Madrid!

One of the reasons we moved to England was the opportunity it provided to travel around Europe. The question posed to us most frequently was, "where will you go first?" Frankly, we did not know. You are probably wondering how Madrid ended up being our first trip. At the advice of some great friends, we kept our weekends open and stayed on the lookout for last minute internet deals. So there you have it, Madrid was our first internet deal.

Madrid is the heart and soul of Spain. It is home to the Prado museum, Presidential Palace, and some of the best, if not the best, tapas bars in the world.  

View from our hotel which was near Plaza Mayor and Plaza del Sol

Our first Spanish breakfast. Cafe con leche and churros. Rory had Spanish ham and eggs with a Coca-Cola.

Plaza Mayor

Mercado de San Miguel. An indoor market that was a little slice of heaven.

Mercado de San Miguel

The market had numerous walk-up bars. When in Spain do as the Spanish do! 

 

 

Rory enjoying his Prosecco.

The Palace

The architecture in Madrid was stunning. I forced Rory to pose.

Instead of going out to dinner we decided to embark on a tapas bar crawl. Tapas are a small plate, or appetizer. Tapas are not just food but a way of life for the Spanish. It is not uncommon to go to 3-4 tapas bars in a single evening. Eating, drinking, and socializing at each stop. 

The first stop on our tapas tour was La Tourina Cerveria. Locals gather to watch bullfighting is this themed bar. The walls are decorated with actual stuffed bull heads, photographs, and elaborate tile paintings.

Nom nom nom nom.

Patatas bravas (Potatoes with red chili sauce) and pimentos de Padron (sauteed green peppers) at Casa Toni. 

Sweet house red wine at La Casa del Abuelo

We also sampled the famous gambas al ajillo (shrimp in oil and garlic) at La Casa del Abuelo. There is a reason those little shrimp are famous. They were dangerously good.

After our tapas bar crawl we were feeling quite confident in our ability to communicate in Spanish. We didn't have to point to our Spanish-English dictionary once! The following morning we wandered the back alleys of Madrid to find a "local" breakfast joint in an effort to stretch our Spanish language skills. I confidently ordered a coffee and breakfast pastry, and Rory ordered a chocolate croissant and orange juice. The waitress even said "muy bien," after I ordered as if to compliment my excellent language skills. The waitress brought us green tea, espresso, and a sealed chocolate donut (no orange juice). Muy bien indeed.

One of the many streets off of Plaza del Sol. Shopping, shopping, shopping!

Plaza del Sol

Yes, ham is sold "by the leg."

It wouldn't be a trip to Spain without a Flamenco show. A lot of stomping, clapping and brooding looks.

Al Hambra - our favorite stop.

Cheers!

Growing Pains

Everyone faces growing pains when moving. You have to find a new grocery store, mall, post office, bank, etc. In moving abroad we not only have to figure out where the stores are located but also what they are called. Since England does not have my three favorite stores (Target, Trader Joe's, or Nordstrom) I find myself walking into shops just to figure out what's inside. 

In an attempt to prepare myself for winter in England I've found myself going inside a lot of clothing stores. As I previously confessed, being a Southern California native I have no winter clothing. Yes I know it is still summer but I am already worried about winter. Whenever I think about winter in England I picture never ending grey skies, sideways rain, turn your umbrella inside out wind, and the monster from the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland. I can't explain the last one so don't ask. Since I don't know a Monsoon from a Fat Face (English stores) I am forced to go inside to figure what type of store it is. On a few occasions I've encountered strange looks from other customers. I panic, thinking they can tell I have no idea how idea how to interpret the UK size chart.  Turns out I was "shopping" in a plus-size store and one that catered to the elderly population. Whoops.   

After weeks of being surrounded by foreign stores I was comforted to learn that England has Costco. Costco!! Home of the mega toilet paper packs, rotisserie chicken and $1.50 pizza! Even better, I learned my US Costco membership was good worldwide. Oh happy day indeed.  Two weeks ago I drove 45 minutes to a Costco located in Reading (pronounced Red-ding). You read that correctly, I drove. 

I must confess that I didn't start driving until we purchased our Polo. Don't tell Mr. Stewart but I was really enjoying being Ms. Daisy. What I was not enjoying was playing navigator.  With increasing frequency our google directions would completely fail us.  For some reason the directions would guide us to the back side of our intended destination. By "back side" I mean there was typically a wall, street, or fence (or all three) between our vehicle and the intended destination. It just so happens that our excursion to Costco was no different. We ended up in a stadium parking lot. No joke.  After driving around in circles Rory spotted the Costco sign between some trees. Needless to say our first purchase at Costco was a Tom-Tom satellite navigation. Our second purchase was a rotisserie chicken! 

Okay, I know this post contained too many words and no pictures. Do not fear. I promise the next post will be full of pictures of our trip to Madrid last weekend.