This weekend we took our first trip from San Sebastian to see friends in Madrid. Although we were in Madrid only seven weeks ago when we arrived in Spain, this time we thought it felt like a really big city, which was a surprise considering we lived in Los Angles for so many years. I guess we have quickly gotten used to living in our small "pueblo" of San Sebastian.
We were thrilled to travel to Madrid to see Tanya D. and make good on our promise – if you come to Spain, we will do our best to come see you. The three of us walked the city streets and wandered through the Prado. And, of course, enjoyed a few glasses of wine together, including one at a famous bar that is considered a temple to bullfighting (we would like to note that the goring -- and gory -- pictures in the bar even got to Tanya, who is an oncologist!).
Jeff and I enjoyed churros con chocolate Saturday morning at Chocolateria San Gines, which has been making churros since 1894 and is open 24 hours a day. We think the Madrilenos avoid hangovers by having churros at 3 or 5 a.m. We enjoyed the churros, but they seem like a “when in Rome” experience. We won’t be making churros our regular breakfast anytime soon.
We love the Prado, and getting a new perspective from Tanya made it new again for us. We also enjoyed the views from the mirador at the top of the Palacio de Cibeles with her.
While the art in Spain is fascinating, the people we meet while traveling never cease to amaze us. In addition to seeing Tanya, we also had drinks and tapas with Caroline, who we met at Spanish school in San Sebastian, and her boyfriend Cam. Caroline and Cam teach at an international baccalaureate school in Madrid. It was so interesting to compare notes with them about living in Spain and to hear about their students and the school where they work.
Finally, on Saturday evening, as Jeff and I were eating plates of Manchego cheese and cured beef from Leon (do we need to mention drinking wine?), the couple next to us began speaking to us in Spanish. What was surprising is that these were not Spaniards, but tourists from Monterrey, Mexico who were on their way to Tel Aviv (of all places). Our five-minute exchange with them (all in Spanish) was terrific! Comparing notes about how Castellano (the official name of the language in Spain) is different from Mexican Spanish had us all laughing out loud as she noted that the Spaniards use “verbos antiguos” (old verbs). We confirmed that we are learning quite proper and hoity-toity Spanish at school.
Hasta luego,
Shana and Jeff
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