Mesquita

Mesquita
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Kim in the Mesquita...

Mesquita

http://static.flickr.com/68/172093116_d465f50409_m.jpg


Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

This is within one of the many chapel rooms within the Mesquita. Amazing...nearly every surface in this room was covered with paintings. No flash was allowed so I had to brace the camera against one columned wall in order to allow the shutter to remain open long enough for a clear exposure.

Mesquita

Mesquita
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

This is inside the Mesquita in Cordoba, Spain. Very cool building....construction first began in the 700´s and it was expanded four times!!!

Back in Madrid!!!

Sorry for the lack of posting! We have been in Cordoba and the hotel there, while more modern than the one in Madrid, did not offer free internet access. At 9 euro for two continuous hours, plus it wouldn´t work with the handheld, we decided to just be incommunicado during our stay there. Be sure that we will be "back" posting, as we took notes of our adventures and tons of photos! We´ve put copies up on Ed´s laptop as a backup storage solution...


We are heading back home tomorrow! I can´t believe how the time has flown, especially over that last 4 days! We´re heading out to enjoy our last night in Madrid & in Spain...Buenas Tardes!

----more later----

Plaza Mayor

Plaza Mayor
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Street Scene

Street Scene
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Demonstration at Puerta Del Sol

Demonstration at Puerta Del Sol
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Puerta Del Sol

Puerta Del Sol
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Plaza De La Cruz & Debajo del Angel

Plaza De La Cruz & Debajo del Angel
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Chocolate y Churro

Chocolate y Churro
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Catedral de la Almudena

IMG_09832
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Catedral de la Almudena - we wandered here on our fist night in Madrid.

Wednesday in Madrid...

Today was a long, long day! It began with Darrin and I waking up late ( darn the travel alarm )...but we made it to breakfast in time to meet the Webers and talk with Domingo, our fabulous waiter in the hotel cafe. He has been very funny and animated, helping us with our Spanish and telling us jokes and the like. We headed out to find the Madrid Vision Tour bus which Domingo said we could catch at the Calle Seville. So we walked around Puerta Del Sol (or Sol as they simply say around here) and up Calle Arenal, but we had trouble getting the bus, so we walked down Calle Atocha to get on the bus near the Prado Museum. Few things about the bus....numero uno....no a/c as advertised...hot...hot...hot. And the handicapped ramp ( rampa) is broke...but the buses are low enough that Darrin could easily "hop" on. We rode the bus back to Plaza Mayor and found a little place to eat Paella...yum! There are soooo many little cafes in the area...it is unbelievable. They are side by side one after another. Then we wandered into the Plaza Mayor to the tourism office to ask about getting AVE (high speed train) tickets. (Call for them or go to the Atocha Train Station) So back on the bus to the Train Station we went! Where we thought we would be smart and go to the automated ticket machine and bypass the long, long wait in line...ha.ha...jokes on us. We got our tickets for the Saturday day trip to Toledo and our Sunday tickets for our 4 day stay in Cordoba...only to find out that only one car on each train is handicapped accessible and only one seat is designated as for a wheelchair....DIOS MIO!!! So we took a number (A223) and waited (A189)...and waited (A194)...and waited (A203) for about an hour to get to the ticket counter. In our broken Spanish we asked to change (cambiar) our tickets (billetes) because (porque) of the wheelchair (silla de ruedas). It was no problem, the agent fixed us right up! So we left feeling we had accomplished a great task!!! So we went down a couple more streets from Atocha to find another restaurante vegetariano, which we found but it was closed so we put it down for Friday since we would be back in that area then. THEN....I told you this day was long! We walked back up Calle Atocha...and walked (andando Y andando Y andando...dios mio!) Until we stumbled upon a nice plaza called Plaza Santa Cruz where we parked ourselves at the Corner Cafe for pizza & beer (yes, not very Spanish I know) 3 rounds of cerveza later we headed back to our hotel and stopped for dessert at a choclateria along the way. Talk about yum!! You get this little coffee cup full of thick, dark chocolate served with churros, fried dough sticks to dip into the chocolate....very, very good! See the pictures to follow!

We are here!




MP3 File

Estamos aqui! - We are here!

We´re here, made it to the hotel and managed to get lost in the streets...all on the first day!
We´re having some technical difficulty with the hotel internet...but hope to have it worked out soon! We have some great photos already! I have recorded a audio blog, but with the internet problems I have not been able to load it...Check back though! We plan to go to an internet cafe today...


I forgot to add that we wandered over to the Palace Real...well not on purpose! But it was so beautiful at night. We took some photos of the Cathedral next to it.


Dinner was at a little cafe and we had manchego sandwich & rioja...

Countdown To Spain!

Paparazzi

Paparazzi
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

More from grandma's party.

Grandma's 80th birthday.

Hold still!
Originally uploaded by dehmystic.

May 27th was Grandma's 80th Birthday! We all (about 28 of us!) celebrated at the Hawthorne Inn Banquet Center in Union....courtesy of Uncle Ernie & Aunt Ruthe from Connecticut. We had a great meal, great fun, and Grandma was so surprised to see everyone. She had a great time opening all her presents, but what she really wanted was candy! Such a sweet tooth on her! In addition to family, the activities director from the nursing home was there and some friends from Mom & Dad's church in Gerald.

Testing the audio-blog!

Give it a listen!




MP3 File

Vacation Itinerary...

MrLacubrious has been working very diligently to get the following itinerary together for our vacation to Spain!!!

June 5^th Madrid -Arrive in Madrid Settle in, Shopping, Eating, Drinking, and basic Chill
June 6^th Madrid -First Madrid Card day (Need more detail)
June 7^th Madrid -Second Madrid Card day (Need more detail)
June 8^th Madrid -Third Madrid Card day (Need more detail)
June 9^th Madrid -Train or bus to the castle near the valley of the fallen and/or Chill
June 10^th Toledo -AVE Train leave in the morning back at night
June 11^th Cordoba -AVE Train leave in the morning start site seeing
June 12^th Cordoba -Finish site seeing in Cordoba in the morning and take a bus to ruins in the afternoon
June 13^th Seville -AVE Train day trip from Cordoba round trip
June 14^th Granada -Day trip to Granada from Cordoba bus or train
June 15^th Madrid -Train back to Madrid for last night party
June 16^th Madrid -Head back to the airport.

Bald Bill's B-Day

Today was Bill's B-day! A group from work all went out to eat at Cracker Barrel to celebrate. While we were there, we met a man at the next table whose name was also Bill and he was also bald and yesterday was his birthday! So we had to get a picture of the "Bald Birthday Bills" together.




































A gal at work sang Happy Birthday then planted a Big One on his head!