Madrid
Mom arrived in Madrid and I met her there. Though I'd been living in Spain over five months, this was my first time to explore the city as well. In three days we managed to see all the main tourist attractions and eat all the main touristy foods.
Attractions we visited: Plaza mayor, Puerto del sol, Palacio real, museos Prado y Reina Sofía, el Parque Retiro, and several others I'm sure.
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| El oso y el madroño, symbol of Madrid |
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| Retiro Park |
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| Mom with a Joán Miró statue in the Reina Sofía museum |
Toledo
One of the most famous medieval cities of Spain, especially known for its blending of Islam, Jewish, and Christian culture. Highlights were looking at the city itself and its incredibly ornate cathedral.
Since we came during the week of Carnaval, we stumbled upon an annual festivity that I'd never heard of: the burial, or wake, of the sardine. After a parade through the city, they blow the fish up with fireworks. This festival marks the end of the carnality of Carnaval before Lent begins. How a sardine came to represent the flesh? Who knows...
We took a day trip out to the capital of Guipuzkoa, called San Sebastián (in Spanish) or Donostia (in Basque). This city is known for its gastronomic culture and incredible beach. Mom and I had our fill of pintxos and were taunted by the beautiful beach that was still too cold to enjoy.
Bilbao - Bilbo
Back in my hometown I was able to show Mom the awesome place I've been living. It was like a grown-up version of Open House. The pictures below show some of our adventures. I took Mom up the funicular to Artxanda where we enjoyed a view, cider, and apple pie. Mom also had at least one tortilla española, and several more pintxos, including my favorite mushroom pintxo found on the classy street of Somera. I introduced Mom to kalimotxo as well, one of the region's most popular beverages.
Another day we went to Portugalete and walked along the ports to the world's first hanging bridge. From there we made our way to Sopelana's beaches, which was much further from the metro stop than I'd anticipated. I'm still apologizing to Mom for that trek.
Finally, Mom got to experience Bilbao's #1 attraction, the Guggenheim museum. Luckily the audio guides were free that day, and they were pleasantly informative of the artwork.
Near Bermeo
A weekend or two after Mom left, Kata, Bryan, and I accompanied Roberto, Bryan's flatmate, to his country home for a cookout. On the way, we played some tennis (or just bounced tennis balls off walls with rackets), traversed a marsh, and glanced at the Painted Forest of OMA (which glanced back).
San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
Our most recent excursion was to a beautiful old hermitage. You can read more about our misadventures on Kata's blog. Fortunately, my experience wasn't quite as miserable as hers.
Classes are going well. Private lessons are keeping me busy and giving me valuable teaching experience, while lessons at the school are teaching me how to improvise and entertain a hostile audience. The last four lessons I've done have been more interactive and fun for everyone, and I'll have to think of four more to match their fun level. They've included Mad Libs; team Scattergories played by throwing around a hamburger dog toy; Telephone using nursery rhymes and a little bit of racing; and Big Booty, a rhythm game which I modified and renamed Chunky Monkey, to teach animal sounds.
