camera to show Dylan when I get home.
They use a soccer ball, vollyball net and do not use hands at all.
As Liz mentioed in her blog. We have to say it.
The food here is just not that good.
It is either too oily,greasy, or some form of potatoe. (except spanish omelet is great and looks more like it is oven baked)
Yesterday I odered grilled prawns thinking that would not be floating in oil. Wrong.
they managed to put a platter of oily prawns in front of me.
I think they soak it is oil before and after grilling them.
We ordered a tapa(starter) of boiled shrimp and that was not oily but tasted like they boiled it in ocean salt water.
Liz order something I took a picture of on the menu.
A baked potatoe standing tall on a plate split at the top with a thousand island color sour cream texture sauce and shrimp in the top of the potatoe.
We are looking forward to Italy for food.
Spain has some wonderful things however. In Madrid and Sevilla the building are all like old spanish building. I think they recycle the stone, brick and plaster to make new buildings as not much looks modern and new except a small area in Madrid.
Sivella is really old Spanish style every where and you wonder if they built anything from new material in the last 200 years.
Barcelona has lots of new looking areas and buildings but still has its origional areas that are typical old Spanish style.
The hotels and hostels use a interesting system to conserve energy.
The door key has to be in a slot at the entrance of the room for the lights to be on.
If you leave the room and take your key the lights will not turn on or stay on.
The only time that is a problem is when (like in our hostel) you had to put all your stuff in a locker in your room which uses your key to open.
for security because it was 6 people to a room.
If you took your key out to open your locker the lights went out. I was in the room alone after dark and had to open my locker. I am happy to say I brought a very small flash light with me and made sure I had access to that all the time.
We are relocting to another hotel in Barcelona today and have 1 1/2 days left here.
When we changed from hostels to hotels we got this hotel for a great price. Around $100.00 per night.
The night train to Italy does not leave today so we needed another night here.
To get this hotel for another night was well over $300.00 per night. We found a better hotel just down the road for $88.00 (that is euros not dollars).
For $500.00 dollars I got $360.00 euro so figure the hotel would be about $500.00 in dollars.
All we do is walk so what is a walk just down the road to up grade to a hotel in a more interesting area. Both hotels are nice. Just the internet price is better and this hotel was no longer available at internet price even on line.
I am going to stop second guessing Liz when I am not home because now I see how it goes.
We tried to book the night train before making hotel reservations but the train station in Madrid did not do the international train reservations (because it was a city holiday?)
. However we tried like three times to get that done and for one reason or another they could not do it.
We walked and took metro to the train stations to take care of it in advance and was not able to till we got to Barcelonia.
If I had been at home I would have wondered why she did not take care of that earlier.
Lets just say things do not work her like they do at home.
They should have train reservations on line but they do not. You have to go to the train station.
No matter about that the train and metro are still a great way to go.
We are off to a Barcelona adventure.
I watched a special on the plane to europe on Barcelona chocolate cafe´s.
hopefully I will have something to report on that next time.
Ta Ta
We had no idea what we missed till after the fact when we saw it on the news.
Barcelona beat Spain in Saturday soccer game.
Barcelona went nuts and the area we are moving to today as well as all of Barcelona except where we were had such a celebration that 60 some (almost 70) people arrested and almost as many ended up in hospitals.
We got off the metro Sat probably while the game was still going on and wondered where everyone was. We figured maybe we were here at the peak of off season.
Got to our hotel after walking, eating and walking some more.
The next day heard it on the news.
Great thing about a nice hotel is there are two stations on tv in english. they are both news stations and that is perfect for me.
Till we arrived at this hotel we did not have any english tv or any tv period.
Talking about soccer. We walked along a good portion of the Barcelona beach yesterday and came upon a area where they play beach volly ball. However it is really soccer beach volly ball.
I took a tiny bit of video with my camera to show Dylan when I get home.
They use a soccer ball, vollyball net and do not use hands at all.
As Liz mentioed in her blog. We have to say it.
The food here is just not that good.
It is either too oily,greasy, or some form of potatoe. (except spanish omelet is great and looks more like it is oven baked)
Yesterday I odered grilled prawns thinking that would not be floating in oil. Wrong.
they managed to put a platter of oily prawns in front of me.
I think they soak it is oil before and after grilling them.
We ordered a tapa(starter) of boiled shrimp and that was not oily but tasted like they boiled it in ocean salt water.
Liz order something I took a picture of on the menu.
A baked potatoe standing tall on a plate split at the top with a thousand island color sour cream texture sauce and shrimp in the top of the potatoe.
We are looking forward to Italy for food.
Spain has some wonderful things however. In Madrid and Sevilla the building are all like old spanish building. I think they recycle the stone, brick and plaster to make new buildings as not much looks modern and new except a small area in Madrid.
Sivella is really old Spanish style every where and you wonder if they built anything from new material in the last 200 years.
Barcelona has lots of new looking areas and buildings but still has its origional areas that are typical old Spanish style.
The hotels and hostels use a interesting system to conserve energy.
The door key has to be in a slot at the entrance of the room for the lights to be on.
If you leave the room and take your key the lights will not turn on or stay on.
The only time that is a problem is when (like in our hostel) you had to put all your stuff in a locker in your room which uses your key to open.
for security because it was 6 people to a room.
If you took your key out to open your locker the lights went out. I was in the room alone after dark and had to open my locker. I am happy to say I brought a very small flash light with me and made sure I had access to that all the time.
We are relocting to another hotel in Barcelona today and have 1 1/2 days left here.
When we changed from hostels to hotels we got this hotel for a great price. Around $100.00 per night.
The night train to Italy does not leave today so we needed another night here.
To get this hotel for another night was well over $300.00 per night. We found a better hotel just down the road for $88.00 (that is euros not dollars).
For $500.00 dollars I got $360.00 euro so figure the hotel would be about $500.00 in dollars.
All we do is walk so what is a walk just down the road to up grade to a hotel in a more interesting area. Both hotels are nice. Just the internet price is better and this hotel was no longer available at internet price even on line.
I am going to stop second guessing Liz when I am not home because now I see how it goes.
We tried to book the night train before making hotel reservations but the train station in Madrid did not do the international train reservations (because it was a city holiday?)
. However we tried like three times to get that done and for one reason or another they could not do it.
We walked and took metro to the train stations to take care of it in advance and was not able to till we got to Barcelonia.
If I had been at home I would have wondered why she did not take care of that earlier.
Lets just say things do not work her like they do at home.
They should have train reservations on line but they do not. You have to go to the train station.
No matter about that the train and metro are still a great way to go.
We are off to a Barcelona adventure.
I watched a special on the plane to europe on Barcelona chocolate cafe´s.
hopefully I will have something to report on that next time.
Ta Ta
Thursday, May 14, 2009
I have no spanish..
Truth: the first time i tried to add onto lizzys blog i got as far as hot, then hit the wrong key which took me to some other internet land. rather than try again i just gave the computer to the next person waiting for it.
Liz was not kidding when she said the key boards are not the same as ours in the usa.
many things are not the same on these key boards and one major problem for me is i have no spanish.
my high school spanish is gone, my living in texas spanish is gone. i have no spanish.
But I do like it in Spain very much.
I have no idea how or why i have underlined anything so i can not get rid of it either.
I was trying for a cap and got a line. go figure.
I arrived in Madrid, my phone had no service, the pay phones did not want to let me use the prepaid card (i am sure it was my lack of spanish). I was not sure how I would let Liz know I did arrive on time. My plan was to head for the hotel/hostel. Some man was waiting on his ride and talking into his I phone in english. So I asked him if my I phone needed to be adjusted to another setting or whatever to get service ( as I made a point to get all this arranged before I left, going as far as to drop into the phone office the day i WAS LEAVING JUST TO CHECK. THIS IS REALLY FUNNY. NOW I CAN NOT GET OFF CAPS AND DO NOT KNOW HOW I DID THIS.
AND I STILLL HAVE THE UNDERLINE. WISH LIZ WERE HERE WITH ME. SHE WOULD FIX THIS.
SHE IS IN OUR ROOM, I AM IN THE BUSINESS CENTER OF OUR HOTEL.
SEE WHY I DID NOT BLOG BEFORE NOW. I FEEL A TAD HELPLESS.
I atleast got the caps off.
things always work out. the man said use my phone. i called liz, she was on her way to the airport so good thing i did not go to the hotel/hostel.
Madrid is a large active city. the tour book i read before leaving for europe is mostly wrong about Spain.
They were correct that you do not see women in shorts.
Very little leg shows here.
If they have on a short skirt they wear design hose under it or tights.
they like the design hose that look like your legs are tattooed.
I have seen a few in shorts but we have decided they are not into knees.
They do wear sleeveless tops and they do smoke in restaurants.
the book said they are smokers but do not smoke in restaurants.
I do not know where that person ate but we have walked in restaurants and the smoke was heavy.
If you eat at the counter standing up it is one price, if you sit at a table it is a little more, if you sit at a table outside it is even a little more $.
I like that they do not have tax or if they do it is included in the price.
if the menu or tag says one amount you pay that amount. not that amount plus. and none of the tabs/reciepts have a space for a tip. they pretty much do not tip here. so it is nice. if you have $1.00 (euro) and it cost $1.00 euro you give one euro and no more.
If you like chocolate then you willl love Spain. they are all about chocolate and pastry.
I think of John everytime we go in a restaurant, grocery store believe this?even a McDonalds in Madrid had a fab pastry counter.
we were walking down a busy street and the corner had a mc donnalds with large glass on all sides.
we could see the counter for the normal mc donnald food and the counter for the pastry.
they were all one store and all mcdonalds.
the people in spain like to hang and talk.
there were a group of guys (6 or 8) sitting in the McDonalds (I took note because you just do not see this at home) on big cushion chairs sitting kicked back with arms over the side of the chair drinking coffee/beverages, just chatting and laughing. No one is in a hurry.
It seems no matter what you order you will get bread or get it on bread.
On the train in the dinning car they said they had hot sandwich and cold.
I asked for a hot sandwish and it was potatoe like a hash potatoe patty on sliced thick bread.
I had a potatoe sandwich.
The best food I have had so far is the spanish omlet.
It also had potatoe in it.
I am actually amazed at how much potatoe I have had here.
It is bread and potatoe they like to serve.
Back to the chocolate. They have chocolate cafe', they have places that serve chocolate in coffee cups (not hot chocolate) just thick creamy chocolate.
Some you drink and some you dunk a fab pasty stick into.
Why dont we have this at home. I is something worth adopting.
I think we should adopt the train and metro system as well.
The metro (inter city trains) are great.
Talk about car pooling.
The metro station is never empty. We have never yet been the only ones waiting for the metro. They are often packed but everyone is laid back and cool about such things as people getting on a packed metro train with a hugh back pack on their back.
The metro train can be so packed no one can move and a family with a stroller gets on and it is no problem. No one looks, cares or is bothered. Just shove in a little closer and make it work.
The men and younger people will give up a metro seat to a older woman.
But you have to be older than me and wear a granny hair do with a long granny skirt.
Then they give you the seat.
It is true that they eat late in spain. lunch is the largest meal. and they stay up late.
I have not adjusted to this and probably will not.
I can not stay up all night.
When I go to bed I can hear people on the street.
When I wake up during the night I can still hear people on the street.
When I get up in the morning there is silence on the streets.
They do not seem to be big party dancing people.
They just like to drink, chat and chat some more. and drink some more.
And eat pastry.
Wine is really cheap here.
I have hardly had any alochol during the time I have been here.
We walk so much that I am all about water when we stop.
Walking is how we pass our time here.
We walk every place we go and it seems everyone else does as well.
The streets are always busy with people and I wonder why they are not at work.
Madrid was always busy with people going up and down the streets.
Kissing, no make that " making out", in public is common.
I see couples everywhere that we would tell to "get a room "if they were in the usa.
On the corner, the metro, on the street any place.
They dont just kiss. The get into it and no one pays any attention.
They just like long serious tounge kissing and will stop anyplace to make out for a moment.
We went to Sevilla on the train, stayed for a day and left the next afternoon.
It was really nice because a friend of Liz (one of the guys she met earlier in her travels and that is a whole nother story) named Aaron was nice enough to meet us at the train station, escort us to our hostel, take us on a tour of Sevilla, show us a good place to have lunch and escort us back to our hostel. He was leaving to return home the next day. He is a student at Texas Tec and lives in Austin. A very nice gentelman and having studied for a semester in Sevilla knew all about the area.
We returned to Madrid for one more night and got to attend a bull fight.
(We tried during our first trip to Madrid but my credit cards were put on hold after the first purchase was made in europe. Again I made special arrangments before leaving the states to make sure my cards would be valid for charges in europe during the dates I would be here. A couple phone calls and explaining where and when I would be paying for hotels, food, trains, what ever in europe, reconfirming, thought I was covered. There was no more a person could do to make sure they had phone and open charge cards for a trip to europe and yet I had no phone and no charge ability when I arrived. When I finally got phone ( I love U John) I spend a ton on phone charges to get my credit card un blocked. And again John also had to follow up for me. (thank you again honey) I was a little ticked off to discover they put a hold on my card for a $13.00 charge)
Back to the bull fight..
We made it to the bull fight.
We had our (what tourist we are) spanish hand held fans and my spanish shaw.
We had front row seats and we did not like it at first.
They let the bull out into the ring. They tease it.
Then they have men on horses with the horse blind folded rough up the bull.
We thought it was terrrible that the horse did not sign up for this.
that they blind fold it and take it out to the ring with the bull.
Of course the first bull knocked down one of the horses twice.
So we were really getting upset.
As it went on we discovered that the horse had on lots of padding and the horns were not breaking the skin of the horse.
So we then chilled out a bit and began to get into the workings of a bull fight.
The audiance is hard core and gives no slack.
If the matador is not doing what they think he should the audience lets him know.
It was interesting, gruesome, sort of funny sometimes and I am not sure if I would attend one again, yet last night they had a bull fight on TV and I watched it.
I think I saw Liz on the TV as they film all of the fights and they scan the audience.
A young lady that looked like her with the same exact fan as hers was on for a flash scan of the audience.
It could have been the fight we were at and they caught her as they scanned the audience.
We are in Barcelona now.
After the night in the hostel that Liz booked in Sevilla I told her we were changing all our reservations to hotels.
I stayed in a hostel that I booked and it was OK.
We had our own room and bathroom.
The one she booked was a small room with three bunk beds, one bathroom, no towels provided. (I was prepared for that as she warned me that happens sometimes).
It was not terrible. I enjoyed talking to a couple of the girls we shared the room with.
I got to see what it is like for Liz and how she meets so many people.
I am less worried about her now than I was before I arrived.
I do not need to stay in any more hostels to know what it is all about for her.
I like my own bathroom, not having to worry about packing a wet towel in my back back and not having people come in and out of the room all night long.
But at her age and doing what she is doing it is the best way to go.
Everyone there is doing pretty much the same thing and are very friendly.
I met a french girl that I chatted with and found very interesting at that hostel.
We met a couple of lovely young lady´s in a cafe´ that were from N. Carolina in Madrid.
You do meet other students traveling around as that is what they do here.
next time I blog I will hopefully not have everything underlined.
Still can not figure that out... obviously.
I want to add that the people here are not as fat over all as they are in the us.
I am sure it is all the walking and steps here.
It is true. Americans are over weight and Europeans over all are not.
Especially the kids.
The older people are the only ones that seem to be over weight.
the streets and side walks are all brick or stone so it has to be hard for the older people walking around.
Sevilla was more into fashion than Madrid.
They do wear more dark colors and lots of black.
Skinny jeans are popular.
very tight at the ankles.
I am happy to report:
No ones ass crack shows.
The croch of pants are not at their knees.
It is nice not to see that.
They do have one fashion item in Spain that I have not seen any place else.
That is pant for ladies that are very flowing. And the croch is at the knees on that.
Or it can be a skirt with the bottom sewn shut except for two small leg holes.
It looks comfortable but not exactly sexy or attractive.
Ok, what else? This is too long.. so who do you think this is? Someone with a short story? Like ever??
Liz was not kidding when she said the key boards are not the same as ours in the usa.
many things are not the same on these key boards and one major problem for me is i have no spanish.
my high school spanish is gone, my living in texas spanish is gone. i have no spanish.
But I do like it in Spain very much.
I have no idea how or why i have underlined anything so i can not get rid of it either.
I was trying for a cap and got a line. go figure.
I arrived in Madrid, my phone had no service, the pay phones did not want to let me use the prepaid card (i am sure it was my lack of spanish). I was not sure how I would let Liz know I did arrive on time. My plan was to head for the hotel/hostel. Some man was waiting on his ride and talking into his I phone in english. So I asked him if my I phone needed to be adjusted to another setting or whatever to get service ( as I made a point to get all this arranged before I left, going as far as to drop into the phone office the day i WAS LEAVING JUST TO CHECK. THIS IS REALLY FUNNY. NOW I CAN NOT GET OFF CAPS AND DO NOT KNOW HOW I DID THIS.
AND I STILLL HAVE THE UNDERLINE. WISH LIZ WERE HERE WITH ME. SHE WOULD FIX THIS.
SHE IS IN OUR ROOM, I AM IN THE BUSINESS CENTER OF OUR HOTEL.
SEE WHY I DID NOT BLOG BEFORE NOW. I FEEL A TAD HELPLESS.
I atleast got the caps off.
things always work out. the man said use my phone. i called liz, she was on her way to the airport so good thing i did not go to the hotel/hostel.
Madrid is a large active city. the tour book i read before leaving for europe is mostly wrong about Spain.
They were correct that you do not see women in shorts.
Very little leg shows here.
If they have on a short skirt they wear design hose under it or tights.
they like the design hose that look like your legs are tattooed.
I have seen a few in shorts but we have decided they are not into knees.
They do wear sleeveless tops and they do smoke in restaurants.
the book said they are smokers but do not smoke in restaurants.
I do not know where that person ate but we have walked in restaurants and the smoke was heavy.
If you eat at the counter standing up it is one price, if you sit at a table it is a little more, if you sit at a table outside it is even a little more $.
I like that they do not have tax or if they do it is included in the price.
if the menu or tag says one amount you pay that amount. not that amount plus. and none of the tabs/reciepts have a space for a tip. they pretty much do not tip here. so it is nice. if you have $1.00 (euro) and it cost $1.00 euro you give one euro and no more.
If you like chocolate then you willl love Spain. they are all about chocolate and pastry.
I think of John everytime we go in a restaurant, grocery store believe this?even a McDonalds in Madrid had a fab pastry counter.
we were walking down a busy street and the corner had a mc donnalds with large glass on all sides.
we could see the counter for the normal mc donnald food and the counter for the pastry.
they were all one store and all mcdonalds.
the people in spain like to hang and talk.
there were a group of guys (6 or 8) sitting in the McDonalds (I took note because you just do not see this at home) on big cushion chairs sitting kicked back with arms over the side of the chair drinking coffee/beverages, just chatting and laughing. No one is in a hurry.
It seems no matter what you order you will get bread or get it on bread.
On the train in the dinning car they said they had hot sandwich and cold.
I asked for a hot sandwish and it was potatoe like a hash potatoe patty on sliced thick bread.
I had a potatoe sandwich.
The best food I have had so far is the spanish omlet.
It also had potatoe in it.
I am actually amazed at how much potatoe I have had here.
It is bread and potatoe they like to serve.
Back to the chocolate. They have chocolate cafe', they have places that serve chocolate in coffee cups (not hot chocolate) just thick creamy chocolate.
Some you drink and some you dunk a fab pasty stick into.
Why dont we have this at home. I is something worth adopting.
I think we should adopt the train and metro system as well.
The metro (inter city trains) are great.
Talk about car pooling.
The metro station is never empty. We have never yet been the only ones waiting for the metro. They are often packed but everyone is laid back and cool about such things as people getting on a packed metro train with a hugh back pack on their back.
The metro train can be so packed no one can move and a family with a stroller gets on and it is no problem. No one looks, cares or is bothered. Just shove in a little closer and make it work.
The men and younger people will give up a metro seat to a older woman.
But you have to be older than me and wear a granny hair do with a long granny skirt.
Then they give you the seat.
It is true that they eat late in spain. lunch is the largest meal. and they stay up late.
I have not adjusted to this and probably will not.
I can not stay up all night.
When I go to bed I can hear people on the street.
When I wake up during the night I can still hear people on the street.
When I get up in the morning there is silence on the streets.
They do not seem to be big party dancing people.
They just like to drink, chat and chat some more. and drink some more.
And eat pastry.
Wine is really cheap here.
I have hardly had any alochol during the time I have been here.
We walk so much that I am all about water when we stop.
Walking is how we pass our time here.
We walk every place we go and it seems everyone else does as well.
The streets are always busy with people and I wonder why they are not at work.
Madrid was always busy with people going up and down the streets.
Kissing, no make that " making out", in public is common.
I see couples everywhere that we would tell to "get a room "if they were in the usa.
On the corner, the metro, on the street any place.
They dont just kiss. The get into it and no one pays any attention.
They just like long serious tounge kissing and will stop anyplace to make out for a moment.
We went to Sevilla on the train, stayed for a day and left the next afternoon.
It was really nice because a friend of Liz (one of the guys she met earlier in her travels and that is a whole nother story) named Aaron was nice enough to meet us at the train station, escort us to our hostel, take us on a tour of Sevilla, show us a good place to have lunch and escort us back to our hostel. He was leaving to return home the next day. He is a student at Texas Tec and lives in Austin. A very nice gentelman and having studied for a semester in Sevilla knew all about the area.
We returned to Madrid for one more night and got to attend a bull fight.
(We tried during our first trip to Madrid but my credit cards were put on hold after the first purchase was made in europe. Again I made special arrangments before leaving the states to make sure my cards would be valid for charges in europe during the dates I would be here. A couple phone calls and explaining where and when I would be paying for hotels, food, trains, what ever in europe, reconfirming, thought I was covered. There was no more a person could do to make sure they had phone and open charge cards for a trip to europe and yet I had no phone and no charge ability when I arrived. When I finally got phone ( I love U John) I spend a ton on phone charges to get my credit card un blocked. And again John also had to follow up for me. (thank you again honey) I was a little ticked off to discover they put a hold on my card for a $13.00 charge)
Back to the bull fight..
We made it to the bull fight.
We had our (what tourist we are) spanish hand held fans and my spanish shaw.
We had front row seats and we did not like it at first.
They let the bull out into the ring. They tease it.
Then they have men on horses with the horse blind folded rough up the bull.
We thought it was terrrible that the horse did not sign up for this.
that they blind fold it and take it out to the ring with the bull.
Of course the first bull knocked down one of the horses twice.
So we were really getting upset.
As it went on we discovered that the horse had on lots of padding and the horns were not breaking the skin of the horse.
So we then chilled out a bit and began to get into the workings of a bull fight.
The audiance is hard core and gives no slack.
If the matador is not doing what they think he should the audience lets him know.
It was interesting, gruesome, sort of funny sometimes and I am not sure if I would attend one again, yet last night they had a bull fight on TV and I watched it.
I think I saw Liz on the TV as they film all of the fights and they scan the audience.
A young lady that looked like her with the same exact fan as hers was on for a flash scan of the audience.
It could have been the fight we were at and they caught her as they scanned the audience.
We are in Barcelona now.
After the night in the hostel that Liz booked in Sevilla I told her we were changing all our reservations to hotels.
I stayed in a hostel that I booked and it was OK.
We had our own room and bathroom.
The one she booked was a small room with three bunk beds, one bathroom, no towels provided. (I was prepared for that as she warned me that happens sometimes).
It was not terrible. I enjoyed talking to a couple of the girls we shared the room with.
I got to see what it is like for Liz and how she meets so many people.
I am less worried about her now than I was before I arrived.
I do not need to stay in any more hostels to know what it is all about for her.
I like my own bathroom, not having to worry about packing a wet towel in my back back and not having people come in and out of the room all night long.
But at her age and doing what she is doing it is the best way to go.
Everyone there is doing pretty much the same thing and are very friendly.
I met a french girl that I chatted with and found very interesting at that hostel.
We met a couple of lovely young lady´s in a cafe´ that were from N. Carolina in Madrid.
You do meet other students traveling around as that is what they do here.
next time I blog I will hopefully not have everything underlined.
Still can not figure that out... obviously.
I want to add that the people here are not as fat over all as they are in the us.
I am sure it is all the walking and steps here.
It is true. Americans are over weight and Europeans over all are not.
Especially the kids.
The older people are the only ones that seem to be over weight.
the streets and side walks are all brick or stone so it has to be hard for the older people walking around.
Sevilla was more into fashion than Madrid.
They do wear more dark colors and lots of black.
Skinny jeans are popular.
very tight at the ankles.
I am happy to report:
No ones ass crack shows.
The croch of pants are not at their knees.
It is nice not to see that.
They do have one fashion item in Spain that I have not seen any place else.
That is pant for ladies that are very flowing. And the croch is at the knees on that.
Or it can be a skirt with the bottom sewn shut except for two small leg holes.
It looks comfortable but not exactly sexy or attractive.
Ok, what else? This is too long.. so who do you think this is? Someone with a short story? Like ever??
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
