We often see new fashions in our trips to Europe that we see a year or two later in the US. But maybe it is Albuquerque and the fashions are happening at the same time in New York, probably so. Anyway for those of you not living in New York, or Europe, we have been seeing a new fashion: women wearing short-shorts, often colorful, and knee-length soft leather boots. A good fashion for young women because only a young woman could pull it off without looking ridiculous.
Month: March 2012
In-Cider
Both Wynette and I like hard cider. We each learned about good cider in England where every pub has cider. Spain has cider too. In the north they make what we hear is really good cider. We are looking forward to it when we get to Barcelona.
We had cider with our tapas. Actually not cider but perry, pear cider. There were two choices available: Strongbow and I forgot the one we had Bulmers (you can see it in the tapas picture), both English ciders. Why not Spanish cider?
Well, maybe I can get Spanish cider at the Irish pub down the street.
Luck of the Irish
What’s the deal with Irish pubs? It seems like everywhere I go there are Irish pubs: England (understandable), Albuquerque, Italy, and now Toledo, just a couple of blocks from our hotel, John Daley and Company. I’m Irish myself but not a big drinker so maybe that’s why I don’t understand.
Our first tapas
I talked about tapas before. Here is “todos tapas”:
Looking like a tourist
Post by Charlie: Of course, anyone can tell we are tourists, our unstylish American clothes to start with and on from there. Still sometimes it feels funny to be standing around looking at a map. I got an app for my iPod Touch called CityMaps2Go for $2 you get access to thousands of maps from all over the world. You can download the ones you want and access them offline. We have one of Toledo. So I can stand around looking at my map but look to all the world like some guy checking out his phone, as people do for hours at a time. Plus the kindle app has eight guide books downloaded to it.
Of course, if I had a real smart phone I would have all that integrated but that is too 21st century for me, and there are no monthly charges for this. I was thinking of getting a GPS attachment for my Touch but decided against it, maybe next time.
Speaking of phones, we have a limited sample but it seems like there is less use of phones at meals here, definitely some but less. I haven’t seen any cases of two people sitting at dinner and both staring at their phones. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just indicates that we have entered a new era in interpersonal relations and I wonder a lot exactly where it will all lead. Some communication requires a lot of “wasted” time around it before you get to the really good communication. With a phone there there is no need to put up with any “wasted” time because there is always something else you could be doing.
Don’t call me late for dinner
Post by Charlie: The Spanish eat ridiculously late. Lunch is 2-4 and dinner is 9-11 or later. This can be a problem for tourists. Some restaurants open for lunch at 1 but usually it is 1:30. We are still jet-lagged so we fit in pretty well. We woke up at 10 were ready to go out touristing by 11 and had lunch at 2, early but within Spanish bounds.
Dinner is more of an issue. Last night we had tapas for dinner. You probably know about tapas, an old Spanish custom where you had bar food to go with your drinks. It developed into an established culinary form where you would go bar-hopping in the early evening (7 or so) and have the specialty tapas at each bar, then go have dinner at 11 or 12.
This seems to have developed into something a little different. We had “todo tapas”, a tapas sampler, basically a dinner in the “small plate” form that seems to be popular now in lots of countries and food styles. It is a way to have an early dinner and get to bed at a decent hour. Lots of the restaurants have this.
It seems like a good deal for the restaurants. We were in the bar at a tiny little table with lots of people around us. No big dinner set-up, packed them into a small space, sell lots of high-margin alcohol, what’s not to like for the restaurant? And it worked for us too. The “small plate” idea is great because you get to have lots of tastes and, as we all know, the first bite is always the best (or is that the first toke? I forget.)
So this will be our dinner solution and the solution for lots of people it seems. The couple next to us was having an orange fanta and water so they weren’t there for the drinks. Note by Wynette: We split a pear cider. Very good.
WWTGBSVSWMTD
Post by Charlie: I got some more money from the cash machine today. When I went to Europe in 1969 I remember signing dozens of $10 traveler’s checks before going. Now you just get cash from the machine. We have a Capital One ATM card which does not have foreign transaction fees.
So I start the transaction and ask for 200 euro and then it tells me what that is in dollars and asks me if I want to do the transaction in euros or dollars. Hmm. Normally in situations like this I use the WWTGBSVSWMTD (what would the giant blood-sucking vampire squid want me to do) principle and just do the opposite. But the vampire squid is crafty, it doesn’t indicate which choice it wants me to make, equal screen space is given to both choices. I think the answer is in euros so the conversion is done back at Capital One instead of paying fees here but it is hard to tell for sure.
This is a new question this trip. I did a credit card transaction and they asked me the same question. A new method for the banks to squeeze more fees out of us no doubt. I guess I need to google this.
Paseo gone wild
Post by Charlie: We started walking around Toledo. It is an old city with lots of twisty little passages, some too small even for one car to go, some where cars should not go but are allowed anyway. It is about 7pm and we are walking from the main square and there are a lot of people all going our way. In Italy, every evening, they have the pasiogiata (or some spelling like that) where people stroll in the evening. Spain has a similar thing that (maybe) is called the paseo. This seems to be one so we go along enjoying it.
Then a group of young people comes along with red flags and chanting slogans, not usual for the paseo but the Spanish are a spirited group. We turn the corner and see hundreds of people in the square with lots more red flags. We finally figure out this is a rally in support of the general strike.
We hang around for a while being supportive. My “Power to the people” experience at UCLA in the 1960s proves useful. It gets pretty crowded so we wound our way out.
La Huerta General
Post by Charlie: The tourist office at the airport told us that our plan to go into Madrid on the subway would not be a good idea because they were on strike and offering minimal service so we might have to wait a long time. She suggested the shuttle bus. We went over there and ran the last 100 yards to catch a bus that was just leaving, good luck. On the bus we talked to a woman for Portland OR who lives in Madrid. She said the bus was a lot easier anyway. But she had waited an hour for a bus that is supposed to run every ten minutes. then she said this was not just to subway strike but a general strike for all public transportation in the whole country. Our plan was to take the train to Toledo where we had a B&B reservation. Normally the train runs every hour and takes 30 minutes. She was skeptical of our chances of getting to Toledo. Apparently the law is that that can only do an 80% strike and must have “servicios minimos” of 20% capacity. But she said they often ignore that.
We got to the main train station and went to the phone store and got Vodaphone SIMS for our (unlocked) phones. Easy peasy and nine euro for nine euro of call time, at about 8 euro cents a minute. So that worked. Next went over to where the Toledo trains were prepared for a wait. No trains for you! They said no train was going to Toledo (or anywhere) today and suggested the bus. The train station was pretty empty, just some tourists like us walking around looking lost and wondering how they were going to get where they were going. We were thinking we might have to stay in Madrid for one night.
We stopped at a coffee place to have our first cafe con leche but they only had cafe latte and cappuccinos. We checked and found we had wandered into an Italian coffee place but they made us a coffee con leche anyway.
We called our hotel (hostel actually) in Toledo and talked with the manager and he thought there were buses but he would check and call back. He called after a while and said there was a bus from Plaza Eliptico at 3pm. It was about 11am then so not too bad. We took a taxi over there and went down to where the buses loaded. Again not much happening. the information window was closed and a few people were wandering around looking lost and/or disappointed. We looked around and found a ticket window open and the guy in a uniform comes up and says something like “bus to Toledo?” We can’t figure out how he knew. Buses went to dozens of places from this terminal. Anyway there were lots of signs about “servicos minimos” and this included a bus to Toledo at 3pm. It was the local but we were glad for anything. It was 10 euro for us both, the train would have been 20.
We walked around the area and asked about restaurants and found a place. It was okay but not great but lots of food and pretty cheap, 10 euro each for the menu of the day including two courses, dessert, wine, and coffee (con leche, of course).
The bus was very local and took an hour and 15 minutes but we saw a lot of places around Madrid. The area is quite dry, more than we expected it to be. We took another taxi to near the hostel, which is in an area where cars cannot go and we were finally there.
The place is very nice. It was a relief after 26 hours of travel to be able to unpack our bags and rest a bit. Then out for a bit of Toledo.
Arrival
Post by Charlie: I guess you all know that flights these days are always full and you have very little leg room unless you pay extra. Atlanta to Madrid was nine hours of being crammed into a seat with little leg room, I was surprised how little. The people in front of us reclined their seats right after takeoff and kept them reclined the whole way. We got a few hours sleep. It was easy going through passport control and got some money and checked in with the airport tourist office. So far so good, but just this far.