MadridMan.com: BLOG Madrid Spain

Although it's already July 3rd, many workers finished out the week to start vacations this Friday afternoon. This fact is verified by 32 kilometers of traffic jams on all of Madrid's (and in nearly all of Spain's cities) out-going highways by 3pm. The outpouring of Madrid's residents, it is said, should continue through Sunday, July 5th, leaving a shell of the otherwise bustling Capital City.

By Monday, 6th of July, the city becomes somewhat dormant until September 1st. Many say August is the more popular month for Madrileños to take their month-long holidays. So if you think July is quiet, just wait until August! You'll never again have so much parking available as during this month. Sunday mornings in Madrid are usually quiet but a Sunday morning in August reminds one of a ghost town.

People NEED their vacations, that's definitely true, but finding an open restaurant in Madrid in August - outside of the Puerta del Sol tourist center, that is - can be a challenge. Many times tourists come to Madrid during the summer months with the desire to try a new restaurant about which they've heard, only to find it frustratingly closed.

But terrazas abound! And the Madrileño masses - as well as their tourist counterparts - take advantage of the slightly cooler evening temperatures and pack those terrazas full. It's usually at these moments, while you're standing off to the side with the group of others waiting for a table to become free, when you ask yourself, "And I thought there was no one in Madrid in summer!"

Some of these terrazas - usually the fancier ones like those around the Plaza de Oriente - have incorporated a kind of water-misting-canopy system which sprays its clients with fine droplets of cooling water. I don't know about you, but I don't think I would appreciate having my glasses sprayed over while dining or having drinks, HOT OR NOT! These are usually the same terrazas which use these gas-powered tower radiators to keep their clients warm - during colder months (the clients patronizing THESE terrazas are almost always tourists because no Spaniard would be caught dead dining outside in the winter. It's just not sensible!!). In my opinion, these gas heaters are just a waste of energy. I understand the concept that you can seat more people - and outside - if you have these heaters but come on!

So where to people go on summer holiday? The most popular destination is still "al pueblo" - to the family village to spend time in the old, family home. This destination is becoming less and less popular, however, as the elders die off and the family home in the village is sold. So apart from "the village", many Spaniards travel to the coasts near Cataluña/Catalunya/Catalonia, Galicia, Cantabria, Valencia, and the Costa del Sol (those whom have the wherewithall, that is). The coastal beaches are PACKED with not only Spaniards but also with Germans, English, Dutch, and even some from the colder northern European countries. This year, what with the economic crisis, may be a sharp contrast to previous years occupancy, however. I remember complaints were made last summer about lower-than-expected hotel occupancy so I imagine things will be much worse this year.

Apart from Spanish coasts, more and more young people are using their summer time off to visit other worldly destinations like Russia, The United States, England & Ireland, Morocco, and some of the "newer" (i.e. newly accessible) Eastern European countries. Again, young people don't usually tend to have much money so this year may be much different and more home-spun travel destinations may be chosen instead.

I have to wonder if, because of the economic crisis, the typically high hotel prices during this HIGH season will drop significantly or only slightly to entice more travelers - or, maybe, stubbornly, not at all. We'll see how it plays out. But since Spaniards are passionate about big family vacations, expensive or not, (have credit cards will travel!!) I expect turnout to be high still.

Places mostly avoided by Spaniards during their summer vacations include, among many, the hotter summer destinations, almost all of which are in the southern region of Andalucia, like Seville, Córdoba, and Granada but also Salamanca, and Zaragoza will likely be excluded for the most part. Non-Spanish tourists, however, will drive themselves to these destinations no matter the temperature.

Ahhh... "The Village". The village can be quite lovely (using a British expression). I too have been fortunate to spend a little time, one week or two, in a particular northern valley village with only 25 inhabitants and surrounded by tall yet gentle mountains. There, days can be warm but nights cooler, mosquitoes can be pesky but the natural beauty and its accompanying silence far out-shadows them.

In "The Village", life is definitely simpler. In some of them, the smaller ones like the one I've stayed a few times, don't even have any stores, bars, or restaurants. A van goes from village to village every morning, with their horn-a-honkin', raising attention to their arrival. Of course, each van uses their own "style" of horn-honking so the residents know which horn belongs to which van. Different vans sell different things. There's usually the bread van, the cheese van, and the meats-and-chicken van. Sometimes there's even a fish van. Resident will often make minor, daily purchases from these vans, sometimes making once-a-month trips to the big stores to stock up on other things, frozen foods, canned foods, milk (non-refrigerated), soft drinks and the like. The days in "the village" are quiet except for the sounds of distant cow and goat bells, dogs barking, kids shouting while riding their bikes, neighbors chatting while walking the streets, and maybe the sounds of some traffic from the distant main highway. So if the days are quiet, the nights are totally peaceful, making every chirping cricket sound like a live orchestra. Village life is different from City Life. In "the village", neighbors come over (unannounced) for coffee and a casual chat while you're hanging your laundry or reading a book on the porch or patio.

I've yet to experience and entire "beach holiday" in the summer months but they certainly look like decadent fun, that which I see daily on Spanish TV news reports. All those people laying about on the sand, packing into the beachfront terrace restaurants for seafood meals, working on their tans, reading books and taking walks. It all seems so relaxing and, well, totally self-indulgent too. hehehe.. But every now and then, well, we have to take extra special care of ourselves, right? I'll be sure to put that on my To-Do List.

I'm already looking forward to my week away this summer. Although I love the city, I don't care much for the heat which gets absorbed by its asphalt, concrete, and brick. It's amazing the notable temperature change just when passing by a grassy park or alongside a fountain.

Last year, Madrid hosted Europe's Orgullo Gay festival. This year is a more typical year with the somewhat smaller-scale Gran Vía parade and Chueca-wide street parties from 25 June to 5 July 2009. While last year's attendance was HUGE, inviting supporters and partiers throughout Europe, the novice won't see much difference this year because Madrid's Gay Pride Festival is big.

While I, MadridMan, am not gay, I do respect the rights of others to do pretty much whatever they want if not harming others - and I always enjoy a good party. One would have to be in deep denial if they couldn't see that Gay Pride is one BIG party and a lot of fun! I've never seen a bigger, better party for everyone; gays, straights, and anyone who likes to enjoy life - and see some things you aren't likely to see on a typical day on the streets in Madrid (or anywhere!). You can see the true joy in people's faces, everyone smiling, everyone laughing, everyone hugging (and possibly kissing), whistling, hand-holding and @$$-grabbing goes on too.

Festivities and shows begin on June 25th but the big Gay Pride Parade takes place on July 4th (how dare they schedule such a thing on USA's Independence Day!! (tongue-in-cheek).The Madrid Gay Pride Parade starts at 6pm and the parade route is as follows: The parade starts at the Puerta de Alcalá, heads west through Plaza de la Cibeles, up the Gran Vía, and ends at the Plaza de España.

The news these days about Madrid's Gay Pride festival is that next year's festival location may take place OUTSIDE the city of Madrid, far away from its home of the "Gay Neighborhood" of Chueca. It's hard to imagine the Gay Pride festival in, say, the suburbs of Parla or Pinto - although those places would be more than happy to have the economic inversion, I'm sure - but people would then have to take trains and cars to get there. This is not conducive to a "central" festival. But many of those who live in the Chueca neighborhood have filed complaints about the noise during the Orgullo Gay festival so the city was to take action. Yesterday, the "Orgullo Gay Organization" did not agree to the terms and says Orgullo Gay will stay in Chueca.

I think I've attended 3 Orgullo Gay Parades here in Madrid since moving here 4 years ago. They're all fun, they're all HOT, and there are always A LOT OF PEOPLE, both gay and non-gays, in attendance. In my opinion, there are a number of PROS & a number of CONS to the parade and festival in general. Here are mine:

PROS:

• a great opportunity to remind people that homosexuality exists and should not be feared
• a day for gays to "come out"
• a day to tolerate and/or support alternative lifestyles
• a day & place to be OPEN about being gay with other gays
• a day to feel more accepted by your peers
• to remind people that you don't have to be gay to be "gay friendly" (or "gay tolerant")
• some incredibly colorful outfits
• a day which can be very romantic because there's so much "love" in the air
• free condoms are available everywhere
  

CONS:

• the festival is always HOT in temperature
• lots of sweaty bodies rubbing past you in the crowd
• few or no public toilets - those available have long lines
  
• some people pee in the street or between cars
  
• bars in Chueca close their doors at night & serve drinks on the street (no toilets)
• trash is everywhere and garbage collection insufficient
  
• noise is unbearable for many Chueca residents throughout the festival
• long hours waiting for the more "colorful" parade floats/buses/presentations
  

You may laugh, you may shake your head, or you may join in. But one thing's for sure; Orgullo Gay Madrid - Gay Pride 2009 is a lot of fun, a true spectacle which should be witnessed firsthand.

Useful Links:
http://www.madridgaypride.com/
http://www.gaypridemadrid.com/
http://www.madoweb.com/
http://www.chueca.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chueca

The USA National Soccer Team, never (ever!) known as Giant Killers, came a step closer to earning the title for the first time.

Last night, USA stunned Spain in the soccer semifinal of the Confederations Cup in South Africa, a game everyone thought would be an easy win for Spain - the European Champion. Final Score: 2-0. The first goal was scored in the first half by Jozy Altidore. The second goal, much more spectacular, was scored in the second half by Clint Dempsey near the net and through the legs of ex-Atlético de Madrid star (and Madrid-born) Fernando Torres and past forever-National-team-goalie and team captain Iker Casillas.

Spain will play Sunday for a third-place medal while the USA will also play Sunday in the Final against Brazil, last year's Champion.

You have to wonder if Spain was overconfident with history, numerous recent wins, and top-shelf players running the grass with all opponents, possibly underestimating an admittedly embattled USA team in the Confederations Cup if not also in world reputation.

After reading through many articles and accompanying comments by Spaniards, one thing seems clear; first, Spaniards are very congratulatory to the American Team for what they've accomplished. A second thing is clear, Spain WAS overconfident and NO ONE was expecting much resistance by the lowly American team. Apparently, everyone was already talking about the Spain-Brazil final, bypassing the remote possibility of a win by the USA. This is what happens in sport; it's when you don't give due respect to your opponent that they rise up and bite you in the rear. I've seen this countless times in University Football games in the USA.

Interesting Spanish titles of articles written for this morning's publication include (translated into English):

• "Disaster: Made in the USA"

• "Spain Is Human Too"

• "Spain Eliminated"

• "Yankees Drop Us from the Clouds"

• "USA Puts the Breaks on the "Red's" Records & Euphoria"
  

• "How Strange it is to Lose!"
  

• "Spain Loses its Style"
  

• "USA Derails Spain's Legend"
  

• "Spain: Under the Obama Syndrome"
  

• "The American "Marines" Overwhelm Spain"

• "Spain Choked by USA"
  

• "We Are Not Invincible"
  

Don't expect another blog entry should the USA team beat Brazil in Sunday's final. I'm not really a fútbol/football (i.e. "soccer") fan but always try to catch the biggest games which involve Spain. Gotta keep up with what's on the lips of the common man on the street, don'tchaknow.

The "Pez de Cristal" - or "Glass Fish" - will be inaugurated as the new landmark in Madrid's Puerta del Sol on Saturday, 27 June 2009 at 11am and will be presided over by the President of the Comunidad de Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre & Spain's President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The first day of normal operation will be Sunday, 28 June 2009 at 5:15am. The controversial structure, in the rounded shape of a fish, was likened by Esperanza Aguirre herself (the Regional President of Madrid) as what the glass pyramid is to Paris' The Louvre Museum. Well, I don't know about all that but it does have 'glass' and 'controversy' in common at the very least.

Just what is the "Pez de Cristal" and why do we need it? This is a good question, one many of us will be trying to answer for at least 5 years in the future (if the fish lasts that long). The Glass Fish is the entry/exit to the new Cercanías-train hub, the only one now in Old Downtown Madrid, allowing natural light into the belly of the enormous space below ground. This station will also connect cercanías lines between Chamartin and Atocha train stations, completing the infamous"Túnel de la risa", and carrying passengers directly to Kilometro 0 without taking metro or buses as was before necessary.

The new station will also connect metro lines 1, 2, and 3 with cercanias lines - but I have to wonder if the old, historical Puerta del Sol metro station entry points will now be removed. Surely not. Apparently, the below ground space is large enough to house a 60-story building horizontally, making it the largest below-ground man-made cavern in the world. Also, some of the remains of the Buen Suceso Church, unearthed during the excavation, will be on display. Their discovery, in large part, delayed the station's construction due to their careful study and examination.

Many people in the blogosphere think the comparison of the Glass Fish with the Glass Pyramid of Paris' The Louvre is far fetched. They are both glass, that's true. They both are comprised of attached glass panels, allowing natural light into the space below ground. Many other bloggers also think the introduction of a super-modern structure into the historical Puerta del Sol is a mistake. Still others believe the fish will be covered in graffiti and the panels scratched and marred within days. This IS likely to happen.

It's always nice to have something which adds to the skyline or structures which give people the impression that something "new" is going on, staving off that old, hum-drum, complacent, boring aspect which many historical cities eventually face - and it's true that Madrid has very little of that going on as compared to (dare I?!?) Barcelona. Personally, I think a better choice could've been made. I commend their goals, however.

I'm anxious for the inauguration of this new station on Saturday, to take a first look for myself, which will seemingly end (?) nearly 5-years of construction on Madrid's Puerta del Sol. Its inauguration will be the headline and lead news story for Madrid (and many Spanish) news media outlets this week.

Last Wednesday I was very happy to watch the Barcelona-based Las Migas perform in the beautiful, 130 year old Teatro Lara in Madrid. There's is a kind of flamenco fusion, fused with folk music and songs, many of which performed contained lyrics by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

The band is made up of 4 women; one Catalana (singer: Silvia Pérez Crúz), one Sevillana (guitar: Marta Robles), one French (guitar: Isabelle Laudenbach), and one German (violin: Lisa Bause). Singer, Pérez Crúz, while being absolutely beautiful, has a perfectly pure voice. They were accompanied by a male percussionist through much of the concert as well.

Their songs were soulful, mid-to-slow-tempo, all sweet in sound and lyrics, and the audience could sense their enjoyment in performing for the 2009 Suma Flamenca flamenco festival in Madrid - my last flamenco performance of the festival. They'd also recently performed for Barcelona's Flamenco Festival a few months earlier.

The concert was very enjoyable, not all that passionate, rather quiet and soft. Very pleasant. But as I stated above, their joy in performing was obvious, Silvia Pérez Crúz, the lead singer, was smiling nearly the entire time and exchange casual banter with the audience between songs. The other performers also smiled at the audience and with each other throughout the musical numbers, offering the occasional nod and chuckle when making eye-contact with their fellow band members. The addition of the violin - by Lisa Bause - was a nice touch. All songs sung during the concert were in Castellano - although many of their recordings are done in Catalán.

The theater, Teatro Lara, only seats 400 persons on the floor and 3 more balcony levels - each of which is circular and hugging the theater's wall from stage corner to stage corner. The floor seats, all upholstered in an aged black leather, were about two-thirds occupied and the balcony seats were about half-occupied. Our seats were excellent, on the first balcony and very near the left-hand side of the stage for a good perspective. This balcony was reserved exclusively to press and many photographers were snapping photos and cameras from TVE and TeleMadrid were making their recordings as well.

This was my last flamenco performance of the 2009 Suma Flamenca flamenco festival - and it was a good one. The season has come to an end and I look forward to the 2010 Suma Flamenca festival, no-doubt full of new flamenco performers as well as some old ones.

What a shame!!! I was about to leave for the María Juncal flamenco dance performance when I received an email (sent 3 hours earlier) saying the performance had been canceled due to lack of ticket sales. This was to be my last Suma Flamenca 2009 dance performance of this year's Madrid flamenco festival (the last one, tomorrow, is a flamenco singing and music performance).

María Juncal's "TERCERA Llamada" was scheduled to take place tonight at 9pm at the beautiful Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón on the Plaza Jacinto Benavente (next to Cine Ideal). There was no information or explanation as to why the performance was canceled in the email but Europa Press (click for article - in Spanish) writes it was due to lack of ticket sales, among other incidents.

Apparently, María Juncal's company was notified yesterday of this development by the production company, "Feed Back". Juncal and company then offered to perform for free if the production company would take care of the technical aspects. The production company apparently declined, saying that even with this concession of a "free show", the 1,500 Euros in ticket sales would not cover the 8,000 Euro price tag required to put on the show.

I'm not sure if this has to do with the production company, the Teatro Calderón, Suma Flamenca or what but I do know there have been past problems putting on shows at the Teatro Calderón in the past with last-minute cancellations of performances due to economic issues. I'd never heard of such a thing before but apparently it does happen, if at the last moment there aren't enough tickets sold, the show DOES NOT go on.

It truly is a shame. I was really looking forward to seeing María Juncal's flamenco dance performance tonight. María Juncal herself must also feel terrible as dancing for the Suma Flamenca festival is quite a note of distinction on anyone's resumé, particularly for the younger performers just getting started. Oh well. They mention the performance may be rescheduled for July - BUT OUTSIDE of the Suma Flamenca festival. What a shame. I won't be able to attend that one.

Tuesday's Miguel Poveda's "Sin Frontera" was probably the best flamenco singing concert of the Suma Flamenca 2009 season. Just excellent. Having seen him sing in last year's Suma Flamenca I knew we were in for a good concert. This year it took place in the beautiful old Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón on the Plaza de Jacinto Benavente. The ticket collection was nothing short of chaos for everyone and the show started late because of it, but in the end we were seated in one of the private side "palco's", slightly above stage level, and directly alongside the third row. Perfect.

The stage and band orientation is a common theme among Miguel Poveda's concerts. There, you have 2 or 3 wooden tables with chairs all around where the guitar players, palmeros, and singers sit. On the tables are glasses and pitchers of water for the thirsty. Oftentimes, when not singing or clapping, those at the tables will knock in rhythm on the table's top.

One male dancer, Andrés Peña, entertained the sell-out crowd to several numbers throughout the concert. At the end of the evening, when the last song was sung, Miguel Poveda and his band got a much-deserved standing ovation and an all-in-unison chanting clap as they left the stage.

Miguel Poveda is an excellent singer and already wildly popular in the flamenco scene, although still young at 1973 (and born in Badalona, Barcelona, Spain). Who says flamenco doesn't come out of Catalunya?! At just 15 years old he was singing in the Flamenco Peñas throughout the region. In 2003 he moved to Sevilla.

Tomorrow is the first day of June - and I've already broken out the shorts. I usually put it off until June 1st but a few days ago started a heat-wave which I couldn't stand in jeans. Normally, my "what's socially acceptable" conscience gets the better of me and I literally sweat-it-out, but having already seen a  number of Spaniards wearing shorts I thought my wearing them wouldn't bring too many strange looks - but a few older people did give me a glare or two.

"They say" yesterday it hit about 90ºF - and I believe it. Today, "they say", it should be about the same. It's definitely hotter this year at this date than in previous years. Although I remember some VERY HOT "Fiesta de San Isidro's" on May 15th, ones which warranted shorts but I wasn't brave enough to wear them.

Usually June is the first month when people are commonly seen wearing shorts. Of course, July, August, and the first half of September is a given. All bets are off at that time because it's so darn hot. And me, being a hot body, HATE these summer months, my only savior are the shorts and light cotton T-Shirts. And Thank God for His invention of linen pants! Man, those are almost better than wearing shorts - when you have to wear pants.

But in these summer months when it's HOT - and I mean HOT with a capital HOT - my superficial temperature rises as does the core, copious liters of sweat are "spent" daily while climbing my 5 flights of stairs to home, more is spent when carrying groceries, of course. It's odd ARRIVING at the gym already sweating. But it's true what they say, it really is a dry heat. Sounds funny, but it's true. Every night before going to bed I take a as-cold-as-it-gets shower and I'm usually good-to-go to sleep. There's no air conditioning in my bedroom but, in times of heat crisis, I can go to the other bedroom where there is.

Ventilation fans are essential for me. I love them. Many of the Spaniards I know hate them. They say it makes them stuffed-up, gives them colds, or just makes them feel bad. Can't imagine that. I usually have the fan going all night long. Spaniards I know generally feel the same about air conditioners. "They're just not natural". And I'm thinking, "You'd rather stew in a puddle of your own sweat while lying in bed??!" Seems the answer to that question is "yes".

More and more people buy air conditioners in Spain, disregarding the environment. Thankfully, more people are buying these humidifiers, machines which evaporates water and sends the hot air outdoors, thus lowering the inside temperature - something like that. They're odd-looking machines but are cheaper than air conditioners and are much better for the environment apart from the electricity they consume.

Bars and some smaller restaurants will often simply open their windows at night instead of turn on the A/C. Cinemas/Theaters are often under-air-conditioned from my sub-zero-public-space-American perspective. I often find I'm fanning myself with a folded piece of paper while watching the movie. Shopping malls are usually comfortable, but I rarely patronize them.

The terrazas (outdoor/patio bars and cafés) are teaming with people in warmer weather and you always see anxious onlookers waiting for an available table.

So whether or not I like the weather, the heats-a-coming to Madrid and to Spain.

Last Monday evening I went, yet again, to the Teatros del Canal to see another flamenco performance. This time it was flamenco dance, headlined by Rocio Molina. What surprised me most was that it was a traditional flamenco dance performance but one with ballet and modern dance added to a little traditional flamenco.

Rocio Molina is young. She was born in Málaga in 1984. At just three years old, they say, she started her dancing "career". At 18 years old she graduated with honors at the Real Conservatorio de Danza de Madrid. Wow. So accomplished and still so very young.

The performance was a mix of ballet, traditional flamenco, modern dance, and even some performance art thrown in. The music and audio was the same. At times you had no idea what was happening or why and, I must say, I didn't care for it much. At one point, a man went from corner to corner of the stage and filled some small pots with water, after which, pinpoint spotlight illuminated the tiny pots, revealing what appeared to be splashes from above-falling water. It was odd.

Rocio Molina wasn't the only one performing. There was another (very very large) female flamenco dancer in a colorful dress who dances several numbers alone but also performed a kind of "I'm on the bench" sketch with the cast. Two very thin and young men, seeming skilled in ballet, danced several numbers but also assisted in the sketches, wearing clothing from suits, to open button down shirts, to only pants while dancing. It wasn't until the final sketch when the two women danced traditional flamenco onstage at the same time, seemingly "dueling flamenco" on their own half of the stage, which was entertaining.

The dancing was excellent and movements were precise. One could only imagine how much work went into the individual portions of the performance and how much rehearsal was involved. Truly impressive.

Below is a 5:04 video from Rocio Molina's "Oro Viejo", the same performance I saw last Monday. This snippet is near the most "traditional" of the entire performance - and it's quite modern.

Last night at the Los Teatros del Canal was another enjoyable Suma Flamenca evening of Flamenco Singing. Coincidentally, we had the exact same 5th row seats as the previous night. Unfortunately, the venue was maybe only half-full, possibly due to the previous night's rains and cool temperatures. Who knows. But they missed a very good performance.

A note worth mentioning, the vast majority (or nearly all of them) of those attending last night were clearly Spaniards, lest anyone thinks that flamenco is only for tourists. It's true, the flamenco tablaos DO cater mainly to tourists but the concerts and performances of the Suma Flamenca flamenco festival is very VERY Spanish, and very few non-Spaniards attend.

Performing first was José Cortés Jiménez "Pansequito", who was discovered at 15 years old by none other than Manolo Caracol in 1963. "Pansequito" is a distinguished man, short of statue yet forceful in voice.

He was a true gentleman, a true artist. You could "feel" as he sang. While flamenco song is difficult to understand - even to many Spaniards - I understood enough to be touched slightly. Many songs were about family and lost loved ones. He truly seemed comfortable onstage, which is to no ones surprise as he's been performing for more than 45 years. He's worked with greats such as Camarón, Juan and Pepe Habichuela, and Tomatito to name only a few.

La Macarena-born (Sevilla district) Aurora Vargas performed second and had the same accompanying group of one flamenco guitar player and two excellent palmeros as did "Pansequito". Ms. Vargas displayed great vocal power throughout her 6 or 7 songs. Towards the end of her set, she dedicated one song to an elderly flamenco singer whom was in the audience, and even brought her up on stage to dance a bit during the Big Finale. You could tell she was thrilled to be there, acknowledged, and onstage again.

It was during this Big Finale where both Aurora Vargas AND "Pansequito" both displayed some fancy flamenco footwork along with their invited guest. It was a fun ending to an enjoyable evening.

After the concert we went to a nearby bar ("La Mina") for some of their legendary gambas a la plancha and boquerones en vinagre. After that, we walked (again) through the nearby Plaza de Olavide and found one of the other El Brillante bars, where we just had one quick last drink before ending the evening. Can't wait 'til Monday night's performance!

Last night I watched a wonderful Flamenco Dance performance by the famous Manuela Carrasco in "Sala B" of the Teatros del Canal. She danced three times and two males each danced two numbers apiece.

Manuela Carrasco, from Triana, Sevilla, had won many awards for her expertise in the 1970s and continues to thrill audiences to this day. During two of her three numbers, each of which included a costume change, the combs pinning back her hair went flying. When seeing this, I sometimes think the dancers expect this will happen, adding a "Wow!" affect for the audience. Get can't nuttin' passed me! The dance group was accompanied by a wonderful crew of 10 members including guitar players, palmeros/singers, and one "box" player.

While I enjoyed her dances to some extent, I especially enjoyed the performances by the two young men whom, with force, precision, and passion, showed what's to come in the world of flamenco dance. If they were any indication, we're in for a treat.

Unfortunately, no photos or videos are allowed during the Suma Flamenca performances. One woman, sitting alongside the stage, took two flash photos and an usher asked her to stop. We had 5th-row seats in the center, but this was in the first row of the main section. The first four rows, at nose-height with the stage, seemed to be reserved for VIPs and professional flash-less photographers of the press.

After the performance, I enjoyed some raciones and "cervezas con limón" (beers with lemon) at a terraza nearby. I thank those whom invented linen pants and silk shirts. It was a hot night and a cool shower was awaiting me when I arrived home at midnight by metro. Tonight, I'll do this all over again but it's much much cooler today after last night's rains. Read the review tomorrow!



1986 Video of Manuela Carrasco dancing

A couple nights ago I attended a very good flamenco guitar concert by Seville-born star VICENTE AMIGO, as part of the Suma Flamenca Flamenco Festival. This was good timing as he was promoting his recently released (5 May) album, "Paseo de Gracia". (visit the Vicente Amigo website for music clips).

This concert took place in the brand new city-owned "Teatros del Canal", located alongside the Paseo de la Castellana at metro CANAL. It's a new steel and glass structure, the location of the Suma Flamenca press conference. I didn't have high expectations for this modern venue for a flamenco - but I was pleasantly surprised. The truth is, its modernality does NOT add character to the traditional performances taking place on state, the seats are (still) comfortable and spacious, and the air conditioning mercifully worked very well.

From our second-row seats, we could see the entire Vicente Amigo accompaniment band. With Vicente himself in the middle, he was flanked by an electric bass guitar, flamenco guitar, two percussionists, two palmeros/singers, and one violinist - all male. The "players" came and went, depending on the song being performed, sometimes Vicente was seated alone.

The concert lasted just less than 1.5 hours, no breaks, and two encores were granted. Each song lasted between 8 and 15 minutes, typical for flamenco guitar compositions. Vicente Amigo himself seemed rather timid speaking, but was able to dedicate one song to his mother whom was in the audience, coming from Valencia.

Those in attendance were notably a younger crowd. We didn't see the older couples or famous people you usually see at the Suma Flamenca performances. A young, Spanish crowd gives great hope for this wonderful art form. We only saw one famous person, Amador Mohedano - brother of the late Rocio Jurado.

Everyone enjoyed the flamenco guitar concert on that Monday night in Los Teatros del Canal. At times I found myself tapping my toes and drumming my fingers on my thighs.

See the video below of Vicente Amigo's song, Paseo de Gracia, from the album of the same name. Other songs on his new album include vocals by Alejandro Sanz, Niña Pastrori, Estrella Morente, & Enrique Morente.

Today is no ordinary day in Madrid, Spain. It's May 15, 2009, which is el Día de San Isidro el Labrador - Madrid's Patron Saint Day. So to honor his Saintness, I walked the half-kilometer to the Pradera de San Isidro, which is the park alongside La Ermita de San Isidro, or more simply, La Ermita del Santo.

This year 15 May fell fortunately on a Friday, forcing a 3-day holiday. The 15th of May is always a city holiday so banks, schools, and many establishments are closed in the city of Madrid.

I woke up pretty late, around 9:30am, showered, had a light breakfast, dressed, and ambled the half-kilometer to the Pradera de San Isidro, the park alongside the Ermita de San Isidro El Labrador - or more simply put, La Ermita del Santo, located just across the river from the Vicente Calderon football stadium and home to the Atletico de Madrid football team.

Thank goodness it was a cool-ish, sunny morning so my jeans and short-sleeved shirt and sandals getup wasn't too hot. I made my way uphill at about noon, passing the throngs of long-line-pedestrians waiting their turn to step up to the San Isidro fountain to sip from a glass or fill their jugs with the cool spring water - which apparently has "healing powers". The water's good, there's no doubt, but this year the line STARTED at the bridge which crosses the Rio Manzares and I wasn't about to spend the 1.5+ hours. I'd taken a sip last year and the healing powers seem to have kept me in good shape since then. Still, I was happy to reach the Pradera de San Isidro early-ish in the day before the great masses arrived.

As I made my way up the hill (it's ALLLLLL uphill, by the way, no flat parts whatsoever, except for a 30 meter stretch in front of which the mass is always held) I passed another, somewhat shorter line. This line was to ENTER the Ermita del Santo. I went in a couple years ago so, again, I wasn't going to the spend time as I didn't have all day to kill, just about an hour before meeting friends for a terraza lunch in the Casa de Campo next to the lake.

After passing all the "rosquilla" (las tontas y las listas, like hard-fried doughnuts) stands on the left and the paramedics and community group stands on the right, I had to wind around the backside of the catholic mass which was being given to the seated masses in the street. There must've been 10,000 people there, all seated and listening intently, most of the men left their chulapo hats on for protection from the sun, as did the women with their scarved-and-carnationed heads. A number of women also fanned themselves even though it was not cold - but as their costumes may have been heavy and the sun direct on the backs of their heads, I couldn't blame them.




Passing the mass(es), I continued uphill seeing a few State-Fair-like game stands, but then it was just one terraza after another, covered and uncovered, bar after bar, all displaying piles of these incredible Spanish dishes like croquetas, calamares, salmonetes, fried potatoes, chopitos, and one humongous paella pan after another, all with freshly garnished shellfish and lemon wedges. There was even one Kebap stand - which didn't have anyone waiting at it at the time of my passing. Since it was still relatively early, there weren't many eaters but I could imagine how full those terrazas would be the minute the mass was concluded at around 1pm or so.

On my way up the hill, and subsequently on my way back down the hill, I passed one cutie-pie girl after another, tiny things, maybe 5-8 years old, dressed up by their mothers as "chulapas" (traditional Madrid dress) with tiny red polka dots, oftentimes a white shawl around her shoulders, and always a white scarf covering her heads, topped off with a single red carnation. They were adorable, you just wanted to give them a big hug. The little boys, dressed alternatively as "chulapos", were cute too but not as cute with their black pants and black shoes, white button-down shirts, and a hounds tooth, button front vest, topped off with their gray hats.

Returning to the bottom portion of the road passing through the Pradera de San Isidro, I stopped off near the Ermita de San Isidro to buy some delicious Rosquillas: Las Tontas y Las Listas. Rosquillas are like a harder fried-dough version of a doughnut, topped with a variety of icings. They're great with coffee for breakfast or merienda. I only bought a dozen. But since rosquillas are only sold around the San Isidro holiday, by the time the last rosquilla is eaten is when we realize we have to wait until next year before we can buy more.

With the two-handle plastic bag containing rosquillas now wrapped around my wrist, I turned around to see a group of 20 older Chulapos y Chulapas dancing El Chotis, perfectly choreographed to recorded music, and a large group surrounding them, everyone taking photos and video - including me (see below!). These dancers belong to "Peñas" or associations, each having its own banner/flag to represent them. They practice every year to perform for the Fiestas de San Isidro and, I suppose, whomever else will have them. They don't get paid, I'm sure, but do it for the love of the dance, the love of their city and its history. Sadly, however, the members of these associations are always older. Rarely does a young person join the ranks as "it's for old folks" and, I'm sure, "it isn't cool". So I have to wonder WHO will be dancing El Chotis on San Isidro in 25 years time when ALL these people have passed away. "That's progress"??




So I'm officially done with the San Isidro Holiday although events take place throughout the weekend in various locations around Madrid, including the Pradera de San Isidro. Tonight and tomorrow night, from my window, I'll hear loud rock concerts until late. And then, on Sunday evening, marking the end of the San Isidro Holiday, there will be an incredible fireworks display in the Pradera.. And from my rooftop I'll have the best view in the area, being only a half a kilometer away. Can't wait for that.

15 May in Madrid is Madrid's Patron Saint Day, la Fiesta de San Isidro. It's the day when Madrileños, both natives and transplants, show their pride and spirit for Madrid, Spain.

And they show their pride in many ways but the biggest way to celebrate is to organize a huge festival. During the weekend of San Isidro there is MUCH going on. Not only are there parades through downtown Madrid with music, dancing, older folks and children dressed as chulapos and chulapas (traditional Madrid costume), but there's also a huge gathering at the Pradera de San Isidro, around the Ermita de San Isidro, located just across the Manzanares river from the Vicente Calderon Atletico de Madrid football stadium. In the Pradera there are concerts, stands selling las rosquillas del santo (a kind of pastry/cookie), food stands and terrazas, traditional dance displays, more costumes, a Catholic mass, and free distribution of the clear, cool spring water from below the Ermita which, it is said, has healing powers.



For other, more bloody entertainment, there's the month long bullfight festival, the la Feria de San Isidro in the Corrida de Toros de Las Ventas Madrid. There, bullfights of varying levels take place nearly every day and tickets are at a premium, almost impossible to find as nearly every bullfight is totally sold out long before it takes place. And don't be fooled, this is a festival FOR SPANIARDS. Why? Mainly because it's a Madrid festival and many MANY Madrileños have "abonos" for the entire bullfight festival, renewing them year after year, sometimes for thousands of Euros - depending on the quality of the seat location. Also, attending a San Isidro bullfight is a kind of Status Symbol, to see and be seen as one of Madrid's elite class since tickets are expensive and difficult to get. They go very well dressed in their best suits and dresses, made up and hair slicked back.

Not to be left out - and not specifically related to San Isidro - is the month long Suma Flamenca flamenco festival in Madrid of which I'll attend my first flamenco performance on Monday and am looking forward to a dozen more flamenco performances during the festival.

After tomorrow, I'll post some photos - and maybe some video - of the things I saw while at the Feria de San Isidro.

Read the EsMadrid.com website page for a detailed agenda on San Isidro activities (only in Spanish, sorry!).
Read about the Ermita de San Isidro (only in Spanish, sorry!).

Read and see photos from the May 15, 2008 San Isidro Festival blog entry and also from the May 13, 2008 San Isidro Festival blog entry..

It's time once again for "El Clásico", the 2nd seasonal match-up between Spanish football heavyweights Real Madrid & FC Barcelona (a.k.a. "Barça"). This time around it takes place tomorrow night/Saturday at 8pm at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium (see webcam) on Madrid's Paseo de la Castellana. The game often decides the fate of one team or the other's in the Liga Española, Spanish Primera Division, Champions League, or "other" league.

Tomorrow night's 8pm game will be shown ONLY on Pay-Per-View for 12 Euros whereas their first meeting was on non-Pay-Per-View, but now I don't recall if it was simply on cable TV (Canal+) or on public/free TV. It was one or the other, but it was not Pay-Per-View, that's for sure, because I watched it and have an aversion towards PPV events. It's not so much that I'm cheap but I'm not passionate enough about any event to pay to see it on TV. If I'm going to pay, I'll go see it live and in person. I've always believed that Pay Per View events were a dangerous marketing route. Sure, it makes a lot more money but you also tend to alienate the majority of your fan base. Look what happened to boxing's title fights on PPV, now almost no one watches anymore, no one talks about boxing anymore, and no one really cares, either. PPV will be the demise of boxing. The same could happen to football/soccer with only a small percentage willing to fork-up the cash to watch their favorite teams, opting instead to read about it in the newspaper the next day or just listening for free on the radio - or they might just stop caring about soccer altogether. That'd be a huge blow to merchandising!

Tickets are sold out for the game to no surprise to anyone. Recent headlines are stating that re-sellers are getting up to 500 Euros per ticket - for which they paid 225 Euros. And if Real Madrid wins you can be sure to hear car horns and shouting fans in the street until the wee hours of the morning. Watch for closed traffic at the Plaza de Cibeles fountain (see webcam), where the team and its fans often celebrates its biggest victories.

One can listen (in Spanish) for FREE to online broadcasts from outside of Spain or via regular radio for residents on the peninsula. Surely many people will be gathering in their favorite bars which choose to PPV the event - and therefore sell LOTS of beer and snacks.

There exist a few not-so covert ways to actually watch the football game online with fair-to-poor video quality. I've watched a few sporting events like this in the past but sometimes the poor quality can be off-putting to the point that it's not watchable.

Find links to WATCH & LISTEN to the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona football match on the MadridMan's Madrid Radio, TV, Music, & Movies page.

Not sure who to cheer for, myself. I never claimed to be a true fútbol/soccer fan, much preferring the other style of football where helmets are worn and hands can be used for fingertip catches in the endzone. Still, it's fun to watch the entire country get jazzed-up for Spain's greatest rivalry.

RESULT: Barça beats Real Madrid 6-2.

It's that wonderful time again in Madrid, time for the 2009 Suma Flamenca - the month long Madrid Flamenco Festival featuring some of flamenco's best artists; singers, dancers, and guitar playing. This year will be my 3rd round of the 4 years of the flamenco festival's existence.

Last week I attended the press conference for the 4th Annual Flamenco Festival of the Comunidad de Madrid in the Teatros del Canal (Calle Cea Bermúdez, 1, metro Canal, Paseo de la Castellana near the Plaza de Castilla). First, the large building, Teatros del Canal, is brand new, ultra modern, glass and steel, and lacks any character. But since the newly built theater venue is owned by the Madrid City Government they've got to put it to good use.


The press conference was the 3rd I'd attended. The previous two conferences took place in the beautiful old brick El Aguilá Beer Factory. This building had been totally renovated inside, but no matter. The new Teatros del Canal is what we're given this year for the site of the press conference and a number of the flamenco performances for this year's Flamenco Festival.

Santiago Fisas, Juan Verdú, and even singer Paco del Pozo & dancer Roció Molina sat on the panel to discuss this year's flamenco festival and all that entailed. Apart from discussion about the performers and venues, much attention was given to "La Crisis" and how it will affect this year's flamenco festival in Madrid. At the end of the press conference, there was a short performance given by singer Paco del Pozo and dancer Juan de Juan which was quite entertaining (photo at right).

The 2007 & 2008 Suma Flamenco press conferences ended with a huge, catered affair with more performances, television interviews of the stars, and lots of FREE wine, beer, before-your-eyes-poured sidra, before-your-eyes-cut jamón serrano, even hot cocido madrileño served in tiny terracotta bowls. ALL kinds of food and drinks were served by shirt-and-tie servers, all waiting on you hand-and-foot. Plus free Suma Flamenco T-Shirts! After this year's press conference, we were sent off with a smile and a "Thanks for coming!" That's the economic crisis for you. Mind you, I'm not complaining, the expenses for previous-year's press conferences were exaggerated - but welcomed, nonetheless.

We were told there would be more venues used this year and about as many performances as last year. Take a look at the Suma Flamenca website for the schedule, venues, and performances. Overall, in comparison to previous years, I'd say the line-up looks pretty good. Some of the performers I'd seen last year in downtown Madrid are performing in the other cities and villages of the Comunidad de Madrid and not in the city. And since I have no car - and don't drive in Spain - I won't be attending any not reachable via metro. I'd hoped to see singer María de Toledo and dancer Belén López once again. They're impressive. But I'm sure I'll be impressed by some of the newer (new to me) performers and venues.

Sadly, since La Comunidad de Madrid closed down the Teatro Albéniz last year - converting it to flats - I'll miss this centrally located theater. Also on the DOWN-side, many of the performances take place on the far-north venue of Teatros del Canal, about 45 minutes away by metro for me. On the UP-side, the Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón de Madrid (downtown, next to the Cine Idea on the Plaza Jacinto Benavente) and Teatro Lara will be a nice change, I'm sure.

So if you have the chance, attend some of the 2009 Suma Flamenca performances from 7 May to 20 June (although their logo above incorrectly shows the ending date to 15 June)  throughout the Comunidad de Madrid - as well as IN the City of Madrid. The vast majority of performances are those of flamenco singing but there are a handful of flamenco dancing performances to enjoy as well. Tickets are pretty reasonably priced and you can't get a more Spanish experience. In fact, the vast majority of those attending these performances ARE SPANISH! I saw very few non-Spaniards at the previous years performances, and you even see some Spanish celebrities in attendance. This year, I hope to attend 10-15 flamenco performances. Can't wait!!

People often ask me which is the best way to travel around Spain for the visitor. Answering this question is always difficult because "the best way" means different things to different people and many details must be considered before deciding.

Below, I'll detail the pros and cons of each form of travel. Please feel free to add your own comments to this travel blog posting.

Spain Bus Travel:

pros: by far the cheapest form of travel in Spain, the bus line network is vast, buses are comfortable and modern, many long-distance routes show movies (in Spanish) and have recorded music channels like on airplanes, you can carry-on practically anything, sometimes good highway views through large windows, comfortable & spacious seats, sometimes buses travel as fast as trains, bus stations are usually in or very near the downtown, sometimes a more expensive "Express Bus" is available along some routes which makes fewer or no stops.

cons: buses don't go everywhere or one must change buses at major city hubs, tiny toilet - if any, morning/afternoon sun can be annoying, sometimes inadequate air conditioning, sometimes nasty bus stations, low-security in bus stations and bathrooms, always complaints about luggage theft, sometimes buses travel slower than trains - particularly slower than high-speed AVE trains.

Spain Train Travel:

pros: the most comfortable method of travel, wide & long seats, many and large bathrooms, great views of the countryside, fast travel on the AVE trains, lots of luggage space, faster lines at train stations, train stations are generally located within the cities, long-range trains usually show movies (in Spanish) and have music jacks and free headphones, the cafe/bar car.

cons: expensive, trains may not go where buses will, the possibility of getting a rear-facing seat.

Spain Airplane Travel:

pros: fast point-to-point travel, can be cheap with low-cost airlines like Easyjet, RyanAir, and even Iberia if you get very lucky, best when going from coast to coast or extra long distances.

cons: traveling from/to the city to/from the airport in the outskirts can take time and traffic jams are always a possibility, can be very expensive if tickets are bought without anticipation, waiting in check-in or security lines can take a long time, carry-on restrictions of liquids and other items, no view from airplane windows, narrow seats, no movie.

Next week I'm making my fourth visit to the city of Granada, Spain. This time, for the first time, I'm going by bus but have taken the train the two previous visits and have gone by car once. To give an example, I'm paying 31 Euros for a round-trip bus ticket from Madrid to Granada. The train would have cost about 130 Euros. That's a 100 Euro difference! And the trip takes about the same amount of time; 5 hours. My only concern about taking the bus for the first time is the fact that one cannot stretch their legs like on a train, plus the toilet is roughly the size of a small broom-closet - and you NEVER see anyone using it. There must be a reason why.

I've only traveled Spain by bus a couple of times and, generally speaking, I don't care for bus travel ONLY because of the lack of mobility and the issue of the toilet on long-distance trips. But this time around, considering the cost difference, I'm going to try it and will report my experience later.

How do YOU prefer to travel around Spain and why?

Holy Week, or "Semana Santa", in Madrid is more than just watching one procession after another through the streets of Spain's capital. It's truly special - if you can get close enough to admire it. I've already watched the Domingo de Ramos procession last Sunday evening and expect to watch more today/Wednesday/Miercoles Santo, as well as tomorrow's Jueves Santo, then Friday's Viernes Santo, and Saturday's Sábado Santo. There are no processions on Easter Sunday, somewhat surprisingly to me.

The few Spaniards whom choose to stay home for Holy Week and not travel to Andalucia, to "el pueblo", or to travel abroad have a special treat. Not only do they get an eyeful of Spanish religion at its pinnacle but they also enjoy shorter lines at Madrid restaurants, more parking spaces, less traffic, and generally a quieter Madrid.

Semana Santa processions are beautiful and popular among the remaining Spaniards and a few tourists whom are aware of them. Many of these "floats" are some hundreds of years old, made anew each year with special polishing and care, new flowers bought and expertly arranged around the effigies of Virgins and Christs.

These effigies typically sit upon a kind of platform surrounded by flowers and candles, carried on the backs of the faithful whom are usually the sons of those whom had carried the same platform for the previous generation. It's considered a great honor to bear the wait of the several-thousand-pound platforms.

I've seen several processions in Madrid but this city is not known for them - although they are nice. Those in nearby Toledo are particularly pretty. And, of course, those in Sevilla are the best in all of Spain.

Not only does Madrid - and Spain - have wonderful processions, but they also have TORRIJAS! Torrijas are the typical dessert/breakfast/merienda of Semana Santa-Holy Week. Torrijas are generally made by adding slices of bread to milk, egg, lemon, cinnamon, sugar, then frying the bread. It's a complicated process and since I've never made them before I won't profess to know anything about their preparation but here you can find one recipe for torrijas in English. But I sure love to eat them every chance I get because they're generally only available during this Holy Week.

(torrijas are discussed, in Spanish, in this blogspot blog from Pozuelo, Cuenca, Spain)

I've just returned from watching Madrid's only Palm Sunday (called "Domingo de Ramos") procession of Easter/Holy Week, called Semana Santa in Spain.

Today's procession was called "Procesión del Cristo de la Fe y del Perdón" and was a somewhat simple procession with an 18th Century Christ on a Cross sculpture, led by pointy-hooded navarenos.

The Palm Sunday procession started at 7:30pm at the beautiful Basílica Pontificia de San Miguel on Calle San Justo, 4. It was here where the Christ effigy exited the basilica and headed slowly uphill through the crowded Plaza de la Villa (Madrid's one-time City Hall), where I first took up position at the top of the slight incline near the Calle Mayor for a better vantage point.

After the procession crossed Calle Mayor it headed for Plaza de Santiago where I was once again waiting for its arrival. The procession moves so slowly that it's relatively easy to get a head of it.

It was from here at the Plaza de Santiago that I made my way home. It was already nearly dark and I'd already taken nearly 100 photos and had to get home. It was a beautiful late afternoon for a procession; skies were clear and I was comfortable in just my short-sleeved shirt.

Today's Palm Sunday procession was the first of several Holy Week processions in Madrid. More processions take place in Madrid on Holy Wednesday (2 processions), Holy Thursday (5 processions), Holy Friday (8 processions), and the last processions taking place on Holy Saturday (2 processions). There are no Semana Santa processions on Easter Sunday. There are an amazing 18 processions in Madrid for this year's Holy Week.

See http://www.esmadrid.com/semanasanta/procesion.html for Madrid's Holy Week processions, procession routes, and other details. Unfortunately, this page is only available in Spanish.

Madrid.com, a NEW website in direct competition to MadridMan.com, is surprisingly NOT owned by the city of Madrid - or even the Comunidad de Madrid. It's not even owned by a Spanish company. It's owned, in fact, by Barcelona.com, Inc., a (one-time??) Maryland, USA-based company which ALSO owns Barcelona.com. The two websites even look similarly. The original registrants of Barcelona.com and founders of Barcelona.com, Inc. are/were both Catalán-Spanish citizens.

In 2003, Barcelona.com, Inc. successfully appealed a 2000 WIPO decision (WIPO: "World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center") to transfer the domain name to the city of Barcelona, Spain and retained the domain name after the 3-year dispute.

It would seem that Barcelona.com, Inc. has become emboldened, successfully purchasing Madrid.com from Mail.com, a Free Email service which bought and warehoused hundreds of recognizable country, city, and other .com names for use of *.com email addresses. Mail.com owns USA.com, Europe.com, Berlin.com, & Tokyo.com to name only a few. For years, I've had an email address using the *.madrid.com domain name. In fact, I see it STILL WORKS - for the time being!

Madrid.com has only been online for a few months, has only a Google PageRank 3, and has a very poor Alexa Traffic Ranking due to its "newness". If you conduct a Google search using the following syntax, link:madrid.com, you'll find the ONLY links to it come from other Barcelona.com, Inc. owned websites including Barcelona.com, Asia.com, & India.com, and none from other outside sources. This tells me that almost no one else knows about it yet. Expect a huge marketing campaign coming soon, however. They didn't go to all the effort and expense to acquire the domain name for nothing!

Simply owning Madrid.com does not ensure success on the internet - but it certainly helps. It's still totally new and they need to get the word out that Madrid.com even exists as a Madrid Travel Portal. That costs money in advertising. Money, I'm sure, they have.

So why am I, MadridMan.com, HELPING Madrid.com with free advertising? Good question. I don't mean to promote them. I mention it mainly because RIGHT NOW - and so far - MadridMan.com ranks higher than Madrid.com in every way - and MadridMan.com has better advertising rates too! (the Barcelona.com advertising rates are sky-high!). The story about Madrid.com's existence is news-worthy. You've got to admire the lofty goals of some companies - and people. To achieve such seemingly impossible goals is truly inspiring - as long as no one gets hurt along the way, of course.

But I can imagine the day when Madrid.com may become Madrid's Main Travel portal just as Barcelona.com has become for Barcelona. Owning any city's dot-com domain name is a powerful tool; it's simple, short, and descriptive. Big travel corporations like Barcelona.com, Inc. have a lot of power, money, and influence.

Barcelona.com, Inc. is likely to be comforted that in 2002, the city of Madrid LOST a WIPO decision to the email warehousing company ("Easylink Services Corporation") for the proper ownership of the Madrid.com domain name. But should the Madrid City Government or Madrid Regional Government grow new teeth and make a better case for themselves, Barcelona.com, Inc. will likely be ready for the challenge. The 2002 WIPO decision for Madrid.com and the 2003 appeal to retain Barcelona.com sets strong precedents and carries a lot of defense ammunition should the region or city of Madrid attempt such a takeover attempt again. They, the Comunidad de Madrid, should be happy they DO OWN the Spain-based domain name (with .es extension) Madrid.es and leave it at that.

That's right! I've been criticized for enjoying flamenco music! And criticized by Spaniards, no less!! Is there anything MORE "Spanish" than Flamenco Music??

All those years living in Ohio, USA, I was listening to flamenco music almost daily, allowing its guitar and vocal sounds to virtually "take me away" to the country I pined for so desperately. Flamenco was part of my "assimilation" process. And now that I live in Spain I actually get criticized for listening to flamenco radio stations like RadiOlé! Can you beat that??!

Generations of Spaniards have been listening to flamenco music on the radio, I suppose, because there was little else broadcast. Now we have more choices, of course. So why would an American living in Spain choose to listen to flamenco music on the radio? Because I like it!!'

Now I feel like if I'm not listening to Spanish or English pop music that I'm "cutre" or "old fashioned". I've been called "cutre" many many times by Spaniards for choosing to listen to RadiOlé and it always ruffles my feathers. It's as if I should be listening to the Rolling Stones or Elton John or whatever.

Is it that Spaniards are shunning their heritage because it's not cool? There must be enough of a following for flamenco music because radio stations like "Radio Olé" are alive and well. I can't believe that ONLY the gypsy population is the only group of people listening but maybe so. According to some, only gypsies, tourists, and old Spanish women listen to flamenco. Maybe that's true but today's standards. I don't know. I'm inclined to take an opinion poll in the Puerta del Sol and ONLY poll Spaniards - if I could get more than a dozen of them per hour in SOL, that is. Surely I could.

The population in any given Suma Flamenca flamenco festival (every May) performance is, without a doubt, 95+% Spanish in attendance. Is it because it's art-and-theater and not intended for tourists? Not sure. So it would seem that flamenco performances, at least, are enjoyed by Spaniards. But why if these same people don't listen to flamenco on the radio or on CD in their homes?

I enjoy Spanish pop like Amaral, Chambao, Ismael Serrano, Jarabe de Palo and the like. But when I'm working or doing the dishes I like listening to flamenco music. Why? I guess because it seems so soulful, so ancient, so down-to-the-roots Spanish music.

Do YOU, a non-Spaniard, enjoy Flamenco Music? Or if you are a Spaniard, why - or why not do you enjoy flamenco music?

It never ceases to amaze me the things we happen to find on the internet.

Just now, I was searching "back-links" to MadridMan.com and happened upon the following July 18, 2003 Blogger blog entry about MadridMan.com. It's interesting to read what others have written about MadridMan and MadridMan.com from, what, nearly 6 years ago now:

Friday, July 18, 2003

There isn't much going on in my mind tonight. It was a rough work week. My rent is going up. My life seems dry. Even the dog acts like she's bored with me. Apparently, I need a long vacation.

The one place I really want to visit, and that I haven't yet visited, is Madrid. Sometimes, when I get in moods like the one I'm in now, I head over to MadridMan's Yankee Home Page and think about actually going. I've been visiting MadridMan's site for years, longer than I've been (regularly) visiting just about any other site. He lives in Columbus, Ohio (he loves those Buckeyes), and he's about my age. His interest in Madrid seems to be a big part of his identity. Naturally enough, he started a site that has gradually become downright comprehensive. There are links to Spanish radio and TV stations, photos from his several trips to Spain, message boards for those planning their own trips, links to Spanish news sources, and on and on and on.

MadridMan also has a webcam at his desk. I don't know why I find it so compelling, but I do. Tonight, for instance, as I write this, MadridMad is sitting at his desk, in what is now his familiar living room, working away. He's shirtless, as he often is, and he seems pretty content. I don't know what the webcam has to do, really, with providing information about Madrid, but it makes me feel like I know him just a little bit. Somehow, it makes him seem all the more trustworthy. And--on a night, like tonight, when the world seems a bit awry--it's comforting to know that MadridMan is there.

Should I plan a winter trip to Madrid?

posted by Jimmy  # 11:50 PM

The above is an interesting account of what a "normal visitor" sees at MadridMan.com. The MadridMan Live Cam has been online for more than 11 years. Wow, that's a long time. Here are a few of the funniest webcam photos "caught on camera" - I'm not including the naked and near-naked photos of which I DO HAVE SAVED but will never show again in any public forum. Hahahaa... Note the dates of these Live WebCam photos:

Last night, 22 February 2009, Alcobendas-Madrid-born Penélope Cruz won the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actress for her role as "María Elena" in the 2008 Woody Allen film, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". It's a proud day for Spain, Spaniards, Spanish actors, and those from Madrid and Alcobendas.

During her acceptance speech, "Pe" thanked Woody Allen, Pedro Almodóvar, Bigas Luna & Fernando Trueba for giving her her first two movies. She dedicated the Oscar statue to her parents, brother & sister, and everyone who helped her since the beginning.

Especially touching was her emotional story about how she grew up in Alcobendas (a suburb of Madrid) where winning an Oscar was not a very realistic dream. She said she would always stay up to watch the Academy Awards and always felt the ceremony was a moment of unity for the world, "Because art, in any form, is an has been and will always be our universal language. And we should do all we can to protect its survival."

At the end, the 34-year old actress said in Spanish that she dedicated the award to all Spaniards and Spanish actors sharing this moment with her.

Congratulations, Penélope!! All Spaniards and Spaniard-wannabes DO share your joy and we're all very proud of you.

Also read MadridMan's blog Review of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" HERE.

Today's blog entry is one I've had on my mind for more than a year. I hope today I do this important topic its due justice.

People who know Spain and Spaniards know what I'm talkin' 'bout. And I ain't not talkin' 'bout a revolution, neither!

I'm talking about what bag Spaniards choose when, for example, they take an old sweater to a sister's house across town, they do the day's market shopping, or when they take a nice bottle of wine to a friend's dinner invitation.

I, for one, would usually grab the first plastic 2-handle grocery bag from the top of the one-thousand-bag-pile to carry just about everything. But Spaniards are particular. It's got to be just the right bag because, afterall, people are watching what bag you're carrying and you wouldn't want to be caught carrying, say, a LIDL (super cheap supermarket) or "TODO POR 100" (cheap-o Chinese stores) bag and have to admit you actually shop at those places.

The usual bag of choice is the famed white with green, two-handle, thick-plastic El Corte Inglés bag with the pleated bottom. Choosing this bag tells the public, "Look! I do my shopping at El Corte Inglés. I'm not some commoner, don'tchaknow!" Others really pushing the self-image envelope might choose a Mongo or even Zara bag to say, "Hey! I'm into fashion!", or some another bag from some other fashion line with which I'm certainly not familiar so I won't attempt to be falsely knowledgeable here.

El Corte Inglés is, by no means, the rich-person's department store but nor is it a place to go for anyone on a budget. Their store brand line is decent and somewhat reasonably priced. But WITHIN El Corte Inglés there are a number of select, high-end fashion departments. They even sell furs, for goodness sakes!  75 Euros is what you'd maybe pay for their cheapest Levi jeans. (that's about $96, folks!)

Sometimes I have to laugh to myself because, NOW that I'm aware of this fact, I'm constantly glancing at the bags people are carrying and wondering what NON-El-Corte-Ingles-items are inside. It's funny to see an incredibly warn El Corte Inglés bag which appears to have been used for 5 years of transporting everything from documents to the day's supermarket goods and the green El Corte Inglés lettering is still barely visible from wear and tear.

One time I was going to a friend's house for dinner and I grabbed "the first bag I saw". WRONG CHOICE! Someone of the female persuasion convinced me to, instead, choose a foldable rectangular paperboard bag with dual rope handles.

Plain white, green, or even supermarket brand bags are fine for re-usable purposes when you go to the supermarket. But people whom are REALLY concerned with appearances will even use El Corte Inglés bags to line their trash cans. This way, as they walk to the dumpsters outside, in full view of their neighbors, it suggests that they shop at El Corte Inglés so often that they can "afford" to use these status bags for their everyday garbage. Well, la-dee-da!

We humans must periodically retrain ourselves to stay with the current trends and technologies. MadridMan is no exception. If you haven't noticed yet, the MadridMan.com FRONT PAGE, Madrid Hostels, and Madrid Apartments pages have taken on a whole new look.

MadridMan's website has gone through (or is going through) only 3 "versions". The first layout appeared online on a free Geocities.com website account. The second layout, the previous one, lasted a good 8 or 9 years. That's a long time with the same format but it served me well and seemed to be easily navigated. But things and times change.

Why have I made this latest change? In short, "because Google told me to." And in today's internet age, what Google says is Rule of God. Defy God, and, well, "they say" bad things will happen to you. It's not that I knowingly defied God, I just hadn't read the Google Bible - which really isn't even published or publicized.

So after several years of great success online thanks to my hard work, my passion, and shining star in the eyes of Google, "That which Google giveth, Google taketh away," the number of visits to particular pages started waning.

Why? No one will ever know for sure. Call it a worldwide economic crisis, higher gas prices, and fewer travelers. Call it increased competition for the same slice of the delicious Madrid Travel Pie. Or call it a change in the elusive Google Algorithm.

Errr... What was that last thing? For people working in the Web World, we know that Google periodically changes its search algorithm. The algorithm is a sequence of finite instructions, of mathematical computations designed to better help you, the searcher, find more appropriate results. What makes up the algorithm? That's a closely guarded Google secret and mortal man will never know for sure. Solve the Google Algorithm and you could instantly become a millionaire. How? By placing yourself at the TOP, #1 search result for any given search querey.

For years, many of the individual pages of MadridMan.com were found as #1 or #2 or at least on the first page of Google search results. And while this fact never made MadridMan a millionaire - or even close - it certainly made life very very comfortable, happy-go-lucky, I'm-on-top-of-the-world-ma'. In short, it was alllll gooooood.

Then, literally overnight, when, for example, a search querey for "Madrid Weather" yielded MadridMan's Madrid Weather page as a #1 result in Google, the next day it had fallen to PAGE 10 of search results - or wasn't listed in Google at all? Why? WHY!?!?!?! WHYYYYYY??????!!  If only I knew for sure.

Over the past several months I'd contacted SEVERAL SEOs (Search Engine Optimization specialists). Somewhat to my surprise - but not much - they were all too busy to answer my emails or give me an estimate. These guys are working hard to make big money for big companies and, probably, couldn't be bothered by my po-dunk personal website.

One Spanish SEO guy, right here in Madrid, gave me a test-run, TOTALLY changed my website including the front page, essentially changing the descriptions, keywords, and anchor text TO SPANISH PHRASES!! I was furious! And then HE was furious because we apparently had a lack of communication. He tried to convince me that if my goal is to drive visitors to, say, "Hoteles en Madrid" I must Optimize the entire website to that goal. I told him that MadridMan.com was basically an English language website with a few Spanish versions of lodging pages but that was all. He said no, that one must optimize an entire domain name to one end. This guy REALLY seemed to know what he was doing. But the more research I did on my own the more I realized that he probably does a good job for companies selling ONE product - but maybe had yet to work with one promoting SEVERAL products, like MadridMan.com does. He also told me that one CANNOT OPTIMIZE individual pages of a domain, that it must be done throughout the domain name. Now, that sounded just wrong to me.

So I took all this SEO stuff upon myself, convinced I could learn it - because I had to! Plus, there are a lot of SEO sharks out there, promising First Page Google search results, charging A LOT of money, and then there's the maintenance fees! Most promoted themselves saying they guaranteed such results and if they didn't achieve these goals for their clients that the client would pay nothing. OF COURSE, however, the client had already paid for the initial work. So if the SEO didn't get the client to the first Google page then, what? He's already been paid. Sharks.

I'm no SEO expert - and surely will never become one - but I've learned quite a bit just from reading SEO discussion forums, and using different software for analyzing website files and structure. There's A LOT of information on the internet and it alone would take a lifetime to learn it. Plus, it's always changing!

In a nutshell, I've learned that the basic HTML language, upon which all of my websites were built (as are, still, the majority of websites on the internet) contains NUMEROUS outdated and "deprecated" codes. I've also learned that "nested tables" are a BIG no-no for designing the layout of websites but are okay when used for localized purposes. Again, all my pages were designed using TABLES, and tables nested within other tables. This was perfectly fine for years, or since the beginning of internet time. The use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a near necessity these days, too. Google "judges" the use of CSS as a BIG POSITIVE, allows the Google bots to better scan webpages and allow it to sift through less code on the HTML pages which also load faster. My new webpages are all based on a very strict XHTML code. Fail the code and you lose points with Google. QUESTION: How could the aforementioned SEO NOT KNOW THIS???? He never mentioned HTML coding or architecture at any time!

So to sum up, the web page's HTML on which all my websites are built are now quickly becoming outdated. I'm moving to the new XHTML code, using Cascading Style Sheets, and passing the XHTML pages through a W3C Markup Validation Service. When the code fails on check, I fix them until they pass. In rare cases the page will fail because some code I've added for one thing or another. In fact, one page failed because of a snippet of Google Analytics code I'd inserted to track the page. That makes me laugh.

Does all the above sound "Geek" to you? Maybe so, particularly if you have a website designed on Wordpress or Blogger or something like these where you use the host sites' graphical interface to manage layouts and add features. Even these websites, sometimes, fail strict coding requirements but less-so than if you would build your website by hand - like I always have, using nothing more than a text editor.

The new MadridMan.com pages, and soon also the BarcelonaMan.com, GranadaMan.com, ValenciaMan.com, and on and on, will be totally re-built using the new (for me) XHTML language and using Cascading Style Sheets. The menus are cool, the visuals are nicer, the page as a whole just looks cleaner and they definitely load faster. While having the new template created, still, adding all the individual links and text from the old to the new page takes a lot of time and, these days, I'm working myself to a frazzle, not sleeping well, and am definitely more irritable. That's not good. But I try to remember those other long days at home, creating the last version of MadridMan.com, working all night some nights AFTER coming home from my day job. It was hard work but fun at the same time an I knew it was all for a greater good later on. Hopefully the new architecture will help me regain some of my former fame, that's always tough, but at the very least my pages will be seen as keeping with the times, not seem so dated, and this too will tell me visitors that I (seem) to know what I'm talking about and that I care about how my websites look

If you are an SEO specialist, website creator, or know something about design and internet coding DO's and DON'Ts, please add your comments here (OR CONTACT ME), recommend websites, offer some insider's information which you think might help or that I lack. I welcome all suggestions and comments.

Although the title makes it sound like a scene from a sexy porno movie, the fact remains that there are constantly women in the men's locker room at my gym! On at least 10 different occasions I've seen the cleaning women in the men's locker room. Doesn't this strike anyone else as being odd? Or maybe it's simply explained by the phrase, "This is Spain."

The first time, I was standing at the locker room urinal doing my bid'ness when I heard rustling behind me at the always-locked supply closet. I turned my head to see a short, middle-aged woman wearing what looked like loose-fitting hospital scrubs. Quickly, I turned my head back, eyes front, hands steady at the wheel.... Suddenly, I was nervous, shifting slightly my orientation in the opposite direction to further block any potential gaze until she left with her bags, bottles and such. "Whew. That was a close call. What's she doing in here?!"

Another time I was arriving at the gym and entered the locker room. No sooner had I turned the corner when I was passed by another woman, same hospital-looking garb, wearing yellow rubber gloves and carrying cleaning supplies. She was on her way out. But as soon as I passed her at least 2 naked men were entering the showers, crossing the same path which she had just walked.

On a different day, I was getting dressed and facing my open locker door, sinching up my shorts when another cleaning lady, this one much younger, passed through the entire length of the locker room. No one flinched, No one grabbed a towel. No one said a word. AND THESE WERE SPANISH MEN!!!

The above accounts happened at my current gym, where I've been going for about 1.5 years. At my previous gym, at the "Piscina Miami",  the same kinds of things happened until the closed for some building violation. The building, which was a combination-use gym and swimming pool, and has since been demolished.

Even at that previous gym there were always women in the men's locker room, casually mopping the floors and cleaning the toilets every morning at 9am, shortly after they opened. And there I was in all my morning glory getting dressed. Actually, my "glory" was nothing more than me in a sweat suit because I always arrived fully dressed and ready to peel-off the sweats and get bizzy. But many other guys at that gym were struttin' their stuff when walking from their lockers to the showers after a workout.

At first I thought it must be difficult working in such an environment, seeing all these naked, sometimes muscular men in the same place where you work. Or maybe, like male gynecologists, when you see this kind of thing everyday you become totally desensitized to it all. And maybe the same goes for the guys in the locker room whom see these cleaning women in their daily midst. No big dillio.

I've YET to see any high-heal-wearing cleaning ladies with tight shorts, tight half-shirts, with large artificial breasts, winking at all the guys as she struts through the locker room like in the porno movies - not that I'd know anything about that. This is a family forum, afterall. Gyms are places for getting "fit", not for getting "it".

Last Friday, when at the gym, I saw a guy there whom I've seen at the gym several times. He's probably about 22 years old, short, rather round, blond hair, blue eyes, wears glasses and Nike weight-lifting shoes. On previous occasions he's worn a Purdue University t-shirt so, upon seeing him, I was SURE he was a midwestern farm boy, ex-high school football player, come to Madrid as a study-abroad student.

So on Friday I saw the same guy, this time wearing a Chicago expositions t-shirt of some kind. So I got up my nerve to go over and introduce myself, something I ABSOLUTELY never do at the gym with anyone. He was exercising near me and during one of his breaks I went over to him...

"¡Oye, Américano!", with a big smile on my face. "I'm Scott.What's your name?", as I offered my midwestern hand to shake his. He reluctantly lifted up his own hand with a puzzled look on his face and stammered, in Spanish, "Perrrrrro.... no soy...."

'Oh, God', I thought, totally certain, that this guy was a guy from my part of the USA. And when he said he wasn't from the USA I mentioned that I'd seen him in his Purdue shirt and, today, with his Chicago shirt, that I was sure he was from there. But no. And he offered no other explanation so I didn't ask. I told him he totally had the look of someone from the midwestern USA, right off the farm.

I finished my workout, dressed, and was on my way home when I saw him getting into his car so I shouted, jokingly, "¡Hasta luego, Américano falso!" He looked up with a smile and replied, in Spanish, "Be careful! That name might stick!" We both laughed and went our separate ways.

Man, I was so sure this guy was an exchange student, study abroad student, or maybe some very fortunate individual who'd been able to find work here in Madrid. Surely, if he was Spanish but spent a summer at Purdue University that he would've mentioned it. But no. Nothing. No explanation as to why he had such t-shirts.

I've seen other Americans at the gym, whom I was sure were Americans and probably were, as I've heard them speaking English among them. But few Americans are found in this part of Madrid.

Hay cientos de Hostales en Madrid y más de 150 de ellos tienen página web. Yo tengo todos en un directorio aquí en MadridMan.com.

Cuando se celebran ferias en Madrid, como FITUR ("Feria Internacional de Turísmo"), los hoteles en Madrid siempre están completos. Por eso, en estos días de ferias, es difícil para un turísta común que busca alojamiento en Madrid encontrar una habitacion disponible en un hotel.

Sin embargo, mucha gente debería considerar la opción de alojarse en estos hoteles pequeños, encantadores, familiares, limpios, seguros, y, ademas, muy baratos. Este tipo de hoteles es lo que se conoce como un hostal o pensión. Otra ventaja de estos hostales o pensiones es que están, generalmente, situados en la zona más céntrica e histórica de Madrid, sin olivdar sus excelentes precios.

Debido a que hay mucha oferta de hostales, algunos con incluso 45 habitaciones, es siempre mucho más fácil para el visitante encontrar una habitacion disponible y a buen precio en un hostal que en un hotel.

La verdad es que decidir dónde alojarse en Madrid es difícil. Hay cientos de lugares dónde pasar la noche que están muy bien situados y que tienen buenos precios. ¿Qué es más conveniente: dormir en un hotel, ir a un hostal o compartir habitación en un albergue juvenil? Sólo tu puedes decidirlo, pero aquí incluyo una lista con todos los hostales de Madrid que tienen página web por si quieres conocerlos y hacer una reserva.

En mis visitas anteriores a Madrid, me he alojado en algunos de estos hostales de Madrid y siempre he quedado muy satisfecho de su servicio, su limpieza, de la amabilidad de sus dueños, de su buena situación, y, por supuesto, de sus precios baratos. Debes saber que en algunos de ellos, los menos, a veces no disponen de ascensor, ni de aire acondicionado, o aceptan tarjetas de crédito. Sin embargo, más y más de estos hostales disponen con mayor frequencia de conexión Wi-Fi a internet.

Por eso, si estás en Madrid para la feria de FITUR, para otros negocios o como turista de vacaciones, ¿por qué no considerar un hostal limpio, céntrico y económico en tiempos de crisis, como la mejor opción para alojarse en Madrid?

It's time for the next...


When: Saturday, 24 January 2009, 8pm - 10pm+
Where: El Brillante bar, below the Hotel Mediodia, on the Glorieta de Carlos V (a.k.a. Plaza de Atocha)
Why?: Meet your fellow Madrid-lover (or make a new one), drink, eat, talk
Who: ANYONE! Come if you're reading this blog, message board or Facebook members, residents & visitors to Madrid

We've had so many of these "Party with MadridMan in Madrid" gatherings that I've lost count. The first one was in 1999, I think. We've even had a television crew record one gathering for a USA-based travel show. But one thing's for sure, they've all been a lot of fun. The first party only had about 7 people. Our biggest gathering to date numbered about 50 guests. Others have been in the 30s and teens. A lot depends on the amount of notice we give people so they can see if the gathering fits into their schedules. Holidays are usually bad as people are out of the city. Weeknights are bad too.

The mix of people has always been interesting. At the beginning the nationality most represented was the USA. But over the years that's shifting to about 50% Spanish and 50% "other". We had one gathering where English speakers were in the tiny minority. It's also a GREAT opportunity for non-Spaniards to speak to Spaniards about their lives in Madrid and Spain. Spaniards get to practice their English and non-Spaniards get to practice their Spanish.

We typically sit at terrazas or in bars to talk, drink beer and wine, and eat delicious tapas. The "El Brillante Bar", a MadridMan FAVORITE, is a great spot to do just this because they have a large central space for people to stand together, there's no loud music (or any at all) to shout over, and the clientelle is decidedly Spanish! The only negatives about the place is it's a bit kitch/cutre, there's no place to sit inside, and it's not very centrally located (across from Atocha) for some travelers' or residents' likes. In nicer weather we've taken up near-total-occupation of their large terraza outside.

El Brillante is a good "Starting Point" to get to know your neighbor. There, we enjoy cheap food, cheap drinks, and easy conversation. The problem always arises when the bill comes when we're ready to leave. How do you sort out how much Joe owes and how much Sara owes among 20-50 people?? After a couple hours of talking in relative peace, most go home, but some more hearty partiers go on to noisier, busier, more crowded bars for additional fun. We've had problems with the post-El-Brillante bars in the past because of the size of our groups. Since the gatherings are usually on Saturday nights, you can imagine how packed the small Madrid bars are upon our arrival. It's just impossible, most of the time for our groups.

I've met some very very nice people over the years at our gatherings. Some of them have become very very good friends and I'm fortunate to know them. Other people attending are visiting Madrid for the first time and want to pick the brains of locals and residents to make their trip more fulfilling. Some are residents like me, Expatriates living in Madrid and loving it. Another group of attendees are the Spaniards themselves. THEY truly make these gatherings what they are and I'm happy they are interested in meeting new people from other cultures.

MadridMan rarely gets to spend much time with any given person at the "Party with MadridMan" gathering because of the size of the groups. With smaller groups it's much easier, of course. Terraza gatherings are always so nice and relaxing but it's more difficult to mingle when you're seated in a chair.

So we hope you'll be able to attend next weekend's "Party with MadridMan in Madrid"! See the below links for more information:

Current Thread: MadridMan's ALL SPAIN Message Board about the "Party with MadridMan"
Facebook Members: Event posting about the December 2009 "Party with MadridMan"

Message Board: December 2001 Party with MadridMan discussion and photos
Message Board: April 2004 Party with MadridMan discussion and photos
Message Board: July 2005 Party with MadridMan discussion and photos
Message Board: December 2006 Party with MadridMan discussion and photos

Madrid taxis can be found throughout the city - but fewer in the neighborhoods immediately outside of the downtown (where I live). Taxis are always found around shopping centers, hospitals, and, of course, bus & train stations as well as long lines of them at the airport.

Generally speaking, taxi drivers in Madrid are always very professional, nearly always men, and always Spanish. I've yet to encounter a non-Spanish taxi driver. Why is that? Because the taxi driver permit or license can only be passed from family member to family member but can also be rented, although this is rarely done.

Taxi drivers normally own their own car and are responsible for its maintenance. You rarely see a dirty taxi, either inside or out. Most drivers spend long periods of time at the train station and airports, waiting their turn to serve, and pass the time cleaning their cars, doing Sudokus, talking with other drivers, or even practicing musical instruments. I've seen one television report of a small garden outside of the Atocha Train Station in Madrid where the taxi drivers care for and cultivate plants and vegetables in their spare time.

Today, I had the opportunity to take two taxis. Both were men. Both were Spanish. And both had GPS units on their dashboards. It's a good thing, too, because on the second trip today I couldn't give directions, only an address. On two occasions I'd had women taxi drivers. One was a terrible driver, using the break and gas peddle too liberally, giving us that constant stop-and-go, jerky feeling along the ride. The other, oddly enough, claimed openly to be a witch, of all things. The former of these two women was interestingly - and constantly - smoking a smokeless cigarette, which I'd yet to see here in Spain.

Most taxi drivers are talkative. They like to not only share their opinions about the traffic but also about local government and the usefulness (or uselessness) of the tunnels and their camera-vigilant speed limits. Some complain about Real Madrid's latest loss and others complain about other drivers. But one thing seems to be true throughout, few (if any) speak any English. For this reason, it's a good idea to take a written address whenever entering a taxi if you don't speak some Spanish. Luckily, I now speak Spanish well enough to get by.

Taxis in Spain, I think, get a bad reputation for being crazy drivers but I don't find this to be true. Sure, they may exceed the speed limit most of the time, dart offensively in and out of lanes and between cars, but these guys are true driving experts and are ultra-aware of the size and power capabilities of their vehicles. You RARELY see one in an accident.

Normally, I don't wear a seat belt while riding in a taxi in Madrid. It's not required by law (at least in the back seat). And, I have to admit, with the seat-belt-wearing awareness in the USA I always feel somewhat naked and vulnerable when I don't wear it. But whenever we get on the M-30 or are on our way to the airport, accessing the faster highways, I ALWAYS lock-and-go.

Taxis have a complicated array of pricing. Prices depend on several things including hour, day, airport/train pickup or drop-off, luggage or no luggage, and maybe there's more of which I'm not aware. But generally speaking, prices are not high like in New York City. One can essentially cross the city for no more than 15 Euros. A trip to/from the airport can cost up to 30 Euros, however, depending on the destination/origin within the city.

Hailing taxis is pretty easy. Just like in the USA, one stands on or near the curb and raises his arm towards an oncoming taxi which has the "LIBRE" sign visible in the front windshield and the green light turned illuminated on the rooftop next to the "TAXI" sign.

Robberies of taxi drivers does happen in Madrid but not very often at all. When it does, it makes the news. Most taxis do not carry the Plexiglas barrier separating the passengers from the driver but I have seen a few of these before. During the day, these barriers are always open but at night they're more often closed, causing the passage of payment through a small slot.

I actually like to take taxis. It gives me a fleeting feeling of luxury, although I tend to opt for buses as they're much much cheaper - and there's a bus stop around the corner from my house. Sometimes, if I have an appointment for which I'm running late, and if the bus doesn't come along quickly, I'll usually grab a taxi and bite the payment bullet.

There has been some talk over the years about unfair or illegal charges for taxi rides. Sure, there are a few bad apples everywhere in any profession. ALWAYS be sure the taxi meter is turned on upon getting in or shortly after moving. The vast majority of drivers are nice, honest, down-to-earth people simply trying to make a living or to augment their day-job income. I always tip them something although it's rare for Spanish clients to do so.

So treat your taxi driver with respect and kindness and they'll always return the sentiment.

Tonight is New Year's Eve in Madrid, Spain and, of course, throughout the world.

How do people celebrate New Year's Eve in Madrid and throughout Spain? Unlike Christmas Eve, which is an important family-gathering holiday, New Year's Eve (called "Noche Vieja" in Spanish) is more for gatherings of friends, going to parties, going from house to house to have a drink and personally give well-wishes. Many Spaniards do stay at home with family - almost by default - but many young people will venture out into the night.

What is there to do on New Year's Eve in Madrid? LOTS! If you're young and energetic, you'll not only go to parties at people's houses but also to the small "bares de copas" (i.e. "drinking bars") and small clubs around the city. If you have some money, you may choose the 70+ Euro entry-fees for the BIG, organized parties at some of the large discotheques and restaurants. If you're young and poor, you may find yourself at a "botellón" with your friends in some public park, drinking cheap wine from a box mixed with coca-cola (called "calimochos"), peeing behind trees, vomiting in bushes, and generally having lots of "fun".

Still, year after year, hoards of people gather in Madrid's Puerta del Sol (the "Times Square of Madrid") in the hour before midnight, awaiting the 12-chimes from the square's bell tower. The chimes cannot be heard over the din of the crowd so chances are good that the ball will drop and they'll illuminate the "Feliz 2009" sign. The custom in Spain is to eat one olive with each of the twelve chimes of midnight - if you can - and then kiss your loved-ones and strangers around you, wishing them a Happy New Year. These years, very few people FROM Madrid actually go to the Puerta del Sol. Most people occupying the Puerta del Sol for New Year's Eve are Spaniards from other parts of Spain as well as foreigners & tourists visiting Madrid just for New Year's Eve.

Getting dinner reservations in Madrid on New Year's Eve is VERY difficult. Most are booked for at least one month in advance. Many smaller bars, restaurants, and shops will close by 6pm on December 31st as the proprietors spend time with their own family and friends. The downown tourist bars, which are mostly open late into the night, are usually too full to enter - let alone speak to anyone because the noise is so loud.

Shortly after midnight begins the millions of calls and text messages to friends and family, wishing them a Happy New Year, forwarding poems and well-worded well-wishes. Year after year the phone and mobile phone lines are choked with these calls, the system is overloaded and one cannot connect.

I've been to the Puerta del Sol only one time for New Year's Even in Madrid and enjoyed it. The night I was there it was blisteringly cold and we nearly froze to death waiting for midnight. But it was fun to be there and see how it was. Tonight, I'll enjoy a quiet night at home with the people I love - some of whom are too old to go out so I'll keep them company.

But regardless of where you find yourself in Spain, one thing is a near certainty; you'll bring in the new year eating those twelve grapes with the 12-chimes of midnight, either with family, friends, or total strangers.

2008 has been difficult for many reasons for many people, not only economically and professionally, but we've lost friends and family to disease or old age, broken relationships, and the list goes on. We must cheris the wonderful which have happened in 2008 and remember those whom are worse off than you. Take care of the older folk, lend a hand to those who can't, do good deeds as often as you can, and tell the people you love that you love them. Who knows, they may not be around for the next New Year's Eve - you never know. Cherish them.

Every year for the past few years, the Madrid tourist office has organized a "Bus de la Navidad" or Christmas Lights Bus (website only in Spanish). It's a double-decker bus which, this year, only picks up passengers at its one stop at the Plaza de Colón. Tickets are bought on the bus for 1 Euro each. CHEAP! The one-stop idea was a good one. In past years the bus stopped throughout the city as long-suffering would-be passengers were constantly turned away as another full-bus passed them by. The only problem is... and it's a BIG problem.. the lines are SO LONG that you'll likely wait in line 2-4 hours for the 1-hour bus ride.

We arrived at 7pm to find a line around 250 meters long, winding back and forth, much of it under surface level UNDER the tower of Christopher Columbus on Plaza de Colón. Children were running and playing everywhere while their parents stood solidly in line, moving when the next bus would come and fill ONLY the top deck of the double-decker bus. I estimate there are no more than 15 rows X 4 persons per row, that's 60 person total per bus.

I'm not sure how many buses run the tour but there are at least 4. And if each bus takes 1-hour to make the loop, that's roughly mean a new bus would come to re-load every 15 minutes. We waited in line for only about 10 minutes and decided not to pay-the-price with our backs, legs, feet, and patience.

So we left. Dejected. We walked down the Paseo de la Castellana and admired the lights on foot to the Plaza de la Cibeles. Down the Paseo del Prado there were pretty lights and at least 3 different Christmas trees. Very nice. We reached the Glorieta de Carlos V (a.k.a. "Plaza de Atocha") where we stopped in to a crowded El Brillante bar for bocadillos de calamares (fried squid sandwhiches), patatas bravas (diced, boiled potatoes in a spicy red sauce), and beers. That was nice. Possibly the highlight of the evening!

So much for the Christmas Lights Bus. I doubt we'll even try next year.

Watch the below promotional video, created by the City Madrid, about Madrid's Christmas Lights for 2008.

Ismael Serrano is probably my all-time-favorite Spanish singer-songwriter. I'd say he's been considered a Spanish folk singer because his songs are mainly ballads, often about social issues, love, and humanity.

According to the Wikipedia page on Ismael Serrano,:

He was born in the neighbourhood of Vallecas of Madrid (Spain) in March 9, 1974. After studying Physics in the Complutense University of Madrid, Ismael Serrano started his musical career in the early nineties in Madrid, singing folk based guitar music in a café circuit, at abashedly political venues like Libertad 8, Galileo and Nuevos Juglares. The movement proved to be very popular, inspired by the 20 year old 'Protest' song movement under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, as well as the Nueva canción movement of Latin America.

I first became a fan when I heard the song "Kilometer Cero", a song Serrano wrote and performed for the 2000 comedy movie of the same name, "Km.0". I haven't seen the movie yet - and heard it wasn't all that good - but the music video for the song shows scenes from the movie as well as Ismael Serrano himself walking the streets of Madrid, from a Madrid rooftop, and (presumably) from an large kitchen in a huge, old flat in downtown Madrid. Watch the "Kilometer Cero" music video below.

Kilometro Cero (2000)   -   Papá cuéntame otra vez (1997)   -   Eres (2002)


Since hearing the enchanting song "Kilometer Cero" I was hooked. I remember well listening to the song in the early 2000s, sitting at my then day-job, and getting all teary-eyed while daydreaming about Madrid. And since then I'd bought all of his subsequent CDs, growing more and more interested in his work.

"Kilometero Cero" refers to "The Zero Point" in Spain, the geographical center of the country & the point from which all other distances are measured. This location (although not exactly the actual mid-point of the country) is marked by a half-circle plaque on the sidewalk in front of the Comunidad de Madrid Government building in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. (see photo at right)

Most of his songs, slow and soulful, makes a person imagine himself exploring the historic streets of Madrid, contemplating life and observing human nature. Many songs, whether or not you understand Spanish, have the ability to bring you to tears. His guitar playing is sensitive, with rhythms and chords not often attempted. His voice is strong, precise, and unmistakable. His self-written lyrics are clear, great for the person whose first language is not Spanish.

All of the songs from his 1998 CD, "La Memoria de los Peces", 2000 CD "Los Paraísos Desiertos", and his 2002 CD, "La Traición de Wendi" were definitely his best work but he continues to make good music.

One can visit his website at http://www.IsmaelSerrano.com for all lyrics - both in Spanish AND the translated version in English - as well as song and video clips, discography, photos, tour dates, and more.

Since moving to Madrid at the end of 2005 I was anxious to see Serrano live in concert. But every time he came to Madrid his shows were always and immediately sold out. Not to be deterred, I found him playing in Tarragona City on Spain's eastern, Mediterranean coast and decided to make the 3-hour train trip, reserve a hotel for 2-nights, and see my hero live. What a show. He played alone onstage with nothing but his voice, his guitar, and a microphone  to roughly 75 or 100 people in a small venue and sang all the songs I knew. I literally had goose bumps throughout the show! Happily, everyone stayed in their seats during the concert until the last 2 or 3 songs when he picked up the pace.

Ismael Serrano is performing 2 shows here in Madrid later this month but tickets are already sold out. Figures. If I want to see him live - where tickets are still available, I'd have to travel to Jaén (tomorrow!) or Salamanca in January (hmmm... that one's a possibility!).

Of course I don't personally know Ismael Serrano, but he seems like a very accessible person, someone very friendly and open. His lyrics and comfortable stage persona while addressing the audience makes you think he's someone you could invite over for a beer and he'd happily accept. Who knows how he is in real life but he's someone I'd like to meet someday, at least to thank him for making me "feel". His music meant a lot to me in those years before moving to Madrid.

You'll love this... (it becomes a "rant" further down)

Madrid's City Hall (EsMadrid) and Google Travel Spain have apparently teamed up to hold a one-day conference, 15 December 2008, from about 10am to 7pm, in the Casa de Campo Theater Auditorium to assess and combat the depths of the economic crisis affecting the travel and tourism industry in Madrid.

Entry Fee: 75 Euros per person - which includes a nice lunch and coffee breaks. How generous!

Madrid TravelThink is what it's called. The conference includes open-forum, round table discussions after each of the four, 1-hour topics is presented. See the discussion topics below:

1) Changes in promotion and management of turistic destinations
2) Changes in the distribution model of tourism services
3) Changes in the informational habits and consumer purchace
4) Changes derived from the cold, economic climate

So there you have it in a nutshell. 4 hours of "information", and 4 total hours of round table, open forum discussion (one hour after each topic presentation) for this conference, hosted by a VERY concerned Madrid City Hall and Google.

All this for 75 Euros!?!?!!? That's a day's wage for most travel professionals - WITH university degrees! Oh, did I already mention this price includes the lunch and 2 coffee breaks?!

Rant Time: Google and EsMadrid is organizing this event to help those of us in the tourism sector better manage this time of tourism crisis for Madrid and Spain. APPARENTLY, they only ask 75 Euros per person to help offset the cost of organizing such a conference and do not intend to profit from it. UH-HUH. RIGHT!  But 75 Euros per person?!?!? How much is the lunch and coffee breaks worth? And shouldn't the CITY OF MADRID be DONATING the Theater Auditorium in the Casa de Campo, with hopes that Madrid and Spain's tourist professionals may better deal with the fading tourism industry, thereby putting more money into the Madrid City Hall's pockets?? Or maybe EsMadrid is flying in all their keynote speakers, via First Class Airfare, from around Spain, U.K., France, Italy, Germany, and New York City - not to mention 1 or 2 night's stay at a 5-Star Madrid Hotel?

First, Google's worth billions of dollars. Good for them. Madrid's City Hall, who is really dealing with this problem on a local level, is also contributing personnel to this conference. But couldn't they do much much, MUCH more?

Tourist professionals ARE feeling the economic pinch from fading tourism. I FEEL IT! Can we now afford, IN THIS TIME OF ECONOMIC CRISIS, 75 Euros per person to tell us (probably)  what we already know and feel? Many cannot afford it. Wouldn't THIS be a PERFECT opportunity to invite ANYONE in the tourism industry to share in this presumably enlightening event - FOR FREE? Wouldn't THAT help the industry and the City of Madrid?

I've registered but stopped short of paying so I'm not going. 75 Euros is just too much. I'd consider it if it was only 30 or 40 Euros but no-way will I pay 75 Euros. Not unless, of course, Google is "gifting" all those in attendance with a electronics-filled gift-bags. Doubt that.

Here's hoping all you United Statesens had a wonderful, warm, and memorable Thanksgiving Day yesterday.

After everyone left and before I went to bed, all alone, I finished one of the brought bottles of delicious red wine and watched the first half of that action-packed-yet-sad Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans NFL football game. But that ended the evening well, having "The Grand Even" behind me, a disaster area in the kitchen with piles of plates, stuffing scattered around the floor, and me drinking wine while watching my beloved football in total peace. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh......        :)        (insert HEAVY sigh of relief here.....)

See group photo below of the three of us whom are NOT afraid to have our photos on the internet:

Left to right: MadridMan, steve robinson, and replay (Rafa)



The stuffing I made early in the afternoon - which I mentioned in my previous post above - ended up in the trash        :(        because I forgot to first saute the onion and celery chunks. And yet I didn't realize this until AFTER I stuffed it in the bird and put it in the oven. That was okay but we weren't about to eat the leftover raw-onion-and-celery stuffing (at least I wasn't). (sorry, Esperanza!!!) It's a true shame too because the stuffing itself looked so delicious. I considered picking out the pieces of onion and celery but had neither the time nor the patience to take on that task with so many other things going on. Luckily, I'd bought two back-up boxes of the stuff(ing) at The American Store and made that. It turned out okay but wasn't as pretty. hehehe....

The pre-meal salad plate for guests went over very well with little pickles, black olives, anchovy-stuffed green olives, and cherry tomatoes. I'd spent 45 minutes earlier in the day peeling and quartering carrots for said salad plate - but forgot them in the refrigerator.

As guests came they would kindly say upon entering the house, "Mmmm.. Something smells good!" Of course, what they were really smelling was the smoke billowing from the kitchen's oven!        :eek:        Throughout the "social-hour", they'd poke their heads in the kitchen while I was preparing the corn-on-the-cob or the green-beans-with-mushroom-soup to chat and look through the oven-glass to the turkey. From time to time we'd ALL have to leave the kitchen because THE SMOKE was just too bad. I began worrying a concerned neighbor might call the fire department.

About the Turkey...

I'd spent nearly an hour preparing the freshly slaughtered turkey, thinking it'd only take 20 minutes. First, NOT ALL of the turkey's feathers were pulled out so I plucked those remaining. Then I washed the turkey in the sink, inside and out according to instructions, patted it dry throughout with paper towels. Then I applied olive oil first, then salt, pepper, and parsley. Good. The oven was preheated to 350ºF for the previous 45 minutes and ready to go.

The turkey was put into the SPECIAL turkey cooking bag, made the recommended 6, 2-inch slots into the plastic, and it all went into the oven at 6:30pm. I was starting to get a little nervous, knowing it would take at least 3 hours to cook and 20 minutes to cool, and my guests were told we'd dine at 9pm. This wasn't going to all come together perfectly...

As mentioned above, about an hour into cooking the 12-pound turkey (7:30pm) the smoke was filling the kitchen. Because I was beginning to doubt the EDIBILITY of the thing, I sent one of the guests to buy a couple roasted chickens. JUST IN CASE.

By 8:15pm, having already lowered the temperature twice, I turned off the oven - AFTER ONLY 1 hour and 45 minutes cooking time. "There's NO WAY we're going to be able to eat this thing." It's going to be burned on the outside and raw on the inside!!

First, this so-called magical cooking bag, something which was supposed to retain the turkey's moistness, wrapped itself around the bird like a condom throughout the baking process, and eventually, literally became its second skin - with 5th degree burns!

Thank goodness we had these roasted chickens as backup...

I took out the turkey, ready to toss it directly into the garbage in disgust but one of my female guests stopped me with her very kind and encouraging, "No! No! It doesn't look so bad! I'm sure it's delicious! We can save a lot of it, just look! Really!" This is when she took over.

Surprisingly, after cutting away the half-inch of charred plastic and flesh, revealed was some very edible-looking breast meat! Voila! We have our Thanksgiving Day Turkey!! The guest was able to cut away enough meat to almost fill one large plate, just enough for the 7 of us to try a little.

"¡ALAAAA!" was the cheer by the 5 seated Spanish guests (and one English guest) upon my entering the dining/living room with plate of turkey slices - NOT the entire turkey. Of course I had this typical image of entering with this beautiful big, brown, garnished turkey and laying it in the center of the table for everyone to admire. BUT...it didn't happen like that. They'd already gotten a glimpse of the charred body in the kitchen and no one had any grand expectations.

So we salvaged some turkey. Everyone tried the strange looking (to them) turkey gravy and liked it. I decided not to make the mashed potatoes afterall because it was just too much work and too many side dishes, people liked the green beans and mushroom soup. The stuffing went mainly untouched. The corn-on-the-cop raised much discussion by the Spaniards, saying it looked a lot like "the food the pigs eat". I'd FORGOTTEN the cranberry sauce in the refrigerator. But everyone LOVED the pumpkin pie. In an earlier post I'd mentioned I burned the no-bake graham cracker crust of two pies, which I did, but I scooped out the good middle and spread it all into a third "reserve" no-bake pie shell and served it like that. A big hit! We finished the meal off at about 11:30pm with glasses of Crema de Orujo liqueur.

The evening was wonderful, filled with Spanish political and religious debate, a little about Barack Obama's Presidential election, and general discussion. As an afterthought, I should've told my guests more about Thanksgiving, what it was, and what it stood for but I was just too overwhelmed with everything, I guess.

In total, we were 2 Spanish males (including message board member replay), 3 Spanish females, 1 Englishman (message board member steve robinson), and me, the only Americano.

MORE ON THE COOKING BAG: I followed the instructions perfectly. REALLY, I DID. My Spanish female guests kindly suggested the plastic bag burned because the oven was too small, the turkey was too close to the heating element, and that the oven may not have had a self-regulating-temperature (whatever that means - don't they all self-regulate?). Initially they said, "Well, why did you use a plastic bag of all things? That's VERY strange!" So I had to explain to them that it was "A new thing." They just shook their heads in disbelief.

So my FIRST attempted Thanksgiving Day Feast was a semi-success. But at least we all had a good time and were together. Afterall, THAT's what's most important.  :)

Sometimes photos speak more than do the written word. See MadridMan below, the proud Ohio State University Alumnus (Class of 1989, Geology), watching his 10-2, 10th Ranked OSU Buckeyes beat the University of Michigan Wolverines for the 5th straight year in football. This year it happened in front of more than 105,000 spectators at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, USA. This wins the Buckeyes a share of the Big 10 Title - shared with Penn State University. Notice MadridMan is wearing his favorite Ohio State sweatshirt for luck. Believe it or not, he bought that sweatshirt on campus at Long's Bookstore DURING his college days.

I couldn't stand it anymore. Exhausting ALL of the published possibilities of easy-in-easy-out restaurants serving a Thursday turkey dinner, I've resigned myself to cooking the turkey myself - IN MY OWN HOUSE. I must be crazy.

My local "Chicken Shop" tells me they can order a whole turkey with 24-hour notice. I asked, sheepishly, "Will it still have the features on it?" Both "The Chicken Lady" and another woman - who was there just to chat - laughed and said, "We don't live in a village, you know!" So yes, the bird comes "clean". I forgot to ask if it came with its innards, head and feet, though. Probably not. 5 Euros per kilo, she tells me. Is that expensive? I guess it doesn't matter now. I'm in up to my elbows in resignation of being the Thanksgiving Day chef.

Hmmm... Why does the image of Mr. Bean attempting to cook a turkey for the first time come to mind? (see photo at right)

Having the turkey taken care on "the front end" is one less thing to worry about, albeit simply ORDERING the turkey is the easy part. Now I need the supplies to cook the gobbler. What will I need?

I carefully summon visions of Grandma's annual turkey-cooking efforts and make a mental list of things I'll need. And how does one get such American holiday cooking items here in Madrid, Spain? That's simple! At The American Store! So that's where I went yesterday, to the store location just a hundred meters from "El Clínico de San Carlos" hospital. And it was there I found nearly everything I needed. Not only do they carry all the "normal" things like Peanut Butter & Jelly, pancake mix and syrup, fudge brownie mixes, and every American candy and snack known to man, but they also carry seasonal food stuffs like the ones I was seeking.

Right on the "end cap" upon going downstairs were (nearly) all the Thanksgiving Day items necessary to create an All American Thanksgiving Day feast. Here's the list of my purchase:

• Aluminum Turkey cooking pan: 2.50 Euros
• Box of stuffing: 3.00 Euros ea.
• Box of Turkey Cooking Bags: 3.50 Euros
• Packs of Turkey Gravy: 1.85 Euros ea.
• 2 Cup measuring cup:  2.10 Euros
• Big-@ss Can of Pumpkin Pie filling: 4.75 Euros
• Graham Cracker Pie Shells: 3.90 Euros ea.
• Cranberry Sauce: 2.75 Euros ea.
• =======================
  
• Purchase Total: 54.60 Euros

I walked out of there and towards the Moncloa metro station with two big bags of STUFF, kind of proud of myself, and taking another step forward in having a successful All American Thanksgiving Day feast with (mainly) my Spanish friends at home.

Now I have to do some internet research about how long to cook the bird, at what temperature, and other details. Many of the boxes I bought had instructions on how to calculate such things so I'm feeling confident. I've seen others essentially "wrap" the turkey in aluminum foil for cooking but I'm trying these clear-plastic turkey-cooking bags. The box swears the plastic won't melt around the bird at high temperatures. Hope that's true!

Surely I won't sleep a wink the night before, fretting over the details, worrying about an undercooked, bacteria-rich turkey or an overcooked, dry-as-a-wishbone one, leaving my Spanish guest STILL wondering what a properly cooked turkey must taste like. So wish me luck, everyone! I'LL CERTAINLY NEED IT!

Oh, and by the way, THIS is my 100th Blog Posting!!

UPDATE: Read the aftermath of the aforementioned Turkey Day preparation in the blog posting entitled "Homemade Thanksgiving Feast: A Semi-Success" for details and photos.

YIKES!

Imagine my surprise when I walked through my local neighborhood and saw this through an open door; a seated woman and a headless man hanging from a cable with his arms outstretched!

Clearly, this some kind of sculpture workshop but wow, they were so realistic! The room was full of dust and I peaked around the door a bit to see the workman/artist working on another piece wearing, thankfully, a protective mask.

The 2-way, 4-lane Calle de San Bernardo, the stretch between Gran Vía and the Glorieta de Ruiz Jimenez (a.k.a. Plaza de San Bernardo), is one of my favorite streets in Madrid - and I only recently discovered it!

Go to http://www.Google.com/maps , enter Calle de San Bernardo, 10, Madrid, Spain, turn "left" by 90º to head north, and start-a-walkin'.

WHY do I like this street? Because it's so mixed culturally, has a kind of bohemian feel to it while maintaining most of its traditional stores and bars. It's probably one of the most overlooked streets by travelers to Madrid. Not only does it have some of the most architecturally stunning and historical buildings in Madrid but also some of the ugliest office buildings - not to mention the worst graffiti covered buildings in the city.

Overlooking the graffiti (and it's difficult to do), you see some buildings which will make you stop, gawk, and cross the street for a better look, wondering how they must look on the inside. The "upper half" of the street is cooler and more historic than the "lower half".

Also along this route is the two-spire "Ministerio de Justicia" building (Calle de San Bernardo, 45), the connecting-and-cool Calle del Pez to the right. A couple blocks up and to the right is the Calle del Espiritu Santo where you find the (American) English-language, second-hand bookstore J&J Books and Coffee (and free Wi-Fi). Up San Bernardo a little further you have the absolutely stunning residential building at Calle de San Bernardo, 67. For this, look at my photo below and also on Google Maps "Street View", look up and down.

Further up, at Calle de San Bernardo, 79 at the left, we see the large, beautiful barroque-style church, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat, designed by the famed Madrid artist, Pedro de Ribera, and whose construction began in 1668. Directly across the street from it is the yellow-façade convent "Convento de las Salesas Nuevas".

Along this street there are countless kitchy-bars, a couple restaurants, and lots and lots of shops. The graffiti really is a problem, though. See the photo at right (Calle de San Bernardo, 18) of the interesting, late afternoon sun reflecting from an adjacent building - and the graffiti too.This bank seems to be open for business so I don't know why they haven't painted the outside façade in so many years.,

I feel I could live in an area like this because of its variety. There are two metro stations along this street; one at mid-point called "Noviciado" and another at the top called, appropriately, "San Bernardo".

So take a walk up Calle de San Bernardo the next time you're in Madrid and see a part of the city often overlooked. Or simply take a virtual Street Maps stroll up the street. Either way, you'll enjoy yourself.

Little Known Fact Among Tourists:

The Old and decrepit La Sepulvedana Bus Station on the Paseo de la Florida, 11 has moved across the street to the new "Intercambiador" at Príncipe Pío Station and Shopping Center. This happened about a year ago, by the way.

All the old guides - and some of the new ones - list the Old station as the location to travel from Madrid to Segovia by bus. It no longer exists. Now, a PC City computer store occupies the space. I LOVE this computer store chain. And now it's RIGHT on my local bus route. Woo Hoo!!

For years, the old bus location had received many complaints about bad smells, dirty conditions, beggars & drunkards hanging around. Even I, MadridMan, recall going to Segovia at least twice through this "hole in the ground" entry. Upon entering the front door you would have to go down a series of ramps to get to the lower-level where one could buy tickets, wait in the waiting area, eat something at the cafeteria, and wait for your bus to leave - HOPING you'd get on the correct bus.

The new station across the street at Príncipe Pío, located also underground in the "intercambiador" - joining buses, metro, and train - is newer, cleaner, and patrolled by police. The buses leave the station through a series of tunnels until they leave after crossing under the Manzanares river and out the Avenida de Portugal.

While I haven't been able to get a very current price, last year's one-way ticket price was about 6.43 Euros. That's cheap for the 1-hour trip to Segovia, in my opinion.

The bus station in Segovia is not far from the Old downtown either. You can walk from the station to, say, the Roman Aqueduct in about 15 minutes maximum. And on the way you pass a number of old churches. This bus line JUST invested in a brand new, ultra modern fleet of buses.

If you have any doubt about the departure or approximate price of the tickets, ask at any Madrid Tourist Check Point or Tourist Office around the city.

Links of interest:

http://www.adn.es/local/madrid/20071008/NWS-0120-Sepulvedana-cambia-acera.html
http://www.nortecastilla.es/20071009/segovia/parada-sepulvedana-madrid-trasladara-20071009.html
http://www.lasepulvedana.es/

Yesterday, I finally saw the (written & directed) Woody Allen movie, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (official website link at left - not Firefox-friendly, though). It was good! Not great, but definitely good.

The movie stars the Allen-fave Scarlett Johansson as "Cristina", Rebecca Hall as "Vicky" (who doesn't even get top-three billing!), and Spaniards Javier Bardem & Penélope Cruz - who has the smallest role of all and yet gets SECOND-billing. The latter surprises me only somewhat. Rebecca Hall, while lesser known, has every bit of time onscreen as Scarlett Johansson but her name is lost in the "Also appearing" credits at the bottom of the movie poster.

But this isn't your typical Woody Allen movie. First, Allen doesn't act or narrate the movie. GOOD! I think most moviegoers these days are a bit tired of the fast-paced dialogue and neurotic character of him. He definitely knows how to write, though, and wisely - yet curiously - chose a young man's voice to narrate the film. We never find out who this man is. Just a narrator!

For movies like this one, knowing I'd have to someday review it, I purposely shielded myself from video clips, reading other reviews, or talking to friends about the movie. But still, while most of the film takes places in and near Barcelona City - as well as some scenes in Oviedo - I'm surprised by the lack of "buzz" for this movie here in Spain. And Spaniards absolutely LOVE Woody Allen. This seems to be his second home, constantly being honored with film-related awards and seemingly constantly playing his clarinet in big concerts in San Sebastian and other northern cities.

Movie Summary: Vicky & Cristina, both American east-coast, big-city 20-somethings decide to go to Barcelona for the summer - each with their own reasons. Vicky, an impetuously wild spirit, wants to clear her head after yet another stormy and failed relationship. Cristina is having one last adventure as a single, goal-driven and responsible woman before getting married to the "perfect-yet-boring" man.

Vicky & Cristina meet bold Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) at a Barcelona restaurant after Vicky continues to stare at him from their table. He's a free-thinking, socially and sexually liberal painter with a fiery past - and ongoing - relationship with his ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz). Juan Antonio walks over to meet them and immediately invites them both to fly to Oviedo for a weekend of wine-tasting, sight seeing, and threesome sex. Cristina is shocked and rejects him but Vicky is intrigued. Still, they both fly to Oviedo with him in his friend's 4-seater plane.

During the weekend, circumstances shift. While Vicky becomes sick and stays in bed from an existing ulcer, Cristina falls for Juan Antonio and has a beautiful, profoundly romantic experience with him, forever changing her concept of love and dedication.

The movie continues and Cristina comes to her senses, re-committing herself to her visiting fiance. Vicky's health improves and she falls more deeply in love with Juan Antonio, moving in with him to his house/painting-studio, and Cristina never shares her secret love affair with Vicky.

It's while Vicky is Juan Antonio's live-in-lover that suicidal Maria Elena first appears, recently released from the hospital for a near-overdose of pills. She's tortured and also an artist (cliché??!!), still deeply in love with her ex-husband Juan Antonio. Due to her fragile condition, Juan Antonio invites Maria Elena to move in with them. Shocked, Vicky reluctantly agrees.

Days pass and the three of them grow close. They live the stereotypical bohemian life in the rural art studio with impassioned painting, deep discussions, and two-way, three-way, heterosexual, and lesbian sex with interchangeable partners under the same roof.

Everything goes perfectly well for awhile but surprisingly it's Vicky whom removes herself from the situation, saying it's just too-much for her, and she decides to travel France for the last couple of weeks of the summer. Shortly thereafter, Juan Antonio and Maria Elena are left alone again to their stormy and self-destructive ways as a couple. Maria Elena leaves.

Juan Antonio reconnects with Cristina who can't stop thinking about him and her eye-opening experiences with him in Oviedo. With Cristina's fiance playing golf with friends, she meets Juan Antonio one more time, not having to wonder forever if HE was the ONE for her. They're interrupted by drunken and crazed Maria Elena who's carrying a gun and threatening murder and-or suicide.

At the end of their summer in Barcelona, Vicky is still searching for unrealistic love but Cristina's concept of love and passion is RE-defined forever - yet she presumably goes back to marry her "perfect man".

MadridMan's review: The movie's end is, at least for me, left with nothing but loose ends, something "they say" shouldn't be done in a Hollywood movie. But Woody Allen movies are rarely your typical Hollywood fare - so in that regard it's a positive thing. The point of the movie is not necessarily to simply entertain but to cause us to question love and passion, how they are or should be, how fleeting love and passion are in a relationship, and the differences between "loving" and "being in love."

Barcelona Sights Seen in the Movie: We really don't see much of Barcelona. It must be difficult filming someplace where there are LOTS of people milling about at all times. For this reason, most scenes are either close-up or far-away. We see just a bit of Antonio Gaudi's Parc Güell (the painted tile mosaic lizard), a bit of some of the rides of the Tibidabo Amusement Park and a hazy horizon of Barcelona City below, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia towers and 2-seconds of the inside roof, 10-seconds from atop Gaudi's Casa Mila - La Pedrera while walking among the chimney pots, a brief closeup scene of looking at birds on La Rambla, and a couple no-dialogue scenes of Vicky taking photos in the Barrio Gótico.

Final Thoughts & Observations: "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is worth a look and it will make you think a bit about the concept of love and relationship. I have to say that while watching this movie I thought several times, "Ho! Every place they live, all the restaurants where they eat, all the sights they see are just too perfect!" They're kindly housed in the mansion of friends-of-American-friends in Barcelona's outskirts, but they also stay in a beautiful, historic, 5-Star Hotel de la Reconquista in Oviedo City, but also attend an intimate, romantic, 8-person wine-drinking, outdoor-gazebo-setting private performance by a Spanish guitarrist which made me say, "That NEVER happens unless you know the guitarrist personally!" Apparently Juan Antonio is an insider with such things. The movie's music is pretty good, with Paco de Lucia's "Entre Dos Aguas" played at least three times in the movie.

Movie Trailers:
Links:
http://www.vickycristina-movie.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497465/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_Cristina_Barcelona
http://www.hoteldelareconquista.com/
http://www.tibidabo.es/
http://www.sagradafamilia.org/

About a week ago I found a list of places around which which were serving an "American Thanksgiving meal" for Thanksgiving Day - this year it's November 27th.

Encouraged that this year I was going to be able to shared an "American Thanksgiving Day Experience" with my best Spanish friends, I started contacting the list of places.

Americans being Americans, they tend to book ANYTHING on the day it because possible to buy, rent, or reserve - as opposed to waiting until the last minute as some older Spaniards are still doing. Young Spaniards now book far in advance but still NOT NEARLY as far as Americans do.

And because Americans are Americans, as I went through the list of places serving the special annual turkey meal I found that they were either all booked, had odd-hours available, or weren't even serving turkey! One was serving RIBS of all things! What kind of Thanksgiving Day feast is that? Yes, it's a feas

This is disconcerting, to say the least. Last year I shared Thanksgiving with family in Switzerland but I'm not doing that this year.

The very consideration of having to COOK A FRIGGIN' TURKEY MYSELF (I've never done it!), cook all the side foods, set the table, host 8 persons in my small house (the table only seats 6 uncomfortably), cook in my tiny kitchen, AND THE CLEAN UP not only scares me to death but, well, it's just not going to happen. Uh-Uh!!!

What's an American boy to do?? Have a simple turkey sandwich with fried potatoes and the local bar??

UPDATE: Read the 22 November 2008 blog entry, "Homestyle Thanksgiving Dinner IS ON in Madrid".

Of course the title is a generalization - but I think it's an accurate one.

Most all "United Statesens" I know whom have visited Spain tell me the same things; "Spanish food is so fattening," "Spanish food is so greasy," "Spanish food is disgusting looking," "I can't eat anything that can look back at me from the plate," etcetera.

So then why are Spaniards so thin and among the "longest livers" in Europe?

I love telling Spanish-food-loving people my favorite stories of American friends whom have visited Spain. Most Americans say things like those listed above. But how can an overweight American who never exercises also be so fanatical about the healthy aspect of the food he's eating? More than one American has been served a Spanish dish, oftentimes it's the emblematic Paella, and the American couldn't touch it because of the tiny crab sitting atop the pile of rice and looking directly at its maker.

This really happened. A former coworker visited Spain and was served a plate of paella with a small crab sitting on top. After the waiter set down the plate he slowly spun the plate so that the crab was facing the eater. The eater, not used to eating anything which looks exactly how it looks in its natural state, couldn't eat the paella sitting below it.

Same goes with fish and roasted suckling pig. Americans can not eat anything with the eyes, ears, or tails still on it when it arrives from the kitchen. They just can't. They're disgusted. Spain is famous for its fish and pork and when an American receives his fish (s)he often sees something which still has its skin and scales, still has its tail, and - worst of all - still has its head and eyeballs. "Cochinillo" (roasted, suckling pig) is the same when it arrives, complete with its curly and crispy tail, crispy ears, crispy snout, and impossible-to-eat tiny hooves and toenails.

Most all Spaniards I know whom have visited the United States tell me the same things; "American food is so boring," "American food is so bland," "There's no variety in American food," "American food is so unhealthy and fattening," and "No wonder why so many Americans are obese, the food is terrible."

Yesterday I was in the company of 3 Spaniards having lunch at a Mexican restaurant near the Almudena Cathedral (yesterday was the holiday commemorating the Virgin Almudena, Madrid's female Patron Saint). The restaurant was my choice because I LOVE Mexican food and don't get it here in Spain as much as we Americans commonly eat it in the USA. I was in Mexican food heaven while the 3 Spaniards were unimpressed, unhappy, and didn't even finish. They complained that it was too spicy and, probably, not too easily digested. Frankly, they said, they didn't see what all the fuss was about, that Spanish food was SO much better. I can't really agree with this totally but I do love Spanish food.

The lunch sparked a conversation from those Spaniards who'd been to the USA about how poor the food is there, how it's boring, and that (exaggerating) "Everyone in the USA is so fat they have to get around in wheelchairs. This is because the food is so unhealthy." I set them straight-ish but bragged that the USA is now only ranked the SECOND-most overweight country in the world (the 1st Place winning medal of dishonor we carried for many years). And plus, not everyone eats just hamburgers, hotdogs, and pizza - except maybe college kids where "The Freshman 10 (pounds)" when I went to university has now become "The Freshman 25", the amount of weight first-year college kids gain after leaving the relatively healthy food prepared and eaten at home.

I can't defend much the quality or taste of food in the USA. Generally speaking, I like it. But I like Spanish food so much more. I guess there is a reason why America's first choice when dining out in the USA is at Mexican restaurants. I imagine it's similar to the popularity of Indian food in England where, they say, the food is so bland-and-boring.

It's a shame United Statesens don't LOVE Spanish food as much I have grown to love it but I can't fault them. My first visit to Spain in 1995 was exactly like their experience. I saw Spanish food as fattening, unhealthy, and disgusting-looking. Now, I often say that Spain is a food-lover's and alcoholic's perfect dream. The difference is Spaniards know how to self-moderate with these things but Americans generally don't - which is evidence with the should-be-illegal popularity of the countless All-You-Can-Eat restaurants in the U.S.A. Here in Spain there are few and not at all popular because overeating - as well as drinking too much - is frowned upon.

Visiting Americans, Eat & Drink Well - but in moderation. And come with an open mind. Maybe have a big glass of wine before chewing on your first of many toenail-looking "percebes" or fat-filled slices of "salchichón".

There was an article in last Thursday's 20 Minutes free newspaper. It detailed the number of closings of local stores taking place due to the flagging economy. Below is my translation of the article.

"The Economic Crisis Threatens Madrid Neighborhood Stores: 2 Stores Close Daily, southern region shops sell 30% less. Electronic and food stores are closing fastest."

After a lifetime of buying the daily bread in the corner store or chatting with the local clerks, many neighbors are finding their lifelong stores with their metal shutters closed and doors locked.

Every day 2 neighborhood stores close because of the decrease in sales. About 400 local stores have closed in the last 6 months. "This is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg, in 3 months the entire industry is going to collapse if no solution is made. (i.e. an injection of money by the Comunidad)".

The cause is the drop of sales: Madrid stores now take in about 7.1% less than in April, when the crisis was a true reality. In the periphery of the southern districts and municipalities the situation is most dramatic: sales have gone down by 30%, according to the store owners of the area.

Above all, the home furnishings and electronics are suffering more than most, selling 15.8% less, now that fewer and fewer new houses are being built. Food stores sales have also fallen by 3.8% mainly due to the rise in prices and the purchase of cheaper products.

This commercial "situation" translates into 1,600 more persons out of work, "most of all for immigrants and young people which are cheaply and easily fired," says the CC OO. "Even though these may be contracted workers."

The above loose translation of the article underscores my blog entry from December 2007 entitled "Neighborhood Spanish Establishments Closing", which details the closing of a couple of my favorite neighborhood stores. Even the place downtown near the Plaza Mayor, a store where I always bought my pancake syrup and a few other American products, has recently closed.

"They say" things are about to get much much worse in just the next 6 months. I can't imagine what that's going to be like. It's really hard to believe that "normal people" are paying much attention to this so-called "Crisis". Streets and stores are as packed as ever with shoppers, everyone's carrying shopping bags of recent purchases, and the bars and restaurants are full every weekend. Maybe these same people are just buying fewer things or maybe they're buying cheaper things. I really don't know, but it seems people aren't very worried - YET.

Google Maps recently revealed it's Super Cool 360º "Street View" function for the Spanish cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Valencia. It's a great way to take a virtual stroll through these favorite city streets.

One you go to Google Maps, type in an exact address in the aforementioned cities or just simply the city and country in to the search field. Once there, click the "Street View" button in the menu towards the upper right hand corner of map to show, in blue lines, which streets are covered by the Street View function.

If you chose the city-general Google Maps and see the available streets outlined in blue, double click the street you'd like to see in "Street View" and another window will pop-up on top of the map giving a 360º view of that location at street level. You'll see graphical lines and arrows showing the names of the streets. Click the arrows to move forward or backward, click-and-drag around the Street View image to move anyway, spinning around throughout the photo, up and down, 'round-and-'round, zoom in and out. It's super cool!


A number of the pedestrian streets and not all of the city streets have been mapped though. For example, almost none of the streets in the old Santa Cruz neighborhood in Seville are mapped. NONE of the streets in the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona are mapped. About half of Valencia's old town are mapped and most all of Madrid's old downtown is mapped.

The Google Street View cars were driving throughout The Top Four Spanish Cities last spring 2008 and just recently made this cool, new function available. Many of the big cities in the United States of America are already mapped. While I didn't see the cars myself in Madrid, I did find the photo of them (to the right) on the internet. They're a strange-looking vehicle with the tower-camera mounted to the roof of the car. While it drives through the city streets it takes a series of photos of a given location. Those photos are then stitched together, creating the 360º image. I have to wonder how long it took them to drive through these cities. Maybe only 2 days each! You can see the different heights of the sun in some photos, going from one corner to the next, sometimes it's cloudy and then 100 meters later it's sunny.

So if you'd like to take a stroll down Memory Lane from a long-past visit to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, or Seville, visit Google Maps, go to an address or, generally, one of the aforementioned cities, and take a virtual stroll to see how it's changed.

Rueda, a white wine produced in Spain's Castilla y León region, is MadridMan's ALL TIME FAVORITE white wine. l also like Galician Ribiero white wine nearly as much. Galician Ribeiro white wine is most often served with Pulpo a la Gallega, which is boiled octopus "disks" with paprika power on top, but I much prefer the fruity, cold-served Rueda wines for everyday consumption.

I don't mean to say that I consume wine everyday because I don't. But it's always good to have Rueda - and even a bottle of Ribeiro - white wine chilling in the refrigerator for that perfect, light dinner of home-made tapas, mainly lomo ham, cheese, and of course, the obligatory green-olives-stuffed-with-anchovies. A glass (or two or three) of Rueda makes the light dinner just perfect. It's just slightly fruity, always served cold, and is easily found in supermarkets.

Rueda white wine is also commonly served when ordering "Vino blanco, por favor," on one of Madrid's many terrazas or bars in Madrid. Other regions have other favorite white wines served but in Madrid, it's Rueda. Sometimes you'll encounter the ocassional Chardoney though.

F.Y.I., the Spanish word "rueda" also means "wheel". I don't recall ever finding Spanish Rueda wine in Columbus, Ohio USA when I lived there but Ribeiro or Albariño, two very good Galician wines, were easy to find.

Here in Madrid, a bottle of Reuda white wine can cost anywhere from 5 - 8 Euros in the supermarket. Usually, even when ordering an entire bottle in restaurants, the prices are very affordable.

While Spanish Red Wine is MUCH more popular in Spain and throughout the world, I much prefer the lighter, colder Rueda white wine. Red wines, even the good ones, tend to leave me with a headache afterwards.

Enjoy your Spanish wines, World! I know I will !!!

Hello loyal readers! Remember the posting I made a couple months ago entitled "Menu del Dia - Menu of the Day for Cheap Lunches"? Well, today's another story just as incredible as that previous posting.

Today I went to the SAME bar/restaurant about which I wrote in the aforementioned "Menú del Día" posting hoping for the same "Cocido Madrileño" offering - but I was INITIALLY disappointed because it wasn't listed on the menu board outside. Too bad. Oh well. So I tried something else.

Instead, I ordered the paella to start and the "huevos estrellados con jamón" ("broken eggs with cured ham). They first brought me the same mini-salad (about half the size of a normal starter salad). About 30 seconds later came the paella. I looked at it and it appeared full and tasty - and it was, but they brought it so fast I was worried it might get cold before I finished my salad.

3 minutes later, while I was still on my salad, the same older Spanish waitress brought me the SECOND course and set it next to the cooling paella. Hmmm... Now, that SECOND COURSE WILL SURELY BE COLD by the time I get through the paella!! This was more than a bit disconcerting but okay. USUALLY they wait until you finish your first course AND THEN bring you the second course. I couldn't complain too much for the SIX EUROS this meal was going to cost me.

Finishing the paella, I started in on the paella which contained the largest single "mejillón" ("mussel") I think I've ever seen in my life! It was good as was the paella rice and chicken pieces and single shrimp.

Then, finishing the paella, I started in on the eggs and ham. But this plate was ENORMOUS! And not only did it have eggs and cured ham strips but it was laying on a huge bed of salted, fried potatoes. Damn! My first thought was, "I hope I don't have a heart attack before finishing all this," since it was loaded with cholesterol. I didn't. Yet.

Just just after beginning the plate the waitress returned and asked if they could heat up the plate a bit. I tried a potato and piece of egg and it was still warm so I stayed with it as it was. That was nice of her to ask and I thanked her for doing so. She went back to the bar and shouted something into the kitchen like, "Manolo! It was okay!" Apparently the cook was concerned that my quickly-served meal was cold by the time I got to it. Wasn't that nice!!?? I was impressed that they paid so much attention to this detail - whereas they didn't notice they served me too quickly. hehehe.... No problem.

As the bleach-blonde waitress was going back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room, carrying plates and serving meals, I overheard her chanting, in not such a low-voice, the mantra, "OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!", all the while with a smile on her face. Apparently she was happy with the outcome of the US Presidential Election. I wanted to tell her that I was a proud American (expatriate) and that Barrack Obama was going to be my new President - but I refrained.

And also, every time a new customer walked into the dining room they said to everyone in the dining room, ""¡Que aproveche!", which means "Enjoy your food". The French say something similar, saying "Bon apetit!" I love this custom.

All the while eating I was drinking a freshly opened bottle of red wine - opened by me with my knife (plastic-covered topper) - and a new bottle of "La Casera" soda water. I refrained from drinking too much so I stopped at half a bottle. Funny, that AS SOON as I finished my second course the waitress whisked away not only the wine and bottle of casera water but also the remaining bread in the bread basket. Seems this is the custom. Who would drink wine with dessert, afterall??? Well, maybe *I* would!!!

Then dessert. I chose the home-made "pudin" which is a kind of cold, firm custard - not to be confused with flan, though. The Spanish "pudin" is not like the English "pudding" though.

Upon finishing I fished out the SIX EUROS and an extra 1 Euro coin and walked up to the bar where the bar tender/owner and older, Spanish waitress were standing. I handed the waitress the 1 Euro coin, thanked her, and handed over the 6 Euros to the bartender/owner for the meal. He apologized for the quick-service and I assured him it was okay and everything was still warm by the time I ate it.

Yet another good example of eating good food at cheap prices in Madrid - although I've yet to find such a place in the old downtown yet. This place is in my neighborhood on "the other side of the river".

I'm still stuffed. Now time for a nap......

It's just after midnight and I hope to get some sleep - even though I woke up just 8.5 hours ago, sleeping 'til 3pm after going to bed at 8am, staying up all Tuesday night for the US Presidential Election coverage on TV.

After one well-baked pizza and another burnt one (now the whole house smells like smoke), along with a couple bottles of beer, I hope to be sleepy enough to get at least a few hours of R.E.M. before sunrise. Maybe I'll do a little reading in bed. I'm finishing up "The Rainmaker" by John Grisham. Good book. A legal drama.

Tomorrow's not a big day by any stretch of the imagination but I do have some projects, some "homework", and some work towards the future of MadridMan.com to accomplish. Friday, I hope to return to the gym after a week OFF here in Madrid. I was "a good boy" while in Ohio, USA, going to the gym/YMCA every two days.

The Madrid city streets are now quiet and SOME of the Christmas lights are already hung and illuminated - not sure how I feel about that though. It's STILL autumn, for goodness sake!

Time to get back into a normal rhythm of things here after those long elections. Also, I returned from an 18-day visit in the USA just last Saturday and I'm still a little messed up.

So good night, world. Hope you all have hope for a brighter tomorrow as I do.

(This was hardly worth a blog entry, I know.)

What does this posting have to do with Spain? Answer: A LOT!

I woke up today at 3pm after staying up ALL NIGHT, until 8am, watching the Presidential Election coverage over a myriad of USA, Spanish, British, and several other international television stations.

In Madrid, John McCain supporters gathered in the Hard Rock Café while Barack Obama supporters waited in long lines to enter the Circulo de Bellas Artes, all to enjoy a long night of back-slapping, wishful drinking, and hand-shaking. One group went away this morning not only tired but disappointed, no doubt.

Spain's very conservative, rather right-wing newspaper ABC headlines today with "EL CAMBIO HA LLEGADO" ("Change Has Arrived"). It seems even the conservative party in Spain is happy with the choice of the only-slightly-left-of-center Democratic Presidential selection. On the front page of their website they show a truly inspirational video of Barack Obama (get your tissues ready) announcing "El Cambiado ha Llegado" ("Change Has Come"). And while it's not totally clear, it seems this 2:45 video was created by ABC themselves. See the video below (hope it loads):

Not to be outdone, Spain's left-wing, socialist party newspaper El País ALSO reports the exact same headline, "El Cambio ha Llegado" ("Change has Come"), ALSO posting a video - albeit much much less inspirational - a reproduction of the CNN+ Spain report (17 minutes) of Barack Obama's election night victory speech in Chicago and translated by a CNN+ person.

While EVERYONE in Spain and Europe (etcetera) would be happy for whatever Presidential change in the United States of America, it seems people are particularly happy with the choice made in Barack Obama.

Now the hard part; putting action to the inspirational words.

It's 3am late Tuesday night - or VERY early Wednesday morning and I'm watching the Elections for the next President of the United States of America. It's an exciting time.

Switching among CNN International, BBC World News, France 24 (English version), Fox News, TVE (national television station in Spain) and even Al Jazeera (English version) is giving me a very broad image of the international reporting of these all-important elections. Thank goodness for satellite dishes!

All channels report the elections to be "of World Importance", and "The World is Watching". I guess the world really does care what happens!

Not surprisingly, these aforementioned big television news media outlets are covering the elections without interruption but TVE here in Spain is now doing the same. Now that's impressive! Of course it's all in Spanish but what's interesting is the perspective they and other international news channels provide us. Even Jerome Socolovsky, my favorite National Public Radio ("NPR" in the United States) correspondent, is on the TVE panel of election experts analyzing the ongoing developments. Cool!

Today I saw a number of Spanish television stations interviewing people on the street, asking them if they were interested in today's US Presidential Elections. To my surprise, nearly everyone said that YES, they were VERY interested in the outcome of the elections. When asked which candidate they wanted to win, about 90% said they hoped Barack Obama would win. The other 10% could care less. No one mentioned John McCain's name.

It won't be long until the USA has a new President Elect - but that President won't start serving his country as America's Commander in Chief until January 20th, 2009.

There was an organized US Elections Party tonight (errrr.. last night) at 11pm at the Circulo de Bellas Artes but I couldn't imagine myself A) dragging myself downtown at that hour, B) paying 20 Euros entry and then extra for drinks/food (or maybe that was included? doubt it), and C) forcing myself to stay awake in the company of strangers until 6am.

Regardless of who wins the Presidency, it'll (hopefully help to) re-establish the reputation of the United States in the world's eyes. No matter what anyone says we have to keep lines of communication open and improve diplomacy to get along better with the world's nations, our neighbors.

How would YOU feel about this if you were a resident or citizen of Spain? Our initial reaction is shock and probably fear. But are we responsible for the actions of our parents?

The below is the English version of an El País article:

Bin Laden's Son seeks asylum in Spain citing fear of Arab Nations

Omar Osama Bin Laden, the son of the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, has requested asylum in Spain, claiming that he does not feel safe in Cairo, where he currently resides, nor in any other Arab country.

Bine Laden, who applied for asylum on Monday, will find out in 72 hours whether his application will be accepted, Spain's interior minister announced yesterday.

Omar Osama Bin Laden, landed in Terminal 4 of Madrid's Barajas airport on Monday, arriving on a flight from Cairo that was later due to head to Casablanca, Morocco. He had bought a ticket for the final destination of the plane.

"What we have done is to apply the law," Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spain's interior minister, said yesterday, "[Bin Laden] is currently being held in [an immigration holding room] in Barajas, and is being examined by the committee that has the legal capacity to decide whether or not this falls within the asylum claim, and whether or not we should grant him asylum in our country."

All sources with knowledge of the asylum process have suggested that the answer will be negative. If that is the case, Omar Osama will have 24 hours to appeal the decision, and the interior Ministry will then have another 48 hours in which to give an answer. If the appeal is rebutted, he can then take his case to the courts. He would then be obliged to prove that his life is in danger in his native country.

Bin Laden, who is 28 years old and is married to 52-year old Birton Jane Felix-Brown, requested a visa to live in the United Kingdom with his wife at the British Embassy in Cairo back in April, but his request was denied due to what officials described as the "considerable public concern" his presence would cause.

Omar Bin Laden, who is one of Osama Bin Laden's 19 offspring, has described himself as the "pacifist child" of the leader of terrorist network Al Qaeda, and has condemned the violent methods attributed to his father.

He was born in Saudi Arabia, to Syrian mother Najwa Ghanem, and lived with his father in exile in Sudan, and then Afghanistan, where, until the year 2000, he was trained in a terrorist camp. At the time of the September 11 terrorist attakcs on the World Trade Center, he was in Saudi Arabia.

Omar Osama Bin Laden married Jane Felix-Browne in Egypt in September 2006. The couple met when Felix-Browne, who already has three children and five grandchildren, traveled to Cairo for medical treatment for multiple sclerosis.

Today, while much of the country was either watching Madrid's Fiesta Nacional / Día de la Hispanidad military parade on TV, yours-truly was enjoying noontime classical music in the Teatro Real (The Royal Theater & Opera house in Madrid) and then a 2pm lunch at a nearby restaurant.

HAPPILY, though, I was able to see the raising-of-the-Spanish-flag ceremony with King Juan Carlos on television before leaving the house. At the same moment, the fighter jets flew down the Paseo de la Castellana, releasing their red, orange, and red (?) spray/powder/toxic gas over the city in order to form the stripes of the Spanish flag. What is that stuff made of and is it dangerous? I think that's a good question for the environmental professionals.

Running late, I grabbed a taxi and went to the Teatro Real and enjoyed nearly 2 hours of several different groups performing various classical music arrangements. Very nice.

After the concert some friends and I walked to Restaurante El Buey where we had 2pm reservations - and arrived JUST ontime. The restauran'ts located only about 4 blocks away on Plaza de la Marina Española , 1, just in front of the Senate building.

PHOTO AT RIGHT: This photo, taken from their website, is the exact location of our table.

The restaurant itself is nice looking, somewhat rustic traditional but a bit cramped for our 6-person group, the chairs seated literally side-by-side, wood-to-wood. But for 4 people it's fine.

I'd been to this very good steak restaurant about 5 times before and this time didn't disappoint either. We ordered the house red wine which was good, the house salad which was lettuce under a layer of mayonnaise and grated cheese, fried potatoes, and - drum roll please - the lomo de buey.

What is "lomo de buey"? Literally, it means the back meat of an ox. But.... it's actually just beef steak. They serve the meat sliced into thin rectangles, covered lightly with rock salt, and they put it in the middle of the table. Next, they bring searing hot ceramic plates for each person on which the patrons can take a few meat slices and literally braise or cook it on their plate, being quick to turn it after a couple seconds or it will stick to the plate. They also provide a delicious pepper sauce with which one can put on the steak. Mmmm.. It's SO good.

There's no smoking in this restaurant but you wouldn't know it for the thin layer of smoke wafting through the restaurant - generated by the searing meat at nearly every table. This kind of environment does not allow a cool and refreshing atmosphere, however. The place is darn hot most of the time, PARTICULARLY after they bring you those red-hot plates and put them right in front of you. I was sweating! (but it doesn't take much to make me hot)

The steak is good, VERY good. And this restaurant is one I recommend to everyone, even on the Madrid Restaurants page. You'll find few tourists in this places because it's somewhat hidden and off the main tourist trails. The service is good too, very professional, and we've had the same waiters these last several visits. The bald man with the cool classes is particularly charismatic. We were 6 persons and, with dessert and coffee, our bill totalled just about 140 Euros.

Today, Sunday, Fiesta Nacional and La Virgen del Pilar  - it was for the latter that we were celebrating the day because it was the Saint's Day of one person in our group - was a very good and enjoyable day. The rain held off and the temperature was perfectly comfortable.

Just another day in paradise. My paradise. My Madrid.

The Spanish newspaper, El País, ran an article HERE (in Spanish) today on their website. Below you have the English-language translation of the same article:

Two days before Spain celebrates its Día de la Hispanidad, a tribute to Columbus´arrival in the Americas, US President George W. Bush sent King Juan Carlos a Message extolling the "strong and lasting friendship" between both nations.

The message, disseminated on the US Embassy website, read: "Spain remains a vital ally of the United States, and we look forward to further strengthening our relations.

"In the spirit of friendship and admiration from the American people, I wish to congratulate you and the people of Spain as you celebrate la Fiesta Nacional de España on October 12. The United States also observes this day as a National Holiday as we remember the historic importance of the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas," states the message.

In 2004 and 2005, there was no US representation in protest over the fact that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, then opposition leader, refused to stand as the American flag went by, as a sign of his rejection of the Iraq war.

Bilateral relations have been coll since Prime Minister Zapatero pulled Spanish troops from Iraq on taking office in 2004.

My only wonder is WHY didn't President Bush address this message to President Zapatero as well? Doesn't Zapatero rule the country and not the King of Spain? It almost sounds like Bush still doesn't want to talk to him.

Let's all hope the GOVERNMENTS of the USA and Spain can get along a bit better after the new US President is elected - no matter who wins on Novermber 2, 2008.

This coming Sunday, 12 October, is the Día de la Hispanidad in Spain and will be celebrated in Madrid in grand fashion with a 250,000€ military parade, resided over by the Royal Family as well as the President of Spain, Madrid City and Madrid Regional leaders.

The Día de la Hispanidad, a.k.a. Fiesta Nacional de España, is/was a celebration of Spain's discovery of "America" by Christopher Columbus on this date in 1492. Of course, we all know that "America" was never lost but it seemed to have gone unnoticed by modern civilizations until that time - unless the Vikings were considered civilized, that is.

We Americans - whom grew up in the civilized and modern United States of America - know well what a military parade is all about. It's about flag waving, singing national anthems, and patting each other on the back for being born in the USA.

For those attending the parade on Sunday it'll largely be the same way - but all in Spanish. They'll be flying Spanish flags, hearing the military bands playing national songs, and watching a LONG parade of probably all of Spain's military hardware on wheels, military personnel, not to mention all the military aircraft fly-overs, parachuters, etcetera, etcetera.

I have to wonder, "Doesn't Spain need all these people, all these tanks, all these generals in some war somewhere? Hmmm.. Maybe not at the moment. Imagine that. I guess if you don't take them out at least once a year, blow off the dust, give the tanks a fresh coat of paint, then what good are they?

It's a day for Nationalism. We Americans are nearly all Nationalists by right of our DNA. It's difficult NOT being a Nationalist in the USA. It's truly in our genetic code. One scientist (a German) jokingly told me that, under a microscope, one of our chromosomes appears as a bunch of white and red stripes and a blue box with some white dots in it. Huh! Imagine that. Even I get choked up when the USA stands on the #1 level in the Olympics, the American flag is raised, and they play the National Anthem. Why is that?

Anyway - this blog entry is about SPAIN'S National Day....

So it's nearly the same in Spain during the Fiesta Nacional de España - EXCEPT maybe only HALF of the country is celebrating it - the Nationalists. The other half of Spain, fervently anti-Nationalist, is going about their business, taking trips, or sleeping most of the day because they were out late the night before.

SPAIN IS DIVIDED in this regard. While the original intention of the holiday is to celebrate Columbus' discovery of America, along the way it became more of a "4th of July"-type day, celebrating the fact that we're Spanish, and for patting each other on the back for being born in Spain. LOTS of people (and I mean LOTS) see this day as a carry-over from the 35 oppressive years under the nationalist fascist dictator General Francisco Franco when the military and the military police ruled Spain, executing hundreds of thousands of people and jailing many more for not agreeing with Franco's nationalist politics.

I've attended the parade twice in my life. Frankly, unless you arrive at the Paseo de la Castellana early it's difficult to see anything because of the hoards of people there before you with hopes of getting a good position to see the passing military regiments or a glimps of the King of Spain himself. Sometimes I'll watch it on TV but of course it's not the same - but definitely more comfortable and there are no lines at the toilet.

People wanting to watch the Madrid parade from abroad can likely do so LIVE via TeleMadrid SAT - whose link is found on the Spain Radio, TV, Music, & Movies page. At 10:30am the King of Spain will reside over the raising of the HUGE flag of Spain in the Plaza de Colón. Shortly thereafter the parade will start at the Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz and travel to the Plaza de Colón via the Paseo de la Castellana, continuing down the Paseo de Recoletos and Paseo del Prado.

October 12th is also La Vigen del Pilar, a popular Saint's Day in Spain. So if you have a friend or a family member named Pilar or María del Pilar you'll be obligated to celebrate this day as the Saint's Day and not as a Spain's National Holiday. And, as with the birthdays here in Spain, the person who celebrates their Saint's Day must pay the bill at the restaurant - and not the other way around.

So whether you're celebrating El Pilar or the Discovery of America, enjoy yourselves!

I realize I'm risking offending some Spaniards (and maybe I'm actually offending EVERYONE!) for writing today's blog entry. No one wants to appear "uncouth". But that fact is, SOME PEOPLE DO PEE IN PUBLIC.

Surely it happens throughout the world - even in the USA. And when "nature calls" you've got to answer that call. Sometimes there are no public restrooms or bars to relieve oneself. But come on, people! Make SOME effort to find someplace!

Don't think that everyone is pissing on the street in Madrid just because of what I'm writing now because they don't. I've been living here long enough to see many many things, things which I try not to judge but sometimes it's hard.

PHOTO AT RIGHT: a highly portable and very public urinal in Amsterdam as found on this flicker page. If you look closely (but not TOO closely) you can see the pee level is nearly at the spilling point!  This is an example of a truly advanced civilization - or is it?

Yesterday I was walking home from the gym along a busy 4-lane road and happen to see an odd sight. There was a taxi parked on the street next to a wooded park. About 5 yards from the taxi was presumably the taxi driver. There he was in all his splendor, standing behind (only) hip-high bushes, facing away from traffic, with his hands on his hips. He was just standing there, apparently surveying the landscape. "Hmmm.. That's odd," I thought. And then it hit me. The taxi driver turned to look at me for a good 2 seconds until I turned my head away. About 2 seconds later I turned back to see his eyes diverted "downward", his hands came off his hips to attend to "the business at hand", his knees bent, his hips shifted, and he was walking back towards his taxi. He certainly didn't seem to try to hide himself much. There were plenty of trees behind which he could've stood - or maybe the trees were too narrow. Sure, there were no bars in the IMMEDIATE vicinity but come on!

Another day, also in daylight here in Madrid, I was a passenger in a car. I noticed a large, tall truck pulled to the side of the street, door open, and could only see a pair of legs below the door with feet planted firmly on the asphalt below. I worried that a passing car might hit the door and injure the man - that's what first caught my attention. But as we drew closer I could see a faint stream of liquid coming from behind the door. AHA! But again, COME ON!

One night last summer, maybe at 2am or so, I heard some loud voices on the street below my window (I live on the fourth floor - that's the FIFTH floor in USA terms) so I poked my head out to see what was going on. It was just a small group of youths in their 20s, presumably coming back from a night on the town. Then one of the girls looked left, then right, then said something to her girlfriend with a giggle and walked a few meters away from the group, squatted down behind a parked car - and there she went - and went and went. This took place on a somewhat steep grade so imagine how the sparkling liquid appeared under the streetlights as it traveled downhill. Nice. (UGH!)

The worst is being around ANY football/soccer stadium just before the match gets started. On more than one occasion I was walking beside the Vicente Calderon soccer stadium (home to the Atlético de Madrid team) along the Manzanares River about an hour or two before game time. There were the usual hoards of football fans, all wearing their colors, all drinking from 1 Liter bottles of beer, all singing football songs and joking around. And, of course, a few dozen men and boys facing the wall and answer that call of nature. Why? Mainly because there are no public urinals or toilets outside of the stadium and it's frowned upon to enter bars just to use the restroom. So imagine the scene, I'm walking past a few dozen men, just inches from their backs, and trying to avoid the puddles surrounding their feet on the sidewalk. Nice. (BLAH!) I made some comment regarding my surprise and disgust to a couple Spaniards with whom I was walking and they seemed surprised that such a thing upset me, saying something like, "Well, when you've gotta go, you've gotta go."

And probably half a dozen times I've seen small boys and even girls, usually toddlers, with their pants down around their ankles, bare bottoms - AND FRONTS - exposed to the world, happily releasing nature's fluid against a tree, next to trash cans, between parked cars, or on walls - right in downtown Madrid in plain daylight with pedestrians and cars passing all the while. Their parents don't usually appear uncomfortable but sometimes they do. I, not being a father, don't really know what it's like having a child who has to pee RIGHT NOW! I also imagine that most people see this and don't think anything of it. In fact, it's rather cute in some respects, but it's not something you see where I come from.

There's almost nothing that makes me more nervous than speaking to someone in Spanish on the telephone. And worse yet, placing orders or making appointments by telephone when I'm initiating the call.

Of course, when your phone rings it's a surprise and you don't have time to be nervous so you pick up the phone and start in directly. But when you HAVE to make the call yourself, not knowing the person to whom you're calling, and speaking on a topic which you've possibly never discussed before - IN SPANISH - well, it's terrible.

For a few months now I've been a member of a wine club here in Spain, called "Vinoselección Club de Vinos". While they're not giving me any benefit for mentioning their name here I will because I like their product. It's a monthly wine club where they offer you a box of a particular wine, usually red, at a very good price. Different months offer different kinds of wines. Some are Rioja, some are Ribera del Duero, etcetera, etcetera. It's a good way to get to know different kinds of Spanish wines and different wine producers and the prices are always very good, usually about 40 Euros per month for a box of 3 or 4 bottles of wine. And when you become a "socio", they send you, for free, a very cool mechanical cork-opener. And maybe best yet, while you can order them online (which I've yet to do), you can order them by phone, give your member number, and they send it directly to your home and you pay upon delivery.

My member number was lost/misplaced shortly after I got my membership information for the wine club. Without that, I can't/couldn't order wines through their website - which I always prefer for reasons I'm about to explain.

So without the member number, I have to call by telephone, give my full name, they look up my account, and I make my order. UNTIL NOW, a Spanish friend has always, kindly made this call for me. Bu this time was different. My usual "Spanish suspects" were all busy and it's the end of the term for the monthly wine selection so I had to make a choice; a) re-register online, b) ask a neighbor to make the call for me, or c) make the friggin' call myself and quit being a wimp!

I chose "C" - but didn't make the choice easily. I'd spent about 2 days whining and waining, procrastinating and rationalizing. UNTIL TODAY. And today I didn't take it easily either. I delayed the call at least 3 hours because I had "more important things to do." Uh-huh.

Having gone to the restroom, brushed my teeth, took a sip of water, and simultaneously grabbed the phone with one hand and the monthly wine description with the other. DIAL THE PHONE!!! And I did. I was anxious. Oh god. Oh god. "What if I don't understand them? What if they don't understand me? What if they have a strong accent? What if I can't think of the words?"

They answered. My 2 days of anxiety had passed in a matter of 60 seconds. Done.

Funny thing is, as with most things we delay for reasons of nerves, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. In fact, just the opposite. I understood EVERY word the Spanish woman said, understood every question, she understood my order, and she understood my request to be given my member number. She verified my address and it was done. Over. Order placed and finished in 60 seconds. Wow. That's that.

It was at this moment that the anxiety was replaced first by relief. But soon after, relief was replaced by utter embarrassment for having slaved over the agony of making the call in the first place.

Events like these not only test our resolve as humans but also our level of understanding of a foreign language. Sure, 60 seconds doesn't say whether or not we're fluent in "X" language but it certainly is a good measure. With every "event" such as this one you, that is WE gain confidence in ourselves in our foreign environments. WE gain confidence speaking and being understood in a foreign language. And also, WE gain acceptance from those natives all around us and helps to become more assimilated. It's a slow process but we grow a little more because every new day is a challenge.

And when you complete such a task you say, "Hey! I DID IT!! I REALLY DID IT!" We almost feel the same as when we started playing baseball as a child and, for the first time, hit the ball solidly.

What sends me into a spiral of panic is when I confidently ask a relatively simple question to someone at the store or on the street and they krinkle up their face and reply, "¿Qué?"

"Oh god......."

Today's is a post-lunch, pre-siesta blog entry which I feel the need to write quickly so as not to fall asleep on my keyboard.

Yup, it's now nearly 2:30pm on a Tuesday. I've just returned home from a good lunch at a neighborhood bar offering a "Menú del Día" - which is the "Menu of the Day". "Menus of the Day" are offered at bars and restaurants throughout Spain and are always a good value.

At about 1pm I was walking around the adjacent neighborhood running some errands. While there, I popped into the local 2-level market and visually scanned the numerous fish stands, cheese and sausage stands, and the a-little-bit-of-everything stands. Impressive. I love these city markets.

By the time I was finished with my errands it was about 1:30pm - just a little early for lunch. But knowing that I had little food in the house to eat I decided to search for an inviting and not-too-expensive "Menú del Día". I walked up and back several area streets. The Chinese restaurant offered a 6.95 Euro Menú which could serve my needs. But I was wanting something more "Spanish". I saw places offering just one item option per plate and other places offering several items per plate.

When bars and restaurants offer the Menus of the Day they always have a board outside which lists the options for the first course (i.e. "primer plato"). Below that they'll list the options for the second course (i.e. "segundo plato"). Below all that they'll usually write that the drink, bread, and dessert is included, and then the price at the very bottom. Sometimes the drink is extra - I hate it when they charge extra for the drink. Just raise the price of the lunch and I'll pay more! I hate the "surprise" extra charge for the drink at the end since drinks are normally included in the price.

After scanning a half a dozen bars I found one which caught my eye. It offered about 5 first and 5 second course options. That's always a good sign. And the price was right too, 8 Euros with bread, wine, and dessert included. PERFECT! But even better than all that - or at least AS GOOD - was they were serving "Sopa de Cocido" ("small noodles soup and broth") for the first course and "Cocido Completo" ("cocido") for the second course.

BINGO!!!! I've found my lunch! Good offerings and a good price. Walking in I saw the bar and one small paper-covered table near the front door. Hmmm.. "I'm going to have to sit HERE?", I thought. The bar tender greeted me and I asked, "How's the cocido?" in Spanish. He surely thought my question was silly and motioned me over to the woman standing at the end of the bar. She asked me, without answering my question either, if I was staying for lunch. I said yes, and she led me to the back dining room which had about 10 paper-covered, 4-person tables, all ready for lunchtime guests.

She put the small, plastic-covered, hand-written menu on the table and waited as I sat down. Looking at it briefly, I told her I wanted to "sopa de codido" and then the "cocido". She asked if I wanted red wine and I said yes. With that, she took the menu, turned back towards the bar, and shouted, "!Un complé¡", which apparently meant a "complete cocido meal".

Maybe 1 minute later the waitress, a heavyset, late 50's Spanish woman with white hair, brought me my large bowl of cocido soup or "sopa de cocido". She next brought me a small plate of salad and a big basket of bread along with a nearly full bottle of red "table wine" and a bottle of "Casera" water. Casera water is carbonated water which you usually add to lower-quality wines to hide or "shield" the wine's true flavor.

The soup was served in a large, broad, white ceramic bowl which appeared to have been through the dishwasher about 5,000 times and was losing it's white-ness. Still, the soup was good and the bread I dunked into the broth was tasty too.

About 10 minutes later I finished and the old woman quickly came to take the empty bowl and replace it with a LARGE white ceramic plate, equally as worn, but full of COCIDO: garbanzo beans, potatoes, morcilla, chorizo, stewed beef, pig fat (called "tocino" and which I never eat) and cabbage (called "repollo" - also which I never eat). It was a huge, steaming plate of tasty-looking food for a hearty appetite. I was going to enjoy this.

AND I DID! By now there were a couple other tables occupied by Spaniards whom presumably were working in the neighborhood. Each and everyone came into the dining room, glanced at me with a half-smile and said, "Que ha proveche", which means, "Enjoy your meal". Isn't that a nice detail? I love that custom in Spain. You'd NEVER get someone in the USA saying something like that as they were arriving or leaving the dining room of a restaurant.

So the cocido was good, typical, not fantastic or the best I'd tasted but it was good, a good portion, a fair (yet "cutre"/kitch) place, all Spanish service, and a decent price right here near my neighborhood. Could you beat that? NOT!

I'd refilled my small beer glass (yes, a beer glass) near full of the cheap red table wine and topped it off with casera water for about the 5th time, realizing I'd drunk about half the bottle, when I'd finished my cocido, pushing the plate away from me. This signaled the waitress and she asked, "¿Postre?" (that's "dessert" in Spanish). I said, "Sure! What available?" and she went through the long list. I paused at the "flan con nata" but decided on the "pudin" instead. I always get the flan so I thought to get something different. And it was good. Clearly homemade as the flan certainly would have been as well.

After the topper the waitress asked me if I'd like coffee. No thanks. I was going to make a bee-line to my bed at home.

So I asked how much I owed her, already assuming the fair price of 8 Euros. She said, to my surprise, "6 Euros. You can pay at the bar." Huh?!?!? 6 Euros? I didn't blink but instead thanked her and got up and went to the bar. I asked the bartender how much I owed him, thinking there surely was some mistake, and he told me the same thing. SIX EUROS!! WOW! I paid the man, thanked him, and walked out, pausing to take another look at the Menú del Día sign. Hmmmm.. That hand-written number 8 MIGHT just be a 6 with a little extra swirl. Or maybe they gave me a 2 Euro discount for my winning smile? Nah. Doubt that.

DAMN! THAT WAS AN INCREDIBLE DEAL for a good meal!!!! I'll be certain to go back to that place!!

Now on to the best part of my day. The Siesta!!

It's officially the END OF SUMMER in Spain. And while not the OFFICIAL end of summer by the calendar, the Spaniards here will swear it's all over. ALL OVER. Done. Finished.

Summer in Spain essentially starts July 1 and ends on August 31. Most everyone takes off at least one month or the other, August being the most common, but a small few take BOTH months off.

I don't take vacation - EVER. Okay, I've been known to take one entire week off in the summer to cooler Spanish climates. I will also visit my parents in the United States for 10-14 days at some other time in the year but even while visiting them I'm working online. That's the great thing about an internet business is that you can do it more-or-less effectively from anywhere in the world. Of course it helps to be IN the country (or city) about/for which you're writing in order to truly feel the pulse of your surroundings.

WHO can take off 2 months for vacation?? Good question. Not many! Usually only teachers, students, and successful writers (probably).

WHO can take off 1 month for vacation? Nearly everyone else! The one-month length vacation is the de-facto term of vacation for most all private and public employees, shop and bar owners. To me it's surprising that some government offices actually close for the entire month of August!! How can the government shut down for a month?

So now it's the first week of September and everyone - but everyone - is back to work, all the stores, restaurants and bars are open, all the public servants are publicly serving - surely with a longer frown and shorter answers than usual, and schools are just about to start up once again. My favorite bar is open once again and I'm looking forward to getting those morning porras or afternoon coffees.

In the United States there's always talk towards the end of summer about how employees go through some level of depression and stress when returning to work after 2 or 3 weeks of vacation. That may very well be true. I never experienced but I guess others whom absolutely hate their jobs do. But having to return to work after 4 or 8 weeks must be truly difficult. I can't imagine it.

Some people, most often women, are VERY happy to return to the relative peace and quiet of an office after cooking, cleaning, chasing and caring for children - and husbands, and managing complete days and nights.

It's been a long, long time since I spent weeks on end doing absolutely nothing or whatever I wanted - probably not since I was a teenager. My work is my pleasure so simply "switching off" would deprive me of what makes me want to wake up in the morning. But then again, just living in Spain, to me, seems like vacation everyday.

Yesterday afternoon, 20 August 2008, the Spanair flight JK5022 crashed shortly after an awkward takeoff from the new Terminal 4 of Madrid Barajas Airport. It was carrying 172 people and 19 persons survived, including two small children. It remains to be seen how many of those 19 will survive their serious injuries.

The 2-hour outbound flight was headed to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, carrying mostly people returning home from summer holidays as well as others just starting their holiday.

The two-engine plane, a MD-82, was apparently taxiing for take off but reported a technical problem, returned to a secure area for 40 minutes with passengers onboard, the plane was checked out by Spanair technicians and cleared. It attempted to take off, ascended about 55 meters, when one of the engines failed.

Details of what happened are still uncertain, unclear, or conflicting and we're all likely to know many of the reasons why these people died as "the black box" is analyzed and the eyewitness accounts are compiled.

This is the first fatal airplane crash at Madrid Barajas Airport since 1983 when 93 persons were killed when two airplanes collided.

Our thoughts and hopes are with the families of those lost and also go to those still clinging to life.

Read the CNN article (in English) HERE.
Read the El Pais article (in Spanish) HERE.

There's very little traffic. There are lots of parking spaces are available. Fewer people are evident in downtown Madrid - except for the tourists.

These all sound like wonderful assets for those Spaniards whom stay close to home in Madrid Spain and in the non-beachside cities around the country. We love the city tranquility!!

What we DON'T love - visiting tourists including - is the large percentages of bars, restaurants, and stores closed for the entire month of August. "It's only fair," we tell ourselves. "These hard working people deserve a vacation too."

It's totally understanding when we give it a second thought. But if we don't, we feel frustrated that we can't enjoy a porras for breakfast or cañas at our neighborhood bar. We also feel frustrated when we go to our favorite restaurants in downtown Madrid and find them closed - particularly when I'm taking visiting tourists!

The good thing - if it's all that good - is that thanks to a new City of Madrid regulation, shops in the Puerta del Sol zone can now stay open 7-days a week. These shops and bars in this zone really never do close except maybe the smallest, more specialized stores. This sounds good - and it is for shoppers - but for workers, most of them underpaid non-Spaniards, hardly get a break all summer long.

But outside of the Puerta del Sol zone the contrast is stark. Many many restaurants, even some of the popular ones with tourists, close for the entire month of August - or less often in July. So many times I've hosted visitors from the United States and am excited to take them to XYZ restaurant. But when we arrive, more than 50% of the time we find them closed and we set a new trail in search of some other OPEN, lesser known or unknown restaurant which MIGHT have good food or good service. And on top of all this IT'S HOT and no fun walking up and down streets in the midday sun searching for a restaurant, finally just picking one because it's open and serves food, just to escape the heat and sun. On the UP-side, I've discovered some very nice restaurants and bars I maybe wouldn't have otherwise found JUST because my favorite bars and restaurants were closed.

The museums are always open all summer as are the train and bus stations - which always do booming business with the influx of tourists from outside - and inside - Spain. The fast food shops stay open as do the big chain stores like El Corte Inglés and FNAC. So there are choices for dining and shopping but the selection is cut deeply in August.

Just the other day I was in downtown, in the PUERTA DEL SOL area, no less, and found my favorite ALL SPANISH, non-touristy bar closed for the month of August. I was very disappointed but certainly not surprised. The big more touristy bars like the Museo del Jamón are always open but those small, few remaining all-Spanish owned and operated bars will often close. THEY are maintaining the tradition of closing in August - while losing business to the competition. Hopefully they'll earning enough in the other 11 months of the year to make up for 1 months of losses.

"Los Chinos" or convenience and dry-goods stores usually operated by Chinese people are open nearly 365 days a year, open early and stay open late are systematically putting small Spanish family owned and operated stores out of business whom close for August, close at midday on Saturdays and closed Sundays and holidays. The competition of "Los Chinos" is fierce and has already changed the face of businesses in Madrid and throughout Spain, have changed opening hours, and ways of doing business. One local neighborhood Spanish store owner whom closed last year told me that she "had to carry everything in order to sell something" and it still wasn't enough. More and more closing bars and restaurants are being bought by Chinese people stay open more hours, days, and make money while their Spanish competition is closed.

But we really can't blame the hard-er working immigrants coming to Spain to make more money and to find a relatively better way of life for them. We really can't blame them. And we can't blame the Spaniards whom choose to close in August and for holidays in order to maintain the long-time Spanish way of life that everyone took for granted for decades. "WORK TO LIVE, NOT LIVE TO WORK" is the Spanish credo and one I love but is definitely foreign to me coming from the United States.

I'll someday write another blog entry about the lack of stores and restaurants open 24-hours - something I LOVE about the United States. That might very well be the end of traditional Spanish culture should it come here.

This blog entry could've been titled "Some people like to complain about everything" or even "Some people just don't know how good they've got it."

I'm referring to, of course, Madrid's public transportation system. I LOVE IT! And it's cheap, too! With a 10-Trip MetroBus ticket for 6.70 Euros - that's just 0.67 Eurocents each trip - you can travel throughout Madrid City. Make a lot of metro connections and it costs you the same, just 0.67 Eurocents.

I have some Spanish friends whom love to complain about taking buses or the metro. "It takes too long for the bus/metro to come!" they'd say sometimes. I say, "Yeah, but once it comes you get there a lot faster than in a car/taxi and you don't have to look for - and pay for - parking upon arriving! Some people are just impatient.

My only complaint IS just that. Once at the bus stop or metro station, you might have to wait 5 minutes, 10 minutes, even 15 minutes (for buses). Metros come more frequently - depending on the hour of the day. During peak times, metros come along no later than every 5 minutes. Buses are mostly at the mercy of street traffic.

Fortunately, I have a bus stop JUST outside my door which takes me directly to OPERA. From there I walk everywhere in downtown Madrid. Othertimes I'll take the metro along the Number 6 GREY circular line and can go to Príncipe Pío, Moncloa, Arguelles without chaging trains. I love it. The metro station from where I live is a bit of a walk, taking about 15 minutes. This isn't bad at all but if you're carrying a new television or something heavy then it can seem far.

During the PEAK PEAK travel times at 8:30am - 10:00am the metro cars can be absolutely PACKED. Sometimes you can't even get in because the cars look like cans of sardines. Impossible. Wait for the next one - only to find it's the same as the previous one. Luckily, I NEVER travel at this hour.

Buses are a little better at peak times with regards to fullness. But at those peak times there's more traffic so it can be much slower too.

While on the metros when the cars are FULL of people I can't imagine how "Juan Público" can possible keep his sanity while in full suit and tie, jammed together with all the others, insufficient or no air conditioning, and HOW can he keep from sweating. I swear. Some Spaniards don't sweat no matter the temperature! Makes me crazy.

I almost prefer the buses because there are more stops along the way, more chances to get closer to your destination. The buses themselves are all modern, most with air conditioning, comfortable, clean, and large. It's amazing to me how they can meander through the narrow two-way traffic between the rows of double parked cars on both sides. Just amazing. The guys (and one or two women) are excellent drivers, oftentimes very "cool" looking with their designer sunglasses, usually young, and always friendly when you say your "Buenos días" upon getting on. And these drivers MAKE CHANGE WHILE THEY'RE DRIVING! It's amazing to me.

The new, modern metro cars are also great. They're always air conditioned (and you feel it when it's not FULL of people), clean, you don't have homeless people sleeping on them. Oftentimes you will get the "street performer" with their speaker-on-wheels with MP3 background music while they play a pan flute, accordion, guitar, or simply sing. Yesterday I was on the metro and an older woman, presumably Romanian, had her Peavey speaker duct taped to the luggage stroller, an MP3 player taped to the top of that, and she sang the most beautiful songs - IN ROMANIAN. I couldn't understand a word she sang but had a beautiful voice. It's rare to see older people performing on these metro cars. Usually they're quite young. You NEVER see performers on the buses as the drivers wouldn't allow it. I don't usually hand over spare change for the performers because I don't feel comfortable opening my shoulder bag and fishing out my wallet to expose what I'm carrying. It's silly, I'm sure, but that's how it is. I don't carry change in my pants/shorts pockets.

If I'm meeting friends on the Plaza de Chueca or going to Las Ventas I'll take the bus to Opera and then the direct train to these other destinations. Usually while waiting on the bus I'm worried I'll arrive late. Always the punctual American. But more often than not I arrive with plenty of time mainly due to the speediness of the metro. There's something about exiting the stairs of Plaza de Chueca and encountering a SEA of terraza tables and umbrellas and chatty people. It's SO welcoming!

Taxis, well, aren't considered PUBLIC transportation so I won't talk about them here. They're usually a last effort to arrive somewhere ontime - OR if you're carrying a load of something - OR a group of people going to a specific address. I like taxis, they're great and easy to find - and cheap too - but when I'm not in a hurry I always take the bus IF I understand their route (which can be challenging) or easy-to-understand metro to get where I'm going.

Irish Pubs in Madrid are not unique. One might initially think so but these "novelty pubs" are throughout the city and, in fact, throughout the world! I'm not even sure what all the mystique is about.

Is it the large wooden bar and rustic interior? Is it the old fashioned pub signs in English? Is it the Guinness Beer? Is it because of the movie scenes portraying such old fashioned, small town pubs and everyone knows your name? Or Is it the sensation that you get that you can be drunk as a skunk and, there, it's socially acceptable?

For whatever reason, I avoid these places like the plague. (not that one can generally AVOID a plague - as it usually finds YOU!) Can a drinking establishment BE any LESS Spanish? Probably not.

I understand Spaniards wanting a change of pace by going NOT to a Spanish bar but rather to an Irish Pub. It's something different. This I understand completely and it makes sense to me. For the same reasons I like(d) to go to Mexican restaurants in the United States.

But there's something about me, a United Statesen, walking into an Irish Pub here in Madrid, Spain. Frankly, the notion - and the experience - makes my skin crawl. Maybe it's because I simply LOVE Spanish bars and I LOVE being with other Spaniards!? This is probably the most likely reason. But I'd also venture to presume it's also because I love Spain so much that I can't imagine tainting "The Spanish Experience" - as internationally homogenized as it has become in the last 10 years - by going to a place where there will undoubtedly be dozens of Brits, Americans, and Australians swilling down pints and pints of beer and all speaking to each other in English - with the token Spaniard thrown in for color.

Some of my British and United Statesen friends always tell me, "Well sure. But it's nice for a change to just speak in English and relax your brain for a couple hours." I can - and can't - agree with this. Unless you're a United Statesen or British person working in a Spanish company and speaking Spanish nearly 24/7 you're more likely like me where you're still thinking in English, writing in English, and visiting English websites the majority of your waking time and you actually jump at the chance to speak Spanish, be with Spaniards, and see things... errr... SPANISH!!

An English friend of mine dragged me into an Irish pub a couple of times - and I went nearly kicking and screaming. I sat there on the stool, drank my Harp Beer, and listened to all the English language conversations going on about this, that, and - of course - the English soccer/rugby game being televised at any given moment. YECH! Blah! My stomach felt sick. "Is this REALLY Spain?" I asked myself. "Is THIS why I moved to Madrid?"

MANY Americans, English, and Australians visit (Madrid) Spain every year and MANY of them visit Irish Pubs while here. What's up with that?? Didn't they travel X,000 miles to have something of a Spanish Experience?? Aren't they paying good, hard-earned money to eat Spanish food, drink Spanish drinks, and mingle with Spaniards? Then why in the world would they spend X hours in an Irish Pub? I guess for the same reasons they sometimes eat at McDonald's or seek the nearest Taco Bell (which thankfully don't exist here). It's a taste of home. And some travelers have difficulty straying far from their homelands and homeland comforts and rituals.

I must admit, however, that I'm rather looking forward to trying the advertised "English Breakfast" by one or two of the Irish Pubs. An "English Breakfast", as I understand it, is very much like "A Big American Breakfast" in that it contains eggs, sausage or ham, maybe potatoes, and other things you might find on the menu at Denny's - minus the pancakes and waffles, that is. From time to time here in Spain I miss "A Big Breakfast" in the land of toast-and-coffee breakfasts. Sooooo.. having JUST admitted that I would go to an Irish Pub for their English Breakfast, HOW is that different from a Brit going to an Irish Pub for a pint of Guinness? Probably no difference whatsoever and I'm simply a hypocrite and am unable to diagnose my own psychosis.

But really, if you're visiting Spain try to stick to the SPANISH food items, Spanish drinks, Spanish places, and BE with the Spanish people. It will make your stay much more memorable and definitely much more..... SPANISH! That's what you're paying for, afterall. You can surely go to an Irish Pub where you live! My decision to avoid non-Spanish places is a personal one. How will I assimilate properly if I don't?

I suppose it's more socialization than anything but I feel somewhat ashamed that the Fourth of July NEARLY passed me by here in Madrid, Spain without noticing.

USA's Independence Days is the 4th of July - EVERY YEAR. I think I nearly missed it last year too. Making such a statement almost makes me fear nasty messages and comments about now I must hate my country (United States of America) or how UNpatriotic I must be for A) forgetting Independence Day and B) for leaving the United States in the first place. Should I care! I guess so. But I'll probably care less and less with every year the more and more I become assimilated into my new home, my new country, my new culture.

2.5 years have passed since moving to Madrid and the only (Spanish) flag waving you get here are during UEFA European Cup Soccer Championships (YEAH! ¡¡CAMPEONES!!) and Partido Popular (the Spanish conservative party) demonstrations.

While here, I don't have the constant, daily, hourly reminders of the upcoming 4th of July, no mention of this year's bigger-and-better fireworks displays, no parades with high school marching bands, no ribs-on-the-grill cook-outs and potato salad, no family get togethers.

And I kind of miss it! The country unites to celebrate its independence from the British. Actually, I don't think the majority of people in the United States consider the British when celebrating the 4th of July. I'm not even all that sure they're celebrating our independence. Maybe more so than everything else, we're just celebrating to celebrate. In some ways, it's like Saint Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo in the United States - you don't have to be Irish or Mexico - or even know what you're celebrating - to celebrate with gusto!

But I have to admit that with my typical midwestern American's upbringing of flag waving, patriotic movies with patriotic themes, patriotic speeches and patriotic slogans swirling around my head that I do get rather choked-up when a solemn military marching division passes by while carrying the American Flag or even when the National Anthem is sung at the gold medal presentation at the Olympics. I can't help it. It's probably a simple result of socialization. We're taught since birth to be patriotic and so we are. Education and life experiences can somewhat alter this sensation of loyalty but I think it's always there.

So how did I celebrate the Fourth of July in Spain? I simply called my parents and chatted for awhile. A Spanish friend here in Madrid sent me a text/SMS message wishing me a happy Independence day - which I thought was nice. I didn't seek out fireworks displays on YouTube, I didn't make potato salad, I didn't get together with other Americans here in Madrid - although I did receive and email notice about such a gathering. Nothing really. It nearly passed me by. I guess that's what happens when you move abroad.

Today is July 6th and the summer has officially begun. How do I know this? Mainly because when you walk the streets of Madrid you see very few cars, very few people on the streets, and many many available parking spaces.

They say August is the month when more Madrileños go away on vacation for the month, and I believe it, but already now in July it's nice - although HOT.

These summer months is when it almost seems there are more tourist in Madrid than Spaniards! It's also the time when many of your favorite restaurants or bars may close for up to a month causing great disappointment when you're hoping to take visitors out for a nice meal or drink.

Another exception to the "Quiet Summer" rule was last night's Gay Pride Parade in Madrid. I didn't attend this year - the first time in 3 years - but understand it was nearly as "big" as last year's Euro Pride Parade in Madrid. And, for anyone wondering, probably the great majority of spectators at the parade are NOT gay - like me. It's just a good time, a great party, and you DEFINITELY see things you DON'T see on the streets of Madrid on a regular basis.

Some nights are uncomfortably hot without the fan or without the air conditioning. Only a few nights - SO FAR - have I spent in the OTHER bedroom where there's air conditioning. Otherwise, I've been able to bear under the heat with just the fan. And only a few night so far have I slept with nothing more than open windows - like the last few nights.

As many of you know, MadridMan is a Hot Body and so I have a very low tolerance for heat. Shorts, loose shirts, and sandals are the typical daily wear in the street. When going out at night or to a nice lunch I'll typically wear my wonderfully comfortable and light LINEN pants with sandals. The linen pants wrinkle like crazy but they're almost better than wearing shorts. I love them.

Many friends are away on vacation for the month of July or August and so summers can be a little lonely here in Madrid as I rarely take more than 1 week vacation for myself in summer. I always plan - with good intentions - to spend the summer working very hard, taking advantage of the relative quiet. But often, with such heat, I find myself almost less productive than otherwise. And while I can turn on the air conditioner in my work room I don't generally like to use it because of my environmental responsibilities.

When in the street I always carry a cloth handkerchief to wipe the sweat from my brow often bringing strange looks from those around me. And I'm usually the only person doing this. Why? It's because SPANIARDS DON'T SWEAT! Okay, this is a generalization, sure, but it's nearly true. It could be 100ºF in the street and not one Spaniard on the street will have a single bead of sweat on their foreheads - while I have drops of sweat streaming off the tip of my nose or down my temples. It's the same in the metro when I'm there in my shorts and shirt, sweating, and Spaniard men are wearing full suits and ties and totally dry-looking.

Spaniards - and people in general - LOVE to complain about the heat. Some people habitually repeat, every 5 minutes, "Ay, ¡qué calor!" - "Oh, it's so hot!" I usually just internalize these statements because WHY say something, particularly repeatedly, which is so totally obvious. I say, just take it and go on.

So yes, IT'S HOT here in Madrid and in many places throughout Spain in the summer, more in the south and less in the north, but hot it is. The ONLY saving grace here in Madrid is that the air is incredibly dry so the heat really isn't as uncomfortable as it is in, say, humid Barcelona. In fact, the air is SO dry here in Madrid you can see it clearly in the mirror with dry, flaky skin and also with a desire to constantly drink water. I probably drink 2-3 liters of water daily! That's a lot of water! But it's got to be done.

Stay Cool while in Madrid!

What a perfect day it was for today's Madrid's Patron Saint, San Isidro el Labrador.

The weather could not have been more perfect. Many people seemed to stay away in the morning because of the cool temperatures and mostly cloudy skies, no doubt fearing rain - but it never happened.































I was watching the festivities on TeleMadrid this morning and they noted the low turn-out so I took my opportunity to go early, arriving at the line at about 11:45am to drink water "with curing powers" at the fountain alongside the Ermita del Santo - La Ermita de San Isidro. The line went fast, about 25 minutes (which is REALLY fast, usually taking an hour), and I happily took a glass (yes, a glass made of glass) filled with water from the fountain behind the stand. I had to wonder how many people had drunk from the same glass from which I was now drinking. Hmmm... But fine. I was there, I had no refillable bottle as others had brought, so I took my chances and hoped the water's "healing powers" would cure me of any bacteria which might pass over my lips from the person(s) before me whom had drunk from the same glass.

Going by myself I really enjoyed myself a lot, I could take my time, being alone I didn't have any problems "slicing" through the crowds. As you know when there are two or three of you it's much more stressful, all the while avoiding oncoming persons whom aren't watching where they're going. But in being alone I could enjoy all the cute kids in their chulapo and chulapa costumes, so very very cute.

I made one long walk up the main street and salivated over all the wonderfully delicious looking foods, chopitos, fried sardines, patatas bravas, croquetas, pulpo a la Gallega, enormous paellas, roasted chickens, and bar after bar after bar. Man, if it wasn't so early (1pm by this time) and if I didn't already have lunch plans I would have happily sat down for a feast.

But before leaving, I stopped at one of the dozens of stands selling PILES upon PILES of "Rosquillas" which are deep fried doughnut-like rings and topped with different sweet frostings. I bought 4 dozen total of different varieties and shared them later with friends - but brought half of them home for "meriendas" with coffee.

After a home-cooked meal at some friends' house and after a good sitting-up nap on the sofa afterwards, we all made it back to the Berbena de San Isidro, luckily just a short walk away as all this is close to where I live. We sat on the grassy hill in the Pradera de San Isidro and watched staged Chotis dances to music. We walked through the now hordes of people (and I mean hordes!) of people. Or rather, we stood and waited for the mass to move so that we could move with it. Finally we did and took a back-track with fewer people, away from the stands and the performances and walked more easily through the Pradera de San Isidro park and I arrived home by sunset.

I had half thought to go back tonight and see how the promenade looks with all the festival lights, imagining there would probably be far fewer people and to have a snack but I'm SO NOT HUNGRY that I can't imagine returning. It's tempting though. The berbena will be going on most of the night with lots of concerts - which I'll surely hear as I'm lying in bed. But I think I've taken quite a nice taste of the Fiesta de San Isidro this year. GREAT weather, fewer people (at least in the morning), and a good experience through and through. Can't wait 'til next year.

Today's blog entry is somewhat of a rant and has little to do with Madrid or with Spain - I hope.

DISCLAIMER: The following is not intended to generalize about all health clubs in Madrid or the exercise professionals working in them. It's only my personal experience with one gym in Madrid.

I like to go to the gym. Well, I don't LIKE to go but I know that if I don't I'll have more difficulty living daily life in the present AND in the future. I do it not because I love the pain, the heavy breathing, the constant sweating, the hot and humid locker rooms, the frequently empty toilet paper dispensers, and certainly not to look like many of the 20-somethings I see around me with their "fit and trim and hardly exercise to get that way".

I do it also to avoid - or to stave off - becoming overweight, which is a greater challenge with every passing year. I do like having visible muscles and a flat stomach but haven't had the latter for quite awhile now even though I only eat two meals a day. That is to say, I have bran cereal for breakfast, a big lunch, and only fruits and vegetables for dinner - and almost no snacks. So how is it possible that I DON'T have a flat stomach with this kind of diet and this amount of exercise?? Could it be genetics? Age? Or maybe the fact that apart form the gym I have a sedentary lifestyle, sitting most of the day in front of a computer. Well, I suppose all these things are factors in how we are. And it's funny - or not - that as my shoulders get broader, my chest wider, my arms and thighs bigger - but little of the fat is reduced. We all know that muscle weighs more than fat so..... instead of losing weight, I'm GAINING weight and my pants get tighter and tighter. It's not at all fair.

"The Population" at the gym is varied. You have your small, thin, petite girls. You have your 0% fat guys and lean muscles. You have your seriously overweight and desperate men and women. You have your older folks whom seem to spend more time talking and reading the sports newspaper than actually exercising. And you have your gym trainers.

Ahhh... the trainers. Of course, the trainers are there to help with your exercise form, help with the use of XYZ machines, and of course, to be personal, paid trainers for those who want personal assistance. I've been exercising all my life, off and on, and I'm amazed to watch some of the gym-goers exercising using such incredibly poor form - right in front of these supposed exercise professionals. The "clients" are going to fast or have their arms or seat in the wrong position and all the while the trainer is chit-chatting with the client about what they're going to do that upcoming weekend. I have only seen a few trainers actually stop at an exercise station and correct a person's form. There are few particular trainers whom always seem to be training the prettiest girls, never the old or the overweight, ONLY the pretty girls. And boy do these trainers take interest in them. They're all the while rubbing their shoulders, smiling, being charming, and doing very little "training". And the girls seem to like it too! No matter that the client is doing all the exercise in a nearly dangerous and harmful manner. And other trainers are like real gigolos - or so they believe themselves to be. When girls enter the gym the trainers always walk along side them, smiling, taking their arm or stroking their backs, doing things which would certainly get you arrested as sexual harassment in the United States. But again, the girls seem to like it. Or maybe they're afraid to say anything. Who knows.

When I exercise I do a kind of circuit training routine. For example, I will do one set of an upper-body exercise on MACHINE A, upon completion of that one set I get up and go to MACHINE B where I'll do one set of lower-body exercise, then immediately back to MACHINE A. I do this back and fourth, completing 4 sets on each machine - WITHOUT STOPPING. It's good upper and lower body exercise but also good aerobic exercise. After completing MACHINES A & B I'll take a very short 2 minute break to take a drink and wipe off the sweat from my face and then go to MACHINES C & D and do the same. This way I get double the exercise in the same amount of time and plus it's even better exercise. I leave the gym exhausted but feeling good.

The morning hours, until about 11am, is very very busy and all the machines are in use, causing long waits between machines. From 11am to 2pm it's not busy at all. But regardless of the hour, it's nearly inevitable that I have to wait for the machine to which I'm going to use because people see me leave MACHINE A and assume, correctly, that it's not in use. I snooze, I lose. But it never fails. While waiting to return to MACHINE A, I wait and wait and wait because the user is an older person who's in no hurry to finish with his/her exercises. Sometimes I think they just want to sit there and relax because there are no chairs in the gym. And you know you're in trouble when the person at the machine brings along a newspaper. WHO READS A NEWSPAPER WHILE EXERCISING???!! Answer: People not very serious about exercising. So there I am, standing behind the occupied machine while the person sitting there reads through an article about the latest Real Madrid soccer match, sometimes 5 to 7 minutes pass until they go back to their exercising. I know I'm within my rights to ask them if I can take a turn while they're waiting, and sometimes I do, but the answer is sometimes a gruff reply, upset I've disturbed their "resting station" while they "possess" this machine until they choose to leave it. So usually I don't ask and just wait. It's at these times when I fully understand why rock and movie stars have their own personal in-home gyms. ¡OJALA! But you can usually tell when a person will be more cheerful and more than willing to offer up the machine in between their sets. These people are usually more serious about their exercise and more mindful of others around them whom are "cooling down".

Do you ever get on a treadmill next to someone and 10-seconds later you think to yourself, "Man, this guy stinks!" and feel ashamed to immediately change to a treadmill further away because he'll somehow know?

I've even seen a few women with breast implants, but not too many. And when I say "breast implants" I don't mean these enormous pornstar-style breast implants (not that I've ever seen any, of course), but rather "average size" implants. One of these particular woman is one which proudly sunbathes topless in warmer weather. This same woman must have forgotten her gym shoes so she was doing all her exercise wearing high-heeled boots. It looked more funny than sexy as she strutted from one machine to another. I've never seen this particular woman crack a smile, she never talks to anyone and no one talks to her, she's very serious about her exercise.

(saving...writing more... about topless sunbathing, breast implants, and girls in the men's locker room - all the usual gym anecdotes, right?)

2008's San Isidro is upon us here in Madrid, Spain. The official day for San Isidro, Madrid's patron saint, is 15 May but San Isidro Events are planned for an entire month. Thursday, May 15th, is THE day.

The "Pradera de San Isidro", which are the gardens or park grounds around the Ermita de San Isidro (the San Isidro Chapel - not to be confused with the church of the same name in downtown Madrid), is fortunately located very near me and is the location where Goya created many of his famous paintings of the city of Madrid more than 200 years ago. The Pradera de San Isidro is already lined with its stands and kiosks, the amusement park rides have been assembled, and the musical stage has been constructed. The only thing which remains are the people. The area will open Wednesday night at 8pm.



Going to the "Romería" (saint's day party of the local village) in the Pradera de San Isidro is a love-hate situation. I LOVE going to see all the children and older folks dressed in traditional costume as "Chulapos" and "Chulapas" and watching the older folks dancing the "Chotis" - the typical 19th century dance danced mainly in the Lavapies and El Rastro neighborhoods at that time. But I HATE the dense concentration of people. At the peak hour it's nearly impossible to walk anywhere, everyone being front-to-back, shoulder-to-shoulder and no one moving but everyone with a destination in mind. Total gridlock. And if it's hot - as it often is at this time of year - even worse.

But the "Romería" has more things to offer which I do love. One can drink cool, fresh spring water from the fountain at the chapel, the Ermita de San Isidro. The fountains water supposedly contains magical properties which cure sickness. Be sure to get there early because the lines are long-long-long, particularly on hot days. Drinking the water is free but a donation is accepted. There's also a nice rose garden next to the chapel.

What would a Romería be without ROSQUILLAS!?!? Rosquillas are a snack food similar to doughnuts but exist in two varieties: "tontas" and "listas" and are most typically found during San Isidro. Rosquillas are sold everywhere and are relatively cheap. Most people buy them by the bag and take them home to eat through the weekend. They're a bit dry but very tasty with coffee or milk. Covered terrace restaurants line the main street and serve absolutely everything from chopitos, paella, tapas, and full meals. Wine and beer and widely available too.

There is a mass during the day and concerts at night - which I can easily hear from my house - but I've never been to the Pradera de San Isidro at night. I understand it's an electric environment. On the very last evening they have a firework display which I love to watch from the building's rooftop.

OTHER CELEBRATION LOCATIONS:

There is also a "Berbena" in "Las Vistillas" - the gardens near the San Francisco Church ("Iglesia de San Francisco El Grande") with views of the Almudena Cathedral. The area is quite nice and large and is traditionally the place to watch chotis dance performances on stage. I've attended this twice in the last two years but will not go back this year. Lately, while the dances take place, the thousands of teenagers surrounding the stage and in the gardens pay no attention, more interested in their Botellón drunkfest than the cultural performances surrounding them. The teens are densely packed side-by-side, their plastic bags and empty beer, wine, and calimocho-mix containers littering the ground everywhere. It's not a nice seen, unfortunately, This area has been lost or overtaken by underage drinking.

The annual monthlong bullfight festival, "La Fería de San Isidro", takes place in Madrid's bullring, Corrida de Toros de Las Ventas. It started this year on the 8th of May and lasts until about the first week of June. The near-daily bullfights start at 7pm, last about 2 hours, and are televised on cable (satellite) television but not on public television. Getting tickets to bullfights of San Isidro is nearly impossible. "Bonos" or annual passes to the feria are closely guarded by people who renew them year after year for a high price. Few non-bono tickets are available and those few which are snapped up quickly in the first days they go on sale just before the feria starts.

San Isidro is also a time to enjoy Madrid's most famous food dishes including Cocido Madrileño, Callos Madrileños, and Rabo de Toro (stewed bull's tail). Sidra (lightly fermented cider) is also a popular drink during these days.

Since San Isidro falls this year on a Thursday, nearly everything closes except for many bars and terraces. Friday is a normal workday but some people will choose to stretch the holiday into a "puente" or bridge the Thursday into a 4-day weekend. The weather forecast for Thursday is partly cloudy and 73ºF/23ºC with rain the day before and the day after San Isidro. Looks like the weather gods have smiled upon us this year.

The entire San Isidro Program (in Spanish only): http://www.esmadrid.com/sanisidro/

Sunday night, 11pm. I just had my dinner (leftovers from lunch) of baked chicken (in soy sauce) and chicken croquets along with a rosé Peñascal wine. Very good. Slightly effervescent.

I was having my dinner at the table in the sitting room, near the television, and am watching the movie "Apocalypse Now" - in English. Thank goodness for satellite television where you can choose either the "original version" or the default Spanish version. I MUCH prefer watching American movies in English than in Spanish. I like hearing the actor's voices, no matter their native language.

Odd weekend here in Madrid. The weather was absolutely perfect, nearly summerlike - and I didn't even leave the house, not since Friday afternoon when I came back from the shopping. Most of the weekend entailed work, playing videogames, watching movies, and reading the newspapers. Oh, and lots of cooking.

While I don't do it very often, I really love to cook here. I probably cook much more here than I ever did in Columbus, Ohio. I don't cook anything fancy, mostly chicken, veal, pizzas, and the occasional seafood dish. I haven't been brave enough to tackle cooking fish yet through.

Oddly, now that I'm sitting here with the light, slightly cool breeze passing through the house, I have the inclination to get dressed and go downstairs and catch the bus to downtown Madrid for a walk. But nahh.. I'm settled in for the night. But apart from that, I also have the wants to explore Spain.

This "business" in which I'm involved affords me the opportunity to explore, to visit, to see parts of Spain I wouldn't otherwise be able to experience, all in the name of Spanish tourism - my business. So now I plan, I dream, I wonder where I'd like to visit next. The list is long but so is life.

Now, at 42 years old, I can't imagine ever actually, totally retiring from this business. Why would I want to? I can't see myself at 66 years old, putting the working world behind me and settling down to doing nothing more with my days than going down to the local cafe for my morning coffee and churros, buying the paper, and reading that paper on the terraza until lunch time, taking walks in the evening, and going to bed early. I can't see this for me - AT THIS TIME. I love my work. There's nothing better.

Tomorrow, Monday, is a typical day. I'll wake up and have coffee and bran cereal, do some work, then at about 11am I'll head to the gym. By 2pm I'm back at home, showered, and starting to make lunch. A typical day. I've noticed the topless sunbathers have returned to the outside terraza of my gym. Bonus!

GranadaMan Visits Granada, Spain!

Photo: Plaza Nueva, Granada City


Wow. What a trip.

I realize I say that after every trip but it always seems to be true, one trip outdoing the previous one. Or maybe that's simply the magic and mystery of Spain. It always leaves you wanting more. It always leaves you wanting to return.

This morning, March 31, 2008, I'm writing at about 7:30am from the train from Granada returning to Madrid. The train is nearly empty. My car has 3 persons including me and the other 2 are asleep. The sun is still down but I can see the embers of an imminent sunrise, a few dots of light on the mountains north of Granada. Just beautiful. Peaceful.

Five nights were planned for Granada but I got a bonus 6th night due to the hour change - without my knowledge.

I left Madrid from Atocha train station at about 7:30am last Tuesday, March 25th 2008 and had a fast-moving 5-hour train ride on the standard RENFE train. No high speed AVE trains are in the works for this stretch just yet. I watched the Hollywood movie (in Spanish) and looked out over the countryside. Even went to the cafeteria car once for a coffee but since I'd bought a sandwich in Atocha before leaving I had my late-morning snack at the ready just in case - and I did need it since I ate breakfast at about 5am.

Train travel is just the best in Spain - and throughout Europe, as I understand it. I'd traveled the trains in Switzerland, Italy, France, and even Belgium (in the early 1990s) and I never tire of it - unless it's a long-haul train. Those I don't like. But a few hours is very comfortable and relaxing.


 



GranadaMan video of the MIrador de San Nicolas

Can ANYONE say enough about the City of Granada? Talk about the epitome of  the phrase "Enchanted City"! It has everything, and all without the confines of what feels like a village.

Of course, anyone visiting Granada MUST SEE the Alhambra. That really goes without saying but lots of people, including many Spaniards, believe they can "just show up" and see it - but you really can't. You can, if you're lucky, AND if you're willing to spend hours upon hours waiting in line for the few remaining tickets there MIGHT be available. Pre-ordering/reserving Alhambra tickets online is a MUST DO these days. And even with that you'll have a long-ish line to COLLECT the actual ticket at the ticket office. I saw people which must have been waiting in line for almost an hour just to get their pre-ordered tickets.

My ticket was part of a 5-day BONO TURISTICO card (32.50 Euros, bought at Caja Granada Banks) which not only included entry to the Alhambra but also 9 trips on public buses, entry to the Granada Cathedral, the Granada City SightSeeing bus (good for 24 hours), and a number of other goodies which I didn't use. All totaled, I probably broke even but since there were no more tickets available online for the Alhambra the only way I could get an entry ticket was to buy the Bono Turístico. And plus, having this card, my line to get my Alhambra entry ticket was only about 10 persons long and took maybe 10 minutes! I felt bad for all those other people waiting and waiting in the other line.

I'm not going to do a day-by-day, blow-by-blow, detail-by-detail account of my days in Granada because it would certainly take a good 10 hours of writing.

The weather was mostly good while in Granada these days. I think there was one or two semi-cloudy days and a couple of very very cold days. So cold, in fact, that I went out and bought a heavier coat! It even rained last night. Most days were sunny and clear which made taking photos in the Albaycin, with it's white-washed-walls, so much brighter. The springtime flowers were in bloom but few leaves were on the trees - which I thought odd for late March in southern Spain. It was also very humid and damp most of the time, particularly down along the Darro river, at the base of the Alhambra. Inside the Alhambra was the same, cool and damp but luckily it was a sunny day so the photos turned out nicely.

Granada is a city for photographers. There are so many twists, turns, picturesque cobblestone streets, and not to mention the views of the Alhambra from the Mirador de San Nicolas and from nearly any part of the Albayzin and Sacromonte.

Sacromonte is a place to be visited. It's also a place to see flamenco shows in a cave setting. What is "a cave setting?" Caves have been excavated in the hills of Granada's Sacromonte almost since the beginning of man but the modern caves, those in which people actually live, are rather modern. Most have running water, electricity, and a near-constant temperature. And what incredible views they must have day after day, stepping out into the morning sun with views of the Alhambra and then watching the sunset in the late afternoon. Must be great - but hard at the same time. The caves are usually pretty small - and LOW - and are always up some hill so lots of walking and climbing must be done. Sacromonte is inhabited nearly exclusively by gypsies. The #34 bus - leaving ONCE every hour (roughly on the 25 minute mark of the hour) from the Plaza Nueva - will take you to/near the many Cave Flamenco Shows in Granada's Sacromonte as well as to the Cave Museum. But if you're only going to the cave flamenco shows or to the cave museum it's actually best to take the #31 from Plaza Nueva, get off at the bus stop just before the Camino del Sacromonte, and walk the 200 meters to these places on the Camino del Sacromonte rather than wait up to an hour for the #34 bus.

The Albayzin/Albaicin is must more densely populated than the Sacromonte and also nearly totally inhabited by gypsies but there's a greater mix of cultures here. Lots of hippies, Moroccan, and other Europeans live in the Albayzin. This is probably my favorite part of Granada. While Granada City feels like a village to me, the Albayzin feels like a smaller village set apart from the rest of the world. The streets are very very narrow, many of them are pedestrian only, it's very very quiet, and the people are so casual, friendly, and easy going. One must take some caution walking in the Albayzin (and Sacromonte) at night, however. The narrow, dimly lighted twisty streets have yielded some muggings in the past few years - even in daytime - but there's safety in numbers.

The Albayzin has a number of terraces and squares including the wonderful Plaza Larga, the plaza behind the Mirador de San Nicolas, Placeta de Aliatar (a.k.a. Plaza de los Caracoles), and on and on. All of these have terrace bars where you can sit in the sun - or under and umbrella - and have a cold drink, a free tapa, or have a full lunch or nighttime "copas" with friends. The #31 and #32 buses takes you from the Plaza Nueva down below up into the Albayzin above - well worth the bus fare to avoid the steep walk up the Cuesta de Chápiz. It's all uphill until you get to the turn-off to go towards the Mirador de San Nicolas (where there's a bus stop).

Flamenco in Granada:

I went to TWO "Zambra" style flamenco shows in caves in Sacromonte in Granada. One night I attended the 9:30pm show at Venta El Gallo and was entertained for nearly 1.5 hours. The place is nice, comfortable, and they have a dining area and bar areas somewhat apart from the flamenco viewing area. This is a stage flamenco dance show and excellent musical accompaniment. For this one I took the #31 bus from Plaza Nueva to the bus stop (Peso de la Harina) just before the Camino del Sacromonte and walked the 200 meters to the location. There were signs along the way directing me to Venta El Gallo. It's a nice walk too with FANTASTIC views of the illuminated Alhambra along the way. Wow.

Another night I attended a cave flamenco show at Zambra de Maria "La Canastera". I wasn't really sure where this place was on the Camino del Sacromonte but knew there was a bus stop. So for this show I took the #34 bus from the Plaza Nueva - and waited a good 40 minutes for it to arrive - and surprisingly the bus driver didn't know WHICH bus stop was the one for this flamenco show. How many times has this bus driver taken tourists to these places?? So I found the stop, got out, and to my surprise it was DIRECTLY BELOW the Venta El Gallo cave. DIRECTLY below, mind you, so I could've taken the #31 bus and gotten off at the Camino de Sacromonte stop on the Cuesta de Chapiz and walked the 200 meters like I did for the Venta El Gallo show. Had I known.... No matter.

I arrived at Zambra de Maria "La Canastera" with a few minutes to spare and the kind gentleman told me to choose a chair at the back so I did, but right in the middle. I was one of the first to arrive, it seemed. But 10 minutes later the place was absolutely full. Busloads of people were filing in and taking their chairs around the floor. This was somewhat different. The flamenco dancing was done in the middle of the cave and people sat around the dancers along the walls. The musical accompaniment brought their chairs in after the last spectators arrived and setup just in front of the exit door. I was kind of happy to be towards the back with people in front of me because I was on a slightly elevated level and could see most dancing feet - but not TOO close to the floor so that the dancers didn't choose me to dance with them while the (included) drinks were being handed out. I passed on the drink because I knew I'd have one less free hand to take photos and noticed other people having difficulties with this, one glass was dropped and broke, and others were asking people to hold their glass so they could take photos. The show was entertaining and the musicians and singers were great.

After both flamenco shows I decided to walk back to the hotel because the slow, cool, nighttime walk along the Camino de Sacromonte, except for the tourist buses passing by from time to time taking their guests back to their hotels, it was peaceful and the views of the Alhambra were spectacular. Plus, the walk downhill down the Cuesta de Chapiz is pretty easy if you can walk in the street because the sidewalks are somewhat stepped and cobblestone and hard on the feet bottoms. Then once at the bottom of the hill you reach the Paseo de los Tristes and the walk along the Darro River with the illuminated Alhambra up above you at all times. This is a magical, romantic stroll at night. I love it.


By the time I reached the Plaza Nueva after these nighttime returns from the flamenco shows it was already 11:30pm or later and most all the restaurants and nearly all of the bars were closed or closing so finding something to eat at this time was difficult. What I did most late nights was walk towards my hotel along the Calle Navas for beers and free tapas included. THIS IS THE STREET for tapas bars in Granada. Calle Navas probably has 20 tapas bars, almost all offering 1.50 Euros cañas (small glasses of beer) and a free tapas (of their choice). Most nights I walked through and stopped at three bars, had three beers, and three tapas and I was full. No dinner necessary! Other nights I stopped at FOUR bars. The tapas vary but are usually substantial. I was never simply served a plate of olives or a plate of potato chips like you get in Madrid. In Granada it was always a small sandwich with potato chips, a large place of mixed pastas, a plate of paella, or even a piece of steak on toast with potatoes! It all depends. In all the bars I had a beer (during the day I had non-alcoholic beer to keep my tourist's energy maintained) only once was I not served a tapa - and that was actually a bodega and not a bar bar although they did serve food. Along Calle Navas, they served a free tapa without fail. The average price for the caña was 1.50 Euros but I had one as cheap as 1.30 and as expensive as 1.80.

The food in Granada is good and very similar to that in Madrid. You have your veal steaks, your lomo, your chicken and garlic, your fish (galore!) and seafood, paella, but many many more Shwarma/Kebap fast-food-style restaurants than Madrid has (and Madrid has a lot!). The tapas (free and otherwise) were similar or the same as in Madrid. The breakfasts too were the same. I had toast with olive oil and tomato spread nearly every morning with my coffee. I had my breakfast and 6pm coffee in the same place near the hotel nearly every day. By the 3rd day I'd walk in and they're say, "Café con leche?". It's nice to walk in someplace and to be known, to be recognized. That's a nice feeling. I always felt like saying goodbye before leaving but they were closed early this morning when I left and yesterday, being Sunday, they were closed all day.

I took two tours in Granada. One, Granada Picnic Tours, Anne, an American woman from Kansas, took a small group of us around the Alhambra, spending roughly 4 hours with us, and giving us all the details about the Alhambra in a very casual, familiar manner. It was a wonderful success and I enjoyed it a lot. I also took the Saturday morning Granada City Hall tour of the Albayzin. This tour was offered by Maria, a Spaniard, and she toured a small group of us around the Albayzin - entirely conducted in Spanish - and filled our heads with thousands of dates, details, poems, and stories of the neighborhood and the city of Granada. It was an educational tour to say the least.



My hotel, the Hotel Carlos V, a 1-Star hotel in Granada, is located on the Plaza de los Campos in the Realejo neighborhood - which I REALLY liked - and not only because it was at the end of the Calle Navas but also because it was must more Spanish and very few tourists were seen walking the streets. It's only a few blocks from the Plaza Bib-Rambla and Plaza Nueva. The 1-Star hotel is located on the 4th floor and one must be "buzzed" in at the front door, similar to hostels and pensions. You walk through a very large foyer to the elevator and walk out on the 4th floor to the hotel lobby. The hotel is quite nice and has about 25 rooms. Being on the 4th floor, (that' the 5th floor in the USA) all the exterior rooms have wonderful city, mountain, and valley views. The building's on a kind of cul-du-sac and a kind of garden on another side and a place station on the other side. The Hotel Carlos V was completely renovated a few years ago and every still looks brand new, modern, very clean, key-card door access and electricity activation in rooms, modern bathrooms, and free internet computer terminal in the lobby and free wi-fi in the lobby and lounge rooms and may even reach to rooms further than mine, about 2 doors down the hall from the reception room but it did reach nicely. Breakfast is offered but I don't know what or at what price as I always went out for breakfast. There's even a large outdoor terrace/balcony with table, chairs, and great views but neither food nor drinks are allowed in the hotel apart from those bought in the vending machines (snacks and coffee). The bedroom's bed and pillow was firm and very very comfortable. The bathrooms were modern and free soaps, comb, and shoe-shiner was offered. I used them all. The hotel staff was very very friendly and helpful with anything I asked (extra night, call for a taxi, public transportation questions). The room was even temperature controlled but I didn't touch it.

Language: I spoke Spanish in Granada with everyone and without problem. It was my impression, from overhearing Americans/Brits at restaurants, boarding buses, buying tickets, that few service-persons spoke anything more than a few words of English which is pretty typical.

Cash is king. Few places took credit cards except for the larger bars and restaurants. Same goes with the size of the bill with which you're trying to pay. It's more difficult to be able to pay with a 50 Euro bill. The terrazas/terrace bars almost never took credit cards.

People: The people of Granada, from service people to those on the street all struck me as very friendly. Maybe this was largely because I spoke to them in Spanish.

Bonus Day in Granada!: My last day in Granada, Sunday, got up at 8am, got dressed immediately, and went out for breakfast before my 10:20am train departure. LOTS of time. I had to walk a little further to another bar for breakfast since the nearby one was closed. After breakfast I walked to the Plaza Bib-Rambla and sat at one of the rounded lamppost seats to take in the peace and quiet except for the church bells. The city seemed nearly completely asleep. There I was on the plaza, looking up at the Granada Cathedral dome tower against a clear blue sky, when a crooked toothed gypsy man, about 60-something, came up to me asking if I wanted my shoes shined. I'd never had my shoes shined before but these things were desperate for a cleaning after 5 days of dust and dirt and hills of walking around Granada. GREAT! "How much?" "4 Euros." Perfect! So I sat there, exchanged small talk, and after about 10 minutes he was done. Did a decent job and my shoes did shine but he didn't use any polish, just a brush, a damp rag, and a dry buffing rag. But fine. They're still much much better than they were before. I still have plenty of time, strolling slowly up the Calle Navas once again to the hotel. I get in the room, start to undress to take my shower and pack my suitcase when I check the laptop clock. It reads 10:05am!!!!!! WHAT?! I poke my head out into the hall and ask the cleaning lady the time. "10:05am." ARGH! So I throw on some clothes and head to the reception desk and sure enough, there was a time change the previous/Saturday night and I had NO idea. Here I am in Granada, don't know anyone and don't talk to anyone so I hadn't heard of the change of time. I did look at a newspaper on Saturday and nothing was mentioned. So boom! My train was leaving in about 15 minutes and no way I'd make it so I booked another night. And I was so glad I did! The weather Sunday was perfect, cool, clear skies, and I spent it in walking in the Albayzin. Rather, I was strolling, very very slowly, taking all the twists and turns of each and every street, had a big lunch on a terraza on the Placeta de Aliatar under blossoming trees and with flamenco guitar and singers nearby. It was a perfectly relaxing day - one I'd had lost had I made my train.


That day finished off like so many days in Granada, walking down the Calle Navas for tapas and beers, getting to bed early at 10:30pm. The next day, THIS morning, I did have to wake up at 5am to get my 6:45am train to Madrid - from which I'm writing this blog entry now. Hope you enjoyed reading it. I truly enjoyed living it!

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is in near-full-throttle position here in Spain. While today's only Friday evening, one notices immediately fewer cars in the streets and the more traffic on Spain's highways. Madrid, on the other hand, will be comparatively tranquil with little traffic and lots of available parking spaces as seemingly half the population leaves town.

SOME PEOPLE like students, teachers, and some businesses, take the entire week off while many others only close only on "Jueves Santo" or Holy Thursday and through Easter weekend.

Other people will go to the family home in the "pueblo" for rest and relaxation while many others go down south to Sevilla, Granada, Córdoba, Cádiz, or the beaches of Málaga.

Still others will take advantage of the free time to fly to France or Germany or even to the United States where the exchange rate is VERY favorable for those carrying Euros.

VERY unfortunately, the weather forecasts for Holy Week in Spain are not very positive, expecting cloudy skies and some rainy conditions throughout Spain accompanied by cooler temperatures. None of this is surprising since Easter came SUPER early this year.

Many people will be enjoying the religious processions throughout Spain too, including in Madrid. I hope I'll have the opportunity to see some as I'm staying here this year although I'd love to get away for at least a few days. Oh well. I guess I can wait until the following week when I expect to spend 6 days in Granada. Hope the weather's good there. We'll see.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week_procession

It really does seem like only yesterday. But in fact, 4 years have passed since the March 11, 2004 Train Bombings in Madrid by terrorists. It was a day when it seemed that time stopped altogether. Nothing else in the world existed.

In Columbus, Ohio, the night before the train bombings, I set my computer to record Madrid morning's radio news which I did every night. The next morning, upon awaking, I'd burn the saved MP3 file to a CD-RW and then take it to work and listen there.

But this particular morning was different - and would never be forgotten. I turned on my computer as usual, eating my cereal while going to the Spanish news websites. And that's when I saw it.

I'd recently been able to subscribe to TVEinternational through my cable service and so I turned on the TV immediately - at about 5am or 11am local Spain time. To my horror I saw the the horrible aftermath just 2 hours after the bombings took place. Atocha Train Station was chaos as were the streets surrounding it.

The Death Toll kept going up and up with every minute and my mind went immediately to friends I knew in Madrid whom took the trains through Atocha on their way to work. First thing I did was call off of work so I could better follow the situation and see if they were okay. Luckily, everyone one I knew was.

People from all over the world sent ME dozens of emails with hopes that my friends in Madrid were okay. I was doing the same, sending dozens of emails to people I knew there.

The next day I went to work and everyone there was asking about my friends in Madrid. While working, I followed the Spanish news online while also listening to the recording I'd made the night before the bombings. It was spooky. The recorded news program to which I was listening stopped what they were discussing and gave us the brief news, "An explosion of some kind has taken place at the Atocha Train Station," but nothing more was known until shortly thereafter. I still have that CD recording and listen to it from time to time.

Roughly 10 days after the 11-M train bombings I flew to Madrid for my already scheduled Semana Santa vacation there. Some people at work thought I was crazy, as if I was flying into a war zone or something. My family was concerned too. I wasn't worried in the least. In fact, worry wasn't an emotion I felt since knowing my friends were okay. There was something which was drawing me to Madrid. I NEEDED to be there. I NEEDED to be with the people I cared about. I NEEDED to see all this for myself.

Madrid and Spain continues in a state of recovery. People never forget the event nor those whom were lost to this pointless terrorist attack on 11 March 2004. In general, Spanish people are VERY VERY resilient. They won't forget what happened but they're also not afraid to walk the streets or use the trains. For that I give them a lot of credit.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11_March_2004_Madrid_train_bombings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_11_March_2004_Madrid_train_bombings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_11_March_2004_Madrid_bombings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atocha_Train_Station_Memorial

With the elections nearly over and 95% of the votes already counted, both the conservative party Partido Popular ("PP") and the socialist party Partido Socialista Obrero Español ("PSOE") have acknowledged the victory of PSOE's José Luis Rodriquez Zapatero to be Spain's president for another 4-years. Mariano Rajoy, PP's party elect, has already called Zapatero congratulating him on his victory.

Today, Sunday 9 March 2008 was my FIRST Presidential election experience here in Spain. And what an experience it was. I cannot vote as I don't (yet) have citizenship but I went with some friends whom did vote first thing this morning.

First of all, I love the Spanish voting system whereas the elections ALWAYS take place on a Sunday so more people are available and free to vote. NOT like when elections take place on a weekday/workday and a real effort has to be made, ask for work time off to vote, etcetera. I also like the "rule" which says no party, no candidate, no media outlet can make new claims or additional campaigning on the Saturday before the elections as it's a day of reflection. I think this is due to a 1984 law - which I think is great.

Here, I watched BOTH of the 2 debates between Partido Popular's Mariano Rajoy and PSOE's José Luis Zapatero and found it very interesting. Luckily, finally, my Spanish comprehension has reached a point that I understood nearly everything said in the debates. And also, both candidates spoke very slowly, making it easier for me.

I was also impressed that there were no less than 10 PARTIES with candidates running for President of Spain. Isn't that incredible? Can anyone imagine an election in the United States with TEN PARTIES represented? That's just incredible. And they all get time on television. Ten Parties! Wow. And new parties are popping-up and others leaving every elections.

As is customary, as the voting started off, both parties claimed a pre-victory. But as the exit poll numbers rolled in things began to change as it seemed likely that PSOE would win the election. Both parties' headquarters are located in downtown Madrid and both had large groups of supporters outside their front doors and also where all the speeches were made - OUTSIDE.

As time drew to the end, all parties made their speeches congratulating PSOE's victory, EXCEPT for the Izquierda Unida ("United Left") party - the 3rd most popular party in Spain - which critisized the two-party election system, not giving equal time or equal opportunity to their party. This guy was really angry but took full responsibility for the outcome while promising to continue fighting for the rights of women, immigrants, and those whom can't fight for themselves.

"IU" will likely finish with 3% of the total votes while PSOE will get about 44% and PP will get about 40%. I'll update this figure when the final votes are counted.

People are passionate about the elections and with good reason. Spain is a country which LOVES to demonstrate. PSOE typically demonstrates in the Puerta del Sol while PP always demonstrates in the Plaza de Colón below the enormous Spanish flag. I won't try to describe both parties here because there are always those whom would read too much into my words and start labeling my claims. Suffice it to say that PP is the right-of-center nationalist conservative party and PSOE is the slightly-left-of-center liberal party.

The campaign certainly wasn't "clean". What campaign is? For everything one party claims the other party criticizes. For every benefit one party claims the other party claims as a disaster. I guess this is the way of politics and I don't like that.

My day began today with the elections. LOTS of people in the streets on this Sunday morning. Shortly after that I went to the Teatro Real - NOW TWICE IN ONE WEEK - this time for a classical music concert with great seats. After that, I had Cocido Madrileño with friends in their home. After that I had a nice, long, cleansing walk home - much needed after that wonderfully heavy lunch - and then started in with the elections details on television. Again I ask, "Am I Spanish YET!?" hehehe... I guess not - but I'm working on it!

So congratulations to José Luis Rodriquez Zapatero on his win to continue his presidency 4-years more. PP will have another shot at that time - and will no doubt make a good campaign for it.

As in most of the rest of "The Modern World", Spain recognizes working women in all the media outlets - including THIS one. Today is it, 8 March 2008.

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women's_Day

Even I've noticed an obvious shift in sex of traditionally male positions. Most notably, to me, is the number of female doctors - at least in Madrid - in the hospitals and local doctors offices. The doctor I had when I first moved to Madrid 2 years ago was a man. Shortly after "joining", that man left and was replaced by a 50-something woman. We get along very well, as well as with the man before her.

But in waiting for my turn to see my doctor I can't help but notice that ALL the doctors at my doctor's office (called a "Centro de Salud" or "Ambulatorio") - except for one man - are women! One time I took a friend to a "Centro de Salud" in downtown Madrid after a non-life-threatening accident and he was attended by not one but two female doctors. I've even spent an unfortunate amount of time visiting people at hospitals here in Madrid and many of the doctors there are women too. And surprisingly, a high percentage of the nurses there are MEN! Wow! In many many pharmacies you'll also find female pharmacists. Very common.

In addition to the public health-care sector, I've noticed more and more public bus drivers are women! This, to me, is very very surprising. The high majority of drivers are still men but I hadn't seen a female bus driver in Madrid until about 9 months ago. Same goes with taxi drivers - which remains mostly male. I've seen maybe 4 women taxi drivers in Madrid in the last 2 years. This number may not change too much as driving a taxi is much more potentially dangerous than driving a bus what with the potential for robbery of a taxi driver, women being more of a potential target.

Also in the street cleaning sector. One might consider street cleaning to be WOMEN'S WORK. But until about 9 months ago I never saw a woman cleaning the streets with the broom and the cart. They were ALWAYS men. But not now.

Police: Wow. What  a shift. I've seen so many female police persons on the streets. The seeming majority of the women working as police persons are giving out parking tickets and working traffic maintenance but I've also seen a number of policewomen carrying pistols for hard-core law enforcement.

But while there are more and more women working, their wages still are not equal to those those of men - which is still the case all over the world. But I things are improving - albeit slowly. The thousands of responsibilities at home still mainly go to the woman - whether they're working outside of the house or not.

From the pages of Qué! newspaper (translated by yours truly):

"IQUALITY IS A LONG WAY OFF
Just 'To Lend a Hand' at home doesn't help anyone
In the last year women have occupied two of three new jobs created in Spain. The news would be satisfying if the salaries would be equal to those of men in the same jobs. But the worst thing is that this step forward in the working world hasn't meant the same thing for the domestic jobs in the home. There are people whom continue thinking it's sufficient "to lend a hand", but there's an abyss of sharing tasks at home."

It's important for women to have all the same opportunities as men. I just wish Spain would do away with their sexual and age discrimination. It's incredible to me to see job postings in newspapers offering XYZ JOB but they're ONLY considering women. For example, "Seeking woman, age 19-26 years old." Isn't this shocking??? There don't seem to be an age or sex discrimination laws on the Spanish books. Imagine a perfectly qualified male, 59 years old, applies for this same job and he's told that no, he won't be hired because A) he's NOT a woman and B) he's too old. WHY would they only consider hiring 21-29 year old WOMEN for that job? To me it's obvious. The company offering this job wants to pay a LOWER SALARY. And why? Because they think a woman's work is less valuable than the work of a man. And why the age restriction? Same reason. They think the value of a young person's work is lower than a mature person's work. Besides, right?, (tongue in cheek coming here....) a young woman doesn't have a family to support, right? Why should we, "The Company", pay her any more?? Shocking. Really shocking.

The Spanish working world really leaves a lot to be desired in MANY respects, not only the topic of the disastrously low salaries in general, but all to make the rich owners richer. That's what it's all about, right? Maximizing profits at the expense of everything else. These same rich owners are SO HAPPY for the influx of illegal immigrants willing to work for nearly nothing and with no benefits. This too makes the rich owners richer. Same with the working woman. If you can pay a woman, a young woman, or a young immigrant woman less - that means more money in THEIR (the owners) pockets. HUMPH! A hot topic for me. A VERY hot topic.

I support equality. Which is why the observance of today's day, "The International Working Women's Day", is so important. And in the vein of pure equality, I'm waiting for the invention of "The International Working Man's Day". Now THAT would be equality to the last point. But... we all know that's never going to happen. Is THAT equality??

A proverb in English goes, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." Which means "What is good for a man is equally good for a woman; or, what a man can have or do, so can a woman have or do. This comes from an earlier proverb, "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."

Last night I had the honor of attending the Ballet Nacional de España: Elegía-Homenaje a A. Ruiz Soler, El Café de Chinitas. This was an homage or dedication to Antonio Ruiz Soler - a flamenco dancer, choreographer, and director born in Sevilla in 1921 and died in Madrid in 1996. He was more familiarly known as "Antonio el bailarín". So last night's ballet was ballet with a touch of flamenco.

First, the place... It took place in the famed Royal Theater or El Teatro Real in Madrid, between the Plaza Isabel II and the Plaza de Oriente. (metro: OPERA) Wow. What a place. The place is grand. GRAND! And very nice. It was built in 1850 and closed in 1925 due to damages caused by the construction of the metro station, ÓPERA, just below the theater. It reopened in 1966 totally remodeled. It closed again in the mid-1990s for remodeling once again.

I've been inside twice or three times before, attending classical concerts but always sitting in the uppermost seats near the ceiling. The views are not the best from up there but thankfully they have big screen monitors, surprisingly, for these "cheap seats".

Last night's show was something special and my seat was on the ground floor, in the "Butaca de Platea" - definitely NOT the cheap seats last night. If you look in the photo above, I was seated on the lowest "covered" level at at the left. No screens were necessary here! What great views. What great sound. The orchestra was ethereal during the first half of the performance.

The first half of the performance of this production, called "Elegía-Homenaje", of the Ballet Nacional de España was classical ballet but with just a touch of flamenco. The female ballet dancers wore solid color dresses. The men wore flamenco-style costumes. I must admit that I was just a tad bored in this first half but it was also somewhat entertaining.

At the 20-minute break, after just 35 minutes of performance, I got up to go have a glass of champagne at the bar which is the custom when attending the opera, ballet, or theater. Went upstairs a couple levels and turned left to what appeared to be the entrance to the bar. There were two uniform-wearing women standing at the door checking tickets - which I found odd. So I showed my ticket and she waved me through. What I thought was the entrance to the bar was actually a small room filled with VERY well-dressed people. All men were wearing suits and ties and the women in fashionable dresses - and then there was me, wearing my best jeans, shoes, and my best shirt, along with my shoulder back wrapped around my body. Yikes. I feel terrible UNDER dressed to be here. But fine. I'm here so I go to the back of the room where I find a small bar and two bartenders which are handing out glasses of champagne, errr... CAVA. With Cava in hand, I turn around to see a large, round table in the middle of the room. The table is covered with hundreds of little foods-on-melba-toasts, foods like tortilla de patata, cheeses, hams, paté, a tomato spread, a greenish spread, and a number of other things. I help myself the best I can with glass in one hand and food in another, trying not to break the melba toast all over my shirt - or the very spongy, expensive-looking carpet on the floor. Starting to leave for my seat before the beginning of the second half of the performance, I stop at the door to ask the woman there if this room is for everyone carrying tickets. She said something like, "No. This is only for those whom carry these particular seats." I didn't really understand it but gathered it was only for those carrying the more expensive "covered", side/private seats. Oooookay! And here I just happened upon this room by chance! I know that in the public bar area - for common folk (ha!) - they charge 3 Euros per glass of champ...err... CAVA.

Back to the seat for the second half, called "El Café de Chinitas". And WOW, what a second half. It lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes. This was true FLAMENCO DANCING - and also Sevillanas - but being ballet it had obvious ballet movements in the flamenco dance. Very very entertaining from beginning to end. The women were dressed in more flamenco-style dresses and the men also in flamenco or bull fighter-style costumes. The music, this time, was mainly performed by flamenco groups on chairs but a few numbers were performed by a rock or jazz band behind the curtain. On the full-size screen just behind the performance, separating the dancers from the band, was constant slow-motion video of images "inspired by" Salvador Dalí. And many of the songs sung were poems by Federico Garcia Lorca. There was a reoccurring character of Salvador Dalí as a child throughout the ballet performance. A few of the songs sung and performances actually gave me chills - which is always a good thing.

One very entertaining and funny set - which did not give me chills - featured a paunch man dressed in drag as a female flamenco dancer, complete with full plumage, makeup, wig, stockings, female flamenco shoes, and large fan. He had very manly movements, very comical at times, and very very entertaining. I wondered whether this was art or comedy - or a fusion of both, I presumed.

The end of the show, as with most works of theater, dance, or opera, included about 10 minutes of applause as the many groups were invited to the front of the stage for their share of the applause, then everyone, then the main characters, then the bands, then the main characters again, then the choreographer, then the director, then the entire group again, and on and on. Wow. My hands hurt by the end. But it did come to an end at about 10:20pm and I walked out the backside doors facing the Plaza Oriente and nicely illuminated Palacio Real.

What a nice evening. Hope I'm fortunate enough to visit the Teatro Real once again. I understand getting tickets to the OPERA in Madrid is nearly impossible, being sold out for months in advance by season ticket holders.

The high-speed AVE train connecting Madrid and Barcelona was finally completed and its first official trip took place on 20 February 2008.

Media outlets all of Spain ran a story about it including multi-page articles on the topic with graphics, photos, interviews, and (at least) two newspapers even made an interesting "stop watch" comparison, step-by-step, of Train Travel to Barcelona versus Airplane Travel to Barcelona. I'll discuss this later.

A 16-year wait has finally come to pass. FINALLY! The first high-speed train run between the two cities arrives ahead of schedule and more than 70,000 tickets have ALREADY been sold for future trips. Wow. That's incredible.

The Nuts-and-Bolts:
There are 17 trains going in each direction per day, from Madrid Atocha train station to Barcelona Sants train station, with a total capacity of 13,498 passengers per day. The best/fastest travel time is 2 hours and 38 minutes but other AVE trains take 3 hours or up to 3.5 hours. Check RENFE.es for schedule and prices (up to 62 days in advance).  Until last Friday, the fastest Barcelona-Madrid train trip took about 4 hours.  Stops from Madrid include Guadalajara, Zaragoza, Lleida, and Barcelona. Top speed is about 300 kmph but average speed is only about 200 kmph. Seating configuration for the upper, "Peferente class", where one can plug-in their electronic device at their seat, is a "thin" 2 x 1 - one seat on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other side, all seats face forward. Tourist class seating configuration remains the typical 2 seats on each side of the aisle and no electronic device plug-ins available. I believe all seats face forward in tourist class too.

PRICES: 119.50 Euros is the general, Tourist Class price for the trip. Yikes! But buying your ticket on the web (which proves to be confusing and difficult to foreigners visiting Spain) costs only 47.80 Euros. Preferente Class prices are much higher. General ticket price is 179.30 Euros one-way. No cheaper, web-purchase tickets are available for this class. Breakfast is included in the morning, Preferente Class tickets. Before the AVE was open for business, I'd made this trip once using Preferente Class service but didn't find the "free breakfast", slightly larger seats, and somewhat more-nicely-dressed attendants to be worth the huge difference in price.

The ESTRELLA Madrid-Barcelona night train still exists, taking about 9.5 hours and costing as little as 38 Euros one-way.

Comparisons of Train travel versus Plane travel from Madrid to Barcelona have been made and both sides both win and lose - depending on the passengers objective.

If price is the deciding factor, AVE train travel wins, costing about 58 Euros less than airplane travel - including presumed taxi costs from/to train-station/airport.

If speed is the deciding factor, airplane travel wins, taking roughly 25 minutes less than AVE train.

If comfort is the deciding factor, MadridMan claims that train travel wins over airplane travel. Why? Train travel involves faster lines in security, less standing/waiting for the actual trip. Plus, on long-distance trains you have a greater range of motion, more space per seat, wider aisles and more abundant, larger restrooms. There's also a selection of recorded music "stations" to which to listen with the free, provided earphones as well as at least one movie. Not sure how they'll show entire movies on the new shorter/faster train routes though. And maybe the best thing about train travel is.... The Bar Car, almost always open, is ready to serve the passenger breakfast, lunch, snacks, sandwiches, beer, or coffee while standing at the bar or along the large windowed walls, providing oftentimes wonderful views of the (in this case) FAST-PASSING countryside. And the "Captain" never saids, "Please return to your seats. We're experiencing turbulence."

The Alternative: Bus Travel from Madrid to Barcelona: The trip takes between 7.5 and 8.0 hours and costs between 27 Euros and 37 Euros. The bus company making this route is ALSA.  Saves 10-20 Euros but takes, ugh, 4-5 hours longer. My lower back tightens just thinking about it.

Watch the sparkly 6-minute RENFE Madrid-Barcelona AVE video at http://www.renfe.es/video.html with nice music and visuals. No language spoken but Spanish textual details are given regarding the trip.

The Down Low: If one can make their purchases via the website (one must first create an account and have prior personal contact with RENFE, verifying your account at the train station), it can really save a lot of time and add to the comfort and pleasure of the trip - including the same at your destination. There's nothing worse than arriving for your "Trip of a Lifetime" all tired, worn-out, and stiff from a long trip - like how you feel after getting off an overseas flight. I can't imagine spending 8-12 hours on an airplane, landing in Madrid or Barcelona, and then taking an 8-hour bus ride or getting on another airplane shortly thereafter.

Photo: Exterior of Princípe Pío in Madrid at night. See in the lower righthand corner the purple neon lights and Colonial Norte sign.  The Colonial Norte "space" includes the entrance at the lower level, a restaurant on the second floor, and the discotheque, concert hall, and cocktail bar on the top floor just under the iron ceiling beams. Inside the Princípe Pío building is a mall with cinemas, restaurants, retail stores, and a supermarket. Below ground is the intercambiador for metro and local trains.




Colonial Norte occupies part of the Principe Pio train station in Madrid, located at the bottom of "La Cuesta de San Vicente" and next to the big gate of the "Glorieta de San Vicente", very near the Rio Manzares river.

The train station, which served northern Spain, was once called "La Estación del Norte" and was built in 1861 and designed by Gustave Eiffel. It was converted to a kind of multi-purpose mall a few years ago and has become a true commercial success. Underground, one can still find Cercanía trains and metro but the long-distance trains are now gone.

Princípe Pío had been an eyesore for as long as I can remember. The nice old building was falling down for years, all broken windows, totally empty. Warner Studios, I believe, bought (?) part of the building to put in a state-of-the-art cinema complex and the rest was rented out to restaurants, retail stores, and.... Colonial Norte. The renovation of the old Madrid train station is nearly complete. Only one end is still empty and renovations there have already begun.

Colonial Norte, part of the Grupo Otero Restaurantes, is a fancy restaurant on the 3rd floor (you go up via a glass elevator) and a super-modern discotheque/cocktail bar on the top floor with the original ceiling V-beams directly overhead. This space is vast, lots of purple neon, and everything sparkling new.

It's in this discotheque space which becomes a concert hall, called Sala Colonial, on Thursdays and Saturday nights for live music. The concerts are listed as starting at 10:30pm but the two times I've attended the bands didn't come out until 11pm. I'm now a fan of this place.

Thursday nights they tend to have either flamenco singers performing or pop groups. Saturday nights are usually the World Music bands, organized by Mapamundi, which has world music radio programs on Radio Círculo (of Circulo de Bellas Artes) and Radio Elo.

On Saturday, February 9th I went to see JEREZ-TEXAS, a 3-piece flamenco-jazz-classical band. It was so entertaining that I bought their CD after the concert which is something I almost NEVER do. The group is composed of "Ricardo Esteve with the flamenco guitar, Matthieu Saglio (from France, I think, but his Spanish is perfect) with the cello, and Jesús Gimeno with the drums." Tomorrow night, Saturday night, I'm going to see the Lidia Pujol concert. She sings Folk Ibérico.

Last night I went with my London buddy Steve to the Angel Pastor concert - Flamenco Cante. Wow. What a show. What life. What passion. It was just young Mister Pastor (in his 30s, I'm guessing) and energetic flamenco guitar accompaniment. This coming Thursday I'm going to the Maria Toledo show.  That'll no doubt be great too, totally flamenco singing and flamenco guitar. Mmmm... Nice. She's quite well known too.

As I recall, it costs about 12 Euros entry but that includes your first drink - but not sure if you can order ANY old drink or if it has to be either wine or beer. I mention this because otherwise the wine and beer costs 7 Euros each. the cocktails are 10 Euros each. They also give you a free tapa with the drink, usually nuts or raisins or something similar. The arm chairs in the middle seating area are rather hard seated but look nice. Further back you have bar stools. On the sides you have similar chairs but also some deeper, plusher arm chairs which are very comfortable but the view isn't as good from there. Smoking is allowed.

As mentioned above, it's located on the metro (Principe Pio) and bus lines but isn't in Madrid's Old Center so there are rarely any tourists inside. There were a few last night, however. One can walk there from the Old Center but it's a good long walk downhill - which means you'll have to walk UPhill after midnight after the concert. Or, just take a taxi or the metro. The place is very nice. Check out their website at http://www.ColonialNorte.net  to see what I mean. There, you'll also see the concert lineup. Enjoy! I know I will!

Cine Ideal, located on the Plaza Jacinto Benavente in Madrid near Puerta del Sol, is part of the Yelmo Cineplex chain. It's also my favorite cinema here for showing Versión Original movies in English - if they're American or English movies - but also for movies in their original version from, say, France, Romania, China, or wherever - but then with Spanish subtitles.

It's also the location of nearly all of the MadridMan's Madrid Movie Club gatherings.

I see all my Hollywood movies here. They have approximately 10 screens and generally run about 13 films at a time. Right now, 9 of the 13 movies are Hollywood movies, all show in their original versions with Spanish subtitles.


The cinema is pretty historic too, I believe. The beautiful ceiling crown molding in most of the individual screening rooms is evidence of that. But the rest of the building is totally modern. Most of the "salas" are of decent size. One or two is downright tiny, somewhat bigger than a big-screen television, but only a couple of them are almost as large as your typical cinema screen in an American movie theater. The seats are modern, comfortable, and all have cup holders. The lines are generally long at the ticket booths on a Friday or Saturday night but very short on a weekday afternoon - that's when I try to go. Ticket prices are about 5 Euros for the first showing on Mondays but otherwise they're around 7 Euros. Not bad. Oddly enough, at least to me, most of the individual screening rooms have their own bathroom in the back - or sometimes at the front. This, to me, is odd. And after the movie, you cannot walk back through the cinema but instead are shuttled out the front-side exit door to the street.

Today I went to see the 4pm showing of "4 Meses, 3 Semanas, y 2 Días" - a Romanian movie. It wasn't my idea to see this movie but I was accompanied by someone who did so... whatchagonnado, right? It was slow, and somewhat boring with difficult fictional subject matter (i.e. an illegal late term abortion in Romania in the late 1980s). While somewhat boring, it was also somewhat interesting - AND in Original Version - in Romanian with SPANISH subtitles. Luckily my Spanish is decent enough that I could follow the story.

Last week I went to see "Ahora o Nunca" - or, in English, "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Wow. That was a movie. Very good and likely to win Oscar Awards. I also recently saw "In the Valley of Elah" there, starring Tommy Lee Jones, also nominated for an Oscar. Next up, is the (Spaniard) Javier Bardem movie, "No Country for Old Men" - a movie creating long lines at any cinema showing it and is likely to offer the Spanish star his first Academy Award from Hollywood. And also there's "There Will be Blood", the Daniel Day-Louis (nominated for an Oscar), which I'm hoping to see soon.

Wow, so many good movies out lately - and thank goodness I can watch them all in their original version - ENGLISH (with Spanish subtitles). Hearing the actors' own voice, for me, no matter the language, is most important. That's what acting is all about.

Not to be confused by the popular book by the same name, "The New Spaniards" was the headline for an article in yesterday's free daily newspaper ADN: Madrid edition. I was reading it on the bus while heading downtown. It's also relative to a previous blog entry, "The "Spanish Image" for Travelers".

The official title of the ADN article is/was:

Los Nuevos Españoles
22.309 Extranjeros [in Madrid] se Nacionalizaron en 2007
("22,309 Foreigners [in Madrid] became Spanish Citizens in 2007")

Unfortunately, I can't find a link to this article on their website but here are some of the points which I found interesting:<