This is what it looks like out the kitchen window at dinner time. Dinner time is typically around 10pm, even for working stiffs who come home around 9pm. We were invited to "breakfast" yesterday in the "morning" at 1:30pm. We had a breakfast that began with a cold beer, followed by a variety of eggs and potatoes and a bottle of fine, red wine. When we were done we had cheese cake and ice cream for dessert. Every meal of the day, all rolled into one. The Spaniards are the most highly evolved civilization.
I love this apartment. We could fit five of them in our house. Imagine the wealth we could create! With 8 Reed students renting the four additional apartments we would never have to work again.
-Gregory
Cycling
There are some brave souls who ride their bikes in this city. I am dying to get a bike but I can´t find a used shop anywhere. They do have a monthly Critical Mass event here but it seems that biking is a very underground activity. Many of the streets are cobbled and narrow and those that aren´t are busy with crazy traffic.
In any case, this is an interesting contraption. The seat spins to face front and a friend can sit on it on your way to the bar. Foot pegs flip out from the axle. On your way home from the bar the danger increases dramatically. Amanda and I also saw a bicycle that converts into a stroller. Try to picture this; The bike has two wheels in front, as a bike. Then, to convert it, the frame is hinged in the center so the rear wheel flips beneath the bike to stick out in the front. The handle bars remain in place and you then push the bike as a stroller. In either position, there was a child´s seat attached to the front.
-Gregory
In any case, this is an interesting contraption. The seat spins to face front and a friend can sit on it on your way to the bar. Foot pegs flip out from the axle. On your way home from the bar the danger increases dramatically. Amanda and I also saw a bicycle that converts into a stroller. Try to picture this; The bike has two wheels in front, as a bike. Then, to convert it, the frame is hinged in the center so the rear wheel flips beneath the bike to stick out in the front. The handle bars remain in place and you then push the bike as a stroller. In either position, there was a child´s seat attached to the front.
-Gregory
Corn-rows
Today I got my hair braided. They put beads in it. If you look at it closely it makes a pattern. Right now you should be taking into account that I am posting a picture of myself. Unlike Greg thinks I do have my picture on the blog ( even though I already did). Anyway my hair looks GREAT!
Well it´s 20 past ten, time for dinner!
-Antonia
P.S. If you want to see were I got my hair braided look at www.antoniagotherhairbraidedinherkitchen.com
No actually don´t do that!
Just look at the post "our apartment #1" and notice the beaded doorway.
Well it´s 20 past ten, time for dinner!
-Antonia
P.S. If you want to see were I got my hair braided look at www.antoniagotherhairbraidedinherkitchen.com
No actually don´t do that!
Just look at the post "our apartment #1" and notice the beaded doorway.
Statue People
We have seen lots of statue people since we have been here. There has been a man covered in chocolate, someone completely silver, a matador, a native american and a street sweeper. The couple you see on the right have done this many times. We have seen the woman alone, and the man alone at times. Right now they are working together.
-Antonia
This is the principle form of street theater here in Madrid. All these frozen people. Everywhere you go people are coverd in some sort of filth, doing nothing and waiting for someone to give them money. I guess it is no different than many other jobs.
-Gregory
-Antonia
This is the principle form of street theater here in Madrid. All these frozen people. Everywhere you go people are coverd in some sort of filth, doing nothing and waiting for someone to give them money. I guess it is no different than many other jobs.
-Gregory
Rectangular slice of sky
Our apartment is on the top floor and on the interior of the building. The view to the outside world is limited. However, out our kitchen window we have this little slice of the sky. The sun shines in and the clouds roll by. Actually, rolling clouds is a clich'e. These clouds saunter, they amble, they are easing their way into siesta.
On our first day here the taxi driver told us that it had rained that morning. It has rained twice since then. I felt both of the drops on me. There were probably eleven drops in all of Madrid. A downpour. It would be impossible to explain Oregon weather to the Madrileños.
-Gregory
On our first day here the taxi driver told us that it had rained that morning. It has rained twice since then. I felt both of the drops on me. There were probably eleven drops in all of Madrid. A downpour. It would be impossible to explain Oregon weather to the Madrileños.
-Gregory
European tour 2009
Based on Diana´s (previous post) advice and encouragement, (she directed us to a shady spot with good foot-traffic) I tried a bit of my own schtick on the unsuspecting Madrileños. I built this booth around an old backpack frame and, although it worked fine, it was not without some problems. Listing to the left, for example. Improvements are being made. Nonetheless, for a first outing it was just fine. We drew a small crowd including some very curious and broadly smiling Chinese teenagers, and we made a little money. Most importantly we met people, like Diana, and we commenced our first European tour.
-Gregory
-Gregory
The Fab 4+2
Yesterday I had the good fortune of meeting Diana and Andres in Retiro park. They do a simple but wonderful Beatles routine with marionettes and I had been told of their work by some other puppeteers I know. When we got to the park yesterday, there they were. You can check out their blog at www.marionetasytiteres.blogspot.com
Of course the Beatles are completely captivating and familiar to everyone around the world so they draw a huge crowd. As we were talking with Diana the puppets were just hanging on the backdrop of the stage and people were still coming by to look at them. She said, "These puppets work by themselves, they don´t even need us." Another nice bit of their schtick is that they perform to obscure Beatles outtakes with lots of stops and starts and inter-band chit- chat so the puppets have lots of opportunities to banter before they get down to business. Also, Diana always operates Ringo and she is totally on the beat.
Diana and Andres just moved to Marid from Barcelona because Barcelona, according to Diana, has recently outlawed street performing. I´ll have to look into this. It sounds unbelievable, but since this is how they make their living they had no choice but to get out of town.
-Gregory
Of course the Beatles are completely captivating and familiar to everyone around the world so they draw a huge crowd. As we were talking with Diana the puppets were just hanging on the backdrop of the stage and people were still coming by to look at them. She said, "These puppets work by themselves, they don´t even need us." Another nice bit of their schtick is that they perform to obscure Beatles outtakes with lots of stops and starts and inter-band chit- chat so the puppets have lots of opportunities to banter before they get down to business. Also, Diana always operates Ringo and she is totally on the beat.
Diana and Andres just moved to Marid from Barcelona because Barcelona, according to Diana, has recently outlawed street performing. I´ll have to look into this. It sounds unbelievable, but since this is how they make their living they had no choice but to get out of town.
-Gregory
My new friend
This is a photo the neighborhood drunk. (Notice how his head is quite literally in the clouds. What a beautiful day.) We have a lot in common. Neither of us work and we both spend our days wandering the streets of Madrid talking to strangers in our own incomprehensible gibberish. He has just finished a can of Diabrau. Dia is the name of the local Safeway equivalent, so Diabrau is like "Safeway-brew". The Spaniards are not known for their brewing history but they do enjoy a cold drink during the day. Since this is Friday, the young residents of Malasaña will be enjoying those cold drinks all night long as well and into the early light of the morning. At 6am the streets will be littered with empty cans (and empty packages of Cialis) and by 10:00, crews of street sweepers will have cleaned the entire neighborhood. It is quite an amazing system.
Another interesting aspect of this late night drinking is the role played by the local Chinese immigrants who will be standing on the street corners with individual cans of beer that they will be selling to passersby. Too lazy to go into any of the hundreds of bars around here? Never fear, you can buy one from the Chinese guy on the corner and not even stop walking.
-Gregory
Another interesting aspect of this late night drinking is the role played by the local Chinese immigrants who will be standing on the street corners with individual cans of beer that they will be selling to passersby. Too lazy to go into any of the hundreds of bars around here? Never fear, you can buy one from the Chinese guy on the corner and not even stop walking.
-Gregory
Curtis
Today was a day for hanging around the apartment in our underwear. (Curtis says he was not in his underwear, just Antonia, and me.) Nonetheless, it was a day spent at our hideout. Here is Curtis waiting for an unsuspecting stranger to walk beneath our window so he can drop clothespins on their heads.
- Gregory
- Gregory
Walking
We spend a lot of our time walking around the streets of Madrid. Our neighborhood of Malasaña is part of the old city and the streets are a complex and complicated tangle of alleys that we are just starting to figure out. I love it but it does get hot and our feet get tired and a bit stinky. There is a lot of graffitti in Malasaña and this painting is a picture of my right foot after a long day of exploring.
-Gregory
-Gregory
Retiro Park
Near our apartment there is a park. We have been going there almost every day. There is a little fake lake were you can rent a boat and paddle around for the day. In the lake there are many fish. We even saw a frog and turtle.
-Antonia
-Antonia
Boats
Today we rented a boat and rowed around the lake at Retiro Park for about 45 minutes. It was a blast! The sun was shining, (surprise, surprise). We each took turns rowing the boat and had a fine time.
-Antonia
-Antonia
Chopitos
This is Curtis´s new favorite food and he´ll walk all the way across the city to get them. Chopitos are fried baby squid and we eat them at a pair of little bars near the Plaza Mayor. I also think they´re good but Curtis doesn´t know this yet; they taste really, really good with a cold beer.
-Gregory
-Gregory
Antonia
This is a picture of Antonia. If you are wondering where Antonia is in the picture, she´s not in the picture because she won´t let me take her picture. So, if you are reading this blog and you want to see pictures of Antonia, send her a nasty comment telling her how lovely she is and that you want to see pictutres of her in Madrid.
- Gregory
Hello this is Antonia and I approve of this message. I don´t care if you don´t like that my picture is not on here, (although there are a couple pictures of me on here). My identity is concealed.
-Antonia
- Gregory
Hello this is Antonia and I approve of this message. I don´t care if you don´t like that my picture is not on here, (although there are a couple pictures of me on here). My identity is concealed.
-Antonia
Retiro Park
Also at the park on the weekends little trinkets are being sold. Some people also perform puppet shows. Greg is planning on looking around and finding a place for him to put on a puppet show. Yesterday when we were there there were alot of marionets. One person had a Frank Sinatra marionet and was having him sing and dance to his music.
-Antonia
-Antonia
Siesta
Since Spain is so hot, in the afternoon people go inside and take a nap. We have been doing this too. The first day we got here we were all so tired from the plane ride we just fell asleep on the floor. That is a good thing for us because the tile floor is so cool. We have only really been here for three days but it feels like it has been six. Taking a nap in the middle of the day makes the day so much longer.
-Antonia
-Antonia
Tapas
We have a lot of eating ahead of us and there´s no need to rush. For the most part we have been cooking and eating at home as we get to know our neighborhood and all the various eating establishments. I tend to be attracted to what I characterize as the 1950´s diner bars, simple places with long metalic bars and not a lot of trendy flash. In other words, I like to go where the old people are.
-Gregory
-Gregory
Our kitchen
This is where the magic happens. Although we have been cooking at home, none of us are particularly hungry. Its rather hot during the day and mostly we drink water. Like I said, we have everything we need on our street, fish market, chicken and egg market, bakeries, fruit and vegetable stands and various Asian-owned convenience stores. And lots of bars and restaurants.
-Gregory
-Gregory
Our apartment
From the stairs you can see the other side of the room. There´s the sofa bed and the front door.
-Gregory
-Gregory
Our apartment #1
We are living in an apartment that is approximately the size of our bedroom back home. Here you can see Curtis´s feet on the sofa-bed, the doorways into the bathroom and kitchen and the stairs up to the sleeping loft. There is also one small bedroom off to the left of this image.
-Gregory
-Gregory
Malasña
We are living in the barrio Malasaña. This is the description of the neighborhood from the 2001 Lonely Planet guide: "Just north of the Gran Via is one of Madrid´s sleazier red-light zones, populated by an interseting, if not entirely savoury, collection of pimps, junkies and wasted-looking hookers." The 2009 Rick Steves guidebook recommends staying away from here, especially at night. But who reads Rick Steves anyway? Whoever they are, I´d like to thank Rick for sending them elsewhere. Malasaña is one of the most exciting neighborhoods in the city. Everything we could possibly need is right on our street. There are literally hundreds of places to eat crammed into these narrow streets and people out and about at all hours. The prostitutes are still here but they aren´t all "wasted-looking".
This is a picture of our front door. We live on the fourth floor above the tattoo parlour.
-Gregory
This is a picture of our front door. We live on the fourth floor above the tattoo parlour.
-Gregory
Trans-Atlantic travel
We all agree that hundreds of hours of television make a 17 hour journey unusually tolerable. The best flight we could find, for the best price, took us from Portland to Vancouver B.C and then on to Toronto before crossing the Atlantic and landing in Madrid. None of us slept.
The next morning we arrived in Madrid. Amanda´s Spanish was excellent as she negotiated our taxi trip into the city. I even chimed in when the driver put Frank Sinatra on the radio. "Me gusta Frank Sinatra", I said from the back seat. We were off and running.
-Gregory
The next morning we arrived in Madrid. Amanda´s Spanish was excellent as she negotiated our taxi trip into the city. I even chimed in when the driver put Frank Sinatra on the radio. "Me gusta Frank Sinatra", I said from the back seat. We were off and running.
-Gregory
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