15 miles on the Erie Canal

Today was surreal! I slept late, got Up and ate breakfast, did lesson plans and Skyped. Then shortly before 2 I went out to fill up my 5 liter water bottle before I was to meet Sonia at 2. I had checked the sign on the door of Amigo Miguel again and she had checked the website. Both said that it would be opened at 2, and we wanted to eat lunch there before going to the game. We get to Amigo Miguel at about 2:15, and , surprise, surprise, the door is locked. So we just headed straight downtown on the 37 bus to grab a bite at Aroma Cafe before the basketball game. I notice that there’s piped-in music in the background as I’m eating another great salad there. All of a sudden my ears perk up. I’ll be damned if the Erie Canal song isn’t playing over the loudspeakers in English. The lady even sang two verses. Who would have thought that “15 miles on the Erie Canal” would have been worthy for Muzak in Kazan, Russia. Also while we’re sitting there, Sonia checked the Amigo Miguel website again and realizes she just hadn’t scrolled down far enough to see the new opening times. Why don’t they remove the sign from the door then and the old schedule from the website?! But we figure we can catch it after the volleyball game next Friday because that stadium is really close to us and it will be a short walk to AM on the way home. So, we walk back to the Basket-hall from Aroma Cafe and Emma and Fouad meet us there. The game is good. Very exciting and we are leading by 12. I look way up in the stands on the other side and there’s someone holding up a flag from former East Germany! The country stopped existing in the 90s! It seemed like “back to the future” day for me with that and the Erie Canal song. And it seems that having long hair must be a requirement for the cheerleaders here. Tattoos are optional, however. AND, Sonia caught a t-shirt from the t-short cannon which wasn’t working, so a cheerleader had to throw it by hand. Who cares how she got it. It’s a great souvenir. And I took more than 11,000 steps today. I don’t think I mentioned yet that my good friend gave me a pedometer for Christmas and I’ve been checking how much I walk everyday since I can’t get out on my bike. when I only go to school and then come straight home, I have between 6,000 and 7,000 each day. When I go into town or to the pool or post office, I easily surpass my goal of 10,000. I want to stay in decent shape and keep my weight stable. I’m going to start a unit with the kids now about transportation. They can learn the words for car, train, etc., and well make traffic lights. They should have fun with this. And by the way, it’s snowing again.

Nikola Tesla Museum

Today I knew I had to Skype at 4, so Sonia and I started out early for the Nikola Tesla Museum. While we waited there In The hallway for Fouad to meet us, the cashier and the tour guide started talking to us. It was the usual: where are you from? Where do you work? We did pretty well with making ourselves understood and understanding them because even the tour guide didn’t speak English. It turns out the tour guide is in her 5th year of studying geography in Kazan. She came all the way to Kazan from Vladivostok, which is all the way over on the Pacific Coast. Fouad got there and we were taken by the guide into the one room museum. First we had to put on plastic shoe covers, of course. The room was basically filled with some of his experiments. It was a hands on type of thing and she explained everything to us in Russian. Once, when we really didn’t understand, We used a translation on the phone. That works too! We spent an hour there before we walked down to Cafein and had some lunch. It was nice to come in from the cold because the wind was bitter today. Tomorrow I have another Skype, then Sonia and I plan to have lunch at Amigo Miquel, which appears to be open again.After that, we head for a basketball game. They are always so much fun. Fouad and Ravil will meet us there. This is really a group of people you could steal horses with. Everybody’s up for any adventure and we all enjoy living in Kazan. Guess I’ll get my lesssoN plans done today so I don’t have to write them down at the last minute tomorrow. I’ll let you know how the game goes. And next week we have tickets for a women’s volleyball match. Kazan is at the top of the league, so this should be exciting. And the stadium is near us. Hooray.

More snow in Kazan

The snow in Kazan

This will give you an idea of what Kazan looks like in winter. These are pictures I took of the path I walk to school. But remember, it's taken on a Saturday morning after the sidewalks have been plowed.

The snow just keeps coming.

When I walk to school Through my settlement in the mornings, I sometimes see a tractor with a front loader plowing the snow. There are 4 or 5 half-finished apartment buildings here which won’t be completed because the bank financing them went bankrupt. These buildings are sectioned off by sheet metal fences. So the front loader takes all the snow and dumps it over these fences onto the abandoned property. Might just as well. There's no place else to put it. Saturday I will take lots of picTUres of my settlement in the daylight and then you’ll really understand what I’m describing. I checked the weather calendar and there has not been a day above freezing in Kazan since the first of December. Tomorrow my TA will be gone for a dental appointment the entire day, which means I get to watch the kids fo4 11 hours. I’ll be ready fo4 the weekend.

And it's still coming down!

The first view is from my classroom window to the playground today. The second view is the front of the school yesterday. And it still hasn't stopped snowing.

Banking day

Shoot me now! I figured I’d better transfer a portion of my bank account here back to the States now so I wouldn’t incur any penalties for sending too much at one time. So, thinking I can handle this without a translator, I marched off to the bank after work yesterday. And I was actually able to handle it without a translator because they do have a banker in the back who speaks good English. Hooray. He assures me that transferring money to another country is a piece of cake and I can do it directly from the website. I tell him that ,when I opened my account, I was told I had to do money transfers at the bank. He thinks I’m wrong, so we try to go on to the website to do it. When you log into the website, it sends you a secret password to your phone so you can enter it in the log in. Of course my phone is not responding and yes, I did pay my phone bill this month. So by this time, it is too late to make a money transfer anyway and I should please come back tomorrow during the day. So I made an appointment with him for 1 today, when I knew the kids would be asleep. I try to get a taxi on my phone but still no response. So my TA calls one for me. I get to the bank with plenty of time to spare and figure I should check my phone account to see what’s going on. The only thing I can understand is “second reminder”. Oh crap. So when the guy called me In to his office, I first asked him to check my phone to make sure I hadn’t paid into someone else’s account. I don’t know what he did, but finally I got the message that I was paid up with plenty to spare. I need for it to work in Two weeks when I fly to Moscow again for the winter cycling confernce and I have to call a taxi at 4 a.m. Ok. So the banker and I get on the website and he starts explaining all the Russian commands to me. And actually, he was doing a lot more talking than just about the bank account. I think he was so happy to be able to use his English that he talked about everything under the sun: his family, the school he went to, English books he’s read. Ok. It turns out that, since my bank in the States doesn’t have a SWIFT number, I can’t do it online. We checked my US bank’s website and found the instructions about using an intermediate bank. But in the meantime, he is calling all over the place to get instructions. While he’s doing that, I’m emailing my stateside bsnker to ask him To suggest a solution. finally the Russian banker says we’re going to do it the old-fashioned way and he has me fill out forms, which he is going to send to a higher up office. Ok. I keep asking him about what we saw on the website about an intermediiaey bank with a SWIFT code but he doesn’ t want to go that route. And he’s still discussing everything under the sun with me other than banking. But I figured I’d better not rile him up if I wanted to see my money on the other side of the ocean. He is actually a very pleasant guy and I enjoyed talking to hIm. It’s just that I had to get Back to school and what could have been done in one hour took and hour and a half. Oh, and he said it make take a long time for the transfer to happen. Wonderful. Bureaucracy in any country is always a pain in the butt, but when you’re trying to deal with it in a language you’re not very familiar with, it’s the pits.

The Chak-chak Museum

Chak-chak is a traditional Tatar sweet. It’s almost like thin funnel cake bound together in large mounds by a honey/sugar mixture. Most of the stuff you by commercially is so hard, you could break your teeth on it. The homemade stuff is great. Chak-chak was the goal of our Sunday adventure. Sonia and I had wanted to go to the Chak-chak museum and the Nicholai Tesla Museum. We found out that we couldn’t get a tour at the chak-chak Museum in English until 1 pm and since it was already after 11 when we got into the city, we figured we’d better do the Tesla Musem another day and just went to hav a coup of coffee at the Internet cafe. It took us about 20 minutes to walk to the museum and we had to ask directions once. The people in Kazan don’t know where it is. But the museum has had visitors from all over the world. The museums’s website tell you straight out that you have to remove your shoes in the museum and it is very clear why. It’s located in one of the remaining old wooden houses of Kazan with lovely homemade throw rugs and tapestries. The museum was basically an homage to the Tatar culture, and chak-chak is a big part of that. Chak-chak was originally made for weddings; you needed lots of eggs for it and the prospective bride had to make it for the grooms’s family to show that she was worthy. the number of eggs and the size of the chak-chak indicated how prosperous the family was. It was onLy Sonia, Fouad and me. The lady gave us a great demonstration and explained about the traditions, then we got to drink tea and eat real chak-chak. And the house and furnishings were beautiful. You could see the middle eastern influence on the Tatar culture. We all sat cross-legged on high, wide benches that serves as beds at night. Tables that stood on the floor didn’t exist for them I. The old days, although the house had them now to accommodate the visitors. It was an hour well spent. We left there and I headed up to see some German movies at the German film festival with Anna. At 4 there was one about A Turkish woman born in Germany who marries a rurkish Guy. It was a very complicated situation and was a pretty brutal film. There was a discussion after the film, which I couldn’t really follow. The next film didn’t start till 7 so we went to the cafe to grab a cup of tea. Then we went back to the cinema to see a documentary about the current refugee situation in Germany. It was very well done and was again followed by a discussion. And the great thing was, both films wer3 free of charge, thanks to a lot of German and Russian sponsors. I grabbed a bus to go home and a young woman on the bus recognized me from the theater because I had been talking to Anna in English. She’s studying English and French here in Kazan and we had a great chat all the way to our bus stop. It was a really busy weekend for me. We’ve got the Tesla museum on our list for next weekend.

Chak-chak

Saturday

Yikes. The weather was beautiful today. The sun was so bright, I had to wear my sunglasses. But when the weather is so clear, that’s when it’s the coldest in Kazan because a cloud cover usually holds a little heat in. And it was mighty cold today. I went to the post office early to mail a package and was planning to go to the movies with Anna today at 3:45, so Sonia and I headed for the mall that the cinema was in at 12 to do some shopping before I met Anna. Sonia bought herself a sled, so she could have some fun in the snow. Being from Spain, she doesn’t usually have this opportunity. I saw the hat in the previous Post at the mall and just couldn’t resist it. And it really is warm. Then I got some school supplies and we did a little grocery shopping. Just as we were cashing out, we ran into Anna, who had gotten there a little early. Sonia decided not to go to the movies with us, so Anna and I went up stairs and bought our tickets. It was a Russian movie about how the Soviet men’s basketball team beat the Americans in the 1972 Olympic Games for the gold medal. The acting was mediocre at best, but it is a very emotional subject for Russians. The emotional equivalent would be the American movie about how our hockey team beat the Soviets in hockey at the Olympics in 1980. People in the theater were actually crying. And almost everybody clapped at the end. Anna’s found an artsy craftsy cinema here in Kazan similar to the Little in Rochester or the Prowinzkino in Simmern. It turns out they’re showing a whole lot of Germany films. Tomorrow we’re going to see two of them. I’m looking forward to that. But In the morning Sonia and I are going to take a tour of the chak-chak museum. Chak-chak is a special kind of sweet pastry in Tatarstan. Some of it I like, some of it is way too sweet. But the museum should be fun. I also find out a little more about the swimming in the Kazanka River. The Russian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar to mark its holidays. And yesterday was the Epiphany. So this was a sort of cleansing of the soul and the spirit and is why the priests blessed everyone. Tomorrow will be another busy day, so I’m calling it quits now.

The new hat

I bought this new hat today. It's nice and warm.

In the freezing water, part 2

Fun fact: Russian currency has special raised marking on it so that blind people can tell what denomination it is. Very clever and practical. So, the polar bear plunge. Sonia and I heard about it and we checked all our sources to find out where it would be. It turns out there are several in the area at this time of year, but we needed one which was close. She found one which was supposed to start Thursday night about 5 and last for quite awhile. She thought. Since she worked till 6, we couldn’t leave until 6:30. We figured we’d catch the subway to the kremlin and walk across the bridge and down onto the peninsula where the monastery is where this thing is supposed to take place. Keep in mind that at 4:30 it’s already dark here. We get off at our stop and wait we figure might be a 10 minute walk takes about 30. We’re walking across this long bridge, seeing no lights or activity at the monastery so we already know we’ve screwed up. She texts Fouad and Rabil to tell them not to bother to meet us there, but who jumps out of a taxi just ad we get to the steps going down to the peninsula? Fouad. And Ravil. Since we’d made all the effort, we figured we might as well walk out on the peninsula and see where the action would take place, because the guts had heard that it would be at 11 a.m. today. And. Both of them said they intended to go in the water. As Sonia and I were crossing the bridge, we noticed as we looked down, that a lot of people cross country ski on the river. So we didn’t think to much about it when we walked out until we decided to look on google maps and we were actually walking on the ice of the river. A tent was standing and a hole had been cut in the ice. It had frozen over again, but not to the depth that it was originally.Even if nothing was happening on the ice, it afforded us a lovely view of the illuminated Kremlin. Afterwards we took a trolley to the mall where we had a cup of coffee and yakked for awhile before we had to catch a bus home. Of course I couldn’t go back this morning because I had class, but Sonia has Fridays off so she and the guys went. And the guys actually went in the water.sonia took lots of pictures. She said the priests blessed the entire crowd, so I wonder if there is any religious significance to this practice. Now a quick note to the picture of my boots with the plastic booties. You are not supposed to walk into our school with dirty shoes on. You must c9ver them with these plastic booties. This has also occurred at several museums and at the health clinic where I get my blood work done. It’s also related t9 the fact that you can’t wear shoes inside an apartment. I don’t know that it’s so much about cleanliness per se as it is about a fear of spreading germs. I’ve never seen it in stores or malls. In any case, that is the way things are done here. Tomorrow I’m headed for the movies again. I’m going to see the Russian film about how the Soviet basketball team beat us in the Olympics. I’ll give you the full review tomorrow,

In the freezing water

Ice on the Kazanka River

This is how thick the ice on the river was. They cut the hole and two of my friends were among the many who went in the water. The other picture shows the plastic covers you have to put on your boots when you enter a building. More on that in a minute.

Lights out!

Yikes! After I left school yesterday I went directly to the pool. I walked back home and thought my building and the surrounding areas looked a little strange. It turned out, we had no electricity in a very large portion of our apartment complex. Plus, I found out today that the school was also hit. The kids and my TA had to watch videos on the battery-operated computer until the parents could pick them up! When I walked into my building, the concierge immediately told me I would have to use the stairs. So I walked up the five flights, using the flashlight on my Russia.hone for illumination. I was so glad the battery had some juice in it because Sonia and I were able to text back and forth. She had already been out to buy candles, but asked me if I wanted to go out and she would go with me. What the hay. There was no sense in sitting in the apartment, so we trudged around town looking for candles and buying some groceries. By the time we got back at 9, the lights were on again. All in all, they must have been off about 4.5 hours. No damage done. All people could tell me was that there was an accident at the powere plant, but nobody had any idea what it was about. Last Saturday they showed some Germany documentaries at a local theater. I was so made that I couldn’t go because of that ticket I had to the Tatar language play. Oh, well. I’m sure there will be more things playing that I will get to see. Right now it looks as if Sonia and I will be going to a polar bear plunge in the Volga River on Thursday (as spectators, of course.) That means I have to make sure the apartment looks presentable already tomorrow, because meter reading day is Friday. No problem. Even my youngest ones in class are using more and more English words. They love to be read to now and will tell me all the colors and numbers. The love the word “fast” in a book about cars. I also notice that their fine motor skills are really improving. We colored shapes today and I was pleasantly surprised to see how the older kids can stay reasonably within the lines. And they love to sit and cut with scissors. If anyone, needs a ton of confetti, let me know. I can send you as much as you need!

The pool was closed!

Rats, I figured I wouldn’t undertake any adventures today. I wanted to get back to the pool and get my haircut, but otherwise I just wanted to stay at home, do lesson plans and work on my puzzle and other projects. But the pool was closed! But let’s go back. The 3-day school week was good, except for the kid who bites everyone. I have to tear him off of other children 4-5 times everyday. He’s vicious. Besides running interference, we’ve been working on the names of shapes. They are really good with circles and squares already. And there are lots of great songs about shapes on YouTube that we watch. They are definitely learning something. Friday the boss gave me a ticket to a performance at the Tatar state theater. That’s where everything is performed in the tTar language and you get headphones for Russian or English translations. This play was not as interesting or as easily understandable as the performance I went to in November. It was a more modern piece and there was a lot of background information that I was missing to be able to fully enjoy it. It was written in the 90s, so there were soviet jokes and jokes about small villages, but nothing I could laughs at because I didn’t get the humor. The translation is so literal that it often doesn’t make sense. Instead of saying “well, what about it?” They say “what is from it?”. Then I had to first think of what they meant in English and before I figured it out, they were already into the next joke or scene. But, it’s still great that the culture and language are being preserved at such a high level. And it’s noT like the people of Tatarstan are going to try to break away and form an independent republic. It’s just a lot of pride in their heritage. Before going to the theater, Sonia and I wanted to meet Fouad at Amigo Miquelon for some Mexican food. We checked on line to make sure it was open, walked on down and....it was CLOSED. Now note on the door, no sign, no nothing. So we all got on the bus and rode to the subway station where we took the metro downtown. We ended up going to Khinkalnaya, the great Georgian place. We had the dough boat filled with hot cheese, among other things. It was good as always. And the nice waitress spoke English to us and made recommendations as to her favorite things. We spent a long time just sitting and yakking, so I walked to the theater directly from there and Sonia and Fouad hung out a bit longer. Yesterday and today I worked on my puzzle of Amsterdam. I made a lot of progress and had to force myself to stop so I could get other things done. I was all excited about getting back to the pool and walked all the way over there to find it closed. So I walked back and picked a few things at the store before going to the hair salon that was near me. Boy, I like this place much better than the other shop where they really butchered me. This lady was very nice and I showed her a picur3 in a magazine of about what I wanted. She worked on ,e do an hour and spoke Russian very softly to me so that I could hardly hear her, let alone understand her. plus, I could barely hear her over the other lady’s hairdryer. Then at the end she started speaking to me in a very clear English! But I will definitely have her do it the next time I need a cut. It certainly looks much better than the last two times. Back home I just sort of settled in to get things done. I know what I’ll be doing with the kids next week, so that is good. Next week there is supposed to be a polar bear plunge somewhere near here. Ravil knows more about it, so I think that’s where we are headed next weekend.

Back to school

I really enjoyed the walk to school this morning because the air was so clear and crisp. We only had 7 kids today and they were all really good. It only took three of us 10 minutes to get all there snowsuits on. And my Russian felt boots are so incredibly warm. We were out with them for about 45 minutes and I didn’t even notice it. I met the new principal today. He speaks English very well, along with Russian and Tatar. I’ll have to request that he only uses English when he comes into my class. We’ve started talking about different shapes. The kids are pretty good with circles, squares, r3ctsngles, triangles and oval. Now we’ll do some games and projects with the, and them move on to other shapes. This kids are good learners so it really is fun to teach them. I was planning on going To the post office after work but new I had to be home at 6 for a call to the States, so I figured I’d better not chance it since I didn’t know how long i would have to wait. I’m glad I didn’t go because when I got home, there were two notices in my mailbox for packages to be picked up. One is from Switzerland. Can’t figure that one out yet. I don’t have anything planned for the weekend yet. I’ll see what comes up. But I will definitely hit the swimming pool. So, this will be a short one tonight until I have some more news.

Back to Kazan

Wow, it was a long trip back. The taxi picked me up at 4:30 a.m. and I was at the airport at 4:45 a.m. I dropped off my bag and got my boarding pass from Madrid to Frankfurt but they wouldn’t issue the boarding pass from Frankfurt to Kazan although they sent my luggage all the way through. I was surprised, because they did when I flew TO Madrid. In any case, I found my gate and had tie for one more good Spanish breakfast with Valencia orange juice. Great stuff. The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful but they had to de-ice the plane before we left. We got there a little before 11. My next flight wasn’t supposed to leave until 2, but I wasn’t going to mess around and went immediately to find the Aeroflot counter. I was glad I did, because there was already a substantial line. In Frankfurt I found the language thing very weird. I had just struggled for 10 days to mak3 myself understood in Spanish. In Frankfurt I spoke German, and standing in line a the Aeroflot counter, I was surrounded by Russian speakers. I really had to struggle to readjust my thinking patterns. After I got my boarding pass, I sinned and went to MacDonald’s for a Big Mac meal. (Take THAT, Sandra!😁) by this time it’s 12. I look at my boarding pass and noticed that I had to be at my gate at 12:55 so I didn’t take too long. And I was glad for that because I had to go through security again. But all went well and it was a relatively quiet flight. I just had to laugh about the meal that was served. It seemed so typically Russian to me with a cabbage salad, potatoes and an undefinable piece of meat. We landed on a runway covered with snow! I was r2ally back in Kazan. it took me awhile to get through immigration because the official had to writ3 m3 a new immigration card. He spoke no English and was trying to get someone on The phone to help him, but apparently there was nobody else available. So while everyone behind me in line is moving to other lines, he filled out all the forms I needed and took my telephon3 number in case he had to get in touch with me later. My good buddy Sonia had ordered a taxi for me to get a cab from the airport to the city. The companies that have the monopoly at the airport charge twice as much. The cold weather actually felt refreshing. It’s not a wet cold like we had in Spain, but really brisk. Afte4 I go5 back to the apartment I put in a wash and ran to the grocery store for basics. Then came back and hung up the wash befor3 going over to Sonia’s for pizza. We looked at pictures of the trip and exchanged our holiday experiences. I came on back, put a few things away, and then just went to bed. I slept for 12 hours. Today it’s just been putting things away, cleaning up and lesson plans for this week. The guy from score came by for m6 passport because he has to re-register me in Kazan every time I leave the area. I still have 3 more days off. One I’m going to use at the end of January if the trip to Nizhny Novgorod every happens, and two I’m going to use in February because I’ve registered to attend the winter cycling conference in Moscow. I’m looking forward to that. OK, time to get some more housework done.

The rain in Spain

Hmmmmm. The airport in Madrid doesn’t make announcements about gates either. I wonder if this is a new trend. I’ll see when I get to Frankfurt. But back to yesterday. We left Barcelona at 8. The Australian couple were flying back to Barcelona so there were only 6 of us in the bus, including the driver and the guide. And the guide slept most of the way! I sat up next to the driver and he explained things to me and pointed out attractions, although along this stretch there wasn’t much to see. This area reminded me again a lot of Arizona. We climbed to about 3500 feet and there was snow! Spain had been hit by one of the worst snowstorms in years and many of the cities had had just visited were covered. I beat the weather. The highways were were all clear so we had good driving and not much traffic because it was a Sunday morning. We had a bathroom break and then we stopped for an hour at Zaragoza to see the public square and the cathedral. Three Kings/Christmas activities were still going on. I think the kids go back to school here today. The cathedral was very nice. Bombastic, but it had columns of white that made it look less heavy-handed than many cathedrals. Interesting here was that two bombs are hanging on the wall. They were dropped on the cathedral during the Spanish Civil War in the 30s but never exploded. What a reminder of past history! It was cold, nasty and rainy. I keep my hat and gloves on the whole time. After we left there, we made on stop at a rest stop that I would NOT have chosen, if I had my druthers. So I didn’t bother to eat anything there. One thing to note about the ride back was that we crossed the Greenwich Meridian between Barcelona and Zaragoza. This is the imaginary line on which we base our time zones. That was sort of cool. In any case, we got into Madrid at about 6 and I was in the hotel about 7. I grabbed a quick sandwich and coffee at the bar, printed out my boarding pass and tried to get as much sleep as possible until getting up at 4 to be at the airport at 5. It was a quick taxi ride and a quick check in. I have a 4-hour layover in Frankfurt this time and have to check in again there with Aeroflot, the Russian airline, because I couldn’t check all the way through to Kazan from Madrid. All in all, it was a great trip and met some really wonderful people. It was fun traveling with them. Im really glad I did this trip. I lived in Germany all those years and never got there. And it was a section of the world i really wanted to see. I’m also glad I have tomorrow off. I will need to rest up befor I get to school. My next report will be from the deep snows of Kazan!

Zaragoza and back to Madrid

The cathedral in Zaragoza, the nativity scene, the sledding hill on the town square and snow on the way back to Madrid.

Valencia and Barcelona continued

So, after my morning bike trip through the park, I ran quickly over to the Mercado a grocery store to buy a little something for the trip because we were to leave at noon and wouldn’t stop until about two. I’ve never had such a great chocolate muffin. It I Had a white cream in the center and it tasteded delicious. I even ate it BEFORE I got on the bus. We took off on time and stopped at two for lunch. I sat in a nice sunny spot for an hour, drank a coffee, ate my snack and read. (And I want you to keep in mind, that I wore shorts and a t-shirt all day yesterday. There’s a reason I’m telling you this.) I started noticing a lot of out-of-country license plates the closer we got to Barcelona. Lithuania, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It seems a lot of Northern Europeans were on vacation. We got to the outskirts of Barcelona at 5 or so and it took us another half an hour to get to the hotel. Since I knew the big parade for Three Kings day was going to start at about 6:30, I just left everything in my room and took the subway downtown. I found the parad rout by following the crowd. There were already people sitting on the curb. I was standing right behind them and by the time the parade started, they were standing 7 deep behind me. I’m glad I got there when I did. It was a rally interesting spectacle. It was like carnival and Mardi Gras and macy’s Thanksgiving day parade all rolled into one. There was nobody who was noticeably drunk and that was pleasant. The floats were pushed or pulled by people, not by trucks or tractors. Each group was illuminated by a fork lift with spotlights on it driving in front of the group. It’s obvious that the groups practice a long time for this be a use their dances and acts were well synchronized. And while some of the group did the dancing, others in the group walked along the sides of the street and collected the kids letters to the three wisemen. Costumes were colorful and hard candy was only thrown right at the end of the parade. Everyone had a great time. I stayed in town after it was over and had a pizza then took the subway back to the hotel. This morning we had a bus tour and walking tour of the city. Barcelona is a very metropolitan area which has gained a lot of touristic prominence since the olympics were held here in 1992. It’s pretty politically divided at the moment. It is the head of the region of Catalonia, whic hwants to secede from Spain. That is, it’s about 50-50. A referendum will be held on the 17th of this month to decide. It’s a really touchy situation here. Also interesting is that Catalonia is the only region in Spain that forbids bullfighting. The bullfighting ring has. Ow bee turned into a shopping mall. After the tour with the guide, the two couples from Australia and I stayed in the city to look more carefully at the beautiful modern architecture created by Gaudi. Check out the pictures I posted. He’s not frank Lloyd Wright in any sense of the work. It’s not the simple stuff with straight lines. It’s all wiggly and opulent. It reminds me a lot of the work of the Austrian Friedrich Hundertwasser. It’s very interesting and very flamboyant. After taking all our pictures, we stopped at a little bar/restaurant near our hotel outside the tourist zone. Rafael speaks Spanish so he ordered all sorts of tapas and other food stuff. I had mussels and prawns. Really tasty! We had just started to eat when our bus driver came in. W3 invited him to join us and learned a lot about the area from him. And, as we’re sitting there enjoying our lunch, we look up at the TV and see that it is snowing in every city in Spain that we just came from! Remember, I told you that I wore shorts yesterday. Yikes. We slowly made our way back to the hotel where I figured I’d better write everything down now before I forget. Tomorrow and Monday will be traveling. Tuesday I will have a chance to rest before I have to go back to school on Wednesday. All in all, it was a great vacation. Lots of good experiences and nice people.

Barcelona pictures

Three Kings parade in Barcelona

How to meet the Valencia police

Hmmm. This has started out to be an interesting day. First, the guide told us breakfast was a 7. I figured great, I can eat quickly and rent the bike for four hours because the bus leaves at 12. I get up early, get ready and come downstairs, only to be told that breakfast was at 8. So I get all the paperwork for the bike done, adjusted the seat, took a test ride around on the sidewalk and came in and ate.

Now, I knew that the river park was only two stops away. I debated if I should just ride there on the bike path next to the street, but wasn’t exactly sure if it went the way I wanted to go, whereas I knew that the subway stop was right at the park.

So, let’s take the subway. I take the elevator down, buy my ticket (I was told I didn’t have to pay for my bike.) keep in mind that I purposely asked at the hotel desk last night if I could take the bike on the subway during rush hour, because I know some cities don’t allow that. The reply was that I could take it on ANYTIME. After I bought my ticket, I had to go through the sliding gates. I get through and it closes on the bike. The seat is stuck in the sliding gate and the gate won’t open. Help!! There was nobody official in sight.

Finally another passenger used his ticket to come through my gate and pushed the bike through in front of him. So I go down to track level and find out I’m I’m the wrong side. I have to take the elevator up and cross over to the other one and go down again. I’m waiting on the right side of the track and a train comes. It’s totally full so I don’t even attempt to get on. As it pulls away, a female police officer approaches me. I’m assuming someone radioed her that I was there.

She explained that, contrary to what the hotel people told me, bikes are only allowed on the subway on weekends and holidays. She escorted me upstairs again and let me out the gate. Ok, no big deal the park I wanted to go to was only two stops away and the street I was on had a separate bike lane, so I just rode down. I should have done that in the first place!
In any case, the park is every city’s dream. The city had som bad floods in the 50s, so they decided to reroute it to the harbor on the outskirts. What to do with the dry river bed? The mayor at that time wanted to build a major highway through the city. There was such a popular protest, he couldn’t get it through. So they made it into a park with bike paths all around, walking paths, soccer fields, handball courts, you name it. People were out there with their personal trainers, kids were at soccer camp. What a way to revitalize a city. Rochester, if you want to go forward, create some green space people can use.

Valencia

First, some random thoughts. The golf courses in Marbella employ about 2000 people.

So, yesterday we went to Grenada. On the way there, we stopped at a rest stop and all grabbed sandwiches for lunch because we would have a 2-hour tour of Alhambra as soon as we got there. Grenada was the last Arab stronghold in Spain, and Alhambra was the fortress that guarded it and also the home of the sultan. It’s an impressive structure with an irrigation system for watering the gardens with melted snow and after straight out of the Sierra Nevada mountains. And the water is still  flowing through the channels within the castle.

After our tour there, we headed for the hotel. This one was probably the worst so far on the trip. Definitely not the 4-star level it’s advertised as. But it was adequate. Since I had signed up to see the gypsy flamenco performance and it started at 10, there was no way I was going to walk around town before dinner. So I rested and even took a nap.

At supper, the curried pumpkin soup was spectacular. The rest of the meal was salty and so so.  I ate with Lisa an Felix, who were headed in to direction of Toledo today. In fact, of the group of 22, most were going to Toledo. Only the 4 Australians and I were headed for Valencia and Barcelona.

In any case, at 9:40, the Paraguayan family, Lisa and Felix, and I got picked up to be taken to the gypsy quarter for the performance. Even Michele Obama has seen it, and there’s a big picture of her with the cast right near the front door. So, we go to a place and are led into a narrow, lit tunnel/cave, painted all white, with bronze pots hanging from the ceiling(That’s what the people of these section of town were famous for making and selling.) and line with chairs on both sides. We took seats and  one guy came and took orders for our drinks. Then one guy sits at the end of the cave that we just came in and starts strumming a guitar. Meanwhile, a couple of ladies come in, in different costumes and also sit right at the entrance to the cave. One lady starts singing along to the guitar music and then the other ladies took turns dancing. Sometimes they dance alone, sometimes in pairs. Sometimes a guy danced along. It involved a lot of very fast stomping and some deliberate hand motions. There was always a story to the dance. It was not the professional school flamenco that you see on tv. It was really emotional.

That lasted about an hour, then we got a tour of that old section of the city with an exceptional view of Alhambra at night before we were driven back to the hotel. The streets are two way streets, but so narrow, we had to back up several times to let oncoming traffic go through.

I got enough time to sleep because the group going to Valencia didn’t leave until 9:30. And now there are only 8 of us altogether.It was a long drive, with an hour’s break for lunch and two shorter breaks for the new driver, Pedro. Riad, our new guide is originally from Egypt. He gave us lots of interesting information along the way as we drove In View of the coast for many miles. And there are no more olive trees in this area. They’ve been replaced by orange trees! It’s so nice to see bright orange circles against the dark green leaves.

We got to the hotel about 5:30 and I was on my way at 5:45. We’re out of the center of town, so I took the bus. Big mistake in the rush hour traffic. It took me about half an hour and the town was just buzzing with people. The 6th is the big day of celebration here because that’s when the 3 kings bring the kids their holiday presents, so there’s basically a celebration from the 24th of December all the way to the 6th of January. Walking the the squares and around the cathedral was so pleasant. There was a group of teeenaged girls singing Spanish Christmas carols. They really drew a crowd and they were very good.

Since I had had a big lunch of paella and fish stew at the rest stop I wasn’t to hungry so I was just looking for a bit to eat. And what do you think I found? A Dunkin Donuts. I couldn’t resist. The donut was good, the coffee Lukewarm.

After walking around a little more, I happened across a metro station. I knew there was one right next to the hotel but I hadn’t taken it into town because I didn’t know which station I wanted. It was so much easier to get home, and there was no traffic.

So, I’ve decided to rent one of the hotels bikes tomorrow and ride the green lung, as Riad called it. The river used to run right through the city. After numerous disastrous floods in the 50s, the city de died to reroute it around the city to the harbor. What to do with the old river bed? The mayor wanted to build a major highway through downtown. The protest was so great that he didn’t stand a change. They made a people park out of it with paths, gardens, volleyball courts, etc. it’s one of the most popular attractions in the city.

So I’m planning on riding along the bike path there and possibly stopping at one of the museums. Our bus leaves for Barcelona at 12, so I won’t have an awful lot of time.

Valencia at night

Alhambra

Alhambra is the Moorish castle at Grenada. Grenada was the last Moorish stronghold to be reconquered  by the Catholics 

Headed for Grenada today

So, yesterday we loaded ourselves on the bus and headed for Ronda. I noticed along the way that the soil looked more fertile and there were a lot of cacti. It reminded my of some parts of Arizona and California that I rode through. The sun shone brightly but it was chilly as we started climbing into the mountains.

Ronda is a beautiful town on a gorge subsisted totally from tourism now.  There were some truly spectacular views. It’s just impossible to take a picture of ever beautiful thing, because the next minute you find something even more beautiful.

What was most interesting for me here was the bullfighting ring. The most interesting thing about it was  the training area for the horses. It had never occurred to me before that dressage that you see on the olympics developed for a reason and eventually became a sport. They had to train the horses so well to avoid being gored by the bulls. And the Lippizaner horses in Vienna which perform those spectacular shows were all originally from Spain.

Headed back to the bus, I stopped at a little restaurant where the Part of the group was sitting outside. I ordered the squid and loved it. Slices of slightly rubbery squid on slices of potatoes fried in olive oil and covered with paprika. It was delicious. Then we headed for the bus and started off for Marbella.

Ok, guys.im running out of adjectives to describe the area. We started climbing higher into the mountains and driving around some hairpin curves, and as we started our descent, it was so clear that we could see Gibraltar. We stopped at an overlook, and I immediately took a picture for my friend Gail, who has been there. We were so fortunate that the day wasn’t hazy. We could see all the way to   Morocco.

Coming into Marbella, the first thing the guide pointed out was the Ferrara dealership. Marbella is truly the playground of the rich. Tourists make special trips to the yacht harbor just to see the ostentatious boats anchored there. I know lots of Germans vacation here and, low and behold, there is a local newspaper in Russian. This indicates to me that the moneyed class in Russia has discover the town also. It’s everything you would want a resort to be. Palm trees, sun and the Mediterranean.

Sonia couldn’t walk to the old down with me because she was waiting for her passport to be delivered from the last hotel we stayed at. She had forgotten to pick I up from the reception. And my friends from Paraguay weren’t ready to go yet, so I headed down to the promenade and walked into town. It’s everything you would expect a resort to be, just add lots of dollar signs. And, of course, I had to put my feet in the water . It was Stony Brook cold, and upstate New Yorkers will know what I mean. It would have been fine for a swim.

I found the old town and looked around for awhile when I heard someone calling my name. I looked around and saw the Australian couples from our group. I had planned on talking a bus back to the hotel, but they suggested I walk back with them. I’m certainly glad I did. We stopped for a cup of coffee and hen walked back along the promenade as the sun was setting. Gorgeous!

It turns out that Liz is getting into cycling. So we discussed different tours and commiserated about the young male 20-something’s who work in bike shops and look down their noses at women riders and think they don’t know jack. We both agreed: screw them!

A shower before dinner was great for getting the sand out from between my toes. Dinner buffet started at 8 and I sat down with the Australians again. We talked till about 10:30 and then called it quits. Somehow we got on the subject of Dame Edna, the great Australian comedy character played by

Ronda picture

Here it is!

Ronda to Marbella

Ronda, my feet meeting the Mediterranean, Marbella, and the sun setting  over Gibraltar.

Seville continued, continued

We had a nice buffet dinne4 at 8. Felix, Lisa, Sonia and I sat together at one table. Lisa and Felix were saying that they had been in the square for New Year’s Eve and there was some nice lighting. They also told us about a mushroom-type structure at one of the plazas that they had seen. So, since Sonia and I were so full we couldn’t sleep, we decided to take a walk. There were still people sitting out at sidewalk cafes or walking all over the city.

We found the mushroom thing and it was neat. It was just meant to be decorative I suppose and even extended over the street. After we looked around for awhile, we realized that you could climb to the top. After asking directions, we found the entrance. And, of course, we were 10 minutes too late. Ratso.

So we wandered on to the other square where the New Year’s decorations were and just took some pictures in the narrow alleys. Each street had a different style of lighting. It was all very tasteful and nicely done. Not ostentatious at all.

So, we just got back and I’m ready to turn in. We have to be at the bus at 8:45 tomorrow morning.

Seville continued

Sonia and I were both at breakfast at 8. We were the ONLY ones at breakfast. Since our tour didn’t start till 10, we went out for a walk afterwards. We just took lots of pictures and watched a couple of drunk couples trying to find the way back to where the wanted to go. Other than some confetti on the sidewalks, there wasn’t really much mess in our Area. And, there were already people out biking and jogging.

We got back just in time to get on the bus for our tour. We went to the place that was the site of the 1929 World’s Fair. The pavilion Seville built for it is absolutely stunning architecture. We saw the pavilions of several other countries, which have been repurposed. After a few other stops, we got off and took a walking tour of the town and listened to the guide explain the important historical events.

After that we just had free time to wander. I looked for a place to eat. I sat down at a nice table on the sidewalk in the sun and pushed the button to callthe waiter. He didn’t come. Pushed again. He didn’t come. I finally caught his eye and waved to him. He looked at me and shook his head no. He refused to serve me. I’ll defin let the tour guide know. That was annoying.

I found another place where I had a good Spanish omelette and some tea. The sun was shining, it was warm, and I had been through town already so I de died to go back to the 1929 pavilion and sit down and read in the sun and watch the other tourists try to row boots in the little canal without running into each other. The also had pedal cars and horse-drawn carriages that were zipping al, over the plaza.

The sun was getting low in the sky so I figured it was time to Salk back to the hotel. I walked through parque Maria Luisa where they were having the holiday festival. There was a Ferris wheel and people were ice skating on an artificial rink. I was looking for something to snack on and there was a stand with waffles filled with all kinds of stuff. I took one stuffed with Nutella. Now I have a stomachache.

On the way back to the hotel, I noticed again how many people take their dogs and sit at the sidewalk cafes with them while they meet with other people. They even have the tables that you stand at outside and people stand around holding on to their dog’s lease while they drink a beer or two. Everybody is out and about for the holiday.

I was going to go to a flamenco show tonight, but Carmen the guide found me a better one in Granada which includes a little more. So I’m going to wait till i get to Grenada. Interesting is, that I’m the only one of the 22 of us who wants to see flamenco. But how can I NOT  see flamenco in Andalusia.

Seville, day 2