Corning, NY

Hello all,

I know it has been awhile, 5 years actually since I blogged about anything and seeing as we are planning on going back to Spain and walking the Camino again! Yes again, I thought now may be a good time.

I am writing this post from Corning New York. We stopped here once this summer during a bike riding vacation. We ended up not doing too much biking, long story, so with time on our hands, we explored.One of the places we went to is the Corning museum of glass. We got there a little late in the day and it felt kinda rushed. I have been waiting for a reason to come back. On this adventure is my daughter Joslyn and one of my sons Aj. This was a surprise to Aj, it is his birthday and we told him to pack an overnight bag and be at our house by 6, am! It takes about 5 1/2 hours from where we are in Ct. We had a fantastic trip up, beautiful ride through the Catskills.

Finally we arrived at Corning, we walked through the museum first. To those of you who know me I’m not too artsy, I just don’t get some art, beautiful I understand, hidden meanings and subtext pass me by. With that being said here’s some pictures of things liked.

This is the sister of a sculpture at Mohegan Sun where I work, kinda had to include that. It was created by the artist Dale Chihuly.

This is called Endeavour, by Leo Tagliapietra.

This sculpture is composed of reclaimed drinking glasses by Katherine Gray. She wanted to recreate trees out of the materials that destroyed them. I really liked this one, the glasses besides being different colors and shapes had different things on them, birds, leaves or frogs. Also representative of not seeing the forest through the trees.

Cool right!?

Lastly I am including this picture from the museum because it shows how beautiful the museum itself is. The White Necklace.

This sculpture by Jen -Michel Othaniel it is huge, it has 51 hand blown glass beads. Each one different, imperfect, scared, like us and all together as a whole, beautiful! Ok, I get this one.

We also made reservations to blow glass pumpkins. I was so excited and nervous. I thought you could die if you breathed in by mistake. Our instructor told us its easy blow out not in. The oven has to be 1000 degrees and we sat very near it to make our pumpkins.

We had to wait till the next day to pick these up, Joslyn made the one on the right, Aj’s on the left. I sent mine to my Mom, so I have no idea how it turned out.

Corning is very picturesque in itself. We walked from the Museum over a pedestrian bridge to the historic town. When I saw pedestrian bridge I don’t mean one I those up and over walk ways. This is a bridge converted over for pedestrians. It has flowers and shrubs, places to sit and watch the Chemung river. It has a maze painted out on the bridge you can walk through, as well as hop scotch boards.

Once you cross the bridge Market Street is the place to go.

We were a little thirsty so we stopped at Liquid Shoes Brewing. They happened to have my favorite, cider on tap.

We were still a little hungry, from there we went to Mooney’s. If you ever find yourself in Corning this is a must stop!

They specialize in mac n cheese. I had the mac special of the month, chicken, bacon and blue!

This is called a side, not a full plate, but still full of cheesy goodness!

I should also mention the Rockwell Museum, right off Market street, we could not fit that in, next time!

We were only in town overnight and as I mentioned we had to wait for our pumpkins to cool. Near Corning are several wineries and two different wine trails, Seneca Lake and the Finger Lakes wine trails.

With time to spare we went to the Great Western Winery. This is also known as Pleasant Valley Wine Company a historic winery and they boast of the only champagne made in the US! They have a complimentary tasting and a museum!

We tried wines, champagne, a sherry and a port.

Wonderful, add this one to your list of must do’s!

There were grape vineyards all over and we stopped at this one were you can pick your own. It was just a cart under some umbrellas but they had concord and champagne grapes.

It was all drizzly and foggy but the grapes were good.

We had a marvelous time and I would recommend visiting there. I have included some websites Incase you would like more information about these places.

https://www.cmog.org

http://www.mooneys.com

Home

Next week, Spain!!!!

Until then,

Be well!

Home again!

Oct20

Al and me

We did go to a museum on our last day here in London. We went to the National Art Gallery, which is free. They actually have a lot of nice free museums in London. You can do a lot in London and not spend a lot of money. The bus system is great, cheap and goes everywhere. It is not a tour bus, no commentary but you do get to see all the sights.
The Art gallery has 2300 paintings and we have less than 2 hours. I may not be the art museum type but this is impressive. I again make Al a little crazy, because I would walk right past Michelangelo but stop and stare at Monet. There was so much to see and all so incredible. It is not that art doesn’t interest me, I guess I just don’t know enough about it. I will have to add that to my list.
Our plane doesn’t leave until. 5, but you now how it works, we have to be there by 3. So we head back to Hammersmith to pick up our bags. We had seen this morning when we left Hammersmith that they were setting up for some kind of fair there. It turns out that on Fridays they have an international food fair. All kinds of booths cooking all kinds of food. Bakery tents set up selling bread and brownies, which were good! We decided to eat Polish and German. I got in one line and Allen took the other line and we each ate half of what we got then switched and ate the rest of each others. I liked his better, it always works that way, I don’t know why. The guy at the food stall had these 2 foot loaves of fresh bread behind the counter and would cut them in 3 sections. Then he would put this enormous sausage on it followed by onions and some sauce. Wow, that was good! That was the German stall. Mine, not so good, I picked sausage also, but it was cooked in this giant wok thing with potatoes and onions and it was kinda greasy. It looked better in the pan.
So we get our bags and head to the airport on the Tube. Really a nice system, straight forward and understandable. Maps everywhere and scrolling signs to let you know if you are on the right platform.
At the airport security is very tight. Each of our backpacks got rejected by the scanner person and had to be personally inspected. Lots of bags did. So we go into another security check line and had to wait some more. After about an hour our bags come up, they take every single thing out of our bags. All my dirty laundry, my bathroom bag, my medicine, ” oh, do you have asthma? ” ahh, yes I do”. ” what is this?” ” that’s a headlamp” . They go through every pocket wipe out the inside with some micro fiber thing then put that in an analyzer, and no chemical weapons, so we are free to go.
We think we still have an hour so we walk around, go into some stores, stop for a final glass of wine, walk back to our gate, hey where did all the people go? They are all on the plane, final boarding call! We almost missed our plane.
Al’s sister Sherry and her husband Kevin have a 15 passenger van, so half of our family meets us at JFK airport in New York. What a nice welcome home. It is so good to be back.
I woke up this morning and didn’t know where I was and tried to remember where the bathroom was and if there is a coffee machine in the room. Al said he did the same thing, he thought he was in a hotel somewhere.
I was asked by one of my kids if I was going to keep blogging now that I am home. Yes, I will. I just don’t know what I will talk about yet. Al and I plan to keep walking, here in CT. or in RI. I will put it out there to you guys when we are going and where. if any of you can meet up with us we would love for you to join us.
So until then,
Be well.
Ps, does anyone have an extra phone I could borrow for about a year?

A phone booth

The National Art Gallery

In front of the Art Gallery

Also in front of gallery

One of the pubs in Hammersmith

Another pub

No we did not go to all these pubs.

Bath and Wells

Oct18

Wells

We were told yesterday they it costs 7 pounds to get to Wells by bus and to pay the driver at departure. I love their mass transit. There are buses or trains everywhere you want to go, and it’s truly inexpensive. When we get on the bus, we tell the driver round trip, so he says, “why not buy an all day pass instead of the ticket to Wells because then you can use the same ticket to get back”. For 3.5p a piece we get to Wells and back again, incredible!
Brain wanted to know why Wells. Well originally we wanted to rent a car, see the Cliffs of Dover, Stonehenge, Canterbury, Bath, etc…Then we met Avril, her son and brother who all live in England. They said first off, don’t rent a car. And we understood why today. The roads make no sense, they are a little bigger then one lane, and you have to make way for cars in the other direction. On the bus today, the driver was either in the middle of the rode or literally on the edge of the road. If there happened to be cars would be parked on the side then we would be in the other lane. with traffic he would have to either give way or bully his way past. Once the other guy actually had to back down the road to let us through. They drive fast until they see another car and then either slam on the brakes to give way or the other car does.
That was the 1st advice, then they said you can’t possibly see and enjoy all those places if you are rushing through them. True, Bath has been so nice and relaxing after London. And lastly Avril asked, ” what do you really want to see in England, what do you expect?”
Well I want to see cottages and sheep. I want to have tea in a little shop. See houses all crammed together on cobbled streets. She said, ” Go to Wells”. And she was right.
Wells is another beautiful little city. We head first to the cathedral there. Free, no head sets but guided tours. this one you can take pictures in if you buy a permit. Al gets a permit, but he is warned not to flash. Which is good. That would be scary if he started doing that, in a church no less. Ha, ha!
A nice cathedral, lots of stained glass and more graves. This one also has a pretty cool clock. The clock is just about the oldest mechanical clock in Britain.
When the clock strikes the quarter hour, knights on houses ride out and ride around the clock, and a mechanical man kicks his heels to ring a bell.
We had cream tea again, in a little shop, and there was someone playing the piano there. Bonus! Thanks Avril! We also go into all the little shops. They have something I consider neat here. They have these charity shops, which sell things new or used for hospice care or cancer, or children. They are right beside other shops and you don’t even know your in one until you check a price. Not like a goodwill store, more upscale I think. Also, all volunteers. All the money goes toward thier charity, neat!
We take the bus back to Bath and still have a few hours before our train to London. We walk around town some more. There is a lot we still haven’t seen. We go to see the Circus, which is A housing development built in a circle, on 3 segments of equal length. This was pretty cool.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circus,_Bath
Then we see the crescent which is a development built in a crescent.
We walk the long way back through Royal Victoria Park which has an arboretum . This was nice.
If I had to pick between Bath and Wells which one I could go back to, I would pick Bath. No huge Cathedral, but it has all those other things I wanted and more.
This is our last night in England, we catch our plane home tomorrow! We do have a half day so we may try to squeeze in a museum.
Until then,
Be well.

Cathedral in Bath

Hallway to restroom

In cathedral, you can see the scissor arch

How many foot steps does it take to wear down stone steps?

About the clock

The clock

Behind the cathedral in the Bishops garden

Wells

Back on Bath

Looking down on the river

Bridge in Bath

Corner of Gay st. In the Circus, this is the top of the key shape these buildings form

Center of Circus

Other side of Circus

The crescent

Bath

Oct18

Victoria bridge

First let me say, another Holiday Inn Express and more great people. we checked in at midnight and they were fantastic!
First day in Bath, pouring rain! But we have raincoats so we are out the door early and walking into town. It is only a 20 minute walk but cold and wet. We had to cross the Victoria Bridge, which is in the process of being repaired. the old bridge was becoming unsafe, so this bridge is a temporary one and has ropes and scaffolding all over the place. there is driving rain, fierce winds, plastic is flapping and I march right across. the new me. We are going to the Roman Baths!
The Roman Baths date back over 2000 years. This is the first attraction we have had to pay for. We get our headsets and are off. Al thinks mine must be on fast forward because he can never seem to keep up with me!
Bath is a beautiful city, the river winds through it and there are a few bridges. Lots of shops, pubs, boutiques and people. The sun comes out and we pack our rain gear away. We go in and out of lots of shops, and we have tea.
We have what they call, “Cream Tea ” , which is a pot of tea and scones with jam and clotted cream. I am in love with clotted cream. I don’t know what it is, looks like butter, maybe that’s why I love it. No, that’s not it, it’s a combination of whipped cream and frosting, I think, and it’s good. The jam is also excellent, it’s made here in England in Essex. We have to have a Tea Party when I get home. My sister-in laws(sisters) and I get together once in awhile and have a tea party. Not traditional but fun. I did make scones once when we had it at my house. We move around to each others house so we can all host it at different times and we all bring something. So I’m putting it out there, who want to host the next one? You don’t have to be a sister of mine, just say when? I promise to bring clotted cream, if I can figure out how to make it, and scones and jam. What do you say?
After our tea break we walk around some more, explore, we got thirsty again and go into a pub. Have I told you about the cider here yet? It’s good! It’s on tap at most pubs. They have all kinds of different ciders, we tried a blackberry one, really, really good. I do like the pubs. There is always people at the bar. There is aways a few old men, and there is always sports on the Telly. It’s fun to just sit there, drink your pint, and watch and listen to the people, I love how they talk.
Tomorrow we check out, leave our bags to pick up later and take a bus to Wells.
Until then,
Be well.

Going onto square by Roman Baths

The baths, water is green because the baths were I closed in roman times, now they are open to the sun

More baths

This stuff still works and doesn’t leak from roman times!

The water was naturally hot, but if they want dry heat these are supports for the floor, the slaves would have to crawl under the floor and leave buckets of hot coals

Arch over the road

Of course there’s a church

Other side of church

Cream tea for two

This town has decorated pigs!

Now we know where she got her start

Line to get into Sally Lunn’s

Pub sign

Day 2, London

Oct17

By the Cathedral

Our 2nd day in London went pretty much like the first, but we didn’t do as much. We took the tube to Victoria Station because I wanted to go to Chelsea Physic Garden. the garden was pretty far out there and we still had to walk a bit. We got an early start but it turned out we were too early, it didn’t open for an hour yet. We had passed the National Army Museum and decided to go back and check that out while we waited.
What a lucky find, it was very interesting and informative. It was laid out so that you walked in and read things or looked at dioramas. And you went up different levels and years as you went. There was movies that would play or people would talk when you entered a room, it was neat. Lots of wars, I had no idea England had so many. It also had a lot of information on what wars do to people and countries, the impact that they have and the importance of those left behind. Not just in England but all over. Women played a big role and they said how it seemed like women were basically drafted into the workforce and the war effort. That pretty much every citizen had a part to play, that its just not the military in a war, but a country. I don’t think I see that any more, at least not in the US. Anyway I liked it and we spent more than our hour there.
Chelsea Physic Garden is a garden devoted to the importance of plants, either medicinal or nutritional. It is a walled garden with these massive gates. It was founded in 1673 for apprentice apothecaries to study the medicinal qualities of plants.” It became one of the most important centers of botany and plant exchange in the world”. Chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk . I have been waiting 3 years for Al to build me the green house he has promised me. He has all the parts laying out in our yard but the plastic. I am going to have to bug him a bit more to get it done.
From Chelsea we got on a city bus to Saint Paul’s Cathedral. A double decker one. It was fun, we had a long way to go so we got to see a lot of stuff. I sat in the top front window and it felt like I was driving. What I didn’t get is not only do they sit on the other side of their cars as a driver, they drive on the wrong side, why didn’t I know this?
The cathedral was nice. It is built in the shape of a cross and has one of the biggest domes in the world. This one also had a crypt below the church, and handed out headsets for a guide. Lots of stairs. First we went up 259 to get to the whispering galley, then 378 more steps up to the stone gallery. Yes I lead the way, no problem. Then the golden galleries after that, ok was here I hit a snag. This one had a spiral staircase, tight, high up, nope, I got a maybe 10 steps up. Thankfully no one was behind us, because I had to back down. Al went up on his own.
From St. Paul’s we went over the Millennial Bridge, locals call it the Wobbly Bridge. It’s a suspension bridge that moves as you walk over the Thames. I did this too! Way out of my box folks! We walked along the Thames for awhile taking pictures, we also got hot nuts, which were good! Somehow we missed lunch and had an early dinner about 4pm.
The the last thing we did was the London Bridge Experience. This was dubbed London’s scariest attraction. Yes, I did this!! I did scream a few times but it was fun, what a good time. Don’t get any ideas Brian, there are no roller coasters in my future. What they did was give us a history of the London Bridge. There was a museum inside that gave us the story of the 3 different times they rebuilt London bridge. They said the last time a bunch of human remains were found, Jack the Ripper? They had actors who were dressed as wardens or ghouls and then we went on this scary walk actually inside the bridge. It was dark, scary, people grabbed you. They had this spinning drum we had to walk through, which I find impossible, I have no idea why. It is so funny, Al’s yelling,” just close your eyes!”, which I am to afraid to. I am falling down, It was funny!
Then on our way back to Westminster to get our tube we walked across London Tower Bridge. We did have a snag. Remember we only had 2 nights in London, well we have no hotel for the night.We were told maybe there would be a cancelation. So our plan is to get back and check and if no cancelation then just move to another hotel.
This is unbelievable to me, no more empty beds in Hammersmith, or the next town down the line or the one after that. We also check back into downtown London, no beds either. It turns out that there is a major football weekend, Gloucester verses London. Our hotel which has been fantastic to us, especially because we aren’t even staying here anymore, is holiday Inn express. They have gone above and beyond, calling places letting us sit in their lobby using their wifi. About 9pm I left Al at the hotel to go and see if I could find these two women we had met the night before. I thought maybe two locals might know of someone who lets rooms or has a B&B, we were desperate. I was afraid we may have to sleep outside. I had no luck, when I got back I tried with the corporate people at holiday inn again and said , “how about further out from here, we want to go to Wells, anything out there?” Yes, in Bath. Well it was close to 10 and now we would have to take a tube to Paddington station then take a train to Bath, about an 90 minutes away. Well they had a train at 10:15 and if we could make it there, we had a place.
Bath is fantastic, but you will have to wait.
Until then.
Be well.

At Chelsea Physic Garden

From the garden

Part of the Berlin Wall, this is a 9 ton chunk, at the war museum.

In front of St. Paul’s

As slice of the Cathedral

London tower from the river

London 1st & 2nd day

Oct16

We arrived!

We got out of Madrid fine, up before 4 and caught our flight to Paris. Paris was cold, what happened, I think we missed autumn and went right into winter. People were still wearing shorts in Spain. I also forgot how expensive coffee was. $4.80, for a little cup. But I actually had my sandals on and I was freezing. We thought we might walk around Paris for a bit but with Al needing to be close to a rest room and the cold weather, we only made it around the block before we went back inside to just sit and wait for our train to London.
When we arrived in London we got a tube, to our hotel in Hammersmith.
Hammersmith is a busy district. Not as crazy as Paris or Madrid, but it seems nice. The staff at our hotel are great. And at the train station some other tourists gave us their tube pass, which was a ride all day pass. We were able to get to our hotel and check in, then use the pass again to go into London and look around at something besides tube and train stations.
The next day Monday morning we hit London and did see a lot of interesting things. We took a tube to the Westminster Station. We walked out and there is Big Ben, incredible. Right next door is Westminster Abby. This was incredible. A lot of these places give you headsets as soon as you come in so you can just follow along as you walk through. This is where the coronations take place here for Kings and Queens. They even have a coronation chair which has been used since the year 1308. What I didn’t know is that they bury inside the church. It’s really a giant tomb! A couple of well know dead people, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
After the Abby we went to Buckingham Palace.
We walked past most of Saint James Park to get there. They have signs everywhere not to feed the squirrels but we could see everyone doing just that. One squirrel started keeping pace with us, then jumped up on the fence and was getting ready to jump on us. Then it started stalking us until someone else coaxed it away. That was scary, squirrels are vicious. I was afraid of another attack like the dog.
We could not go into the palace because the Queen was in residence so no visitors, but we go to the Royal Mews. The Royal Mews is one of the finest working stables. It also has the royal collection of coaches and carriages. This was pretty neat, the people who work here, live here. Above the stables is a housing block and whole families live here. Generation after generation of families work for the royal family. So a child growing up in the mews might start out helping somewhere and end up being a driver or one of the many hands needed to keep this place so spic and span.
After the Mews we walked down past the park and saw the Guards Museum.
Al really liked this one, all kinds of uniforms and medals. Did you know those big blacks hats they wear are made out of bearskin? And that little bit of feather in the hat, the color and placement also means something. So I learned something.
We walked past Churchill’s war room, no thank you. We couldn’t walk past 10 Downing Street, All barricaded off, home to the prime minister. We walked through the parade ground of the House Guards.
Then we got back on the tube to go to the Tower of London. This was incredible. It is something like Old Sturbridge village. It’s a giant museum with other smaller museums inside of it. A big wall surrounds it, then there is also a castle inside, called the White Tower and this is where the Crown Jewels are kept, and once the royal mint was here also and there is a Fusiliers Museum as well as a bunch of other stuff. We spent a lot of time here. They had several towers and ramparts we could walk across and they had a torture chamber of course.
From there the river boat cruises were right below, so we jumped on to that and rode the boat back to Westminster. I should mention before we left Al bought a London Pass, kind of like our Paris Pass except it did not allow for those hop on hop off tourist busses. Al had to buy a separate ticket to do the Eye. No thank you again from me! The Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the bank of the river Thames. He loved it, we have had kind of cold weather but the sun came out for a bit and he got a 360* view of the city from way up there.
I said I would just stay on the boat because they just do a continuous loop back and forth between 3 stops and I would meet him where he got off. The boat was heated and had a bathroom, that beat sitting in the cold watching a small speck in the sky.
Well little did I know that I happened to be on the last ride of that boat for the day. There was another boat in 20 minutes. So I find the next boat back and get in line and wait. I’m all anxious because now I’m not where I said I was going to be, I have no phone anymore. On the end where Al is he is now waiting and wondering what happened to me. It is now fully dark and he told me later that he realized that this was the first time we have been apart for more then a few minutes since Sept 4th. When we left CT. Wow! But he waited and I got there. So back to Westminster to the tube and back to Hammersmith for the night.
Tomorrow busy again,
Until then
Be well.

Place was crazy busy

We arrived into London by train

Looking at the Eye from across the river

Westminster Abby

The side of the Abby

No pictures in Westminster Abby but this in the hallway on the way to their store

Al in the eye

As I said, No thank you!

Inside the Mews courtyard

Their front gate

One of the royal carriages, there were several

Jubilee carriage

We are approaching London Tower

The white tower.

At the Tower

Tower Bridge from London Tower

From the boat, Westminster and Big Ben

Big Ben at night

They call this the Shard, tallest building in London.

The two of us in front of Tower Bridge.

Palace guards

St. James Park

Last day Madrid

Oct15

An arch, there are four of these leading into the city in different areas

Today we went to Reina Sofia. We chose this museum over the Prado because one of the young people we met on the Camino was a Spanish major in college and spent a year in Madrid and she recommended it.
First we had to get there, back into Madrid. Yesterday the Taxi cost 26 euro, we were told that getting to the airport by mass transit for 2 was just as expensive as a taxi. Well untrue. There was a bus that went to the edge of Madrid, the Avenue of the Americas. We first had to cross the highway, one of those over the highway walkways I can’t stand. Right at the other side, the bus stop. 2 euros. The avenue of America’s stop is a hub for metro, so tube in to town, less then 2 euros. It took maybe 40 minutes, but that’s us I’m sure and cost for us less than 8 euros, and it was relatively easy. On the way back I convinced Al to skip the subway part and we walked to the bus station at the hub. It was a nice walk. It seems weird not to do a lot of walking.
The museum was different. I must be ignorant because I couldn’t believe some of the stuff was art. One room was huge, very long and it had these 4 blocks of cement. Art? Allen said he could do that!!! I thought the exhibit was missing. Then sound as art, random sound and pictures. Not music, just sounds. I was making Al crazy because I’m just walking by everything, why look if I don’t get it.
Picasso I get, lady in blue, compelling. Salvador Dali, I actually like. There were no statues, or very few. There was actually a hall way with two desks, one had an open drawer with a candle in it, Art. It seemed that they showcased a lot of Spanish art and art from thier country. Which was fine. But honestly I guess I am not the art museum type.
Tomorrow London with a short stop in Paris.
Until then,
Be well.

Art!

They didn’t allow pictures in most rooms, so only Al only got a few.

The bus station

The metro station

Another sunny day in Madrid

Oct14

Just a fountain we passed

We changed hotels today so we crammed a couple of sights into our morning. We missed the palace garden yesterday so decided to walk down to it.Very nice crushed gravel paths, I could really picture ladies in gowns walking the paths and looking at all the statues. You could feel another time there, it was on the palace grounds but we went down two flights of stairs to get to it, so it was surrounded by high walls with the city above, and I didn’t notice any city sounds.
After the garden we went to find the pyramid, that’s what we were told to look for anyway. Turns out to be a temple. The Temple of Debod. The whole temple was given to Madrid in appreciation from Egypt. It was from the 2nd century BC. They put it all back together like a puzzle in 1969. It was on a hill and had some fountains and some reflecting pools out side. It was terraced in back, and it was set on top of another wall. there was also an amazing view of the rest of Madrid from there. we could see back into the old city and a whole other part of Madrid we won’t be able to get to.There was free admission so we went inside. It was very small with slit windows to let in light. Lots of interesting carved reliefs.
We got a late start today so after our sightseeing we went back to our hotel to get our bags and called a taxi to take us closer to the airport and to the next hotel.
Ohhh my goodness, so much better. The staff at the reception desk were so nice, our room is fantastic and the shuttle to the airport will be free! They also have a complimentary bus to the mall at 4:30, so we decide to do that for the rest of our day.
Tomorrow we plan the Reina Sofia, which is the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte.
Until then,
Be well.

Fountain at temple

Temple and reflecting pool

Me beside pool, taking my own pictures

Temple of Debod

We can see the cathedral from here

Day 2, Madrid

Oct12

Having fun in Madrid

Al saw a real Dunkun Donuts yesterday, it tuned out to be a Dunking Coffee. Not sure what the difference is. Anyway, we, or I made a beeline for it the First thing we did. Al still not feeling good, he just watched me enjoy my coffee. So we are sitting in what they consider the theater district, almost a little Times Square. I take a picture with my phone, which was full yesterday. I had to move some pics to my iPad, I have taken over 1200 pictures with my phone. Al has also used his phone as a camera, and I brought my camera too. So we are sitting there, this gypsy women comes in. I was told she was Romanian, she was speaking to me, waving a sales thing literally under my nose, talking to me the whole time. I am leaning back, she is in my personal space, getting loud and insistent, waving this paper. What I don’t realize is that the waving thing is really a cover for her hand stealing my phone on the counter before me. She distracts all of us, even the people working there are yelling At her, ” get out, get out”, which she does, now with my phone. We don’t even realize that I was robbed until we leave and I automatically feel for my phone. I turn back to D&D and ask, “did you see my phone.” They immediately realize what had happened. I ask them to call the police. We waited for them to arrive, That took awhile.
The police arrive and ask us to go to the station with them. We got to ride in the back of a police car, not a highlight of our trip. Anyway, that took forever, I had
to dictate my report into a phone, kind of like transcription at the hospital but they asked me questions. I was given a number, 59 and said to wait until the report was printed. I would then have to speak to them again and then i could go. That took 3 hours. I was told lots of theft in Madrid. That you have to keep everything close and be super aware.
I am not as paranoid as Al, but we do keep things close, and we are aware. I am not saying this wasn’t preventable, but gee whiz, her timing was perfect. I just took my phone out, just took a picture, put my phone down to pic up my coffee, she comes in. That was basically it. If Al was on the other side of me, it wouldn’t of worked.
I know that all things happen for a reason. So after the police station, I made my way back to Al at the hotel. We had decided to separate so he could get a head start on the phone with AT&T.
We had just added all that data to my phone. We moved everything to his phone. I was never able to back my phone up to the iCloud because of wifi issues. So most of our pictures are lost, but we do have Al’s and the ones on my camera. Not a total loss, but regrettable.
So now it’s after lunch and I’m hungry, so first lunch then off to see more of Madrid.
Madrid is the Capitol of Spain. We walked past the palace again and into the art district. There is a lot of history here and they do adhere to taking siesta also. So again some shops closed up at 4pm and then open again at 7pm. We walked all over the place.
This is a very busy city, not New York busy. Our cab driver told us, 3million people live in the inner city and probably another 3 in the out skirts. Also that there are 3 rings around the city for driving. Sort of what DC has. And very clean. There is an issue with homelessness and with gypsies. Gypsies outright begging wherever you go, some of them are disfigured, limbs missing or just filthy dirty. A lot of the parks we went to the homeless had whole areas taken over by the homeless. They set up their boxes and blankets on benches and have what look like little communities. They even have pets. Lots of dogs and I saw one cat. The person even had a litter box outside next to it. Amazing. I saw nothing like a soup kitchen or anything like what you would in the city. Also the homeless we saw, seemed okay except they were basically camped out. Th gypsies are another matter. They were obnoxious. Following you, begging you for change, you just have to walk on by.
Tomorrow is another day,
Until then.
Be well.

Al started a door collection for me.

Plaza Major

A cornet of Plaza Major, there’s arches in the corners for traffic to get through

Me on the street

This was a tapas market/bar. Like Quincey market, all tapas! Very cool!

Day 1 Madrid

Oct12

I forgot to post this earlier, this is the Parador in Santiago, nothing like the one Leon. I went in to check it out.

I forgot to post this earlier, this is the Parador in Santiago, nothing like the one in Leon. I went in to check it out.

So we roll our suitcase down the hill. First a few snags, Al is now suffering with the same malady I had. Men are such babies! (Al’s Note: woman always think this!!) Anyway, that is our first issue, #2, we have no hotel for Madrid, we thought it would be easy to just book, but with no Wifi, not so easy. We had hoped the train would have Wifi, nope. So we arrive in Madrid, find tourist info, no free wifi at train station, come on. In one ice cream store they had wifi, so we buy ice cream, I have no problem with that, we just spent 5 hours on the train and all I had was a bag of nuts. We gave up on free wifi after trying and losing connections it seemed like a hundred times. So I turn to Al, “lets just call AT&T and get a data package, it’s pushing 4pm, we have no place to stay. ” he goes for it. We then spend time on the phone with AT&T, but in the end we have a place to stay.
So we left Santiago at 9am and didn’t get to our hotel until 5pm. We choose to stay here at Santo Domingo Hotel for just a couple of days because it was in the center of Madrid and had good reviews. Then we would move for 2 more days to be by the airport, remember our early flight. Turns out we are glad we did this. We do not like our hotel. European room, which means small, very small. No bathtub, no chairs, no room to move. There were good things, we were just 5 minutes from the palace, the opera, the theater district. That was nice. Two grocery stores right around the corner.
Subway, literally across the street. Would I stay there again, no. Wifi, only in the lobby. They advertise free wifi, but you have to sit there in front of everyone. Pain in the butt.
That’s why I am only catching up now, 3 days later. Sorry.
So I will make this one short, include some pics, and start right into the next day, when I got robbed.
Until then,
Be well.

One of the many plaza’s

Their streets are are mix of old and new, very pretty buildings

A view down the street

This church was tucked in behind the Prado Museo