Shake It Off

I'm posting early today because I owe you an apology - and I wanted to get it over with and get on with our trip. I've been grousing around for days, nitpicking and sniping at any and all. And it occurred to me that I've been disproving my "travelers gotta roll with the punches" mantra left and right. I'm not rolling, I'm growing roots in elitism..."well, that's not what it's like at home." I'm not at home...not even close. 

I'm fortunate enough to be traveling when traveling isn't cool. I'm fortunate enough to have a washer at home I understand and can use rather than beating my clothing against the rocks at the river. I'm fortunate enough to have seen sooooo many things on our journeys, and I have no room to whine that I can't see them again because it's a Spanish holiday. I'm fortunate enough to have people who love me so I never have to spend time alone unless I want to.

So, dear readers, I apologize for blogging about some pretty insignificant stuff, and will try to do better.  

Let's see...the weather - it's been much warmer than we expected. Berlin was in the 50s! Madrid is closer to normal in the 40s. It's rained a little in both places, but that's why we have umbrellas. While Germany was cloudy and grey, Madrid is bright sun-shiny and warm if you find a cafe seat in just the right spot. Of course, Valencia and southern Spain should be even more temperate...time to break out the sneakers.

The food has been fantastic! Although COVID and the holidays prevented us from getting into some of our favorite restaurants (read: we didn't get ANY sausages in Germany), we delighted in schnitzel, decadent desserts, wonderful beers, and an interesting array of international foods. In Madrid, we've eaten our weight in tapas...and will continue to do so! The Patatas Bravas (crispy little potato bites served with a spicy sauce) are the best!

We haven't done much shopping. COVID has closed many stores, and my suitcase is heavy as it is. But I'm sure that before we're done, I'll have some lovely trinkets/memories.

Well, the laundry's done! HAH! I'll post more tomorrow. Tonight we're going on a walking tour of the old part of Madrid and do a tapas and taverns hop. Should be a lot of fun!

Disappointing Day

 Well, maybe not the whole day, but a lot of it. 

Back on the laundry debacle - we still have a bit of laundry to do, including sweaters and tops that require "lay flat to dry." Seriously, I was not in my right mind when I chose to pack that adorable (and totally versatile) gray sweater I love so much - it's hand wash/lay flat to dry.

Our washer/dryer woes continue - frankly I'm not sure how anyone gets laundry done here - it took 3.5 hours to wash two pairs of jeans. Sigh. And when I tried to change the wash cycle for "hand washing - no drying" all hell broke loose, I could not get the machine to NOT DRY nor could I get it to wash, but SPIN DRY. I know it's mundane, and you're, like, "oh, god, not the washing machine stories again," but, if you know me, you know it's hard for me not to be able to figure out a stupid machine...or maybe I'm the stupid one (that's a much deeper problem). Anyway, we futzed around far too long today on stupid laundry, and I totally hated every minute of it. More wine! More wine!

And if the laundry wasn't enough to drive me right over the edge...  We bought tickets to the Prado (Spain's National Museum) today. So, today is a holiday - the Epiphany. I checked, the museum website stated: Sundays and Holiday Open 10am - 7pm. When I bought the tickets, I chose a 1:15 time slot. Cool. At 2pm, the museum evacuated everyone. All stanchions were pulled up, all ticket windows were locked tight, all patrons ushered out and the doors were shut.

At first, we thought there was some sort of emergency. Several people waited outside for the doors to reopen, but they never did. While we sat, waiting, I looked at the website, and a couple other web reports to see why the museum might be closed, Nothing. Great. we spend 45 minutes in one of the world's greatest museums (at $30 a pop, BTW) and are ushered out at a moment's notice. I immediately sent an e-mail requesting a refund. I mean, there were still people coming in as we were heading toward the exits. 

Now, I won't get a refund, because...Spain...but I promise I will go on Yelp or Trip Advisor or somewhere and bitch about it. Sigh. Ya just gotta think that, at some point - during the purchase procedure, or at the entrance, somebody would have said, "Reminder - the museum closes at 2pm today." Sadly, no. I guess the good news is that we've been here before. We've seen the Ruebens, the Raffaels, the Valezquez', and the Bosch. It just would have been nice to see them again.

How real women look.

So stoic and...knowing.

Kids, whatdya gonna do?

Controversial, but so true...and frightening.

Back at the house, our hand wash/lay flat to dry are still draped over the table...dripping. I needed a nap.

Fortunately, all was made right when we went out for dinner. On the street behind our VRBO, we found a lovely little tapas place - quiet, with great food, terrific service, and desserts to die for - Amano. Ahhhh.

Tomorrow we'll hit up the Sofia Reina museum (where Guernica resides), and we have a tapas y tabernas tour tomorrow night. 

Pray for me and our washing machine.

Madrid

A giant, busy city, Madrid feels at once like New York City on New Year's Eve and your neighborhood pub. The streets are busy 24/7, but the stores and restaurants aren't overcrowded. The people are friendly, stepping in and out of your way and the way of hustling cars and buses like seasoned diva ballerinas - they all know the dance, and you're the one who knows "Jazz Hands." 

The best thing about it is that you fall easily into the rhythm, and before you know it you're sashaying around the tourists who are new in town.

But before we hit the streets this morning, we had laundry day. We've been traveling for nine days (impossible, I know), and it was time to dig out the laundry bag and get busy. I booked this VRBO specifically because it had a washer and dryer. That amenity allowed us to pack a bit lighter and replenish our wardrobe every ten days or so.

Last night when we checked in, I saw the washer/dryer (a single unit like I'd seen before in Europe) and simply glossed over it in our tour of the apartment. This morning, when I opened the cabinet, I was faced with so many choices - none of them clear, none of them obvious, none of them like anything I might have recognized.

Now, I'm a smart girl. I've been doing laundry for 45+ years. But I was stumped this morning. Joe and I both started searching the web for answers - we HAVE to figure this out! Sure, we could always hand wash, but goddammit, I wanna wash my clothes! The machines I have at home are 20 years old. They have dials: on/off, hot/cold, dry/damp...it's not hard. This? This...I need the Rosetta Stone to translate. There aren't this many emojis in my text lexicon.

The first load cleaned, by only steamed dried (all our underwear are spread out on the table - sort of an homage to Dali and The Persistence of Memory - as in I have this memory of taking my clothes out of a dryer and they're actually dry). Stay tuned.

Anyway, with our clothes drying on every available surface, we took another trip to the grocery. Joe uses a CPAP machine when he sleeps - it helps him breath better (although last night his mask slipped away from his face, and it was like sleeping next to an Electrolux, or maybe Lord Vader). Said machine needs distilled water to help with humidity levels. He brought a couple of small bottles with him on the trip, but we needed to hit up a pharmacy for a new supply, so we went shopping this morning. Europe is weird in that pharmacies here are not just for prescriptions, they're for all your beauty, personal, and health needs. I mean, sure, CVS does the same thing, but the weird thing is you CANT find that stuff in a grocery store. Grocers are for food and only SOME personal products...and you never know what's where. So, we're shopping.

Then it was time for lunch and a pizza place/craft beer bar we found on Untappd. It did not disappoint - nice beer selection, really good pizza.

The pizza demolished, we walked a bit further to Plaza Puerto del Sol - lovely and lively.

And Plaza Mayor - a huge palace/plaza with tons of restaurants, bars, and people watching.

Time to head back to the hacienda and try another load of laundry. Fingers crossed.

Travel Day and Hola, Madrid!

So let me 'splain yesterday's post re: Germany's restrictions. It's not that we couldn't get into places, it's just that we didn't have the digital (nationally approved) QRCode to do so. Instead, we had to show our passports and CDC vax cards at every door. More pain in the ass than anything else. Madrid does not require that, nor does Cordoba; we'll have to stop and show while in Valencia. Every place is different. And if you're planning to travel again, it would serve you well to check each stop and make sure what their requirements are. There were a ton of people standing in line waiting to get their luggage at the Madrid airport having to fill out a form because they didn't do their homework.

We should have asked Cihan to see if our Colorado QRCode worked on his scanner. It is, after all, just a contact tracer. Oh, well.

We were up early today to catch our flight from Berlin to Madrid - with a three hour layover in Munich. And, once again, we're beat! But nothing that a really cool VRBO, a glass of Ribera wine and a good meal couldn't help. And we're workin' that espanol!

Tomorrow we'll explore the Plaza Mayor and head over to the Mercado. Sorry for the short post, but I need my beauty rest! Salud.

Auf Wiedersehen, Berlin

While COVID affected so many things on this trip to Berlin (we missed out on a couple of museums due to capacity limitations and available time slots, many restaurants were closed or had odd opening hours, many shops were closed completely, and Germany's digital vax card laws - possibly denying entrance to anyone who did not have the digital state card), we were happy to meet our travel goals without too much trouble. We got to spend time with our favorite bartender, drink incredible beers, and eat our weight in pretzel sticks. Many thanks, Cihan!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we head to Spain for five days in Madrid, and we turn our attention (or at least a lot of it) from beer to tapas and vino tinto!

Cheers!

After a Nice Long Sleep - We're at it again!

 Call it jet lag, call it over indulging, call it plain laziness. We slept. A lot. And yet, still, not enough. What would have sufficed in our 20s just laughs at us now. What are ya gonna do?

We got up today (groggy as hell) and headed to the Brandenburg Gate. We've been there before, but it seemed a good starting place. 

We were on the hunt for a good German food restaurant - though I guess in Germany, they just call it food. We struck it rich at at the Alt-Berliner. Schnitzel, German beer, and hot chocolate for me.

Another nap gave us the strength to head back to our favorite bar (I promise, we're going to a different place tomorrow). We had a big time at the Biererei tonight and met more friends:

The beer selection there is quite good; Cihan has an amazing fridge.

A good sleep tonight, and we'll try again tomorrow - it's our last full day here - I can't believe we're already leaving Berlin...way to short!

Where does the time go?

Happy New Year

Over the years, we've spent New Year's Eve in some pretty great spots: Old Town Square in Prague, a grand ball in Vienna, watching fireworks over Diamond Head from Honolulu Bay, at the bottom of the world in Chile, on the Thames at the base of the London Eye, eating grapes in Madrid...yeah, I'm not blind to our good fortune. 

Last night, we spent NYE in a bar. Not just any bar - one of our favorites in the world. We rang in 2022 in fabulous style, drinking amazing beer, with a wonderful friend. 

 Today, we slept. Almost all day. Our jet lag, odd schedules, and beer caught up with us big time. 

But we had the good fortune to find a little Turkish restaurant that wasn't overcrowded, served a darn good meal and presented me with a lovely cappuccino.

So to all our friends, we wish peace, love, kindness, joy, and a really good hangover cure. Happy New Year everybody!