Train Trip to Segovia

Another of our "best days" in Spain was the day we took the train north to Segovia. With 2 weeks in Spain we went with high hopes of riding rails to Barcelona and Seville, but reality set in as well as the holidays and winter colds and soon we had to admit we weren't leaving Madrid. This was fine, but we did decide one day that we needed a change of place, so instead of walking to our normal bus stop; Isaac, Carolina and I walked a little further to train station and made the 1 hour train trip north to the small city north of Madrid further into the Madridian mountain range.

The trip took right about an hour and while Isaac and Carolina played on their phones I enjoyed the view as we climbed higher and higher.

The ride up into the Mountains

Upon our arrival in Segovia there was a little bit of confusion as we figured out where from the trains station we needed to go to get to our destinations and it looked for a few minutes that the trip might be a bust but soon we were headed in the right direction.

Now there were several times during the day that I considered selling or even just giving Carolina to gypsies that day, but she really hung in there like a champ overall as we walked a good 6-7 miles total and that a lot for any kid, especially one who whines if she finds herself needing to walk up stairs.

Our first stop was actually a restaurant, we were starved and Carlina was about to melt down so after lunch and a rejuvenating Coke for Carolina and I we hit the road and made our way to the Roman Aqueducts. One of the things Segovia is most known for is the aqueducts constructed by the Romans during their time in Spain. It's amazing when you walk up to them because you come around from a small narrow street and there they are just stretched out in front of you; it's quite impressive!

 

Turned a corner and there they were! Carolina chose to hopscotch up the street!

Isaac and Carolina *note the jacket is on her head. At least it wasn't in my hands!

Looking down one side of the Aqueduct.

The aqueducts

View from the top

Segovia

One of my faves of Isaac and Carolina

Once we were done at the aqueducts we continued through Segovia toward the cities large castle at the far end of the city. On the way we passed the beautiful cathedral and had wanted to tour it, but God was charging 5 euros per person so we decided to save our money and kept on going.

I was starting to think the castle was a myth and we had been told a lie, but finally there it was the cities narrow streets end and there in front of me...was Hogwarts. Well, not really but I was reminded of it as I gazed at the large castle before us.

Walking up to the castle

View from the castle grounds

one of turrets, looks like Rapunzel could let down her hair at any moment!

We decided to pay for not only the castle but the top tower so we started first by walking around the bottom floors. From what I gathered it wasn't a king or queen per say that lived in the castle it was the lord of that particular "state". I think, it was all in Spanish.

From the courtyard

In the Courtyard

Looking up

A cannon

Sitting down to dinner

Entrance to the chapel off the bedroom. (if you need a chapel off of your bedroom, you need to reexamine some things)

View from inside the castle

We then took the 145 steps up to the top of the tower. I give Carolina a hard time about laziness sometimes, but those stairs almost killed me! They were pretty steep and it was very narrow so sometimes you had to stop at a landing when you heard people coming down the opposite direction. For someone that is both afraid of heights and small spaces, this took a toll!

It was totally worth it though, when we got to the top and looked over the city. The view was amazing and something I'll never forget.

The View from the top

hee hee, couldn't help it! Oh look, guess who's jacket I'm holding!

Another good one of Isaac and c

Very Hogwarts, I though

Only snow we saw in Spain

the five euro church

Once we made it down it was time to hike back across town to the train station. By this time it was getting dark and much cooler and the walk felt much longer. The only thing that kept poor Carolina moving was the promise of churros and a chocolate when we got to the station. We paid up as soon as we confirmed our train back we walked across the street from the station where the adults had a much, much need coffee and Carolina got her hot chocolate and a doughnut.  I think what I loved most about Segovia was how walkable it was. It was long walk, but completely doable and the city was beautiful with narrow streets and old buildings. We returned that night tired but very happy with the day we'd had, and it was one of the high points of our trip!

**I have many more pics of inside the castle but blogger is being a pain tonight, I'll try to come back later and add them, or you can check out my Facebook page.

Oscar Movies

Most of my February has been filled with movies, lots of movies, Oscar nominated movies. I know a lot of people don’t like award shows, but I love them. I love the beautiful dresses and jewels, I love the red carpet and I love movies. It’s been my mission for many years to see as many as the nominated movies for many years now and it has become both easier and harder as time has gone on. Easier when I first became 18 and could see all of them no matter the rating and also easier once I got with Isaac as he likes movies as well and can be counted on to see the movies and watch the award shows with me. Harder, however, because the number of nominated movies has increased in the last few years it has become harder to see all of them.

Last year was my best year, I had seen 7 of the 10. This year I was hoping to to even better, but then the nominees were announced. I had not seen any of them! That had never happened; every other year I could say I had seen at lease one or two already. Not this year, 9 movies and not a one I had seen. I was annoyed; I pretty much had a month to try and see 9 movies on limited time and budget. We jumped in though and  managed to knock out 5 of the 9 nominated in a 2 week period as well as watched all 5 of short films nominated for Live Action Short. A short recap:

Moneyball: I remember when Moneyball came out, I had been excited to see the script was written by Aaron Sorkin who is one of my favorite writers and I like both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. For whatever, reason, though we never got around to watching it until it was nominated and we had that extra push. I can say that I liked Moneyball. The acting was good, the dialogue was good and it moved at a nice pace. But it's an interesting topic to make a movie about since the team didn't win the big game. So essentially you go through this whole movie for nothing really. There's not really much actual baseball being played either so if you're going in to see some great baseball games; not so much. This is more of what happens behind the scenes and it at the end of the day a workplace drama; something Aaron Sorkin is most known for. So while it was an enjoyable movie, I don't see it as best picture of the year.

The Help - I admittedly drug my a feet a bit going into the Help. I knew the book and movie were beloved by many, but I'd also heard some negative reviews which had made me a bit wary. As the movie began to rack up the nominations though, I knew it would be one I would see. I was very happily surprised at how much I enjoyed the movie. The acting was great and the nominations earned by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were all rightly earned. Bryce Dallas Howard does bad so very well and I really enjoyed Jessica Chastain as new society wife shunned by the others. Once again though, as much as I enjoyed the movie, I don't think it's the best picture of the year.

The Artist -  I loved the Artist and so far it's my pick for Best Picture. A very simple but very sweet story of a silent film actor faced with a world that now wants sound in their films. I was hesitant going into a silent film, but was  soon drawn into the story and music. There is a bit in the middle when it seems to drag just a bit, but I'm willing to forgive it that due to how good the rest of the movie is and what I really love is that they tried something different and it worked!

The Descendents - The Descendents is currently in 2nd place for my favorites of the nominees. George Clooney plays a man dealing with a wife in a coma and taking care of their daughters on his own. On top of all this is finding out his wife had been cheating on him and was planning to ask for a divorce. George Clonney has been one of my favorites since I was in my teens and I've loved almost everything I've seen it in, so I was excited to see this one. I very much enjoyed the movie, it managed to merge humor and drama nicely and the performances were great including a very small role for Judy Greer whom I always enjoy watching. I was surprised at the performance of Shailene Woodley whom I previously only seen on the Soup when they mocked clips from her show The Secret Life of the American Teenager (I think that maybe the worst show ever written). She was really great as the eldest daughter who had known about the affair and argued with her mother over what she had known. Over all a good movie and I would have been very happy to see it win.

The final nominee we saw was Midnight in Paris, the Woody Allen movie starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams. Once again, I very much enjoyed the movie, but I couldn't see it winning best picture of the year. Owen Wilson played a writer who every night would walk the streets of Paris and meet great cultural icons of 1920's France. It was fun seeing him interact with such notables as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso. During the day he must spend time with his superficial fiancee and her family as he tries to battle doubts about their relationship. It was a Woody Allen movie, which says a lot. But it was fun and cute an enjoyable 2 hours. 

Needless to say I was pleased to see the Artist win so many awards last night, it really was such a great movie and when you think about the risk they took making a silent film, it really was, I think, the best picture up there.

None of the movies though were my favorite movie of the year. There were two I liked above the Artist; one was totally snubbed by the Academy and the other was only snubbed if you ask the right person.

The first is 50/50, the Joseph Gordon Levitt, Seth Rogan film that was based on the real life cancer diagnosis of the films writer Will Reiser. Seth Rogan is in real life a close friend of the writer and knew him during his fight with cancer. The movie was one of my two most favorites of 2011; I could be at once laughing and crying as the main character Will deals with his treatment as well as the well meaning but often mis guided attempts by his friends, co workers and family to help him. He also starts seeing a therapist played by Anna Kendrick, who was adorable and amazing as a newly licensed therapist trying to go by the book to help Will before finally telling him what he actually needs to hear. Seth Rogan is both funny and sweet and I just loved the whole movie. I was so disappointed it wasn't nominated for an award. Although, it cleaned up at The Independent Spirit Awards so...take that Academy!

My most favorite movie of 2011 though, was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. What can I say, I'm a fan girl and the movie wrapped up the franchise perfectly. I understand why it wasn't nominated, but I also could make a case for how it at least deserved a nomination for all that it brought to movies over the last 10 years.

So that was 2011 in movies. I'm already looking forward to what 2012 will bring!

Date Day in Madrid

I think one of my favorite days spent in Madrid was our second full day there. It was Monday and Carolina was still feeling the effects of jet lag and wanted to spend the day at Isaac's mom's house with the family there. Isaac and I wanted to head into town and I was anxious to hit the stores so we decided to let her veg at home while we had a "date day". It ended up being the longest period of time we spend by ourselves while there and I think that may be why it meant so much to me then and still does now.

We got into Madrid about 11am at the large bus station, subway stop of Moncloa which is in the NW part of the city. From there we strolled down to a large cluster of shops I had been desperate to get my credit card into. We started with Mango and then moved on to Zara all the while searching for an H&M.

My first H&M

Now all of these stores have locations in the states, but only Zara is in Austin so I had been desperate to do some shopping. Although once there I found myself feeling oddly intimidated and over whelmed with all the choices. I ended up not buying as much as I had planned and now I am kicking myself. I will do it differently on our honeymoon!

Next we took the subway to Puerta del Sol and I got to see my first Spanish Plaza.  I loved it. The plaza was decorated for Christmas with a Christmas Tree and lots of lights. I was also introduced to the Christmas lottery. Tickets are sold up to Christmas Eve and then Christmas day orphans sing the number on the TV and radio. We didn't buy a ticket but I saw huge lines all over the city of people waiting in line to buy their tickets.

Waling up to Puerta del Sol (I think we're next to an El Cortes Ingles)

A Christmas Tree in Sol

A fountain in Sol

City Hall

People watching in Puerta del Sol

Having a great "date day"

A bear eating fruit; a symbol of Madrid.

Gran Via; seen in many a Spanish movie!

Next we began walking down some of the near by streets and seeing more shops; more Zara's and Mango's and finally an H&M. I also saw an FNAC which is a music, movie, book store and the first of many El Cortes Ingles. I love El Cortes Ingles; you find them every where in Madrid sometimes a couple different ones on the same street. It's a department store similar to a Macy's or Bloomingdales but they sell EVERYTHING!! There's smaller ones that sell books and larger ones that sell clothes and shoes and Madrid souvenirs. Isaac and I went into one of the larger ones that Monday and just kept going up and up and up. A kids level, a mens clothing level, a sporting goods level and at the top a cafe! It reminded me of like an old school Macy's and totally charmed me! They also had the old school Christmas window displays that I never remembered to take a picture of and I'm kicking my self for that!

Inside one of the Zara's we went to

A little bookstore we stopped into

Soon it was time for a coffee break so we hit a Cafe&Te, they had what we so desperately needed at that moment; caffeine!! I had a bombom, my favorite coffee treat. It's a small espresso cup with condensed milk at the bottom and espress on top. Then you get a spoon and scoop from the bottom getting the sweet milk and coffee together; so good!

My bombom!

After our coffee break we continues some shopping before we started the next big thing on our to do list; tapas! Tapas are like apetizers, small portions of hot or cold dishes. You can make a whole meal out of hitting several different tapas bars which usually have a specialty tapas and having a little at each place.  To get there we went got out of the main streets and plazas and into the small narrow back streets. It was all very European and I was shocked to see my fiance who still gets turned around getting to local places was able to get up and down these small side streets that he hadn't walked in over 8 years with ease.

We started out at Casa Abuelas which Isaac had been telling me about for years and had their specialty Gambas al ajillo which is shrimp in a garlic sauce. Served with fresh bread and Chato, a sweet red wine it was the perfect introduction to Spanish tapas. Or maybe not...nothing else I had was quite as good! The restaurant was very small and instead of sitting you stood at very small raised tables. I felt quite clumsy with my jacket, purse and scarf and got several "looks" from older patrons, but once I tasted the food, I didn't care!

Bread and Chato

The shrimp in a hot garlic sauce

The menu at Casa De La Abulo

From there we went to another restaurants whose specialty was potatoes with a spicy sauce. 

 

By then I was already feeling full, but we hit one last place where our eyes got bigger then our stomach. We ordered a place of meat and cheeses, fried squid or calamares a la romana, a plate of meat and cheeses and of course it all came with comlimentry bread. I was about to cry I was so full and Isaac whose motto is "No food left behnd" had to finally to concede that even he had no room left!

Calamares a la romana

To walk off our huge lunch (yup, started at 4, but it was only lunch) we headed to Plaza Mayor where a Christmas market was set up. It wasn't huge and most of what was being sold was small plastic toys and pieces to the nativity scenes so we didn't buy anything, but I liked walking around people watching. 

Christmas Market at Plaza Mayor

When we were finished up at Plaza Mayor we headed over to the home of Isaac's aunt and godmother Lourdes for coffee, dessert and a fun evening of chatting!

The nativity scene or "belen" that Lourdes had set up. They're can be quite large and I'm debating attempting one at Christmas this year.

Lourdes, Isaac and me!

We finally staggered home around 10pm happy and exhausted but found supper waiting for us so we sat down and told everyone about our day while we ate yet again!

I think of this day often and how much fun it was and Isaac has promised that this is how our honeymoon will be; the two of us exploring and eating our way through a European city! So look out London, Paris and Rome, we'll be there soon!

February

I have a confession to make; I love the first work day of the month for one simple reason. I get to change my calendars and plan the month ahead. I love calendars, I love day planners, and I love making to do lists. One would think with all the love for organizational aids I would be more organized, but that, alas will always be one of the great mysteries of life.

With this change of the month I am looking ahead to what I’d like to accomplish this month. If January was about recovery, I’m going to make February the month of organizing. Those may sound similar, but I assure they are not. In January I was trying to first of all physically put things away and ease myself back into a normal routine. Now that I’m back in my routines, things have been unpacked and put away it’s time to organize what we have.

So my February Goals list:

1. There is a cabinet of our kitchen island that is desperately in need of a good clean out. I’ve started jamming various craft and holiday things in there at random. It now barely closes and I try to sneak in to get stuff from that cabinet in secret as to not have Isaac make comments on the my messy spot. I want to clean it out, toss what I can and turn it into a functioning “craft cabinet”. We have a decent amount of things that we do use and I want it out of the kiddos room so it’s easier to find and keep track of.
2. Speaking of places I hoard things, the guest room needs to be cleared out as well. I set Carolina’s clothes up in there to pack and then left what I didn’t take so…yeah…there’s a lot of stuff in there now. I also took over the closet to make it my gift closet and that was a couple years ago, I need to clear out that space as well. Although anyone who wants to attempt to explain to Isaac that we haven’t had over night guests in almost 2 years and there are non on the horizon and that his fiancée would be really happy to have that space for my stuff should he ever relent and stop keeping an empty room empty. I might add he has an “office” that I have never seen him do “office” things in. If he gets one, I get one!
3. My junk drawer in the kitchen island. Enough said.
4. Our master bedroom closet needs additional shoe racks (and you’d be surprised how many pairs of shoes Isaac has), and I need to get rid of some clothes and I think it’s time I start using my portion of the built in shelves… (Although I do have a small bookcase in the closet that is mine for sweaters and casual pants.)
5. To help achieve all this I want to try and take a day of PTO. I worked most of 2011 without a day off (except company holidays and 3 days I was sick) so that I could be gone 2 weeks. I then went straight back to work. I need a day off badly!
6. Finally I’d like to work on planning ahead a little bit more and make that more of an ongoing habit. My biggest area to work on is Carolina weekends. I really want to try and work on getting the house picked up and good to go before she arrives. She is 8 so obviously a bit of a one child tornado and between the extra stuff that has to get picked up each weekend and clutter from earlier in the week I spend large parts of her time with us trying pick up so Isaac doesn’t get annoyed or getting on her for the mess. I’d rather enjoy the limited time we have with her and not focus on the mess so much, but Isaac is anal about that kind of stuff so I think if I try to get the house in good order to start with we’ll have more time when she’s here to do fun stuff not clean up/pick up stuff. If it were up to me it would all sit there until she left, but I’m not the only person in the house so I’ll be working to get the house as clean as possible by the time she arrives. I will add I am failing miserably at this so far, but I will try harder going forward.

Hmmm…I was going to add read a book of my own choosing and finish it, but I may have over booked…

I did well on my January goals, everything got done and Wednesday has become my cooking night! I’ve had 2 good dinners and one not so great, but 2 out of 3 isn’t bad! Things got put away and souveniers given out. Pictures are printed but not displayed, I’m signed up for the capital 10K in March and I’ve been pretty good about the running and yoga. Now I just need to keep going forward with those while tacking new projects. Let’s go!