In the main plazas here in Ciudad Real Christmas celebrations are in full swing. They have a little market place set up selling gifts and treats and lots of lights around the pedestrian walkways.
Here's Plaza Mayor with the shops and big Christmas tree in the background:
And the big Felicidades sign on the side of the city hall building:
Here's an up close shot of the Christmas tree (I love the bright paisley pattern!) and WP standing in one of the pedestrian streets that leads to Plaza Mayor.
Here's the carousel and tree:
That long table is the biggest nativity scene I've ever seen! It even includes a castle.
Along with the shopping there are also stands selling delicious foods like fresh patatas bravas, potato chips, chocolates and crepes!
On Sunday we had some of our friends from the teaching program over for a little Christmas party and Secret Santa (or Amigo Invisible) gift exchange. Here's a shot of some of the girls:
And our little Christmas tree surrounded by Secret Santa gifts!
And here's WP climbing into a chimney...
We head out tomorrow for our honeymoon, so excited! Will not be blogging from the road but will take lots of photos to upload in the new year!
We just got home from a quick one-night trip to Madrid. The saga of my lost suitcase continues - they haven't found it yet and at this point they have stopped looking. What happens when one day it shows up in Heathrow or Madrid? Do they call me? Do they toss it in the dumpster? Who knows. The good news is that British Airways is paying us some for our lost items and we may be able to get a little more from our credit card's travel insurance. In order to apply for the insurance payout we had to get a document notarized...and of course, the easiest way to do that was to go to the US Embassy in Madrid. It was either go to US soil in Spain or pay to get the document translated and then notarized by a Spanish notary and hope it was accepted by the US travel insurance company. Oy vey!
Since we had to go to Madrid anyway we decided to make the best of it and spend the night. We stayed in the neighborhood Lavapiés at a cute little hotel that had awesome views of the city. The neighborhood used to be the Jewish quarter of Madrid but now has a sizable Asian population and kind of feels like being in a smaller version of Chinatown/TL in SF. Here's the view from our balcony (!):
WP catching some vitamin D:
Madrid (and Spain in general) love Christmas! There are decorations all over town and lots of activities for kids. I didn't get any night photos of all the Madrid Christmas lights, but we did stop for a few minutes when we saw this hilarious show. On the side of El Corte Inglés (a big department store) there was this awesome circus scene with moving parts, music playing and characters walking through the audience making balloon animals.
We also stopped by the restaurant Lhardywhich was founded in 1839. They have a fancy (and expensive) sit down restaurant upstairs but they also have a cafe where Will was able to try their famous consommé with sherry.
Today we visited an English language secondhand bookstore and cafe. It was fun to meet some other expat types and we even found some books to take home (those of you who know WP are very surprised to hear this, I'm sure). We chatted with the Englishman in charge for awhile and after a couple free cafes con leche he directed us to an amazing Asian food store! I think the common consensus foreigners come to is that Spanish food has its merits, but that variety of flavor is not its strong suit. After a short walk from the book stop, we found the Asian store! It is located under a plaza next to the entrance of a dirty parking garage. Not glamorous, but once we got inside, it didn't matter. We've been looking for some Asian cooking products for awhile and were so so so happy with what we found!
That's right, we went a little crazy stocking up...buckwheat noodles (or "noolde", as the package says), sesame seeds, two types of Thai curry pastes, rice vinegar, sesame oil, wasabe peas, miso paste, and of course, KIKKOMAN! And I guess anyone who knows me can see why we had to get the 1 liter bottle of soy sauce; we all have our weaknesses! On the train home we were already dreaming up meals to start using up these bad boys.
On Sunday we're hosting a Christmas party for our friends here in CR. I'm looking forward to the secret santa gift exchange, mulled wine, and cheesy Christmas music.
On that note, I'll leave you with Madonna's late 80s cover of Santa Baby. Love!
My student Miguel Angel is so fun to teach. After his lesson on Wednesday he let me keep this piece of paper with his drawings and practice English sentences. His next test at school will be about describing people and feelings, so that's what we were practicing.
The column on the left was a spelling test. I read the words and he had to write them. And since I know he likes to draw I had him draw the little pictures of each word to make sure he knew what they meant. He did pretty well, but I think originally thought "thirsty" meant "feverish", so you'll see the little crossed out guy who is sad with spots on his face.
Miguel's favorite animal is the monkey, so that's why he chose to draw the monkey eating pizza. Such a good artist!
After our fun with spelling and drawing I taught him Jingle Bells to sing for his parents. I think it'll take him a few more lessons to really memorize it... Not sure the meanings of all the phrases will stick with him though. A one horse open sleigh? That's a tough one.
Again, can't believe I get paid to hang out with this little guy, he's such a hoot!
We got our tree! People here don't seem to buy real trees as much, so we settled for this artificial one from one of the corner shops. They had a ton of cute ornaments, decorations and lights. I especially like all the glitter gold stuff they sell (hence the big gold tree topper).
Will's Grandma made us this adorable ornament (she makes them for all the grandkids, different every year!) and Will's parents hand delivered it when they were visiting. Makes our tree a lot homier, thanks Grandma Felicia!
We realized today that we're just 2 weeks away from our honeymoon trip, so exciting! Can't wait to be drinking mint tea in Marrakesh!
Last week Steve and Diane (Will's parents) came to visit us in Spain! It was awesome to see family and to get to travel around the country with them. They stayed in Ciudad Real for a couple days to see where we live and then the four of us took a road trip to Granada. Will took his parents to see Toledo and Consuegra (where the windmills are) as well, but I ended up having to stay home battling a cold that day. I'm glad they got to see Toledo though - it is so beautiful!
On our way to Granada we stopped in Jaén to have lunch at the Castillo de Santa Catalina, a 13th century castle that's been converted into a hotel and restaurant as part of the state run Parador program (there are a bunch of similar properties all over Spain). After lunch we walked around the castle to see the view of the surrounding lands.
The food at the castle was so good! They even had a whole vegetarian section and gluten-free section - good job Spain! Here's Mama and Papa Payne on the overlook just outside where we ate lunch:
Just a short walk from the castle there is this viewpoint from which you can see the whole city below. Here's me sitting on the base of the cross:
On the way back to Ciudad Real we stopped again in Jaén, but this time down in the city instead of up by the castle. Here's the view of the same cross as seen from one of the main plazas in the city, you can barely see it way up on top of the hill in the background. Good place to put a castle if you don't want to be invaded!
Here's Jaén's main cathedral as seen from the castle:
And up close from the plaza in town:
We didn't have a whole lot of time in Granada, so we decided to focus on going to La Alhambra, the Moorish palace/fortress that was built in the 13th century and not taken by Christians until 1492 (a big year for Spain, apparently). After the reconquista some Christian rulers started using the Palace for themselves for awhile and then there were a bunch of years when no one used it and it fell into disrepair. Now it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and all around cool place that gets tons of visitors every year. It is impossible to do it justice with photos, but I'll do my best!
The palace is full of rooms of ornate carvings and tile work. So beautiful!
Here's a view of the trees around the fortress and the snowy mountains way in the background:
Me and WP from the top of the highest tower:
The Alhambra is also home to so many little kitties! These ones patiently waited for us to drop some cheese or bread for them to eat.
The Alhambra was definitely worth the visit. There is so much to see and like I said, photos don't do it justice! Maybe we'll have the opportunity to make it back there when we have other visitors!
And I'll leave you with this WP classic. Love him!
Welcome to the new blog! If you're interested in checking out my older blog posts about life in Spain, you can go to kmbp.tumblr.com. From here on out I'll be updating this one, stayed tuned for more soon!
