Rick Steves

This is why I love Rick Steves. He gets buzzed in small european towns and talks to cats.

Roommate interaction

Indian roommate: I'm heating up some daal, do you want some?

Me: That's not daal.

Indian roommate: What do you mean? Yes, it is.

Me: That is absolutely not daal. It is pumpkin soup.

Indian roommate: What?

Me: Have you tasted it? Taste it.

Indian roommate: Oh! It is! This is good. Wait...

Me: I don't think you're actually Indian.

"Indian" roommate: How did you know it wasn't daal?

Me: Because I made pumpkin soup and put leftovers in the freezer a few weeks ago.

"Indian" roommate: Oh, well, do you want some pumpkin soup?! It's good!!

Stateside

Safely arrived at home! Muchas gracias to Elece and bryce for the airport chauffeur!

adios espana!

Leaving Madrid tomorrow :( Throwing out the clothes I came with to make room for my new ones :)

Veterans day

Because of the veterans and their day, Tatyana has tomorrow off to hang out with me. We have a big day planned: desayuno, royal palace, menu del dia, siesta, parque, modern art museum ( 2nd visit - me amo Picasso) siesta, tapas, discoteca, airport. Btw, I thought I was tired of jamon until I tried jamon iberica ( high end pig.) Mas jamon ahora! Semper paratus coast guard veterans!

Sometimes traveling sucks...

...and then God sends you a Thai food restaurant.

According to people who use hostelworld.com, our hostel is the best hostel in Madrid. All hostels in Madrid must be terrible, because this one is not that great. We endured two sleepless nights before asking the front desk to swap out our mattresses. (My apologies to whoever got them.) It is rather cold in Madrid. The common area of the hostel isn't exactly heated, and your chances of getting a hot shower are about 50-50. I spent the better part of yesterday with a splitting headache, pounding imitrex, and fantasizing about blowing all of my priority club points at the Intercontinental.

We had planned a fun evening of churros, modern art museum, and tapas. We managed to drag ourselves out for churros around 5pm. But, it was a holiday in Madrid...so everyone was out getting churros with their screaming, misbehaving children. We headed to the museum, only to find it closed due to the holiday. It started raining.

We were headed back to the metro station when we walked past what appeared to be a thai restaurant. "There are thai people eating in there," I said, with a hint of hope in my voice. "Lets do it," Tatyana said.

And just like that, our first non-tapas meal in a month turned things around. Thank you delicious train station Thai restaurant. Our new mattresses are still less than mediocre, but they at least allowed us to sleep. Things are looking up. Today I went to an art museum and found a non-iceburg lettuce salad for lunch (no small feat). Tonight, the modern art museum is open. We're going to a different churros place. I'm actually looking forward to eating jamon.

Plus, nobody I know got killed in South Central L.A. Today was a good day. :)

Age isn't just a number

Today, I considered the possibility that I might be getting old. Dislike.

Madrid

We successfully arrived in Madrid via high-speed train last night. It was a pretty sweet ride. We took a high-speed train from Paris to Nice, but this one was nicer and faster. They checked our tickets before we could get on the platform and again before we got on train. It was nice to not question whether or not we were in the right place for once. Our luggage was run through a metal detector, but we weren't harassed about its weight or the quantity of our liquids and gels. We covered the distance in 2.5 hours (the regular trains take 5+), and it only cost 50 euro. They even passed out headphones and showed Water for Elephants in English. (dumb movie, but it passed the time.)

Our hostel in Madrid is one of the highest-reviewed hostels here -- not sure why. It is generally adequate, but I wouldn't call it the best hostel I've ever stayed in. Maybe it is just a shock to our systems because we've spent the last week in a beautiful Spanish Villa in Sevilla, and now we're back to broken-down ikea furniture and cheap frosted flakes. Those 100K priority club points are burning a hole in my pocket.

Oh, and here's another good conversation:

Me: Wow, look at the moon, it's really cool tonight.

T: Yeah, it is.

Me: Moons are weird.

T: Moons? You mean the moon.

Me: No, I mean all moons, but ours too.

T: What other moons have you seen?

Me: Y'know, jupiter...saturn. I've seen those moons.

T: No you didn't. How?

Me: I've seen them through a looking glass.

...

Now, for just whom does the bell toll?

On Saturday, we took a day trip to the hill town of Ronda, which is about 2 hours outside Sevilla by bus. It was gorge-ous! This town was made famous by Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." I've never read it, but now I guess I'll have to. It is funny, the Alhambra didn't really become a tourist destination until Washington Irving wrote "Tales of the Alhambra." It sounds like Spain wasn't that cool until Americans started writing books about it.

Now that I think about it, I think that I should buy up some real estate in central oregon, start drinking some more whiskey, write a best seller that romanticizes driving combines and setting fields of grass on fire, and retire on the tourism profits. The bell tolls for me.

Anyway, the main sight in Ronda is the huge gorge over which the town is built. We hiked partway down this gorge, and were greeted with some gorge-ous views. Although they were also damn good views, there doesn't appear to be a dam. It was windy and cold, but definitely a highlight of the trip for us! The pictures don't quite capture the depth of the valley, but it was pretty incredible. Also, everything is white. It was very windy and very cold.

Things I find strange and/or awesome about Spain

The display and prevalence of jamon. It is everywhere and served on or with everything. And they find it necessary to display legs of pig in all eating establishments. If a restaurant or bar doesn't have at least 3 or 4 legs of pig hanging from the ceiling, don't bother. You're much better off going into one that has at least 35 legs of pig hanging inside, and the half-carved leg displayed in a prominent area.

The use of plates. They serve you everything on a plate. My coffee comes on a plate. I ordered an apple at the semi-ghetto train station cafe and they gave it to me with a plate and a knife. So refined.

The use of placemats. Call me crazy, but I find it perfectly normal to just eat my food off of my plate on a table. Not the spanish. They use placemats. Both of our hosts so far have used placemats to eat their food, and I think I got a couple strange looks for not doing the same. So, I've started using placemats in their presence. (For the record, I'm not being rude and scratching up fancy tables with my plates...we're talking about plastic ikea tables here.) I like the placemat tradition, because it says, "This is where I eat." Not, "This where I update facebook write angry emails to Chase because they suck." I keep seeing those kooky placemats in souvenir shops, and now I want some.

Siesta time. Everything does close around 1:30 pm and re-opens around 4 or 5. This is incredibly inefficient. We've observed plenty of foot traffic during siesta time -- those people could be buying things! That said, I've certainly enjoyed coming home every day around 2:30 and lounging around until 6.

Nobody straightens their hair. Everyone has giant hair here. This is awesome, because I look normal here, and I enjoy that. Actually, I don't entirely blend in due to my semi-tourist clothing. But, it is the girls with fake straight hair that stand out and get pickpocketed and harassed by those guys selling horse-drawn carriage rides. HA!

Paseo. Everyone goes for a walk in the evening. They're not actually doing anything, just walking around. While it is technically exercising, there are no yoga pants and 5-finger shoes to be seen anywhere.* Cute boots, leggings, and sweater dresses prevail.

Moroccan Food. I wasn't expecting this much influence. It was mostly only in Granada, but Moroccan food is probably the best that we've had on this trip.

*5-finger shoes should never be worn in public.

Lazy Sunday

Wake up in the late afternoon. Today was our last day in Sevilla. :(

A couple days ago, I had picked up a brochure for some Arab baths here in Sevilla. The only reason I picked up this brochure, is because I walked out into the common area of our house to find some of our housemates cuddled up on the couch. I was going to use my computer at the table, but I didn't want to be weird. (For the record, they are the weird ones.) So, I awkwardly picked up the first brochure I saw and turned around back into my room. 24 euro got you 1 1/2 hours in the baths and aromatherapy treatment. Why not? We've been here a week and already done more shopping than we intended. I decided it was a good idea to purchase a leather mini-skirt, a clear signal that it is time to stop shopping.

So, we got a lunch of paella and then headed to the baths. This was the third time I had tried paella, and I have decided that I don't really like it. It looks really pretty, but isn't that special.

The baths were great! You progressed through a big lukewarm pool, a hot tub, and a quick dip in a freezing cold pool to give you that invigorating feeling. There was also a jet tub, salt bath, and steam room. All while listening to exotic yoga music. I must say that I think the Moorish influence in Spain was a positive.

After the baths, we were feeling a little tired and loopy, so we stopped for some coffee con leche and churros. We actually hadn't had churros yet, but they are my new favorite Spanish food. (FYI, that is dipping chocolate for the churros, not coffee.)

After the churros and coffee, we went back to our favorite tapas bar, Catalina. I think it is our favorite tapas bar because they go easy on the jamon. I'm going to be honest, I'm getting a little tired ham...on everything. We all know that I love bacon, but not for every meal.

Awesome Travel Products!

I'm currently LOVING these travel products. I can't believe I've waited this long to invest the money, because they've made my life significantly easier.

Lush Solid Shampoo. This stuff cuts down on your volume of liquids and gels,which means that you don't have to decide between bringing contact solution or shampoo. This comes in a convenient tin so it doesn't make a mess in your bag, and leaves your hair squeaky clean. I find that it can be a tad bit drying, but for travel, the convenience is worth it.

Lush Solid Conditioner. I only have used this once so far, but so far so good. The conditioner fixes the drying problem above. Unfortunately, they don't sell a convenient tin for this conditioner, but a ziploc bag works just fine. Again, my liquid and gel space expands! Now I can bring toothpaste!

Liquid and Gels Container. I had eyed these at REI in the past, but never purchased them, because they're $8 each! That seemed ridiculous when I could just re-use old small lotion bottles for my stuff. I was wrong. These things are amazing. No explosions, easy to re-fill, and they're clean and easy to dispense from. Best $8 I ever spent.

Packing Cubes. These were another expense that I didn't think I needed. Again, I was wrong. Prices vary depending on what size you get, but $10 to keep all my cords and power converters in one easily accessible place has been well worth it.

1st floor bathroom

Kitchen

Today's philosophical discussion

Me: ...yeah, I generally think it is good to have opinions about things.
Tatyana: I agree. I think that it is good to have a moral code.

Wells Fargo

Please pay attention to the lesson learned by your friends at Bank of America and don't charge fees on the "free checking" account that I've had for the last 10 years. And get rid of that lame stagecoach logo. Are we still banking like it is 1828? Clearly. I'm closing my accounts as soon as I get back.

Gatito!

Knock off nutella and kinder bueno. Muy bien!