Wrapping Up

Some random notes:

1.  The second clothesline was a good idea, but it might be good for one of the lines to have suction cups instead of velcro loops.

2. The pepper was popular, too, but I should have left the peanut butter at home.  I never had an opportunity to share it, and I didn't want to bring it home, so it stayed in Madrid.

3.  Take a good map. It occurs to me that I don't even have a good map of Madrid, but that isn't so necessary anymore, after five trips.  Still....

4.  French Lay's BBQ chips actually taste like steak with onions, and they don't shed that bright orangey stuff. Mussels and eels will not be appearing on my favorite foods list any time soon - or ever. Nor anchovies.

5.  An unscheduled day by yourself is a wonderful thing, but you need a whole day, not just half.

6.  Packing list was perfect - jeans, capris, long sleeved shirt, 3/4 sleeve shirt, three short sleeved shirts and a t-shirt (my emergency shirt), t-shirt and shorts for swim coverup/pajamas, 1 extra bra, five underwear, two no-show white socks, three black crew socks, sandals, swimsuit.  On the plane, yoga pants, socks and Skechers, 3/4 sleeve blouse.

Now to go pack everything in the right bags for flying tomorrow!

A Grand Day Out

My flight to Paris got in about five minutes early, but it was still about two hours of waiting for the shuttle, checking into my hotel, taking the shuttle back to the airport again, buying a train ticket, waiting for the train, etc., before I was ready to embark on my big day in Paris.  It was going to be a grand adventure, and in the end, it was - just not the adventure I had envisioned.

Shuttle to and from hotel? Check
Train ticket? Check
Ride to Gare de Nord? Check

So far, so good - but that's where it kind of fell apart.  First, no one told me that you have to have your ticket to put in the machine to get out of the station. So I had to step aside and dig through my purse to find it. And apparently, like Madrid, where you get off of an arriving train is nowhere near the actual station, so when I finally found my way out, I didn't know what side I was on.  I tried matching the tour bus map to Google maps, but it turns out that the tour bus map doesn't have street names, only pictures of the places that the tour goes, with the general direction marked.  Some other people were looking for the station, too, so I set out walking in the same direction they did, but lost them at some point.  I got very lost for a bit in a decidedly Muslim area of town.  Interesting window shopping, but I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures.  There was litter everywhere, and it smelled like pee, and I just wanted to find the bus. When I say there was litter everywhere and it smelled like pee, I don't just mean that neighborhood, either.  It was the same everywhere I was.

I ended up seeing the tour bus go by and tried to follow it to a stop, but the driver wouldn't let me on without being at an official stop, nor would he even let me ask where one was.  Eventually, after maybe a 45 minute huge, circular walk, I ended up in front of Gare de Nord, but was still unable to find the bus place.  I stopped into McDonald's for a drink and to use the bathroom (though I might have skipped the drink if I knew you didn't need a code to get into the bathroom), then tried to call the bus place.  The call wouldn't go through, but since the error message was in French, I didn't have a clue what I had done wrong.

Gare de Nord

 I took one more stab at finding it, but eventually decided to give it up.  I didn't want to get too far from Gare de Nord and not be able to find my way back to go back to the airport.  So I went in, bought myself a sandwich and some chips for dinner, and headed back. I saw Gare de Nord, and I saw some pretty buildings near there.  I walked five miles, and I learned how to take the RER B from the airport. I learned that Paris is dirty and smells like pee.  I'm a little disappointed in myself for not being able to pull this off. On the plus side, I didn't buy a ticket online for the tour bus, either for the day I couldn't get into town at all, or for today, so that's $30 saved.  If I ever come back, I'll do it with more time and a real plan - and definitely a real map.

Random pretty building in Paris.

Historic Valencia

My last day in Spain (for now). Sad! as Trump would tweet.  My visit to Valencia was too brief, but at the same time, I'm ready to head home.

We started the day at the historic city center, visiting the basilica to see the Virgin of Valencia.  The amount of gold was unbelievable, as was the beautiful painted ceiling.  Carlos said that a couple of weeks ago, on the Virgin's feast day, they moved the statue of the Virgin from the basilica to the Church next door, and the plaza was jammed with people. Whether you are Catholic or not, Carlos says,  the Virgin's help is sought by everyone who has problems.

The Virgin of Valencia

We then walked through some of the narrow streets, and came upon a Segway tour guide who offered to let us try the Segway for free (in hopes of getting us to buy a tour, and wasn't a bad deal, but we didn't have time). I talked Carlos into trying it, but I couldn't really tell if he liked it or not. It would have been a nice way to see the old part of the city - maybe next time.

Carlos and the Segway

This instrument is called a handpan.  It's like a steel drum, but played with the hands.  The music was really gorgeous, and I bought a CD.

Then we stopped into the Parroqia San Nicolas to see Valencia's "Sistine Chapel".  We rented audio guides, which was a good idea (and something I was finally allowed to pay for).  The church is absolutely breathtaking, and we really needed the guides for explanation of what we we seeing.  The problem was, we had no idea how long the whole thing was, and we had to quit after #13 because we needed time for lunch before taking me to the train.  Maybe it only went to 15, or maybe it went to 30, who knows? But it was easily one of the highlights of Valencia for me.

Valencia's "Sistine Chapel"

We were walking around looking for a lunch place when I got tickled by the name of a place - El Clot.  It didn't sound like a place that had any heart-healthy dishes, for sure.  But when Carlos' first choice was closed, and the second choice turned out to have nothing we (mostly me) wanted to eat, we ended up back at El Clot. They had tapas, and we ended up with Russian salad, patatas bravas, and a cheese plate, all of which were good - and way too much food.

Then it was time to head for the train station to get back to Madrid.  I can't say enough nice things about Carlos' hosting - but I do wish I had been permitted to buy dinner or something. We said our goodbyes, then I had just enough time to get a drink from the vending machine and go to the bathroom before my train was called.  The trip back was uneventful, and I got the Airport Express bus, and then a taxi, to my hostal.

Hostals in Spain are always interesting.  Unlike hostels, hostals are small, usually family-run, hotels.  They have quirky room setups, and funky decorating, but they are cheap and clean, and good enough for the price.  My room didn't seem to have a remote for the air conditioner, and the lady had to dig up a big bag of them and come in to see which one worked.  After that was sorted, and I had my bags packed properly for flying, I tried to go to sleep.  The pillow was heavy and solid, apparently filled with something like sand.  I would get in a good position, then a shift of my head would cause the sand to drain away from the pile, and I would have to start over.  Once I did get to sleep, I was awakened by a group of loud Americans clunking big suitcases up the stairs and chatting at top volume in the hall.  Eventually, though, I did nod off.

Show and Tell and Tell and Tell

We did a lot today. Carlos picked me up at 11:00, and we went to see the Central Market, a large market where you can buy everything from meat and fruits and vegetables, to things like belts and wallets.  It is a beautiful old building with lots of colorful tilework. We thought we would get to see some eels like we ate on Saturday, but the fish section is closed on Monday because the fishermen don't fish on Sunday.  Oh well.

Central Market

 Once outside, we stopped to have a glass of horchata and some fartons.  Horchata is a cold drink that is made from some sort of nut (a tiger nut, but I don't know what that is) and sugar.  It is similar to almond milk, but sweetened.  Fartons are long tubes of pastry, flaky like a croissant inside, with a light sugar glaze.  You can eat the farton and drink the horchata, or dip it in.  Horchata is principally made in a small city near Valencia.

Next, we visited the Silk Exchange building across the street.  It was a center of commerce in the 1400s and has been very carefully restored.  They showed a film about the building and the restoration, and it surprised me when part of the soundtrack was "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing".  The next song was also Christmas-related, and when I remarked on this to Carlos, he said, "Well, it's religious music," but didn't seem to be bothered by it.  It seemed odd to me.

We walked around part of the old town, then went back to the car to go have lunch at a restaurant on the ground floor of Carlos' English school  Then we had Show & Tell, with me as the show.  We sat in on part of a class that was taught by Carlos' teacher (not his actual group), and she asked me how to pronounce "pursue" and whether you say "regardless of age" or just "regardless age". I think everyone was suitably impressed that I knew the answer.

Then we headed for Malvarrosa Beach.  This a massive beach, long and wide, beside the shipping port, near where the cruise ships dock.  I wanted to wade in the water, so we trudged over probably a half-mile of deep sand to reach it.  The water temp was great, and I almost wished I could have gone in, but wading was enough.  It was especially enough when a rogue wave hit me and drenched me from the butt down.  I was unaware that in Spain, it is acceptable to sunbathe topless on a public beach, but we saw several people doing so. We walked along the entire beach, then up to the harbor that was developed for the America's Cup yacht race several years ago.  From there we could see a couple of cruise ships, and the shipping port.

This sand castle took one week to build, and is held together with only water.  I don't know how he keeps someone from smashing it at night or something  To the left, you can see his tray for tips.

Then we went back to Carlos' school to have a drink with Carmen, so she could say goodbye (she is a teacher at the school across the street).  She had to have dinner with their son, and would not be joining us later on.  We then headed back into town, to the Razufa area, to meet up with one of Carlos' classmates, Jacinto,who wanted to meet and speak with me.  The place they chose to meet was really interesting.  It is a cafe whose walls are lined with bookshelves.  You can come in, select a book, and read while you are eating or having a drink.  But on Monday nights, they have a language exchange.  People come and put a flag on their table indicating what languages they want to exchange (English and Spanish, Spanish and German, etc),  then others can join them to speak the same languages.  The place was packed, so we sat outside.  We were joined later by Vincent, an English teacher at Carmen's school.  He had a very British accent, which was surprising.  Later, a couple came up who wanted to borrow Jacinto's lighter, and they ended up talking to us, too.  The guy sounded completely British, but he has a Spanish father and a British mother, and he lives in Spain.  Very interesting evening.  We ended up having a sandwich there for dinner.

The Unik Cafe and Library.

Tomorrow, I am not sure what we have planned in the morning. My train leaves for Madrid at 3:10, and I should be back in Madrid by 5:00.  Then I need to get myself to my hostal near the airport. And I fly out Wednesday morning for Paris.

Poking Around the City of Arts and Sciences

I had today to myself, so I did a little laundry, then walked down to the City of Arts and Sciences area, a block or so away, to see what was there.  The morning was a little grey, and there weren't many people around just after 10:00.  I walked around a bit, taking pictures, then found my way down to the inside, where I watched people get zipped into plastic balls so they could float around in the water for 10 minutes.  There were actually several water toys in the area, including kayaks and something that looked like a powered paddleboard.

Zipping in, and getting the ball poofed up with air.

The City of Arts and Sciences contains the Hemispheric, where there is an IMAX theatre, the Prince Felipe Science Museum, and the Oceanografic.  This is obviously not my picture, but a photo of a postcard.  You can probably see why it's hard to photograph.

Eventually, I made my way (the LONG way, of course) to the Oceanografic, Valencia's famed aquarium.  When I first walked in, it didn't look like much.  In fact, as I was just getting down to the first exhibit, I heard an "ugly American" type behind me say, "Well, this is sure no Sea World."  And no, it's not Sea World.  What looks like a fairly limited selection of exhibits on the surface is nothing compared to what awaits underground - an enormous collection of all types and sizes of jellyfish, a tunnel of water that you can walk through and watch fish swim above you, a network of connected exhibits arranged by geographic area, and all types of sea life, viewable from above and below.  It was really great - so great, in fact, that I ended up spending about five hours there.  When it got toward lunch time (my lunch time, not Spanish lunch time), I got an enormous hamburger with the works, fries, and Coke Light.  After that, it seemed the place filled up with families, and little kids were everywhere.  No one melts down like a Spanish toddler who has been thwarted, either - screaming, throwing themselves on the ground, kicking, crying. It became increasingly hard to get around without stepping on somebody. When I had had enough, I ended my day with the dolphin show.  It was really great, and included some tricks I have never seen before, especially the ones with the trainers in the water with the dolphins.

Some of the beautiful jellies.

The tunnel.

My late afternoon plans got cancelled, and on the way back to the hotel I spotted a Carrefour sign. Thinking I would go in and grab something for dinner, I was astonished to find not just a Carrefour, but an entire three-story mall!  With a Subway and a McDonald's.  I have vowed not to eat any American fast food (though if they had had a Taco Bell, like I saw last night, I might have wavered) so I went on to Carrefour and found myself a "New Yorker" salad kit, complete with a fork.

The mall next door.

I tried to catch up on Survivor, but it pooped out about 3/4 through the May 10 one, so it will have to wait till I get home. All in all, it was a nice day, just poking around by myself, not talking to anyone, and eating what I wanted, when I wanted.

Tomorrow, Carlos will pick me up at 11:00, and he's taking me for Show &Tell at his English teacher's.  I think we plan to see the Central Market, and I'm not sure what else.

New Taste "Treats"

It has been a very long day.
I ran into Carolyn, Mary, and Karen this morning as I was leaving the Eurobuilding.  We chatted for a few minutes with an Irish guy who asked if we were with Vaughantown, then I grabbed a cab to Atocha Station.  In the light of day, arriving to where the bus dropped me off last week, it all makes perfect sense.  I had about an hour to wait before my train, so I sat by the rainforest to watch the board where they post the track numbers for each train.  When my track came up, I went through security (along with a bride and a couple of bridesmaids in pink top hats with veils) and boarded the train.  It was a very fast, smooth ride.  The movie was a Spanish one, so I wasn't tempted to watch is, and I kind of dozed a little along the way.

Carlos met me and we dropped off my bags, then drove to a little village called El Palmar, on Albufera Lake, to have lunch.  Well, I guess you still call it lunch even if it takes the whole afternoon.  It actually took about, oh, three hours.  We had a drink, then two starters, then a salad, then a rice dish (but not paella, since real paella has chicken and rabbit), then coffee.  It was an interesting experience.  He wanted to show me the specialties of the area, and this just so happens to be the peak season for the small mussels that live in Albufera Lake.  Oh boy.

Mussels

He had to show me how to eat them (and he knew I was very unsure of the whole thing), but I only gagged on the first one.  After that, I had the routine down.  It probably wasn't the same routine he had, since he actually chewed them and all, but it worked for me.  Open the shell, hold my breath, scoop the mussel out with my top teeth, swallow quickly, exhale, and take a drink of water or a bite of bread.  I thought I was being really subtle about it, but he laughed about it when he told his wife later.  OK, mussels were doable.  The next starter was eel and potatoes in a spicy broth.  He didn't tell me until I tried it that Karen hadn't eaten it at all, and his wife hates it.  The flavor was not so bad, but it just looked nasty. It actually didn't have a bad flavor, but once is probably enough.  These eels are also only fished in Albufera Lake.  They come in from the sea through a natural channel.  The sea, of course, is salty, but the lake is freshwater.  If the sea level is too high, they close a dam to keep the salty water from getting into the lake.  The lake is used to irrigate the local rice fields, as well as drain them, and it gets its distinctive green color from the rice (not sure how).

Albufera Lake

When we finally finished lunch, we took a boat ride around the lake, which was really nice. The weather was perfect, the breeze cool, and the boat guy gave us each a branch of his huge citronella plant to ward off mosquitoes.  The lake used to be much bigger, he said, but it is now a wildlife refuge.  Only 40 people a year have the right to fish for the eels, just so you know.

Then we went into the city to pick up Carlos' wife to - eventually - go have dinner.  First, we drove through the old city center, then we stopped at the Colon (Columbus) Market for a drink (Coke Light for me).  The market is an actual old market which has been turned into a kind of gathering place, with a number of small restaurants and bars, a flower shop, and other things.  On Saturday night, it was full of people sitting out at tables.  Our reservation for the restaurant was at 10:00, several blocks away, but parking is a nightmare here, so we left the car and walked.  Dinner was basically tapas food.  We shared a plate of different varieties of manchego cheese (I skipped the one with truffles), then a plate of iberrico ham (not my favorite), and a tomato salad with big slices of tomato, chunks of tuna, and a couple of slimy slices of anchovy. Finally, finally, at midnight, we headed back.

Colon Market, an open air spot full of bars and restaurants.

I'm on my own tomorrow, which I am really looking forward to.  The City of Arts and Sciences area is very close by, as well as the old riverbed that has been turned into a park.  I'm going to sleep in just a bit, then get out and see what I can see!

Whirlwind Week's End

It always seems so strange for the week at VT to start winding down on Wednesday night, but it does. After that, it's all seriousness while they prepare their presentations.  They get their topics on Thursday morning after breakfast, and the presentations take place before dinner Thursday night.  So the phrasal verbs and idioms kind of get pushed to the side in favor of helping them with structure and ideas.  "My" Spaniard this year was Enrique, who had to talk about something he does differently than other people. He came up with a very cute talk about skinnydipping.  He kind of led them along, talking about his "first time" and how nervous he was, etc. etc.  And then said, "And of course, I am talking about swimming naked (he forgot the word).  It was very funny.

Enrique, the skinnydipping Spaniard.

With the pressure of the presentations finished, it was time to celebrate.  After dinner, we gathered a group to go down to a local pub in the village.  They had said it was being opened only for us, but there was a bar full of locals there when we got there around 11:30.  The little pub was actually quite nice and had a sizable dance floor, with disco lights and all.  There were about 20 of us, out of 28, there, and we all danced and had a great time.  I learned a couple of new variations of the macarena, and we got to watch Alfonso and Alba do some of their flamenco moves.  Spanish contemporary music always has a salsa beat, so even if you couldn't salsa, you could dance to it.  It was fun to see another side of the oh-so-serious Spaniards once the pressure of the week was over. Six or so of us headed back to the hotel around 1:00.  The young Spaniards got in at about 4:00.

Leaving for the pub.

Alba and Alfonso

This morning, we had to check out of the hotel, then we had two one-to-ones.  I only had one, so Carolyn and I sat in the bar and had a Coke Light and a coffee and talked about the week.  Then it was time for the group photo and the certificate ceremony. The Anglos were presented with small travel coffee mugs, as well.  Each of the Anglos got to say a few words, and we welcomed the newbies into the Vaughantown Addicts Support Group.

We had lunch at a single long table (a Vaughantown tradition), and there was cava (Spanish "champagne"), a couple of speeches, and a chance to thank our cooks and servers.  Martin, one of the Master students, who wants to be a kindergarten teacher, stood up and announced that it was Peter's birthday. Alba and Carmen looked a little shocked, because they hadn't known about it, and they like to have a cake for the person. We all sang Happy Birthday, then Martin said it wasn't really Peter's birthday, he just wanted to see if we would go along with him.  Then we made the Spaniards sing Happy Birthday in Spanish, just for the heck of it.

Many people slept on the way back.  When we got to the building, we were very surprised that the great Richard Vaughan himself met the bus!  We all had a chance to speak with him, and he thanked us for our participation.  We got checked in to the hotel, then Karen, Maria, and I went down the block to VIPS, intending to just get a drink and some snacks to have in our rooms, but ended up ordering sandwiches.  We were later joined by John, and apparently there were four or so others inside the restaurant (we were outside), but we didn't know they were there.  We spent about 2.5 hours at VIPS, then stood around outside for another 30 minutes or so (like we haven't had enough talking this week).  It was just so nice to have nowhere we had to be, the weather was perfectly pleasant, and we enjoy each other's company.

Richard Vaughan is not a myth!

My room this time is smaller but much nicer.  If I stay here again, I will do as Karen does and request a room on the 8th floor because they are better - I even have a balcony spanning the bedroom and living room.

Jorge and I had a video call a bit ago.  I got to see their new kitchen, and I also see that Paula now has contacts!  It was good to see their faces, even if the call quality wasn't the best. I blame the Eurobuilding's wifi.

Off to Valencia in the morning.  Part II of Spain 2017 is about to begin!