Esta de Moda en Espana

A quick hello to all those reading... I love all your comments, hope all is well in Alberta, NB, Vancouver (Jennifer), Montreal(Ashley), Israel (Laurence), Australia (Morgan), Tennessee (Kalya) and wherever you all are at the time.

Well I thought I would give you an idea of the style and fashion here in Madrid. Right now it seems the “in thing” to wear are these pants with very low crotches. Known in the fashion world as drop croth pants. This sounds strange and it really is. First being the summer many women are wearing these in a sort of cropped version. They look pretty comfortable but really that is all I think I like about them. They look almost as if there is a large saggy bum and way to much material in the front that they forgot to cut off. As I mentioned in my last blog I wanted to buy a pair just to show you all, but I really don’t think they look good. I am sure after saying this though in a year or so everyone will have them in N. America and I will be debating sporting the fashions (similar to how I didn’t like skinny jeans and now I have a pair, but these I really don’t know). Stores are now bringing in the fall season things and the drop crotch pants are everywhere in jeans, khakis, cords and even in overalls style.
A photo of the pants…after I got told I wasn’t allowed to take photos and the security guard asked me to delete the photo (hehe I am such a rebel).

Another prominent style here is the mullet. The mullet is live and well here in Spain that’s for sure! I think it’s due to many futbol players in Spain with this hairstyle and the young and old fans wanting to follow. Sort of like when Beckham had that fauxhock, but this is oh so much worse. I have even seen many rat-tails on young boys.

Fernando Torres (Mind you a very good futbol player)

Lastly, I am on the search for clothing that has Spanish sayings but all I get is English, even Canadian sayings. I saw a sweater yesterday at a store with the phrase “Calgary ‘where I broke my leg’ 88”, I almost wanted to buy it.

I will post soon about La Vuelta!!
Miss you all,
Shereen

Sundays are for El Rastro

Sunday, I went to the market, El Rastro. I had been before but this time I had planned to go to buy some leggings and some of these drop crotch pants (I will explain later). After doing a few metro line changes I finally arrived. Pretty much the whole metro got off at this stop to go to el rastro, here you could easily pick out the tourists with their maps and guide books (really not a good idea at el rastro, with all the people and excitement for pick pocketers). Being so very busy, walking up and down the streets trying to find what I was looking for was slightly frustrating. Following the masses slowly trying to get from booth to booth was a task in itself. I didn’t end up finding what I was looking for, well actually I didn’t end up finding the price I liked for what I was looking for. You would think you could bargin at this market, but some stations have signs not allowing it, and it seemed everywhere I went nobody wanted bargining. No luck today, oh well! I did spot some nice scarves and things so I think I will have to visit the crazyness of Rastro at least a couple more times.

To do as they do in Toledo...

I went on a day trip to Toledo last Wednesday. Toledo is an hour bus ride away from Madrid. You would think being so close it would be just another suburb but it is a completly different world really. A small city on the top of this big hill, with lots of history. Full of mosques and synagogues now turned into catholic churches, museums and a beautiful view from the top of the hill.
The city is a very popular tourist spot so I am pretty sure that 95% of the people on the bus were tourists. The bus ride was fine, except for the large group of boys from, umm I am going to guess Holand, sitting all around me. Once arrived, the bus droped us off at the bottom of the hill. Luckily I had read about this in advance otherwise I am sure I would be writing this update differently from having to walk up the hill. I took a quick city bus up the hill and got off at the main square, Plaza Zocodover. I knew I had arrived to where I wanted to be when I saw the big Mcdonalds right in the square (sarcasm here), that doesn't seem very historical to me.

Anyway after figuring out where I should go first I headed towards the Museo de Santa Cruz. I will admit I do like museum, art, history and culture but going from museum to museum can get a little boring and costly. Luckily however this museum was free and had some nice original Greco's to view. I didn't go into any other museums or cathedrals, seeing them from the outside was good enough for me. From here I wandered further up the hill to the Alcazar (fortress), which was destroyed and rebuilt but at this time was under construction so wasn't open. Nice from the outside at least. I managed to get some excellent photos of the view from up here as well.


Following a tiny map I printed off I managed to see what I came for, so the rest of the afternoon I people watched, did some window shopping and walked down the many narrow streets. In the past Toledo was known for their swords and armoury so lots of the shops had knights armour and swords on display. I can't imagine having bought a sword and taking it on the bus and then the metro to get back, I am sure I would have gotten some interesting looks. When it was time for lunch, sadly I was feeling like something comforting and decided to go to Mcdonalds.
I know how wrong this is, especially to take in the full experience of Toledo I really should have gone to a small restaurant and gotten a bochadillo but I just really wanted a burger. (As a side note: the Mcdonald burgers in Alberta are much better, it must be that Alberta beef!! )I decided I had time before my bus left and would walk down the hill to the station. It wasn't that bad but I did stop for some water on the way down.

At the beach in Barcelona

Started the day off right with a café con leche and bochadillos con tortilla patatas (sandwich with a Spanish omelette inside), then made our way to the beach.

Seeing as Neeka and I each traveled with one small bag we did not bring towels, shampoo, soap, sunscreen or really any liquid over 100ml (damn new flying security measures). The first day we arrived to Barcelona we bought a bottle of shampoo and used it for nearly everything (Soap, shampoo, body wash, and even moisturizer - Neeka thought I was crazy to use it as moisturizer but my legs were just so dry, I needed something).
When we got to the beach we found chairs set up where you can pay to use them, this was perfect seeing as it made our day much more comfortable than having to lay right on the sand. It was well worth my 5 euros. After lathering up (with shampoo -haha) I was ready to soak up the sun. I didn’t really swim much but when I got in the water I did begin to suds up a little from the shampoo on my body, that was interesting. We left at about 4 to have lunch and then head to the airport. The lack of sunscreen was slightly noticeable as our faces were a little rosy, but what can you do. No real issues at the airport and set off to return to Madrid. All in all it was a great relaxing day.
At our gate before boarding (boarding a bus that is, haha which then took us to the plane)

Day 2 in Barcelona

Neeka and I had decided we would get all the sight seeing done Tuesday, so that Wednesday we could just relax at the beach. This was an excellent plan!

Tuesday we pretty much walked across Barcelona. Starting off with a croissant and café con leche (café o lait) we began the day with more exploring. On our way to Segrada Familia we got off at the wrong metro station, well actually I don’t think it was the wrong station we just went the wrong way when we exited the station. It was funny though because we headed toward what we believed to be the Segrada Familia, but we thought it would have been much bigger, especially according to the photos we had seen. Again a slight detour but at least it was a nice spot, took a few photos and then went off to the real thing. La Segrada Familia is amazing, one of Gaudi’s many creations. It is still not completed and won’t be until at least 2020 they say but thus far I was impressed. Everything had such intricate details, the high vertical towers, the ceilings, the doors and windows, it was all so beautiful.


Then we were off to Park Guell, another hop on the metro and then a whole bunch of escalators to help us climb to the top of the hill to reach the park. I am so glad the escalators were there otherwise I don’t know if I would make it, especially from all the walking the night before. A winding pathway led to the popular square with all the mosaic benches, down to the famous mosaic lizard and to Casa Museu Gaudi.

We got some awesome pictures of the view from up here. We stayed at the park for a few hours. Had lunch there, I say lunch but more like a bag of chips with Ketchup (a Neeka delicacy), candy and a Fanta. Mmm sounds pretty healthy to me! Out of the wonderland of the park we returned to the busy streets of Barcelona to the port and to do a little shopping. I was quite successful with the shopping on this trip, getting a few things, including some skinny jeans (I never thought I would get them but they actually look quite good, sorry Justin I know you don’t like them). At the end of the night we were again exhausted and just fell right to sleep.

Surfing through the stone wave, in Park Guell

Bar"th"elona Day 1

Sorry it has taken me so long to write about Barcelona...

The exploring of Barcelona started right when we arrived. Trying to find our way through the people and to the nearest metro station was a challenge in itself, the signage was lacking and the women at the info booth wasn't very informative (not a very good info booth). Neeka and I had chosen to start at L'arc de Triomf metro station as on the map it looked close to where we wanted to go for the evening. Once we arrived here, we saw no sign of an arc but decided to walk somewhere and then look at the map. At this point we realized were going the wrong direction but had noticed a bridge and at least thought we reached the water. No water, just a futball field, this was rather dissapointing, but still worth a photo.


After having to turn back we stumbled upon a nice little park right behind the metro station, sometimes I guess its worth getting a little lost. Once back on track we found the Arc de Triomf (proper spelling) and another beautiful park. A few museums, art sculptures, many people and most importantly the Geology museum in the parc (well not so much for me but for Neeka). We didn't end up going in though.


Now once again reorienting ourselves, we thought it was best to start looking for a hostal as it was getting dark. This was slightly stressful as the many places we asked were booked for the night, but after trying 5 or 6 we found a place, Hostal Nilo. We decided now that we were much more relaxed from finding a place we would explore the area a bit. The location of our hostal was excellent, right near the port, la rambla (a very popular street), and a short walk away from la barrio Gothic (a community with lots of nice shops and restaurants). We wandered down la rambla and then went to la barrio Gothic for some diner. We returned to a place which we had spotted during out search for the hostal. The restaurant was really busy and seemed to be a popular spot for locals. They served tapas, where you could hand pick what you wanted and bring it to your seat. Mmm it was just what we needed for the night. Once returning to our hostal we were exhausted and went right to bed.

Crab Croquetas Mmmm

Rushed off to Barcelona

The trip to Barcelona started off rather stressful. Neguin took us to the airport and we checked in, here the attendant told us the flight will depart at 6:30 (different than the scheduled time of 4:55). We decided to have a snack at Mcdonals before we left seeing as we had some time. Sitting at Mcd’s we were looking at the departures screen and couldn’t find our flight on it, with a panic Neeka and I said our goodbyes and ran through the airport trying to find our gate. When we reached the gate nobody was there but one flight attendant. Above it says “Last call” Barcelona. The lady didn’t rush us or anything, it didn’t seem like a big deal that we were so late. We were the last to board but the flight couldn’t leave anyway because they were waiting to board the luggage. Neeka and I sat in relief and had a nice one hour flight to Barcelona. I was all worried I would get sick again, due to my last experience on the plane, but it was all fine.

The girls go to Madrid

Neguin, Miad, Anyssa, Giso and Neeka walking the streets downtown

This past weekend...Started things off with a trip downtown to a cute little tea and shisha place. Neguin (Neeka's friend who lives in Madrid) took us through many streets to get us there, I don't think I would have been able to find this place without Neguin. When you order tea you get a nice plate of fruit and baklava desserts. I was very impressed with my 2.50 euro tea to come with all that.
Saturday was a nice day to sleep in and relax. Neguins mom prepared a feast, an excellent persian meal. It was so nice to have some home made persian food, I haven't had it in so long. Seven persian girls can sure eat a lot. Mmm that was an excellent lunch. In the evening we went to Pozuelo as a group to chat and have a drink, and then returned to Neguins for a chick flick and some snacks. All in all a nice change from all the craze that Madrid can be. Mmm looks good!

Sunday we were off to the market, El Rastro. One of the biggest flea markets in Europe they say. It was pretty busy, lots and lots of booths and people. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular but it was still fun looking through everything. After all the rush of people we met up with Miad and Anyssa for lunch at a nice little spanish restaurant. We just saw it around the corner on some street and decided to give it a try. A full 3 course meal for 12 euros, plenty of food and a nice little atmosphere, I was impressed! The rest of the day we went to the gardens of buen Retiro again and just sat, chatted, people watched and listened to the many bongo drummers by the great lake. A excellent way to end the busy day.