MadridMan.com: BLOG Madrid Spain

I'm a little sad. Today is their last day. My favorite neighborhood bar, Restaurante Las Damas on Calle Fortuna, 5, in Madrid, the one where I have lunch once a week, has sold to foreigners. WHY to foreigners? Because the bar's owners have been wanting to retire for years and, until now, there have been no buyers in these difficult economic times.

I've only been going since discovering it just one year ago but it has become like my home away from home, where every time I walk through the door María and Daniel look up from what they're doing, smile widely, and greet me warmly as if I'm their son coming home from college - albeit without the hug.

So after 32 years of serving weekday breakfasts, lunches, and tapas until 6pm in this humble, blue-collar neighborhood, the married couple, both in their 60s, have sold their businesses and will soon be enjoying retirement away from the bar. They won't be going TOO far away, however, because they live in the same streets as the bar and have no plans to move to "el pueblo" to live out their "Golden Years".

Fewer and fewer Spaniards are taking on jobs as new bar and restaurant owners or even workers, not to mention stores of any kind. This is true particularly in working class neighborhoods where the numbers of foreigners is beginning to overcome the number of Spaniards. Spaniards are more frequently moving to the suburbs and villages outside of the City of Madrid.

Who are the new owners of Restaurante Las Damas? They're a pair of men originating from Ecuador, one of which has been working off and on in the restaurant's kitchen for the past 20 years, I was told by María just yesterday as we were chatting about the future of the bar, possibly trying to calm my nerves about HOW the bar may change. And change it will, she said, but the food won't.

The bar-restaurant will close for a short period of time in order to make renovations and modernizations. This, deep in my heart, is both good and bad to me. One of the grandest elements of this place is its kitsch-ness, hole-in-the-wall charm with worn floor tiles, poorly hung pieces of "art" on its walls, outdated toilets, and hand-written menus stuck in plastic sleeves.

At least as long as I've been going, without fail, I always see the same people day after day, everyone usually seated at the same tables. I usually only go on Thursdays but have visited on other days of the week as well. The clients are like family to María, the short, stout, and "blond" waitress/wife, who is the friendliest waitress I've ever encountered. She takes and brings the orders, makes commentary about the food (although everyone seems to know the multi-item daily menus by heart), asks about family, and chats about current events.

The lunch regulars include a table of two old ladies, one of whom proudly wears her dated and somewhat disheveled fur coat on winter days. Her companion, equally as old, seems to suffer from Parkinson's disease but her quivering voice doesn't force her to quiet its loudness - I can hear every word from 5 tables away. It was this same woman whom just yesterday spilled some water on the floor, got up and went to the bathroom, and returned with the mop to clean it up. Everyone joked about how she should be paid for "working" or at least get a free meal and she simply said, "No pasa nada", "No big deal."

Another couple of men, also both retired, meet there every day and chat about politics, a little about sports, and whatever's going on in the world. They sit at the table next to me and I sometimes like to eavesdrop on their opinions of American politics.

There are more regulars, somewhat less colorful, but include a couple mechanics, some kind of middle-aged office worker, and a old man which does nothing more than occupy one of the eight tables with his glass of water in a beer mug. He likes to talk a lot with the other tables. I always sit at the same table, near the entrance to the bar section as the "comedor" (dining room) is in the back of the bar-restaurant. Upon entering and leaving, everyone greets everyone else with a smile and a "Buenas tardes. Que aproveche," which means, "Good afternoon. Enjoy your meal." Isn't that nice?!?! We don't have such a friendly custom in the USA. Too bad.

Daniel Gil, owner with his wife-waitress María, is also the cook and works behind the bar. He's of average height and weight, bald, and has a genuine human quality about him, not worn-out or overworked as are lot of people his age in the restaurant business. I guess some people are just like that inherently. He always has a kind word and a smile, taking a moment to chat as you pay, never rushed, never distracted by the bar's activity to be "with you" for those 45 seconds. That means a lot to customers.

María was telling me yesterday about the interview done and subsequent article written about the bar by El Mundo newspaper (see photo/article below) in 2008. TeleMadrid saw the article and came to interview them on television too. They were so proud - and have reason to be.

Restaurante-Bar Las Damas has the best and the cheapest "Menú del Día", just 6 Euros for the complete meal of the first course, second course, side salad, bread, red table wine and accompanying carbonated Casera water, seasonal fruit and home made desserts, and coffee at the end. How do they do it???!! ONLY 6 Euros! I know I sound cheap but when you weigh the quality-price ratio you really cannot beat that.

Every day the "Menú del Día" varies but you find the same "standards" throughout the week. There are typically 6 items to choose from for the first course and 6 for the second course but these items change from day to day. For example, paella is always served as one of the available first course items on Thursdays. They have light meal selections as well as "hungry man" meal selections. I most often choose their "Sopa Castellana" (hot bread soup with egg) for the first course and, yes, most often, something "manly" for the second course. Yesterday I had the steak and potatoes with grilled green peppers but today for the second course I ordered the 2 fried eggs, fried potatoes, and grilled green peppers with 6 "croquetas de jamón". Mmm.. Mmm... MMMM!!! Good Gravy!! Man-oh-man do you eat well there WITHOUT FAIL.

Their statement has always been, "Comida Casera de Mercado" which means, "Homemade food from the market." What market, you ask? The Mercado Jesuitas, just around the corner from the bar. The meats, fish, eggs, fruits, and nearly everything is bought at the market.

Again, the food is top quality, or at least the top quality available from the working-class neighborhood's market which, I'd guess, is typical/average quality. Daniel, the cook, really is a master at cooking the basics, always nicely salted (but not over-salted) are those delicious fried potatoes, steaks, and grilled chicken. Really, it's like eating at your grandmother's house in Kentucky (or Southern Ohio in my case). And the desserts are always homemade too. My favorite is the "pudín" - which is nothing like "pudding", but more like a pie. Theirs has a healthy dose of orange-peel with a coffee flavor. To look behind the curtain to the broom-closet-sized kitchen (see photo of Daniel cooking in article below) you'd wonder how anyone could cook for more than one person, let alone for 8 tables!, but Daniel does it masterfully. Or rather, he DID IT masterfully - since today's his last day.

I'm tempted to simply end this article here, leaving "the old" behind, carefully encapsulated in the blog's archive and not taint it with "the new" of what-will-be after the new owners take over and change things. Suffice it to say that Juan Carlos, the new owner from Ecuador, the one who has been making much the food I've been eating (when Daniel's not available) , assures me that the prices will not change, nor will the food. They will, however, modernize the place a bit, stay open evenings and weekends, and put up a big-screen TV in the dining room (oh, gawd) for when there are fútbol games to be watched. I just hope it's not turned on during the lunch hour but I suspect it will. Juan Carlos, the new proud owner, seems to be quite careful and mindful of the fragile clientèle which has been built up by Daniel and María over the years. The last thing you want to do is disenchant the regulars.

But it's hard to believe the new owners can be as charming as Daniel and María. With them, you always felt like you were at home eating Mom's home cooking - although it was really Dad in the kitchen.

(pausing to reflect.....)

Isn't it silly that right now, after writing and re-reading this previous paragraph, I suddenly find myself emotional? I guess because I feel I've lost part of my family.

Upon paying the 6 Euros at the bar, I announced that today there would be no 1 Euro tip - as I've made a habit of doing. I told both María (who was waiting for the next order) and Daniel (who was cooking just behind the curtain) that today, instead, I brought them a gift. Leaning down, I whispered to María that it was a bottle of champagne to help them celebrate their retirement. At that moment I was sure María was going to cry - but she didn't, thankfully, because I may have broken out as well. She instead spread her arms, put her hands around my head, and kissed me tenderly on the left cheek, and then on the right, thanking me for the gift. I thanked them for all the wonderful meals, the good prices, and the friendly service.

Saying goodbye was sad and I didn't get the chance to shake Daniel's hand as he was busy cooking. Instead, I wished them well and turned to leave, pulling the door open and shouted an "¡Hasta luego! ¡Nos Vemos!" with a smile to the new owner, Juan Carlos. He returned the gesture, surely wondering if he'd ever see me again.

Walking out onto the street I felt odd and a little emotional, like something was missing. Something was already very different in my little world.


Previous Blog Entries about my meal experiences at Restaurante Las Damas include (although I'd changed he names to protect the innocent):

"Another GREAT Menú del Día in Madrid" &
"Menu del Dia - Menu of the Day for Cheap Lunches"

The below photo and article, published by El Mundo newspaper October 17th, 2008, can be viewed in its larger (2.2mb), more legible size (in Spanish) HERE.

There's a part of me which wonders WHY I've been here in Spain for 4 years and I've STILL not traveled throughout Europe. What the heck am I waiting for??

Really, when I moved here I was sure I'd have intimate knowledge of all of Europe's nooks and crannies, but no. I haven't visited Paris. I haven't visited London. I haven't visited Istanbul. I haven't visited Rome. I haven't visited Berlin. I haven't visited Athens. So what's my friggin' problem???

I'm constantly seeing British movies and some series on "the telly" and I ask myself, "My goodness! How is it that I can get to London on EasyJet for like 88 Euros Round Trip and I still haven't gone??" It makes absolutely no sense! I'm totally ashamed of myself!

Maybe it's because I'm waiting for someone to accompany me. Maybe not. There are certain elements of travel which makes it easier - even more enjoyable - traveling by oneself. But there's another which holds me back because I'd rather share the experience with someone else.

It's not a money issue. I have the money. So what's holding me back??? Age, maybe? Dedication to that which I have here in Madrid? I ain't gettin' any younger, ya' know!

Maybe THAT should be my New Year's resolution, to travel more throughout Europe. It's just that there's so much more of SPAIN I want/need to see. Maybe that's it. Not sure. I WANT to see Europe! What am I waiting for??

Librería Hernández Religious Bookstore in Madrid will close this year after 158 years of service. Incredible, isn't it, that any business, let alone a RELIGIOUS bookstore, could survive so long. Religious stores, at least for me, have always been a curiosity which I've always associated with Spain as well as Italy since we don't have them - to my knowledge - in Ohio, USA.

Upon visiting Madrid the first time in 1995 and in subsequent strolls through Madrid's downtown, these religious stores always turn up, causing me to ask myself, "How can these places stay in business? Do they receive some funding from the church?" I doubt the latter but where else in the world is - read: "was" - religion so profound in the makeup and history of the culture?

Upon entering nearly any older-person's house in Spain you'll usually find the following: a wall-mounted crucifix, a painting/portrait of Jesus Christ on the cross, and oftentimes other ceramic angelic figurines. You don't find these religious items so openly displayed in younger peoples' homes although they may be religious.

Religion in Spain, according to WikiPedia:

Roman Catholicism has long been the main religion of Spain, though it no longer has official status. According to a July 2009 study by the Spanish Center of Sociological Research about 76% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2% other faith, and about 20% identify with no religion. Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in religious services. This same study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 58% hardly ever or never go to church, 17% go to church some times a year, 9% some time per month and 15% every Sunday or multiple times per week. But according to a December 2006 study, 48% of the population declared a belief in a supreme being, while 41% described themselves as atheist or agnostic. Altogether, about 22% of the entire Spanish population attends religious services at least once per month. Though Spanish society has become considerably more secular in recent decades, the influx of Latin American immigrants, who tend to be strong Catholic practitioners, has helped the Catholic Church to recover.

But lack in interest is not the reason, nor the world economic crisis, for closing the historical religious bookstore which has spanned 4 generations. The reason is clear and all too common in longtime family businesses; the children no longer want to keep it going. Librería Religiosa Hernández is attempting to sell or rent the shop but as the service and items sold is so specific, detailed, personalized, and studied, there's little realistic hope it can stay open as it is. It's not simply the sale of religious items, either. Certified artisans work for the shop, creating and painting dolls and portraits, among many others things.


I've walked past this shop several times as it is just off Madrid's Puerta del Sol, nearly across from the also-now-closed Teatro Albéniz on the Calle de la Paz, 4. When tourists stray from the Puerta del Sol to explore Madrid's quaint, narrow streets, they'd inevitably pass this old book store and pause to examine the window dressing of cherubs, baby Jesus dolls and statues, books, and crucifixes. But while this historic Madrid bookstore closes, others remain open and can be found throughout the city, but undoubtedly their numbers will dwindle with time.

If you have an opportunity to visit the Librería Religiosa Hernández, do so quickly, at least before May, to see what a 158 year old shop looks like.

Librería Hernández
Calle de la Paz, 4

Article (in Spanish):
Somos Centro: "Librería Hernández, otro comercio centenario que se va"

This was PURELY a scientific study. No, REALLY, it was! Today, I was at my Madrid neighborhood supermarket doing my usual Friday shopping for the weekend. Since I always buy a bottle or two of wine, usually the reliable Rueda white wine, I found myself at the wine section.

Sure, I grabbed the usual bottle of Rueda but perused the others as well just out of curiosity. There, I saw a bottle of store-brand red wine for 61 Eurocents - on sale! I thought for a moment, "How bad could this swill be?" Upon further inspection of other "cheap wines", I found a non-store brand bottle of red wine for 90 Eurocents - NOT on sale - and decided to buy it with the intention of writing this blog posting - which I'm doing now with a slightly light-head while listening to RadiOlé flamenco music. Seemed fitting.

I chose the 90 Eurocent bottle of "Campo Bajo A.R." red wine, listed on the one-label as "Vino de Mesa" or, simply put, "Table Wine". What is table wine? Table wine is the inexpensive wine they give you when ordering the "menú del día" - the set lunch menu. Most often, they'll give you the option of drinking this basic table wine with "Casera" - carbonated water - in order to "cut" the basic-ness of the wine. Adding this water usually helps a lot.

Somewhat ominously, the wine's brand name, "Campo Bajo", or "Lower Fields", should have been indication enough to scare me away from even trying this cheap red wine but, as I said, this was in the name of science! And for me, being a former professional geologist, the study intrigued me.

So I bought the bottle and paused for a moment at the checkout line, wondering if the cashier thought, "Damn! This is one cheap bastard for buying such a cheap wine." Oh well. No matter. This is a blue-collar neighborhood so I'm sure I'm not the first one to buy it. Besides, this is a serious study! (uh-huh.)

What better wine to drink with leftover Chinese food than this one? Perfect! Upon opening it with corkscrew I was already prepared for the worst. "Sniff!" Well, it wasn't bad at all. Now, how does it taste? The first glass was fine, not strong at all, pretty easy to drink. So far so good. I'd finished my lunch and most (read: all) of the bottle and thought, "Okay. Now for the post-drink headache test." Two hours have passed and I still don't have a headache, and haven't taken a siesta, but still certainly feel the affects, while not overwhelming, of the 12% alcohol content.

So what is my summary? What is my official review? Okay. First I must say that I've often been called "cutre" for my simple pleasures so please keep this in mind. But without prematurely devaluing my review, I must say that the 90 Eurocent bottle of red Spanish table wine was not bad at all. It definitely exceeded my expectations. Really, I thought it'd be undrinkable but I was wrong. That is not to say it was better than a 1998 Rioja Reserva, far from it, but it was drinkable and fine.

Earlier this week I had lunch with a friend at the very exclusive (read: unknown) "Casa de Granada" rooftop restaurant (nice views!) near the Tirso de Molina metro station in downtown Madrid and the 9 Euro "menú del día" included a similar table wine. With that, without even asking, a bottle of Casera carbonated water was offered to accompany the wine. It was fine without the water but made even better with it so I imagine today's wine would've been the same.

So fear not the table wines given with the menús del día lunches in Madrid or throughout Spain. You'll often get - or be offered - a bottle of Casera water to accompany the wine. I'd say accept it, if only to try it with the wine or to have bottled water to finished your meal as they don't (usually) charge you for it.

FEAR NOT the cheap Spanish red wines. I wouldn't choose them for dinners or good lunches, but for a glass or two to accompany an average lunch they're just fine.

MONDAY UPDATE: Just 3 days after writing the above Madrid blog entry about "cheap" Spanish wine, I returned to my local supermarket to discover they've lowered the price of the same bottle of wine from 90 Eurocents to 81 Eurocents - and that's not even the sale price! Incredible.

It literally snowed all night long last night but stopped by this morning. Enough fell to cause countless traffic jams and icy roads. I witnessed several cars sliding down hilly streets and people using cardboard to scrape off the snow from their windshields. The sun came out by noon but was still cold enough to keep much of it from melting.

Of course, the topic of the day was the weather. A few people in the bar this morning (where I had breakfast) were saying how they hadn't seen so much snow in 10 years. I didn't want to remind them that twice as much snow fell on Madrid City just January of last year. But the truth is, in my 4 years here I have never seen so many days of snow in one winter - and we're just getting started!

Schools were not closed but students were advised to stay home - although many were seen, by me, in downtown Madrid today throwing snowballs at one another. They were happy to have a free day on the first day back from Christmas vacation.

Seeing snow at any time in Madrid is, for me, refreshing. Back in Ohio, USA right now, surely there are several feet of snow in some places so this little "dusting" doesn't bother me. It does make me miss the snow more from the Midwest. I don't miss, however, the inevitable slushy, grimy aftermath. When I hear Madrileños amazed at this snow I just think, "This ain't nuttin', son." How many dozens of winter days in Ohio (each year!) did I have to walk through snow past my knees just to go get the mail?!

Here are a few of my mobile and normal digital camera photos taken today.

Today, 5 January, is the day before Magic Kings Day or "Dia de los Reyes Magos". It's this night when the Magic Kings bring all good boys and girls gifts, leaving them in their shoes and socks. Children not only leave a snack for the Three Wise Men but also water for the camels on which they arrive.

Today's also the day when the 3 Wise Men parade down neighborhood streets throughout Madrid in "carrozas" ("floats") "Cabalgatas de Reyes Magos". These started today at about 5:00pm.

There's also the BIG "Cabalgata de Reyes Magos" marching down the Paseo de la Castellana as I type this. (It's on the TV behind me) This big Cabalgata parade started at 6:30pm and will reach the Plaza de Cibeles at about 8:30pm.

As in all Cabalgatas, the Three Wise Men are represented; Melchor, Gaspar, & Baltasar. Oddly enough, King Baltasar, both on Madrid's wide Paseo de la Castellana as well as in my neighborhood Cabalgata, is represented as a black-face-painted white man. It's odd because I wonder why they couldn't have used an actual black man. Would that be racist? Or is it more racist to have a white man in black face paint? Hmmm... I'm racially confused. Does that make ME a racist???

Not only did the Kings throw tens of thousands of pieces of candies ("sin gluten") at the rabid, anxiously waiting children with their bags and upside-down umbrellas to catch them, but so did the Kings' helpers. Even I grabbed a few pieces. Many grandparents were seen scrambling in harm's way of the near-passing floats to grab candies (presumably) for their grandkids. I still wonder why a big deal is made about the candies being "sin gluten" (gluten free) as candy never (?) has gluten. Products which do often have gluten are products made from grains and meats.

The small, neighborhood Cabalgatas are usually quite short. My neighborhood parade only lasted about 15 minutes maximum, maybe only 10, and I waited 30 minutes for it to arrive. I must have looked odd standing there all by myself, an adult with camera in hand, waiting for the Cabalgata de Reyes. The "stars" of the parades are the Three Wise Men, all riding their own floats. Other floats contain children representing different associations, neighborhood associations, senior centers, and always an international float representing a number of different cultures. I had to wonder why a float of (children) Native American Indians with tee-pees were there, though.

I'd gone downtown earlier today to Madrid's Puerta del Sol's "La Mallorquina" pastry shop to buy the typical (and arguably the best) "Roscón de Reyes", the typical pastry for tomorrow's Dia de Reyes Magos. Luckily they had 5 people working feverishly to serve the ever-entering public. I was CERTAIN there'd be a long line outside the shop but there wasn't, only 8-10 people waiting at the counter making their orders & receiving their Roscón nearly immediately after being boxed up in a pretty pink octagonal box. But to get OUT of the shop I literally had to balance the box on my head, ever saying "Perdóname. Perdóname." to get through the oncoming tied of people. I must've been a sight. Tomorrow morning for breakfast we'll see who'll bite into the "prize", hoping the "second prize" isn't a trip to the dentist office for a broken tooth.

It's so nice to have a GOOD excuse to sleep until noon (or almost) and surviving a New Year's Eve in Madrid is a good one. Last night all of Spain celebrated the changing to the new year of 2010 and all television channels were fervently covering the event.

On TVE, the festivities started around 10pm with a 1-hour montage comedy hour by José Mota (watch 1-hour video via link) with dozens of short skits parodying countless politicians, stars, public figures, and news events of 2009. We laughed a lot.


About 20 minutes before midnight, the formally-dressed TVE countdown team of Anne Igartiburu, Spain's "Mira Quien Baila" host, and dancer-actor Manuel Bandera stood on their Puerta del Sol-facing balcony, with their breath perfectly visible in the freezing cold windy weather, constantly wrung their hands. Ms. Igartiburu was bare-shouldered but, from time to time, pulled her wrap more tightly around her to break the wind momentarily and Mr. Bandera frequently stuck his hands in his pockets. Poor things, freezing to death. Hope they were paid well.




The principal player on television is/was TVE (Televisión Española), Spain's National Channel 1 whom, beginning today, January 1, 2010, will no longer have commercial advertisements and no interruptions during its specials, series, and movies. At least that's what they say. I have to admit I don't see how it's possible to survive without advertising income. But then again, it is a State-run entity. So does that mean our tax Euros are going towards its maintenance? I predict within a year's time they'll have commercials again. Besides, how are we going to decide at what point in the movie we're going to go to the bathroom?

Oh sure, we changed channels for a couple minutes before midnight to TeleCinco to see Belén Estéban's new face after serious (and much needed) plastic surgery but that's all. She and some other guy were the official presenters standing in front of the open windows facing Puerta del Sol's Casa de Correos and its enigmatic bell tower from where the ball will drop to ring in the new year.

After the fireworks and ending statements were made, Televisión Española began a montage of scenes of the previous decade's festivities and personalities. The Spaniards with whom I was sharing the experience sang along to the songs, old commercials, and commented about how young they all looked in their day.

We shared a bottle of wine, sidra, and a simple selection of embutidos, cheeses, and patés. It was a good evening and I finally found my way home and to bed by 3am, sleeping this morning until 11am. It was a good, deep sleep in a new year.

Happy 2010, World! Be kind to one another, please. May we pull ourselves out of this "Crisis" and begin protecting the environment. We all have a part in this.

I've just returned from a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with Spanish friends, through and through. The dinner consisted of a tasty fish soup with rice. Delicious. At first reading, many Americans hear "fish soup" and immediately they furrow their brows and wrinkle their noses. I was the same way before moving to Spain.

Christmas Eve dinner was simple. It consisted of the first course, the fish soup, and later the array of fine embutidos of Jamón de Jabugo, Lomo de Bellota (all the best-of-the-best), langostinos (fat shrimp), berberechos (small clams), patés and Manchego cheese, torta del casar creamy cheese, blue cheese from Austurias, and a variety of breads. It was all delicious and we all partook while passing around the bottle of Spanish Cava.

The evening ended with conversation, turrón & polverones, and the children playing the Wii. Never ending fun. So now I'm home, writing this blog, and mentally preparing myself for tomorrow's Christmas Day lunch; a baked turkey, prepared by me as well as green bean casserole. Oh, and there'll be lots of red wine too. The guy from whom I buy my embutidos and cheeses "gifted" me a 12-year old bottle of Reserva Rioja red wine yesterday after buying the high-end jamón and lomo for tonight's dinner. What a nice detail.

Tomorrow's Christmas Day. I have a few gifts to open which were sent by my parent but that's all. Here in Spain, I'll have to wait 'til Magic Kings Day on the 6th of January.

Merry Christmas & Feliz Navidad, everyone!!

I've never won anything before. But last Tuesday it happened. I ACTUALLY won Spain's Christmas Lottery! Overwhelmed, jubilant, and in denial, I checked my numbers online once, twice, even a third time to be sure I wasn't mistaken. Nope. The numbers all checked out.  I had just won the freakin' lottery!!!!

Word spread fast (by me). And before I knew it friends were calling, text messages and emails were received to congratulate me on my luck. Surprisingly to me and everyone, I even kept my dental appointment that day and, upon making the announcement, the entire staff was quickly hugging and kissing me with congratulations.

When I realized I held the winning numbers my mind started to wander. I started to daydream. "Hmm... What do other people do when they win the lottery?" I asked myself. I guess some buy new houses or renovate old ones, new cars for sure, wall-mounted state-of-the-art televisions in every room is a given, a new wardrobe, fancy meals at upscale restaurants, and, of course, "sharing the wealth" with family and those friends in need.

But I had to be careful. One shouldn't squander good fortune. I must be wise with my winnings. Maybe I should invest it. Maybe I should give it all to charity. Maybe I should put it under the mattress until I figure out what to do with this "found money".

Suddenly, I feel I'm walking among those whom I always thought were better than me simply because they had more money, faster, shinier cars, or trophy girlfriends. Suddenly, I feel they're no better than me at all. No, really, they never were better than me but the perception is always there when you don't have enough cash to buy exactly what you want and when you want it.

Now, after two days passing since Spain's Christmas Lottery, with nerves finally calming and mind more at ease with the realization, I've finally decided what to do with my lottery winnings so now I can relax. NOW the fun begins.









Oh, HOW MUCH did I win, you ask? My one décimo lottery ticket won 120 Euros!!!!!! But..... since I'm sharing that with 4 other people, my part comes to 24 Euros, just enough to buy me one really good lunch. And how much did I spend on lottery tickets to win those 24 Euros? Answer: 200 Euros. Oh well. Winning is winning, right?

Didn't I mention that thousands of people won something in Spain's Christmas Lottery?? Only a small few win big prizes, the largest (incredibly) being only 3 million and 1 million Euros. Amounts go down from there.

It's that time of year again. In some cases, people have lined up for hours to select their numbers for the 2009 edition of Spain's Christmas Lottery, all hoping to win "El Gordo", the largest of all prizes. A few will win, but most will lose, all enjoying the days of discussion leading up to the drawing as well as a few anxious hours in front of the TV on Tuesday morning as the tiny wooden balls are selected and their numbers sung in monotonous repetition by uniformed school children.

At 8am, December 22nd, Spain's lottery commission will host its annual Christmas lottery, "Lotería de Navidad de España", whose largest pay-outs go to the winners of "El Gordo" (1 chance in 85,000 to win "El Gordo"). Lesser numbers selected bring lesser winnings. Interestingly enough (at least to me), any number selected has a 15% chance of winning SOMETHING. 2.3 BILLION Euros is the total, overall payout of the combined winning numbers. Wow. The lottery usually lasts about 3 to 3.5 hours and can be watched locally on TVE (nearly all local channels cover it) or online at RTV.es.
 
Explanation of "How it works": Lottery tickets contain 5 numbers and there are 10 tickets for each number. The ten tickets of the same number are called "a series". So, for example, I could buy one ticket with the number 12345 or I could buy 3 tickets with the number of 123455. Or, if I chose, I could buy the entire 10-ticket series of 12345. Each individual ticket costs 20 Euros and is called "un décimo", or "one tenth" of the series. The entire series of any given number would then cost 200 Euros. So when a winning number comes up you would either win 1-tenth of the total winnings if you held ONE ticket or you would win 100% of the winnings if you held the entire series of 10-tickets.

Explanation of "The Drawing": Two big tumblers, one bigger than the other, contains thousands of tiny wooden balls. The child collecting the ball from the big tumbler calls out the lottery number in its entirety while the child collecting the ball from the small tumbler calls out the kind of prize associated with it which, in the vast majority of the cases, is "Mil Euros". When one of the larger prizes is won, anything larger than "Mil Euros", the children carry the balls over to the table of officials to verify the number and the associated prize. See video below of 2008's lottery when "El Gordo" is selected as well as the "normal chant" of "Mil Euros".





Funny (or stupid) story about how I bought my Christmas lottery tickets this year:
As I've now done for  the last 2 years, I bought a number of tickets for me and some friends, all of which would share in any of the winnings. This year I went to the local lottery shop, where there was absolutely no line, and asked for 5 tickets all ending in the same number. (here's where my mistake was made) Obviously, unless two humans can read each others minds mistakes are often made in communication. So the woman at the counter did indeed give me 5 tickets which ended in my chosen number - but ALL 5 tickets were identical! My intention, understandably misunderstood by the clerk, was to have 5 tickets with distinct numbers but all ending in the same number. I'd already left and walked 50 meters before realizing my mistake. HMPH! Sure, if we win, we'll win 50% of the total sum for that series but it also lowers our chance of winning anything. 100 Euros down the drain? Probably, in whichever case. So I went back the next day and got 5 MORE tickets, ending in 5 different numbers, assuring that I'd get tickets from 5 different series and thereby INCREASING my chances of winning SOMETHING. So I spent 200 Euros for gifts to my friends on Christmas, none of which are likely to amount to anything but it's a nice, fun gift. And, as I'm told, it's "very Spanish" to gift Christmas lottery tickets to friends and family.

If you've bought your "décimos" for this years' Spanish Christmas Lottery, I wish you the best of luck. If not, enjoy watching it live for awhile. Sure, the repetition can get boring - I understand that - but the most fun comes NOT from watching the actual numbers chosen but the celebrations of the winners which usually takes place towards the end of the lottery or just afterwards. Then, you see people in bars with COPIES of their winning tickets, being showered with bottles of (cheap?) champagne, dancing among their (new) best friends or (now) close relatives. I also like the interviews during the lottery of people in the street telling what they would do should they win. The answers are almost identical every year; they'd buy a new house or pay off the old one, they'd quit their jobs, they'd pay bills, they'd help family and those less fortunate, and on and on. What I'd like to see are stories about past winners and how their lives actually changed with their new-found wealth. Did they really pay off the house? Did they really give money to poorer family members? Did the money make them crazy? Did they become cocaine addicts? Did they squander it all? Or did they start companies or invest it wisely for their future and the future generations?

Be sure to check back here on Tuesday for an UPDATE of the day's lottery drawings!

Useful/Interesting Links regarding Spain's Christmas Lottery:

"Spain's Christmas Lottery is still 'El Gordo'", 2009 article, in English, by Cristina Mateo-Yanguas.
"Asi es el Sorteo de "El Gordo": Graphical step-by-step procedure, IN SPANISH, of lottery number selection.
LOTTERY NUMBER CHECK and Christmas Lottery articles at ElPais.com (in Spanish).
elGordo.com: Check lottery ticket numbers (in Spanish) as well as BUY lottery tickets online.

MadridMan's 2008 Blog Entry about Spain's Christmas Lottery
MadridMan's 2007 Blog Entry about Spain's Christmas Lottery

People tend NOT to go out on very cold weekend nights. Well, that's what I thought. Sure, the terrazas were put away and few people were walking in the streets but the bars I saw were packed!

I was sitting home, feeling kind of bored and lonely, and just up-and-decided I'd go downtown. Plus, I was hungry and really had a craving for morcilla. It's been so long since I've had some. I asked a few people if they'd like to accompany and they all (okay, I only asked one person) said, "No way! It's too cold. Better to stay home." NOPE!

So I put on my shoes and coat and went down to catch the bus right at 10pm. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long although it's not ALL THAT cold, at least not for a Midwestern USA boy. "This ain't nuttin'!"

The bus dropped me off at its end-point, next to the Plaza de Oriente, Opera, Palacio Real and I made my way towards the streets between it and the Plaza de Santo Domingo - and there are LOTS. I chose one bar on the corner of Calle de San Martín and Calle de las Navas de Tolosa called "Restaurante Cervecería Doña Juana" - right across the street from the VALOR "chocolate" shop. Doña Juana was one of the few which had space at their bar and so I entered and ordered a beer, got a free tapa of salchichón on bread. Then I ordered a single, FAT croqueta de jamón and a "pincho de morcilla", which was 4 slices with bread for roughly 2.50€. Good stuff. Another caña and a plate of green olives accompanied it. A crowd of 20-somethings came in, all wearing Santa Claus hats, boisterous but friendly, and crowded around me. I was finished anyway so I decided to try someplace else.

I walked two doors downhill on the same Calle de San Martín to the Restaurante Mesón Las Descalzas. They too had the bar wide open and only one table occupied with a bunch of other 20-somethings. So I grabbed a stool, ordered a caña, and got the free tapa of black olives this time. Looking over the sign behind the bar I decided on the pincho de moruno (2.80€) which is skewered and roasted pork cubes with a slightly spicy sauce. More good stuff. While waiting for it to arrive I noticed the patatas bravas (3.10€) on the board behind the bar and almost wished I'd ordered that instead. So many delicious Spanish foods and so little time and space in my stomach! So then I ordered another caña and got a slice of tortilla de patas as the free tapa. I ate in peace here, watching a bad Hollywood Christmas comedy movie on TV and covertly eavesdropped on the table to 20-somethings until I finished my food.

Watching the clock, it was now about 11:10am and the last bus on my line left Plaza de Oriente at 11:30pm so I paid the bill and made my way back. And wouldn'tcha know it, just as I arrived the second-to-last bus was pulling away so I had to wait in the cold for the next one. Nor problem, jacket unzipped, cool but refreshing after my 4 beers, and a belly full of good, Spanish food.

On the short bus ride home we drove by the Parque de Atenas, the park which is between the Almudena Cathedral and the Puente de Segovia... and it was FULL of youngsters enjoying their Botellón. Man, they must have been A) Crazy, B) Freezing, C) Alcoholics, D) hoping to "hook up", or E) ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Now I'm back home, it's about 12:15am, and I may just go to bed.

Someone once asked me on Facebook, "Why do all your entries have to do with food, wine, and sleeping?" The answer is simple. Are there any better pleasures here in Spain?

While extracted today, a (potentially) 174 year old lead box was discovered about a month ago from the pedestal of the statue of Miguel de Cervantes, author of the famed Don Quijote novel. The Cervantes statue, the first one in Madrid dedicated to an author, is located in Plaza de las Cortes, immediately in front of the Congreso de los Diputados building. This entire area is undergoing extensive construction to build a new underground parking garage. Part of the public works also encompass the plaza and statue.

The "Time Capsule", as it's being dubbed, could date back to 1835, the year the statue was erected - albeit originally erected 20 meters away in the same plaza. The box has not yet been opened but will probably be examined in the next week under controlled conditions at the Regional Archaeological Museum laboratory in Alcalá de Henares, where, coincidentally, is where Cervantes was born in 1547. Curiously, the lead box was the innermost of three; the outermost being of granite and then one of wood.

This, while minor in the scheme of world events, is absolutely intriguing to me and apparently to many others as well. Can't wait to read/see what was inside from so long ago. Everyone loves the thought of finding a treasure chest with unknown riches inside.

In fact, other "treasure chests" have been found in Madrid. During the year's long (and ongoing) construction & renovation of the Plaza de Isabel II (a.k.a. Plaza de Ópera), the statue of Queen Isabel II also contained a box of ancient artifacts including coins, documents of the time, and a copy of the act of the statue's placement among other objects.

So the mystery continues until they open "Cervantes' Secret" for the world to see. Is it a hoax? Is it newer than anyone expects? Is the box empty? Or maybe it contains the original manuscript of Don Quixote, written in the hand of Miguel de Cervantes himself!? (doubt this last one, but wouldn't that be cool!?)



Related Articles (in Spanish):
ABC.es: La <<Cápsula del Tiempo>> de Cervantes
Europa Press: Patrimonio extrae una 'cápsula del tiempo' de 1835 enterrado bajo la estatua de Cervantes

CONTENTS UPDATE: 18 December 2009

Today, the contents of the mysterious "lead box" time capsule was revealed to the public - as was its verified date of placement in the statue. It contained:

• 4 volumes of Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quijote" from 1819
• a Royal statute of the King's court of 1834
  
• a book about Cervantes' life
• legislative texts
• manuscripts (of what, we don't know)
• portraits of important people of the era

Interestingly, the above documents were inside a thin, sealed glass box immediately inside the lead box. Finding nearly 200 year old volumes, original or not, of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote is really something. Now we only have to wonder if the documents will be replaced into the statue - as in the case of the "Time Capsule" in the statue of Queen Isabell II in the Plaza de Opera - or be guarded in a museum for all to see. I'll bet the latter.

I have to admit that while an interesting a historical find, it's far from an archaeological find in my opinion. I don't know. I guess was hoping for something more, well, exciting.

Article links about the contents:
El País newspaper: Los secretos de la 'cápsula del tiempo'
El Mundo newspaper: Cuatro tomas del Quijote de 1819 y otros textos en la cápsula del tiempo

So that's that. Mystery solved.

When I went to bed last night I looked out my balcony window towards the south and saw a long line of thick clouds approaching, slowly covering the otherwise clear skies. Much was said on the radio, TV, and online about this morning's snowfall but I gave it little heed. It SO RARELY snows in Madrid, even in the winter and here we are still in autumn.

But sure enough it came. I woke up at 7am to not only see a totally overcast sky but also little snowflakes visible under the street lights as well as some dark-colored cars covered with the powdery stuff. I guess winter is upon us, albeit early.

Little else was discussed on Telemadrid's morning show from 9:30am to noon. In communities like Madrid, where it almost never snows anymore, a few flakes throw the otherwise fair-weather drivers into a panic, causing accidents, traffic jams, and a lot of people late to work.

Sadly, for me, the sun came out late in the morning, revealing the more typically clear, blue Madrid skies and melting what little snow had fallen.

See the EuropaPress YouTube video below of this morning's snowfall in Madrid (in Spanish).

On Friday, 11 December 2009, I attended the day-long Madrid Travelthink 2009 conference in one of the upstairs theater rooms at the Reina Sofia Museum, across from Madrid's Atocha train station. The new addition to old museum is very nice, modern, and the outward portions are full of light via its glass & steel exterior.

Madrid Travelthink is an annual conference, its third, to help educate travel professionals in how to better promote Madrid as a tourism destination using, mainly, the Internet and all that which is now available to "get the word out". Google Spain, esMadrid, and the City of Madrid sponsored the event.

Last year I wrote a somewhat steamy blog entry about Madrid Travelthink 2008 event entitled, "Conference: Time of Crisis in the Tourism Sector". There, I detailed the aim of the conference while obviously upset that the organizers, the City of Madrid, would dare charge 75 Euros to those wanting to learn how to better promote it. Sure, they included a large meal, coffee breaks with snacks, and who-knows-what treasures in their "goody bag" to those attending. But come on. That's just wrong. I registered but never attended & didn't pay the 75 Euros. I even wrote a detailed comment on their website, in Spanish, that it should be open to the public as well as be broadcast live on the Internet. Afterall, we whom promote Madrid are doing THE CITY a favor, not the other way around. We travel professionals take a small percentage of that which is gained in tourism Euros and the rest goes to city businesses. Madrid should be sending us Christmas baskets, for crying out loud.
<end rant>

This year, smartly, they charged nothing to the approximately 440 people whom were lucky enough to get passes to the quickly "sold-out" event - although about half the seats were empty. And also, wonderfully and for the first time, they offered the event to the public via live Internet broadcast through their website. Unfortunately, it seems they haven't (yet?) posted videos. Comparing this year's Madrid Travelthink to last year's, it seems this year's was a greatly scaled-back conference in a smaller venue, maybe for the economic crisis or maybe because of demand. Who knows.

It is my presumption that Madrid Travelthink is aimed mainly towards traditional travel agents and not those already using the Internet to any great degree. I say this because everything discussed as useful promotional tools (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google AdWords) were already known & utilized by me. No secrets were divulged by the success-story speakers of TripAdvisor, Google/YouTube, Air Berlin & Vueling whom all mainly shared their business models & showed corporate growth charts. I was hoping for more details about web design, visitor demographics, and maybe some other insightful, cutting-edge nuggets of tourism gold. If only there existed something for those of us in "The Next Stage" of tourism, for those of us further along.

Many of you will read the above paragraph and say, "But MadridMan! If you're already doing all of the above, why aren't you even one-millionth as successful as those companies you mention above?" That's a fair question. The only answer I can give is that, by contrast, MadridMan is a one-man-show and doesn't have a staff of ten thousand or even five hundred as do those corporations. I do what I can as time allows it.

I was very impressed with the efforts made to make the conference very "technological", passing out headphones for translated versions, remote control voting devices, big-screen projection, and a nice split-stage setting with a common seating area, interview area, and podium. All very nice. Oddly though, at least one or two of the heads in the common seating area (see photo above) were only visible from the back while they were discussing topics among themselves. Unfortunately for the translating device they only worked for English portions translated into Spanish and not for Spanish portions translated into English so I never used mine. As for the remote control voting devices for polling the audience, these were cool for real-time voting but didn't work for the second session and these devices were constantly being dropped with an loud, interruptive "THONK!" at least 30 times during the before-lunch break at 2:30pm. And many times the microphones didn't work or were under-volumed, causing the audience to shout, "We can hear you!"

I was, however, impressed with the people in attendance! Wow. At least 90% of the men were in suits and ties. The women were stylishly & professionally dressed. There were also a small few, like me, casually dressed in jeans, button-down shirt, and old leather shoes. Only the camera and audio guys were dressed worse than me. Men-to-women ratio was about 50/50 and the average age may have been about 45 years old.

To sum-up, Madrid Travelthink is a useful conference to answer questions, address doubts, educate traditional travel professionals, and to confirm the importance of the Internet to convey information to the public. The book they gave us about the history of Gran Vía during the years of 1910-1935 is very interesting.

Perhaps I seem to be too harsh on Madrid TravelThink but I don't mean to be. One should always express the positives while carefully mentioning the negatives without appearing critical. It's just that we all have different expectations & view things from different perspectives. Surely many of those in attendance were better educated with every breath. I'm looking forward to the possibility of a "next level" of travel & tourism promotion.

Real Madrid travels to very hostile territory in Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadium on Sunday, 29 November 2009 (7pm local time) to face FC Barcelona in "El Clásico: Part 1" for the current season. Real Madrid hopes to have their 29-year old would-be star, Cristiano Ronaldo, back on the field after a 11-game injury hiatus to make good on his status as "the most expensive football player in the world". Even if he returns for this important match it's not likely he'll be much of a factor until he's at 100% once again.

Barça will have its work cut out for them even though they claim home field advantage. No doubt thestands at Camp Nou Stadium will be filled to capacity as this is one of the greatest matchups in Spanish soccer's history, no matter the standing of the teams playing. Both Barcelona & Real Madrid are at the top of the Primera División statistics, Real Madrid with a slight lead over number two FC Barcelona.

Real Madrid needs this win not only to further secure their position at the top of the league but also so revenge late last season's 6-2 loss to Barcelona in Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.


"How can I listen to the Real Madrid - Barcelona football game online?"
Answer: Go to MadridMan's Madrid Radio, TV, Music & Movies Page or BarcelonaMan's Barcelona Radio page for a number of links to radio stations which may broadcast the game online. Best bets include Radio Nacional de España, Radio Marca, and some of the Barcelona-based radio stations too. Keep in mind that the stations broadcast in SPANISH or Catalán.


"How can I watch the Real Madrid - Barcelona football game online?"
Answer: That's tougher. Due to copyright laws and the like you really can't. BUT....., I saw some mention on another website about the possibility of finding it (and others) broadcast online through UStream.TV and Justin.TV. I don't know if you really should - but that's for your conscience to decide. Personally, I wouldn't do it but... I'm just sayin'.


"How can I watch the Real Madrid - Barcelona football game on TV?"
Answer: Check GOLTV or Canal+. Chances are excellent that it'll be a Pay-Per-View broadcast as it was last season when they charged 12 Euros to watch on TV.


Who to cheer for? Who do you like? Who's your daddy? Or do you care at all??

"The American Store" in Madrid is great. They have absolutely everything - WHEN they have it, that is.

I took the 30-minute walk+metro+walk trip to the store next to the Hospital Clínico San Carlos today (metro Moncloa), all bubbly and confident that I was going to get my Thanksgiving Day supplies - ONLY to be PYSCHED!! I did call beforehand, sure, to see that they'd be open, but that's all.

Oddly and wonderfully enough, they don't close during the lunch hours so that's cool, I went just after lunch. No problem. But when I arrived, after taking a tour of the construction site of El Faro de Moncloa, I found they had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for Thanksgiving Day.

Last year I went there and stocked-up on all their goodies for Thanksgiving Day, no problem, but this year the clerk said they were sold out but expected a new shipment - LATER THIS WEEK. That's great, but.... Thanksgiving Day is... errr.. ummm.. THURSDAY!!

They had no pumpkin pie mix, no cranberry sauce, no stuffing, and not pancake mix or syrup, of which I was also super low at home. But nothing for Thanksgiving apart from a few graham cracker pie shells, turkey gravy mix, and the turkey baking bags - which I used last year to disastrous results.

So I guess I'll simply call before making the trip next time - AFTER Thanksgiving. What a shame. I'm hosting a bunch-o-Spaniards for Thanksgiving Day - the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving Day weekend and, as usual, I'll be the ONLY American in attendance - and I'll be doing ALL the cooking, too!

Happy Thanksgiving Day, Americans! If you're home with family, great. If you're abroad, just make the most of it and spend the day with people you love.

Fear stimulates the economy - and the H1N1 Swine Flu virus "pandemic" scare is helping a lot during this worldwide economic crisis. In other times wars were started to pull us out of recession and put people to work.

The big "winners" of such a scare are the pharmaceutical companies. Other big winners are the media outlets themselves, many of which have never had higher TV ratings, higher newspaper sales, or greater circulation. Secondary winners go to those in the health care-related industry, whether privately or publicly driven institutions, hiring more personnel, opening up new health centers under the guise of "Better Serving Joe Citizen", and justifying already bloated budgets. Other "winners" include companies producing health-related products like anti-bacterial hand cleansers. Consumer Reports itself that "Antibacterial soaps do not kill viruses":

Washing your hands frequently with regular soap and water is important to help prevent the spread of germs.  But while antibacterial products may seem like a stronger cleaning option, they are no more effective in cleaning your hands than regular soap and water--and they do not kill viruses like H1N1 (swine) flu.

Just in the last few months I've started to see antibacterial gels being sold at the end-caps and check-out lanes at supermarkets. And these gels are expensive!!! The same gels being sold in the USA are a tiny fraction of the cost. Why is that? Because people are afraid. And when people are afraid, no price is too high for security. Unfortunately, poor education and overzealous media have convinced us that washing your hands - and frequently - can help slow or stop the spread or contraction of the "Gripe A" or Swine Flu here in Spain.

Reports estimate the risks to pregnant women contracting Swine Flu is 1 in 300,000. One friend in the USA told me two pregnant women in her community died from Swine Flu. That is truly terrible. She didn't know if H1F1 virus was confirmed via an autopsy or before death, but I wondered if these same women would have died had they contracted the typical seasonal flu virus. I also wondered if these same women had been vaccinated - during pregnancy - with one of these new vaccines to supposedly ward off the H1F1 virus. If so, this may also have explained their death as vaccinations of any kind for pregnant women can be very dangerous.

The media jumps all over scares such as these and the public eats it up with a big spoon. There are constant, long-length coverage, discussions, and debates on this topic and all their "experts" seem to be on the same page. So you might say, "If everyone (on TV) agrees, how could it be anything but the truth?" This is an excellent question.

A nurse friend of mine at a local Madrid hospital told me just last night that there's a great increase of people in their waiting rooms, presumably scared to death they've contracted the Swine Flu after their first cough, when few - or none - actually have it. She also told me that even the doctors at that hospital have commented that all the "special scare" is for nothing, that those who may die from the "Gripe A" typically die because they have some pre-existing health condition which lowers their ability to fend off the flu, ANY FLU, not just the H1N1 flu. People with "normal defenses" will get over this flu in 3 days and be good as new, just like any other flu. Still, the public is taking Swine Flu in Spain very seriously.

The U.S. Government bought 140 Million Units of the vaccine to fight what could be (or could have been) a serious epidemic/pandemic. I don't have any problem in being prepared. But then they realized the seriousness of the H1N1 Virus was no where near the original apocalyptic estimates.

There have been fewer deaths from any flu this year than last year. In terms of flu, this has been one of the mildest flus ever recorded. So far, 5,400 people have died from this flu - out of 7 Billion people on the planet.

Take a look at the 9, 10-minute videos below of Dr. Mercola's Swine Flu Interview with Dr. Blaylock either below or, even better, on his article posted just today entitled, "Swine Flu: One of the Most Massive Cover-ups in American History". Better to watch the video on his website than via YouTube.com because the videos on YouTube is confusing and all 9-parts don't seem to be available. Listening to 90-minutes of video on this topic sounds boring but it's extremely enlightening. You might think, "How could HE be right about all this and go against common public perception?" Another good question. But would he have to gain by this? It couldn't be financial gain. Popularity? Maybe. Get more "hits" on his website? Possibly.
 

Regarding vaccines in general and including the H1N1 vaccine, Dr. Blaylock states, "

If there's something I love it's cool, fresh air late at night. Sure, it's only about midnight here in Madrid but after the recent time change it seems even later. And now that we're well into autumn the night time low temperatures are lower and the typically nonexistent humidity is even less nonexistent. Say, is it possible to be less than non-existent? Regardless, the skies are clear and the stars are staring down at me as bright as can be.

That's why I love autumn and even winter - particularly when the heat's turned off. In the USA, and many other parts of the world, when the heat's turned on for the autumn/winter it's on until late spring and no one would think to open the windows in order to NOT let the heat out. But since I haven't turned on the heat yet - and don't expect to in the next month or so - I can open my windows at any time I want. Ah yes, freedom from fossil fuels.

During the colder months, most people in Spain whom have the typical radiator heat only turn it on during the day and then turn it off at night. This is in contrast to most Americans whom turn it on during the day but only turn down the thermostat during the nighttime. Here, it's either ON or it's OFF, no thermostat and no timers. Many of the "oldsters" still have the round radiator under the bedspread-covered table, they drape the cover over the legs and keep themselves toasty-warm as they talk, eat, or watch TV. These heaters are becoming less and less common as more and more people have radiators and, in a few cases, central heating throughout their homes.

That's why I love living here, in part. I'm free to experience cool weather. Back when I was living in a my Ohio apartments I was ultra-conscious of retaining my heat. I'd slap those sheets of plastic over my windows, get out the hair dryer to make it taught, and waste away in my recycled air all winter long. Not here, baby. Here, I can open my windows whenever I want for a deep, clear breath.

As I write this I have the windows open in the entire house and it's roughly 55ºC outside, fresh air gently blowing across me. Ahhhh, that's nice. I love it.

Only for a few weeks in the "dead" of winter (late January and early February) do I really feel "cold". These are usually the days when I have the house cleaned and all the windows are open during the morning hours. It's great - but it's cold. As someone once said, you can always put more clothes on to stay warm but you can only take off so much clothing to get cool.

So fresh and crisp, this air. I just love it.

Today's Halloween, we've already changed our clocks back 1-hour, and the temperatures are getting a little cooler - but only a little. Some of the leaves have gone from green to brown, seemingly overnight, bypassing the oranges, reds, and yellows we would see in many parts of the USA.

NFL football is in full-swing although it's hard to notice from Madrid. I catch a game or two each week, whether live on Sunday afternoon or as tape-delayed on a weekday, but it's not the same. NCAA football games come and go an there's nary a whisper about them here. I actually had 2 tickets to today's Ohio State University football game against New Mexico State University in Ohio Stadium but sold them to a Columbus friend. I sell my one-game pair of tickets every year as I haven't been in Ohio to see an OSU football game since moving to Spain 4 years ago. I miss my Buckeyes.

By I do love autumn, more so in Ohio than here, but at least the temperatures are cooler since I don't like the heat. Saturdays, one would think, would be a day of rest - but not here. Saturdays are when I sleep only as late as normal (9am), work a little until nearly noon, then go to the market to buy food supplies for my Spanish lunch guests arriving at 2pm. This happens almost every Saturday. I enjoy the company, conversation, and even the cooking - but the lack of house space after the meal prevents a proper siesta, plus there are all those dishes to wash.

October is, by far, my favorite month of the entire year so I'm just a little melancholy to see it go. Growing up in the Midwestern state of Ohio, our autumns are always beautiful with a dozen different leaf colors - both on the trees and as they start to fall to the ground, scattering across the soon-to-be-raked front and back yards. Where I grew up - and where my parents still live - we have several large, mature maple trees surrounding our farm house. The smell of piles of fallen autumn leaves is something one never forgets. By this time of year the fields on two sides of the property have already been harvested of their soy bean or corn plants, providing a clean 100 acre view of field land and exposing the occasional passing deer scavenging for grains.

So autumn is over, although not by the calendar. We'll now turn quickly to winter and a short string of holidays. This is nice to look forward to too. I plan to cook a big Thanksgiving Day feast the weekend before the holiday for Spanish friends just as I did last year - but hope to have learned from that less-than-positive experience. That'll take a good deal of preparation as anyone knows.

Goodbye, October. You'll be missed. But my memories of apple orchards & cider, dressed up Trick-or-Treaters & candy corn, leaf-covered yards & leaf-stuffed scarecrows, and cool, crisp air stay with me.

Don't anyone tell me that Halloween doesn't exist in Spain. IT DOES! And the wave of popularity becomes higher and higher with every passing year - world economic crisis or not. A recent visit to Carrefour Supermarket/Store proved that Spain is very aware of the "holiday". There, they were selling artificial Jack-O-Lanterns with scary faces, Halloween makeup, costumes, loads of accessories and even some candy (although I didn't notice any candy corn).

Nearly every day for the past week there have been daily reports on morning news programs about the upcoming "American Holiday" - as it's often described although it's also actively observed in Britain too. Haunted houses, shops carrying popular costumes, the release of scary movies around the date, and of course the holiday decorations are talked about daily. I've even seen a number of elementary school classes discussing how they're going to dress up on Halloween.

An elementary school teacher friend of mine and I spent hours carving Jack-O-Lanterns for the students, bought decorations for the classroom, and the teacher plans Halloween stories, songs, and projects for the kids - but not TOO scary, mind you.

The older "kids", teens, 20 and 30-somethings, have planned dress-up parties this weekend and no-doubt they'll have fun dressing-up as toreros, witches, ghosts, Frankenstein's monster, and undoubtedly LOTS of Draculas.

Trick-or-Treat doesn't exist here, which is logical to me, as so few people observe this part of the Halloween tradition - and even fewer are aware of it. Imagine the looks neighbors would give the solitary toddler dressed up as Winnie The Pooh, going door to door with his Halloween bag and asking for candy. I'm sure the neighbors might have a few cough drops lying around.

A recent article stated the following:

Spanish Catholic leaders lash out at Halloween
The growing popularity of Halloween is alarming Roman Catholic leaders who blame parents for encouraging children to celebrate death over life. There is a growing "risk" that due to commercial interests "pagan" customs which have been "imported" to Spain will place Christian customs like devotion to saints and praying for the dead. Hollywood is blamed for the spread of Halloween.

Many people are aware that in Mexico they celebrate "Día de los Muertos" ("Day of the Dead") on November 2nd and many believe this is where North America took and modified this ritual to Halloween (note: yes, I'm aware that Mexico is part of North America but I refer to North America north of the Mexican border), combining it with the celebration of the autumnal equinox the Irish immigrants celebrated there.

(Quoted from JackOLanterns.net)

In Spain November 1 has become a public holiday. On All Saints' Day ("Dia de Todos los Santos") Catholics attend church services in honor of the saints, the martyrs and those who have died for the Catholic faith. People may also visit their family's graves to beautify them with wreaths and small lanterns. Sometimes a mass is said at the grave site and the grave sprinkled with holy water.

On November 2 or All Souls' Day, Catholics attend a special Requiem masses, where they remember those who may be close to them that have died. Prayers for the dead are said and votive candles are lit to honor their memory.

In the past 10-15 years in Spain, however, this observance has waned as younger generations become less and less religious - or just want to avoid the traffic. For decades, particularly under the Franco regime, this custom was fervently exercised.

Personally, I'll be "observing" Halloween in my annual manner by watching the 1978 John Carpenter movie "HALLOWEEN" starring Jamie Lee Curtis, with the lights down, a candle lit, and popcorn at the ready.

Saturday night, before going to bed, I was diligent in turning all my clocks back ONE HOUR to conform to the Daylight Savings rule in MOST of the world (minus the USA which has set its own rules and sets back one hour on November 1st).

On Sunday I was watching some live NFL football on Canal+ satellite and, to no surprise, found the timing "off". Even the satellite's clock was off. How can this be possible in today's technological age? Shouldn't the time change be instantaneous? I'm wondering how long it'll be until the Canal+ clock catches up with the actual clock.

So the nights arrive earlier. That's not a big deal. But those first few days, as everyone knows, seem odd. They're getting off work at the same hour and yet it's already SUPER dark outside.

The autumn's back-one-hour schedule isn't as difficult as the springs ahead-one-hour change, in my opinion. How many times did we miss Easter Sunday church services because we forgot to change the clocks ahead one hour and arrived as services ended? Or how many times were we traveling and missed a flight, a bus, or an appointment because we forgot - or didn't realize - the time change? No tellin', Magellan.

But now, it seems, nights fall earlier and earlier, faster and faster. Before you know it it'll be dark by 5pm and we'll feel like we're on the North Pole with 24 hours of nighttime. Madrid has nearly the same longitude as my hometown in north-central Ohio, USA so the hours of light are essentially the same. Fine. But it takes some getting used to with these dark afternoons and early evenings when daylight is short and fleeting.

Sunday nights in Madrid can be pretty relaxed. You know you have to get up early (or not) to work the next day but you still have some wonderful memories of a nice weekend fresh in your mind.

So how does one push forward past the midnight hour, making it officially a Monday morning? I guess it's not easy for many but, fortunately for me, it's never been hard. Sure, I have to go to the gym and catch up on emails and the usual administration stuff but I also have to prepare my 3rd quarter invoices for my accountant (he's Irish, thank goodness).

My mind swims with blog posting ideas, upcoming client contract renewals, and of course the shopping and other daily chores.

Friday afternoon I went to the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid to cheer on/support the 2016 Madrid Olympics Host City Bid, only to lose in the final stage to Rio de Janeiro. They deserved it, I think. The Madrileños were somewhat disappointed but they definitely weren't sulking. They seemed to simply say, "Oh well. That's the way it goes. Shall we go get a beer?" And that was that.

Saturday night I met some total strangers from the message board for drinks at the El Anciano Rey de los Vinos (across the street from the Almudena Cathedral) and from there we went to the Restaurante BelaLúa where we had 10pm reservations. We chose a table on their terraza and enjoyed some GREAT Rioja Reserva wine along with our meals. Some had grilled vegetables while others had the steak and potatoes. We started with some croquets and ham which was really good. After the great meal and the good conversation, we strolled over to the Chocolatería San Gines for some Chocalate con Churros. It was a good night and got back at 2:30am.

So Sunday nights are calm. I'm all alone, had leftover langostinos and Rueda white Spanish wine for dinner, watched NFL football live on Canal+ satellite TV, and now contemplating going to bed with a good book. Tomorrow's another day and it's a new week. Hope we have cool temperatures, too.

This afternoon at about 6pm (Spain time) the announcement will come from Copenhagen regarding the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision of the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics. I hope to be in Madrid's Plaza de Oriente at this time to watch the event with several others on the big screen televisions.

For weeks the media has become ever increasingly saturated with talk about the possibility of Madrid hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. Events have been scheduled and painstakingly executed to display Madrid's and Madrileños' support for the Olympic Games. Millions of Euros have been spent to prove to the IOC - and the world - that Madrid desperately wants to become an Olympic City.

Songs have been sung by Spanish pop stars, well-known athletes have recorded television commercials, and politicians are offering their time as much as possible for magazines, morning talk shows, and interviews to show their support for the games, hoping to convince the IOC of this fact.

Kids are easy to convince of such things. Give them a huge, colorful hand, a T-Shirt or cap to wear and a loud music event and they're happy. Adults are harder to sway. Adults know the costs already spent - and subsequently wasted - on a losing attempt to win the 2012 Olympics, awarded to London with Madrid way back in the voting. Adults know that billions of Euros are at stake if Madrid becomes the focus of the world in 2016, with all its hotels, restaurants, bars, and stores full, not to mention becoming the worldwide focus. They know that money has been invested and spent on infrastructure which will no doubt improve livability in Madrid but which has - and will - cause traffic and construction nightmares for years. Years of expense and inconvenience is being invested for a couple months of income. But the long-term result could be much more rewarding.

Barcelona learned in 1992 the long-term benefits of being "An Olympic City" can be lasting, changing the image of a city forever. Barcelona didn't need much help in that area as its always been considered "Cool". Will an Olympic win for Madrid achieve the same result? Will it also win Madrid the respectability it desires and deserves? For now, many people who don't know Spain probably think that Barcelona is the capital of the country. I don't know how many friends of mine, upon telling them I was moving to Spain, first asked me, "Oh really? To Barcelona?" Being chosen as an Olympic City, Barcelona's already solid reputation amazingly improved even more.

Growing up in the USA, during all those years of USA-Russia dominance in the Olympic Games, I loved the track and field competitions. My early physical maturity and talent for running fast helped win me many a race in all grades. Fortunately, I know what it's like to be first running through the finish line in front of thousands of cheering people. Few know this sensation. Watching Olympic track and field events LIVE would be a dream come true for me, and better yet that it's all taking place right here in my back yard. I just hope I can get - AND AFFORD - the tickets.

Today, in Madrid's Plaza de Oriente, between the Teatro Real and the Royal Palace, the event has already started. The plaza has been transformed and ready to receive the thousands of hopeful Madrileños and Spaniards to watch on the big screen the vote and subsequent IOC decision in Copenhagen for the 2016 Olympic Games. Will it be Madrid? Or will it be Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, or Tokyo. Time - and the votes - will tell. We'll all know by 6:15pm local time.

The Green Day concert in Madrid, Spain last Tuesday was a lot of fun - and just 1 day earlier I didn't even know I'd be attending the sold-out show. I'd seen Green Day 15 years earlier in the small venue of "The Newport Music Hall" in Columbus, Ohio USA for their "Dookie" tour. This time around, promoting their new CD "21st Century Breakdown", I wasn't nearly as close, probably just past the half-way point of the large Palacio de Deportes. I couldn't see their faces but their energy was no less evident.

Green Day, and particularly its lead singer Billie Joe in his endless energy, jumped off short-stack speakers, leaned into hard-driving guitar riffs, and entertained the crowd for more than 2 hours which included two encores, the last of which featured only Billie Joe singing "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". The place was packed with Spaniards and even a few English-speakers.

The band played several of their songs from the new "21st Century Breakdown" CD which, surprisingly to me, MANY of the Spaniards surrounding me already knew the lyrics and sang along as best they could. Getting past those, and delving into the "classic" Green Day songs, was when the crown went wild.

A mix of background skyline lights, epileptic-inducing flashing symbols & provocative video, and even some pyrotechnics kept the sold-out crown on their feet and, in many cases, standing ON TOP OF their fold-down chairs (like those annoying teenage girls directly in front of us!).

The music was loud, but not TOO loud from my place in the arena, and I didn't notice a VERY loud buzzing noise in my ears upon laying me down to bed that night. Live video of the performers gave an up close view of action on screen and in the crowds and it was only then that we can see Billie Joe's tattoos and how much he was sweating.

There was no warm-up band but that didn't seem to bother the crowd, waiting patiently until the the action started at about 8:30pm. They involved the fans too - probably a bit too much. During many songs the audience was invited to sing choruses - instead of Billie Joe doing so himself, which bothered me to the point that I was left feeling that we sang more than he did on some of my favorite songs. In addition, 4 different persons were invited onstage to "participate". Billie Joe found a girl near the stage, asked her if she swore she knew the words to the song, she swore, and was hoisted up. She got the microphone and preceded to shout nonsensical lyrics for about 2 minutes, after which Billie Joe took the microphone and sent her off the stage with a "You Suck!" The next girl also swore she knew the lyrics, and she did know more, but couldn't carry a tune to save her life. For honorable mention she was "invited" to do a "Stage Dive" into the huge mosh pit below. A small boy was invited onto the stage to simply swing his arms back and forth and I was thinking, "Oh my. I hope they don't ask him to dive off into the crowd too. Imagine the lawsuit." He didn't and was sent back to his daddy. For yet another song, Billie Joe asked if anyone could play the guitar, ALL HANDS WENT UP and I thought, "Oh gee. This is going to be a disaster!" A young, lucky Spaniard wearing an "American Idiot" T-shirt was chosen. Billie Joe shouted something into his ear and flung the guitar strap over the kid's shoulders and the band played on - AND THE KID ROCKED THE HOUSE! I was shocked, he played well, with passion and confidence, and really seemed to know the song by heart as Billie Joe sang.

What amazed me most was that these Spaniards surrounding me REALLY knew the lyrics to these songs and many of them were young! Who knows how fluent in English they were or if they even knew the meanings of the words, but they could certainly sing them! These were true Green Day fans, to be sure.

I, MadridMan, haven't "let loose" or "lost control" in the last 15 years, age and maturity taking their toll. But for a few sporadic moments at the Green Day concert I felt as if I'd left my body, lost control, and scraped the edges of those youthful days dancing like an inebriated wild man at college clubs. (The Newport Music Hall, near the Ohio State University campus, being one of them) It was a good feeling, somewhat scary, and quickly reeled myself back in. It was like a flash of light of what it was to be young, untethered, and rebellious once again.

So HOW did I get so lucky to go to the Sold Out Green Day Concert in Madrid? The day before the concert I noticed a posting on a forum I frequent - but not my own. The woman from Liverpool (England) said she was flying to Madrid the next day and had an extra ticket that would go to waste if she couldn't find a taker. I was the first to reply to her posting. She contacted me via email and said she didn't want ANYTHING for the ticket! I met her the evening of her concert at her hotel and we walked the 8 blocks to the Palacio de Deportes venue, getting to know each other along the way. My Spanish came in handy in collecting the tickets, finding the line where we were supposed to enter, and finding our seats with the help of a nice usher. Being the gentleman that I am, I escorted her back to her hotel, thanked her for the 10th time for the ticket, and got home around 12:30am.

The serendipitous concert invitation was one for the books. When does this ever really happen to us? Rarely! But this time I won the lottery. (although I'd rather actually have won the lottery)


("Welcome to Paradise" video from independent videographer at the Madrid concert - NOT MY VIDEO)

At about 10:30am this morning, Madrid's city symbol, "El Oso y el Madroño" (bear and the berry tree), was moved to a new location in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. Actually, it has returned to its ORIGINAL location where it stood from 1967 to 1984. Its re-placement returned it to the eastern end of the Puerta del Sol where the Calle de Alcalá meets Sol, just in front and to the left of the Tío Pepe sign.

Last Tuesday, I witnessed the removal of the bear statue (see my video below-the first one), designed by Antonio Navarro, where the Calle de Carmen meets Puerta del Sol; its 25 year home. People gathered for hours watching the detachment of the bear statue from its pedestal where so many millions of photos had had their photos taken. I had the perfect vantage point, relaxing at the edge of the terraza of the Hotel Europa with a coffee and slice of "tortilla de patata". It was this terraza and hotel whose sign had been in the background of so many photos of the Bear and the Berry Tree.



So why was the statue moved from one place to another in the Puerta del Sol? Officials claim the move would help alleviate foot traffic from where the pedestrian Calle del Carmen meets Sol. I guess this could be true, lots of people and street performers did gather there for photos, creating a bottleneck. But what better marketing symbol could anyone wish than to have Madrid's city symbol on your shop's street, bringing millions of people to this point which may otherwise not come? Surely the Hotel Europe's terraza (and maybe hotel) business will see some decline in overall income.

I understand why they chose to the new location, roughly 50 meters away and below the Tío Pepe sign as it was the original location of the Oso y el Madroño statue. Returning things to their original place is always historically correct. But apart from its shape, the Puerta del Sol is nothing like it was in 1967 when the Bear statue was originally inaugurated and they're not likely to return SOL to its original state. In 1984 the Puerta del Sol was a congested, busy, traffic filled plaza with several bus stops just in front of where the bear used to stand. Now, the finishing touches are being put on the nearly-totally pedestrian Puerta del Sol. This, I think, is a good thing. The Puerta del Sol has been a construction site for the past 5 years, since before I moved to Madrid, and everyone is tired of it. Imagine the millions of tourists whom made their once-in-a-lifetime trip to Madrid to find it in this state.

El Oso y el Madroño has always been a meeting point for Madrileños and for tourists but I imagine tourists always had more difficulty finding it in the busy plaza than did the natives. The statue itself is relatively small, possibly only 1.5-2 meters tall but standing on a pedestal of equal size. And, where it was at the Calle del Carmen, it was dwarfed by the tall buildings surrounding it. Now, at least, it's more out in the open.

My only qualms about its new location on the Puerta del Sol - where the Calle de Alcalá meets SOL - is that there is through-traffic between it and the building which holds-up the grand Tío Pepe sign. This can create problems for not the people having their photo taken below the statue but for the people actually taking the picture! Imagine backing up, backing up, and backing up more to get the best panoramic photo only to find a huge, honking bus "bearing" down on you as it makes the turn from the Calle de Alcalá to the Carrera de San Jerónimo. The perspective is still nice, however, with the Puerta del Sol in the background, having the Comunidad de Madrid building on the left, the sky in the middle, and, well, buildings to the right too. From the other side the perspective is not nearly as nice, with the Calle de Alcalá (and oncoming traffic) in the background.

Change, regardless of its form, is often accompanied by a certain degree of melancholy. I'll miss "El Oso y el Madroño" in its "original" (original to me, that is) position, the place where I've always known it since my first visit to Madrid in 1995. More changes are coming to Madrid's Puerta del Sol and I'll write about those in the days to come.

This statue was among the first things I saw upon visiting Madrid for the first time in 1995. Madrileños are so proud of their city and monuments its no wonder this bear statue was chosen as meeting point. "Meet me at 8:30 at the bear statue and we'll go on for drinks from there."

How many times have I had my photo taken at the famous bear statue in Madrid? COUNTLESS! Here's the latest - AND LAST - photo of me, taken just last June 2009.

I'll miss the bear in its old location at the mouth of the Calle del Carmen on Madrid's Puerta del Sol. It seemed to be so cozy there. But like everything, new first-time memories are created as time marches on and new photos of tourists in front of "El Oso" at its new location will flood the internet, further erasing our memories of how things used to be.


What do YOU think about the change in location of the Bear and the Berry tree?

Tomorrow - or today - is the last day of summer vacation in Spain and in many European countries. Today is the 31st of August and many Spaniards have been on holiday the entire month, facing not only return traffic but also the stressful first-day-back to work. Traffic is tough but returning to work after a one month break is quite another thing.

Personally, I don't know what all the fuss is about - but I realize I'm in the vast minority of those whom feel this way.

I'm tired of finding my neighborhood stores, bars, and restaurants closed. Sure, the owners and workers of those stores really do deserve a much-needed break but when you want that roasted chicken, churros from your favorite bar, fresh made potato chips from the Fabrica de Patatas Fritas, or need a new mattress and you find these places closed, well, all you can do is bite your lip and make do until 1 September 2009.

It's great to have less traffic and fewer pedestrians in Madrid and you find many of those bars and restaurants - which stayed open - nearly empty. THAT is nice. The terrazas still seem as full as ever, however. Apart from closed businesses, the number of public works projects, construction, and renovation of streets and sidewalks can be particularly bothersome for the driver or pedestrian.

These days on the internet, in chat rooms, on message boards, Facebook and Twitter, you see a lot of people complaining about having to start working again. It's always hard to "reincorporate yourself" after a long period of time. I get that. But Madrid isn't Madrid without a lot of people, lots of movida and activity, and everything open!

So for me, I'm HAPPY all my friends are home again. I missed them! I'm also happy to have my Madrid back. Maybe I'll change my tune when I'm waiting in long lines at the cinema or dodging cars at the crosswalk.

It was an odd morning this Saturday morning. I got up late, had breakfast, showered, and went out to do the morning shopping at around noon. I first went to the pollería (chicken shop) and found it oddly closed. They're always open on Saturday mornings until 2pm but maybe they closed for summer vacation as so many shops do.

Next, went to Juteco, a shop which sells toiletries, perfumes, kitchen items, etcetera. It was closed too and with the protective metal blinds pulled to the bottom. HUH! They are usually open until 2pm. Vacation? A chain store like this?

So I went to one of the markets. Closed. Vacation? The other market was closed too. Also on vacation? Shouldn't they coordinate their closings to accommodate the neighborhood people?? Hmmm.. I even went to TWO supermarkets and found them closed as well, shuttered and fortified. This is getting weird.

What am I going to have for lunch? My idea to make chicken flew out the window like a wounded duck. And how am I going to shower? I don't have enough shower gel to get me through the weekend and the stores are all closed tomorrow too. Will I die here sweaty and starved? What gives?

Answer: Today, Saturday 15 August is Madrid's Virgen's Day, la Virgen de la Paloma, and so everything is closed. DUH! I knew that but, as I've mentioned before, many Spanish holidays don't dawn on me until something like today happens.

Everything is closed except: Chinese food restaurants, Kebop Restaurants, and Chinese convenience stores. So I got Chinese food for lunch - and will likely have the same thing tomorrow unless I decide on a TelePizza.

The annual August Fiestas de la Paloma takes place in the area of downtown Madrid known as "Madrid de los Austrias", and more specifically around the Plaza de la Paja, Las Vistillas with views of the Almudena Cathedral, the Calle de la Paloma, and, of course, the Paloma Church. "La Paloma" is Madrid's "Virgin".

It's a weeklong affair with its high-point on Saturday, August  15th with the Virgen de La Paloma procession starting at the (Church) Iglesia de la Paloma, taking the following path: Iglesia de la Virgen de La Paloma, Gran Vía de San Francisco, Puerta de Toledo, Calle Toledo, Plaza de la Cebada, Carrera de San Francisco, Puerta de Moros, Carrera de San Francisco, Calle Calatrava, Calle Paloma, Iglesia de la Virgen de La Paloma.
Acompañamiento Musical a cargo de las Bandas Sinfónicas "Unión Musical de Pozuelo de Alarcón" y " Tempo Allegro".

Many of Madrid's older folks, young children, and just a few others dress totally "Castizo" - in traditional Madrid costume. The kids are adorable as are the the older folks, the only ones left who know how to dance the "Chotis", make for an interesting, eye-catching display along the streets of Madrid.

Tonight I was in the Plaza de la Paja for the judging of 4 Spanish fans. All four were many years old; 50 years old in one case, and all beautifully hand painted. The four were presented by their owners, 2 of which were dressed as "Chalupas" - traditional female castiza costume. Oddly enough to me, the results won't be revealed until tomorrow night at, of all hours, 11pm (!!) in the same Plaza de la Paja. Ooooookay! I'll be sure to be downtown for THAT! Uh-huh. Somewhat sadly, there were only about 50 people onhand for the event.

I also made my way over to Las Vistillas for the beginning of the a number of dances performed by "chulapos" and "chulapas" (men and women dressed in traditional Madrid "castizo" costume). The first song to which they danced the "el chotis" was, OF COURSE, "Madrid, Madrid, Madrid" - see video below!!



Views of the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains and the Almudena Cathedral was really breathtaking at sunset. I sat on the fencing which bordered the slope down to the Calle de Segovia for a good look. Although it was quite warm, lots of people were lounging on the green, grassy slope, taking in the sunset, doing a little smooching with their couple, and others were just drinking a few beers.

Things really just start heating up by 10pm in "Las Vistillas" for the "Verbena" (party) - about the time I left!

When you approach "Las Vistillas" you almost think you're at a typical county fair in small town USA but you're not, you're in the heart of Madrid, Spain. But instead of funnel cakes, hot dogs, and cotton candy, they mobile stands are selling churros and porras, as well as paella, chorizo, patatas bravas, calamares, chopitos, and on and on - typical Spanish cuisine but the mobile stands looks the same!

Las Fiestas de la Paloma are a VERY Spanish festival - few non-Spaniards attend except for the Latin Americans which seem to love such events and turn out in full force. But the majority of the spectators are Spanish. VERY few tourists are even aware of it and fewer venture outside of the Puerta del Sol-Plaza Mayor zones and into the "fringe" Madrid de los Austrias anyway.

Tomorrow, I hope to TRY to see the procession of La Paloma but it's usually so darn crowded that you can't see anything. I did go a few years ago with one of our message board members and were actually able to enter the La Paloma Church just before the procession started to see the virgin.

54 year old American Robert Todd W. attempted to smuggle more than 4 Kilos of cocaine through Madrid Barajas Airport today but was detained by police. The American arrived at Barajas from a flight originating from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Apparently he had several packs of cocaine wrapped under his belt as well as attached to his legs and thighs under several layers of woman's girdles.

The economic crisis will make smart people do stupid things - or maybe they are simply stupid. Who knows, maybe this guy had lost much of his retirement savings in the last year, lost his job and had a mortgage to pay, was a drug addict himself, or was simply tricked into thinking it would be easy to get past those dope-sniffing dogs at a major airport like Barajas. I suppose a percentage of drugs do get through security, possibly a high enough percentage to urge drug dealers to continue. But what do they care? It's not (usually) the drug dealers who get caught wearing woman's girdles and forced to a full-body (and cavity) strip search by overzealous, latex-glove wearing sadist.

I'm not forgiving stupidity, that's for sure, but really. These guys should know better. I could almost understand if they were young, late teens, or even 20-somethings. But past that, well, come on.

There's a very interesting program on the National Geographic Channel that I love to catch called "Locked Up Abroad". It's all about this topic - and one episode was just about this. Two 20-something American girls were offered a free trip to exotic Latin America. There, they were promised a week near the beach, fun, dancing, and would later be contacted by the drug dealers. Well, the house was actually in the jungle somewhere, cut off from everyone. They were basically held prisoner, had no car, no phone, and were left alone the entire week until their contacts arrived. The dealers/kidnappers forced the girls to put on two sets of girdles into which they stuffed full of drugs, causing them to walk funny. To make a long story short, the girls were about to board a plane to Bangladesh (or somewhere) when they were indeed caught and sent to a local prison for a number of years, barely surviving some very raw conditions in the overcrowded prison, everyone sleeping on the floor, nothing but rice to eat, and on and on. I don't usually care for re-enactment-type programs but this one is very well done and you almost believe you're watching a television movie-of-the-week. Throughout the re-enactment the actual (and naive) smuggler recounts his/her emotional experiences.

Anyway, very little of this Madrid blog posting has anything to do with Madrid, Spain but the boldness of this presumably mature American man caught my attention. I don't think the prisons in Madrid are particularly known for their roughness. It's my impression that their conditions are much better & safer than at most American prisons, in fact. And food HAS to be better. Who couldn't eat tortilla de patata everyday? Okay, maybe not EVERY day.

This has happened to me more than once - more than 10 times, probably. Yes, the neighbors have seen me naked. This isn't hard to do since the neighbors across the 5 meter-wide side street have windows facing my living room and one bedroom. They can't see into my "sleeping chambers", thank goodness, as it's on the OTHER side of the house, so I do have ONE totally private room in the house, along with the kitchen, where no one can see me from any angle.

This is a common (?) occurrence in cities where the streets are narrow and the multi-level building have no where to turn but to face their neighbor. People in New York City probably know what I'm talking about but most others in the USA don't since many of them live in houses with big yards. Even many people in apartments, as I used to have in Columbus, Ohio, may face a large (green) space and no one could see you without binoculars.

But here in Madrid it's common. I see and greet my neighbors daily, open-window to open-window. We talk about the weather, the heat, or discuss some streetside disturbance which happens down below. We even see each other out in the neighborhood doing our shopping and merely exchange greetings in passing but I know they're thinking, "I've seen him naked!".

They have a window and I have an enclosed terraza so oftentimes I pass through the living room and see the neighbor lady leaning on the windowsill and looking skyward. I do the same thing from time to time, just to feel like I'm outdoors a little. Although my terraza window has an all-covering curtain, I most often leave it pushed open to allow light and air to pass through to the house.

So, humans as we are and me as I am - especially when it's hot - I don't usually wear a lot of clothing around the house at any time of the day or night. And on some rare occasions, I don't wear anything - like when I take a shower, when I change out of sweaty gym clothes (ON the terraza), and, well, when I just don't feel like wearing anything.

The neighbors' window is directly about 5-10º higher than mine so they can see down and into my house while I can only see up through theirs, only seeing the ceiling lamp and their heads from the neck up if they're in the middle of their living room. That being the case, they can actually see through my living room and bathroom to the far wall - and can see my knees if I happen to be sitting on the toilet. I know. That's a nice thought, eh? And no, I don't like to shut the bathroom door in my own house if I'm alone. In these situations, if I happen to see the neighbor lady hanging out her window I'll lean over and push the door shut. This hasn't happened to me many times - but it has happened!

MANY times, when I've just come home from the gym, I've peeled off my sweaty clothes on the terraza to hang dry before putting them in the clothes hamper, and look up to see the darting eyes of the 60-something year old neighbor lady. Funny, I never see her husband or 30-something son ever hanging out the window. Well, sometimes I do but it's rare. In these cases I WILL pull the terraza curtain across to shield me, but if I see their window closed I won't bother and just let the clothes fall where they may. It HAS happened that WHILE I'm taking off said sweaty clothes and my eyes blinded, I hear the familiar noise of the neighbor's window blind rolling up and then, inevitably, the window opening. THAT's when I jump aside, barely out of view.

In summers, as stated above, I'll wear nearly nothing while in the house, usually only boxer shorts. So when I'm watching TV from the couch I feel comfortable because they can't see me from their living room window - BUT CAN FROM THEIR BEDROOM WINDOW! When I hear that window blind rolling up, well, I know then that they're in for a show - so I cross my legs or grab a cushion. Living in big, old, European cities (and some villages) like Madrid forces us to redefine the word "intimacy" - or maybe we just have a different perspective of the word from birth.

Sometimes, when the situation arises, when I'm with Spanish women and, well, they may be changing clothes or just out of the shower, and it seems the neighbors may see them I warn, "Hey! Be careful! The neighbors will see you!!" And their answer is always, "So let them look. Why should I care?" Sure. That's the answer I should've expected but don't instinctively consider. This, coming from a nation of topless sunbathers and cleaning ladies in the men's locker room. What was *I* thinking?

Shortly after arriving to live in Madrid I discovered J & J Books and Coffee, a English-language book store on Calle Espiritu Santo, 47, just off the Calle San Bernardo & near the Noviciado metro station. I was thrilled when I "found" this goldmine. Buying (and finding) English-language books in bookstores are both scarce and expensive. J & J's has an immense collection of cheap secondhand English-language books for sale!

Not only do they offer free Wi-Fi internet to their guests/clients, but they also have a small bar and seating area to read books, have a coffee, or chat with friends. They sell a small selection of American goods like pancake syrup and pancake & muffin mix - when in stock. They probably even sell Budweiser beer - but I wouldn't recommend ordering that at the bar. The bartenders and staff are all friendly and speak English and, for someone who may be new to Madrid, this can be a saving grace to get that "back home" feeling if you're having trouble assimilating yourself into the Spanish culture.

The used books, most of which are paperback books, are shelved by the hundreds downstairs in an extensive basement. Really, it's a BIG space! The books are mainly arranged by genre and then by author (if I remember correctly) and all books are roughly half-price their original retail price, but oftentimes they're much cheaper. They even offer a store credit when customers bring books in for "exchange". I have stacks of books I've brought from the USA, read, and ready to turn in - to get more books! Apparently, the even offer cash-for-books if they're books they want to buy.

J& J Books and Coffee organizes parties, language exchanges, happy hours, and other events so take a look at their website if interested. The husband-and-wife owners, (Spaniard) Javi and (American) Jamie, opened the store together in 2003. I have to wonder how hard their establishment is taking the economic crisis. Oftentimes secondhand shops do very well in this environment as people search for cheaper alternatives to buying retail.

MadridMan gives J & J Books and Coffee a big THUMBS UP for a HUGE selection of used English books at great prices in downtown Madrid, Spain.

And by the way, MadridMan has not been compensated for this blog entry - nor did J & J know I was going to write it. I'm sure they don't even know who I am! (can you believe that??) I like their bookshop and want to spread the word. Oftentimes such jems are hidden away, only learning about them by word-of-mouth.

Many of the world's more conservative, aged, or otherwise homophobic people may say that "Men were not intended to carry bags. Purses are for women." These words are most often spoken by those in the non-European world. Isn't Spain still considered a "macho" country? Maybe or maybe not. I don't know anymore but I hope not. But regardless, many men, both young and old, do carry "Man Bags".

The bags in the photo at right are rarely seen anymore. These are modern bags similar to those carried by (only) older Spanish men. I still see these things from time to time on the street They usually only have a wrist strap and would carry a mobile phone, keys, wallet, sun glasses, prescription glasses, medication, and whatever else.

Jerry Seinfeld referred to these in 1998 as Carry-Alls in "The Reverse Peephole" episode. He was carrying an in-hand, strapless bag which looks like a palm-sized briefcase which, in Spain, is/was called a "mariconera" - a term I really hate because it suggests - not too subtly - that only gays carry them. An offensive and not-too-rough translation would be "fag bag". This term, although it still exists commonly, does little to describe today's mobile European male.


Today, the much more popular "Man Bag" is the over-the-shoulder, across-the-body bag shown in the photo at left. THIS is the kind I carry the the kind most common with today's youth to middle aged men. Sometimes they really are very fashionable, sometimes leather and very expensive. But most often they're somewhat sporty, carrying athletic brand names like Puma or Adidas and usually made out of nylon. Some of these bags, as you can see in the photo at left, also has an external mobile phone pocket. Mine had one of these too but I recently cut it off because my PDA wouldn't fit into it.

Many photos of me here in Spain show me wearing mine. I don't even take it off at the terrazas or at the movies because it's so comfortable. But I've been "warned" not to take/wear/carry it to the Opera or to any well-dressed affair because, well, they're just not appropriate. But really, these things are great. I love mine and it's usually packed full of stuff.

Now, when I re-watch the "The Reverse Peephole" episode I have to laugh even louder because of the following scene:

Keri (Jerry's girlfriend) putting her things into Jerry's carryall.

Keri: Nice carryall.

Jerry: It's European.

Keri: Do you still have my lipstick?

Jerry: Uh, yeah, I think I do. I can never find anything in here. Ah, here it is.

HOW TRUE! The more space you have the more stuff you can put into it - kind of like the size of your closet, attic, or garage. It tends to be the end-point to a lot of things you want to keep just-in-case you may need it later - but then you can never find when you want it.

Back in the 1980s (?) there was a craze where people were wearing "Fanny Bags" (or "Fanny Packs") in their everyday lives. Even I owned one! They soon became the icon of the typical American tourist when traveling abroad. NO ONE WEARS THESE ANYMORE anywhere. From time to time you might see a MUCH older American person wearing one.

The truth is, Fanny Packs or Fanny Bags just aren't safe even if they are convenient. They're usually fastened behind the waist by a plastic clip which could easily be pressed, released, and pulled away from the body in one fell swoop. Shoulder bags are much safer. Sure, one could use a knife to cut through the nylon strap but this would take more effort and more time. And, for those ever pick-pocketed in Spain or Europe, they KNOW NOT to carry a wallet in their back pockets - and carrying it in the front pocket just hurts! And have you ever seen those guys with 4 pieces of electronics attached to their belts?!? Now THAT'S funny!!

The male shoulder-bag industry is booming and, of course, the production cost of these things is very low for those made of nylon, costing between 10 and 20 Euros each and easily bought in "Los Chinos" budget stores. All of the department and luggage stores carry them as well as high fashion chains. My next "Man Bag" carryall will likely be leather because they so much nicer and more "manly" - if that's important - but also much more expensive, costing around 100 Euros each. But my only fear is it'll make my hip sweat in warmer weather since I'm such a hot body.

Shoulder bags, whether for men or women, serve a valuable purpose. I can't imagine walking the streets without mine anymore. It's close to my body, it's in view, it's safe, and it carries all the stuff I wouldn't want to pack into my pockets. Who wants to carry their cell phone in their hand all the time? Or worse, in their pockets! "Is that a cellphone in your pocket or..."

UPDATE: the next morning after writing the above blog entry, by chance I found another blog entry made by FashionHerald.org called "The Man Bag" - although it was written 1.5 hours before mine with a New York City perspective. I wondered if two great minds were thinking alike at the same time or maybe someone had read the already existing message board thread, "Man Bag: Do you know what that is?", which I'd started about 3 hours earlier. No matter, it's an interesting - if not controversial - topic.

July 20 passed without fanfare - and without evening noticing it, in fact. Had this been a wedding anniversary I'd missed I'd be in the doghouse but thank goodness it was nothing so monumental. This happens to me every year, in fact, with the exception of this date in 2007 when MadridMan.com - the date of the domain name registration - turned 10 years old.

I'd had grand thoughts of organizing a huge affair at one of the larger downtown Madrid bars, reserving the whole room for the private gathering - by invitation only, and throwing a party worthy of newspaper, radio, and even television mention. I'd even looked into sending out news releases, contacting news agencies, etcetera, etcetera. But.... it didn't happen. None of it. Instead, nothing was planned because it was summer and no one was around anyway, I was lazy, and I thought better of blowing my own horn for the sake of self-promotion. Doesn't a business need promotion? Isn't mine a business?? Well.... yes and no.

I'd started "MadridMan's Yankee Home Page" - what it was called for the first ten years - on a free Geocities site in 1996, shortly after the invention of the graphical interface of the internet. At that time there was only my website and another one or two about Madrid in English so I enjoyed some incredible success since mine was one of the few.

Now, 13 years later, there are a couple dozen personal websites online about Madrid in English and a couple thousand more corporate websites about Madrid in English. Needless to say, now there's a lot more competition and the piece of our pie gets smaller every year.

There's a certain value applied to those who came first, those who stuck it out and rode through the storms. Only those who really enjoyed managing the websites and those making money survived. Fortunately, MadridMan.com have both things going for it.

Back in 2001 my Dad casually told me from across the living room, "Why don't you contact a few language schools or hotels to see if they'd like to advertise on your website." My response was quick and just a little bit rude, "Dad, no one in their right mind would want to advertising on my tiny, personally, horribly designed website." To that, his reply was, "Well, it certainly doesn't hurt to try and you have nothing to lose." I promised him I would - and I did. The next week I sent out 5 emails to language academies in Madrid. 2 didn't reply. But 3 did, all three saying they DID want to advertise on my website. I as shocked and truly amazed. And that's how MadridMan.com began making some money. Shortly after that, clients started writing to ME, asking how THEY TOO could advertise and I never had to solicit clients ever again, they all contacted me since then.

Now, in 2009, MadridMan.com and "Martin Media, S.L." - a registered company here in Spain - does pretty well for itself, although less-so in these times of economic crisis and increased competition. But I can pay my own salary and the monthly bills without problem.

Will I be able to do all this, managing MadridMan.com, BarcelonaMan.com, and all the other websites on my own for the rest of my working life? Who knows. I imagine someday contracting someone to assist me in the administrative or design part of the work but probably not both. I do love what I do although it can be overwhelming at times, lots of goals, lots of dreams & plans with no spare time to develop them, lots of emails back and forth with clients; both potential and long-standing.

But I cannot imagine giving up this "job". Few people get to work at home. Mine is one of those jobs I'd happily do in my spare time if I had a "normal job", something I'd like to do until the day I die to keep busy - assuming I can keep up with technology and internet trends. Who knows what's in store for "MadridMan". At least I've made a name (brand) for myself in this industry and that really does mean a lot.

Last night I went along with a good Spanish friend to meet a group of her friends - all Spanish too. We met at 9:30pm and went to the La Latina neighborhood in Madrid, an area very well known for its bars and active nightlife. This being August, I imagine there were fewer people in the streets - or maybe it was just too early to see them.

We went to a Basque bar, one of the typical long, narrow bars in Old Madrid, where the bar's on one side and a space of maybe 1 meter separates it from the far wall. It's in this 1 meter space where everyone stands. If you have to go to the bathroom in the back you literally have to swim through the beer-glass-holding mass, trying to make your presence known without spilling their drinks.

Upon arrival I did pretty well as the bar was still only about half-full and the music wasn't yet too loud. I did okay understanding people's Spanish in our little circle of maybe  7 or 8 people. But as the minutes ticked by the bar became fuller, the music got louder, and I could understand less and less of the conversation. I could barely understand the person standing right next to me when she turned her head towards me.

Instead of sticking my ear in front of each face as they spoke, I stood back in my space in the circle and just nodded and smiled politely, watching people's expressions, smiles, and laughs, but the Spanish words coming from their mouths got washed out in the environment. I was lost.

Time went on and I discretely looked at my watch, knowing my last bus home left at 11:30pm and was about 15-20 minutes walk away from this bar. And since the metro stations near my house are closed for renovation, I would've had to get a taxi and pay the 10-12 Euros price.

Fortunately for me, by 10:30pm we went into the back part of the bar where there was more space and a little quieter and I could finally understand just a little more of the conversation. Really, I felt like a fish out of water. Surely the Spaniards were wondering why I wasn't talking, maybe they just assumed I didn't speak Spanish and took pity on me by not asking me any questions. My Spanish friend turned to me from time to time to ask me if I understood what was just said but, as the honest person I am, could only say that no, I couldn't hear anything.

By 11:00pm a friend of the group, a guy from New York State arrived and I could finally speak with someone in a language I could understand. He was nice enough but since I had to leave in 15 minutes I didn't get to know him very well. At 11:15pm I said my goodbyes and the growing group of Spaniards wished me well and they were pleased to meet me, etcetera. Some gave me looks like, "You're going already? It's EARLY!" but I explained I needed to catch my last bus.

It was a small shame I did leave so early because just 10 minutes before 7 additions to the group arrived, 3 or 4 of which were very attractive, young Spanish women. Oh well. It doesn't matter. I wouldn't have been able to talk to them any better than I could with the rest of the group. Sure, they would've understood me and my Spanish, but I never would've heard them and it gets annoying to constantly asking for a repeat of what was just said - a repeat directly in my ear.

Speaking in a like language, in your language in these noisy situations is easy, or easier. Try to do so in a language which is not your own, trying to hear EVERY word so that you can string together a sentence and get some meaning from the statement, is very very difficult to do. If only we could've been seated outside at a terrace bar I'm sure it would've been quieter and, at the very least, I could've spoken to the person directly to my left or right and I could've, probably, heard and understood them.

Is Spanish NOT your first language and do you have the same trouble understanding people in noisy situations?

Every year the City of Madrid hosts & promotes a number of summertime entertainment attractions. This year is no exception and includes a number of flamenco performances. I've never been to any of these attractions or performances but am going to try this year.

Flamenco performance ticket prices are 15, 23, 27 Euros and take place in "Jardines de Sabatini" - the gardens immediately north of the Palacio Real / Royal Palace. In these gardens you can be sure the after-sunset temperatures will be MUCH cooler than the surrounding city temperatures. And, as always, it's near certain you won't see a single non-Spanish face in the audience because it's not the "Flamenco Show" tourists generally seek. THAT'S how you know you're getting "REAL FLAMENCO".

So if you're Spanish - OR NOT - and would like to see some authentic flamenco performances, both dance and song, visit the Jardines de Sabatini and see of the genre's great talents. I've been fortunate to have already seen most of those performing and listed below with dates and times.

Jardines de Sabatini
11 August. 22:00
El Cabrero ("Su Segunda Piel") & Rocío Márquez ("Aquí y Ahora")

12 August.. 22:00
Farruco ("Al Son de Farruco") & Antonio Rey ("Recital de guitarra")

13 August.. 22:00
Aurora Vargas & Luisa Palicio ("Tronío")

14 August.. 22:00
Calixto Sánchez & Milagros Mengíbar ("De los Alcores a Triana")

15 August.. 22:00
Capullo de Jerez & Julián Estrada ("Tierra de Cante")

16 v. 22:00
Carmen Linares & Guillermo Cano ("Encuentro")

From 17 to 19 August.. 22:00
Sara Baras (Juana V Centenario - "Juana la Loca")

21 August.. 22:00
Niña Pastori ("Esperando Verte")

22 August.. 22:00
Valderrama ("Moderna Tradición")

Informational Links:
http://www.esflamenco.com/scripts/news/ennews.asp?frmIdPagina=1169 (in English)
http://www.madridiario.es/2009/Agosto/.../veranos-de-la-villa-ciclo-flamenco-artitas-jardines-de-sabatini.html (in Spanish)
http://www.esmadrid.com/veranosdelavilla/en/index (in English)

If you're old enough, you remember how it was to put your bare legs on the summer-sun-drenched vinyl seat upholstery of your parents' station wagon - the one which had been parked outside the mall all afternoon. In short, you grab on to anything in the shade and attempt to "hover" until the car gets going, passing the cooling properties of the roll-down window air over the epidermis-frying seats.

Today's not much different in Madrid. Arguably, my vinyl office chair (or whatever man-made material covers it) has not been sitting in the sun. Be that as it may, the plastic doesn't feel at all comfortable against my bare legs nor on my boxer-short-covered butt. That's bad, sure, but to make matters worse - or better - I "protect" myself by putting a folded beach towel over the seat and under my bum. Sure, it keeps me from sticking, but the sweat soaks into the towel and makes me feel like I peed myself... an hour ago. So when I DO get up and come back again, sitting on that dampness reminds me of putting on still-sweaty football pad pants for the second two-a-day practice. Ugh.

Having the oscillating fan pointing at my torso from 2 feet away helps keep my near-naked body's temperature somewhat in check but doesn't do much for the straining PC fan which, from the way it sounds, is growing ever nearer to committing suicide and ending its suffering.

Don't I have air conditioning? Answer: Yes. So why don't I use it? Answer: I do when I absolutely can't stand it anymore - or when I've just showered and need to put on real clothes to go out. On the hottest days, I'll turn on the A/C only from about 4pm until 8:30pm. It's at this later hour when the sun goes behind the adjacent building's roof and things then begin to cool off considerably.

My only consolation is repeating the mantra, "Summer is reaching its end... Summer is reaching its end...", only to be slapped back into reality when I remember to change my sweaty diaper.... errr... boxer shorts.

"Tetro". It's a good movie. Maybe not a great movie but definitely a very good movie with lots of character. And better yet is that it's a SPANISH movie, although directed by the great Francis Ford Coppola. I'm confident that it'll be up for at least a nomination for best foreign film at the BIG awards.

The movie stars (unknown to me) Vincent Gallo as "Tetro", Spanish actresses Maribel Verdú & Carmen Maura, and Alden Ehrenreich. Vicent Gallo was great and, and always, so was Maribel Verdú. She's a true professional.

It's shot totally in black and white and takes place in modern day Buenos Aires, Argentina. In many scenes you think you're watching an old movie, of course because of the black and white, but also because of the old-fashioned architecture of the apartments and old neighborhoods.

For the last several weeks I've been hearing the familiar "Baaahhh... Baaahhh" sounds coming from the street below my house. Finally I saw it one night returning home.

There she was, a pure white lamb tied to a street sign outside of a newly-opened "locutorio" (phone-call, cybercafe, & money transfer center).

The lamb is the owner's pet and takes surprisingly good care of her. Whenever I do pass by, I see the lamb eating watermelon or other fruits and rinds.

Tonight I saw the owner, a young (and very attractive) Romanian woman, giving her lamb a bath.

There was a group of locutorio clients watching the washing of the lamb - but they may very well have been, instead, watching the bending-over action of the attractive, tight-jeans-wearing blond Romanian woman. I admit my eyes were also switching back and forth from the lamb to the washer. The lamb WAS cute, yes, but....

So is it so odd to see such things on the streets of Madrid? These days it is, and many of the odder things seem to be attributed to the influx of other nationalities here in Spain. Not always, but often.

UPDATE: Now, after having written the above blog entry, it occurs to me that the animal in the photo IS NOT a lamb but rather a goat. Hmm... I never claimed to be an expert in animal husbandry.

I have a dream to someday own a flat here in Madrid City. It wouldn't have to be in the Old downtown - although that'd be nice in concept. But where would you park if you own a car? Nor would my would-be house have to be within the M30 inner circular city highway loop. But it would be in the city of Madrid itself and not in the suburbs. Afterall, HOW could I maintain my MadridMan persona if I didn't live IN the city of Madrid?? (okay, now's not the time to ask me now about BarcelonaMan or GranadaMan, okay?)

First, let me clarify for those not familiar to what "houses" are in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Athens, and the like because it causes a lot of confusion with Americans with whom I talk on this topic. Because when they hear "house", they think a single structure home with four sides, one to three floors, a driveway & garage, maybe a porch or deck, and a yard. In these big European cities - much like in New York City - THESE kinds of "houses" don't really exist except for the richest of the rich.

"Houses" in European cities are "flats" or as called by many of my American friends back home, these are "apartments". But the word "apartments", to me, is deceiving because they're not always rental properties which, to me, are what apartments are. "Houses" here are one unit within a multi-level, multi-unit building where residents enter their residences through one door on a floor where there may be several other doors leading to neighbors' residences. These residences may have 1, 2, 3, or more bedrooms, 1 or 2 or more bathrooms, sometimes a basement garage (but they're rare, except in the newly built buildings), sometimes a balcony or suspended terrace, sometimes there are elevators but not always, and oftentimes your out-the-window view is that of the wall of the building from across the street. THIS is a "house" here in Europe. Stand-alone "houses" as we know them in America are called "Chalets", a word in many parts of the world refer to a kind of "Swiss Chalet" or a house in the country.

So anyway, for the last year or so I've been following the posted flats on Idealista.com, bookmarking flats which fall into my amenity and price range. Each month I check on those bookmarked flats to see if they're still available and/or if their prices has changed.

In about half of the cases, the prices fall monthly as owners find their homes are not selling at all or the market value is dropping below the asking price for the house. Sometimes prices fall only 5,000 Euros but in some cases they fall by 10 or 20,000 Euros! That's incredible!!

This is the result of the housing crisis in Madrid, in Spain, in Europe, and throughout the world. I love finding a house online, bookmarking it, and then, 6 months later, seeing that its price has dropped by 50,000 Euros!! And the prices keep dropping. Sure, there's a bottom to this economic crisis. But "the end" will not likely parallel the recovery of the housing market. There will be significant delay. So even if the economy hits bottom and beings to improve tomorrow, the house price will likely continue to drop for a considerable period of time. Am I too optimistic? If so, please do tell me so.

Just today I toured a house for sale, a very nice house, but clearly out of my price range. I wanted to know how the house looked now and will ask the owner in 6 months time if they have dropped their price. I am nearly sure they won't be able to sell it at their asking price but some people still think they're living "in times of old" where you could ask nearly any price in Madrid and get it because the prices were rising so fast and a lot of people made a lot of money. Now the opposite is true. The house prices are dropping like stones and no one is buying because A) potential buyers have lost their jobs, B) banks won't lend the necessary amounts, C) buyers are waiting for the prices to drop even lower, and D) potential buyers can buy a new house until they sell their old house - which they can't do unless they drop the asking price below what THEY paid for the same house just a few years before, and no one wants to do this.

So is the end in sight? Not yet, I don't think. Those who have cash ready to spend - and/or those who have banks ready to lend - are going to get some real bargains. But are they really "bargains" or are they merely a stabilization to fair pricing within the market itself? For years house prices were so unnaturally inflated and houses were still being snatched up by speculators and investors. Not anymore. Now those speculators are stuck, filing for bankruptcy, or just waiting for the next housing boom.

Are you ready to buy? What's stopping you?

Most Spaniards know not to call friends, relatives, or even businesses during the lunch-siesta hours between 2pm and 5pm - but foreigners do not because they don't carry the custom of siesta.

During weekdays, everyone knows that businesses are closed during these hours so they don't bother to call.

On the weekends, when the majority of people don't have to work, those hours at home after a big lunch are precious to relax, to read, to sleep. Sure, I'm not Spanish, but I do follow these unwritten rules. And when someone calls me, even at 4:30pm, it annoys me.

For example, today (and he's probably reading this now) a good friend called me at 4:30pm - while I was in bed taking an after-lunch siesta. He's a good friend, and a non-Spaniard so I forgive him, but he inevitably calls me around this time on either weekdays or weekends and I don't have the heart to tell him to kindly wait until 5pm. And inevitably, even on weekdays, he catches me napping.

Sometimes people call here at 10pm, the hour that most Spaniards are having their dinner, and I think, "Who could be calling at this hour? Don't they know it's dinnertime? How rude!" Spaniards do call late in the evenings but they usually will wait until 10:30 or 11pm so as not to interrupt the evening meal. Of course, in the USA, if you call anyone after, say, 9pm, it's considered too late to call. Not here in Spain, baby!

Who wouldn't like an excuse to take a nap after having lunch? I love the siesta custom even though the vast majority of Spaniards don't have time or horizontal access to actually sleep, they do use this time for a slow and easy lunch, relax, maybe read a book under a tree. Of course other corporate or professional positions have drastically shortened the lunch hour to become more productive and more in-line with the rest of Europe and the world. But in many other professions; store owners and workers, laborers, and, of course, the self-employed (like me!!!), do still enjoy a mid-day break to disconnect, deflate, or to just take a nap. And while doing such, who wants to be bothered by a phone call?

Today's Friday - and the last day in July. So technically, we're about midway through the summer holiday season. What does that mean? It means that half of the Spanish population is returning home from a monthlong summer holiday and the other half of the Spanish population is preparing to START their monthlong summer holiday.


So I repeat, "what does this mean"? Answer: GRIDLOCK

If you thought the July 1st summer vacation exodus traffic jams were bad, just wait! Today, tomorrow, and Sunday will show BOTH outbound AND inbound traffic jams throughout Spain. Best to stay home - or better, stay on vacation - for a few days to let it pass. But a lot of people don't have that luxury. Many have to be back at work on Monday morning.

I recently returned from my own holiday vacation; nearly 3 weeks in my small, Midwestern hometown in the United States of America. The visit was to north central Ohio, near Lake Erie, and the temperatures were unseasonably and blessedly cool and and with low humidity. Every day was roughly 15-20 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler than normal. The nights, OH, THE NIGHTS, were so cool that - with the windows open - not only the bed sheet was required but also the blanket and even, sometimes, the comforter! Ah, man, I was in weather heaven as compared to this HOT and dry weather we have here in Madrid. I kept reading the Madrid weather reports while in Ohio and thinking, 'Man, I'm so glad to be here right now,' knowing I'd soon be returning to the Phoenix-like summer heat.

But now I'm home and happy to be here. The food, the people, the things all around which which make Spain SPAIN - even if half of these things are now closed for the entire month of August. Hmph! Just yesterday morning I went to my favorite bar to pick up some porras and they too were closed! I wasn't surprised, though. It's something you have to live with here.

People often ask me, "Now that you've been living in Spain for awhile, are you still happy?" It seems they expect me to be fed-up and ready to pack my bags and go back home to the USA - but nothing could be further from the truth. I also realize I'm one of the few who feel truly "at home in Spain".

I've been living in Madrid for 3.5 years and still feel very stimulated walking the streets of Madrid, getting my hair cut, going to the dentist, and just simply doing the shopping and talking or chatting with store owners. The word "stimulated" could mean several things, of course, but in my case it's a positive word. I've never felt so alive in my life. Now, people in the neighborhood know me and seem to like me - or at least see me as a good-natured curiosity.

My trips "home" to the USA are usually bittersweet. I love visiting family and friends but feel anxious and somewhat sad to leave my Madrid and am nearly immediately ready to return. When I do, when that plane touches down on the tarmac of Madrid Barajas Airport, a relief rushes through me. Even last year's return made me misty eyed, happy to be back in Spain.

Surely I'm an oddity, or at least that's how I feel. Maybe I'm "special", a case like no other. Surely there are others.

Since moving here, I've met so many Americans and even some Brits whom have had plenty of difficulty assimilating themselves into the daily life and ways of Spain. Many of these people fail to grasp what is Spain for all its good and some of its bad. Many others can't let go of their home countries and/or families and friends. Many are so attached to "home" that they can't live anywhere else successfully. Still others just can't live without Taco Bell. (yeah, I hear this one a lot!)

But one doesn't have to let go completely and can live both worlds, both cultures at the same time to some extent, if necessary. Here, we have American/English-language television on both satellite and (now) the new free TDT-digital television, we have nearly all of the American-made movies in English or V.O.S. ("Versión Original Subtitulado"), we have products and restaurant chains from the USA, daily front page news on the Spanish newspapers, and, of course, the internet opens all doors to media and news to the USA as well. Even last night's Michael Jackson Memorial program was translated and broadcast live on several local Spanish television stations.

In Spain and throughout the world, no doubt, you can't escape the USA, no matter how hard you may try.

Madrid, nor Spain, is perfect. Not by far. But it has enough of the wonderful, glorious characteristics (at least for me) to make it the place to be, the place for me, the place to live a good life full of social interaction, genuine brotherhood, incredible food and drink, an outdoor life I've never known before, and people whom are not afraid to tell you how it is.

My best advice to those considering a move to Madrid or Spain is the following (abridged, of course):

• study the history, the landmarks, and even the streets before arriving
• form an exchange of ideas with local people who live there already (use social media sources)
• learn the language
• read local & national newspapers
• watch local TV & webcams via the internet
• learn to love the food
• make your future home your current hobby
• learn to, to some degree, "let go" of your home country (this can be hardest)
• visit your future home country/city as often as possible before moving
• have an open mind to different ways of life & values
  

Doing all of the above (and maybe more) can help you feel "at home" before arriving at your future Spanish (or whatever country) home. You'll feel less foreign, already knowing the restaurants, streets, plazas, landmarks, and maybe even have a few friends waiting for you when you get there. All these things will help you be happier.

MadridMan.com, in great part, is a creation of my hobby to learn about Madrid and Spain. It served to bring all the above-listed things together in one website. Researching all the information, history, and websites included in MadridMan.com helped me feel more Madrileño long before I moved there in 2005. Maybe it could help you too.

In closing, yes, I'm still over-the-moon to be living in Madrid and Spain. This is my home now and I'm not at all sure I could live anywhere else.

Although it's already July 3rd, many workers finished out the week to start vacations this Friday afternoon. This fact is verified by 32 kilometers of traffic jams on all of Madrid's (and in nearly all of Spain's cities) out-going highways by 3pm. The outpouring of Madrid's residents, it is said, should continue through Sunday, July 5th, leaving a shell of the otherwise bustling Capital City.

By Monday, 6th of July, the city becomes somewhat dormant until September 1st. Many say August is the more popular month for Madrileños to take their month-long holidays. So if you think July is quiet, just wait until August! You'll never again have so much parking available as during this month. Sunday mornings in Madrid are usually quiet but a Sunday morning in August reminds one of a ghost town.

People NEED their vacations, that's definitely true, but finding an open restaurant in Madrid in August - outside of the Puerta del Sol tourist center, that is - can be a challenge. Many times tourists come to Madrid during the summer months with the desire to try a new restaurant about which they've heard, only to find it frustratingly closed.

But terrazas abound! And the Madrileño masses - as well as their tourist counterparts - take advantage of the slightly cooler evening temperatures and pack those terrazas full. It's usually at these moments, while you're standing off to the side with the group of others waiting for a table to become free, when you ask yourself, "And I thought there was no one in Madrid in summer!"

Some of these terrazas - usually the fancier ones like those around the Plaza de Oriente - have incorporated a kind of water-misting-canopy system which sprays its clients with fine droplets of cooling water. I don't know about you, but I don't think I would appreciate having my glasses sprayed over while dining or having drinks, HOT OR NOT! These are usually the same terrazas which use these gas-powered tower radiators to keep their clients warm - during colder months (the clients patronizing THESE terrazas are almost always tourists because no Spaniard would be caught dead dining outside in the winter. It's just not sensible!!). In my opinion, these gas heaters are just a waste of energy. I understand the concept that you can seat more people - and outside - if you have these heaters but come on!

So where to people go on summer holiday? The most popular destination is still "al pueblo" - to the family village to spend time in the old, family home. This destination is becoming less and less popular, however, as the elders die off and the family home in the village is sold. So apart from "the village", many Spaniards travel to the coasts near Cataluña/Catalunya/Catalonia, Galicia, Cantabria, Valencia, and the Costa del Sol (those whom have the wherewithall, that is). The coastal beaches are PACKED with not only Spaniards but also with Germans, English, Dutch, and even some from the colder northern European countries. This year, what with the economic crisis, may be a sharp contrast to previous years occupancy, however. I remember complaints were made last summer about lower-than-expected hotel occupancy so I imagine things will be much worse this year.

Apart from Spanish coasts, more and more young people are using their summer time off to visit other worldly destinations like Russia, The United States, England & Ireland, Morocco, and some of the "newer" (i.e. newly accessible) Eastern European countries. Again, young people don't usually tend to have much money so this year may be much different and more home-spun travel destinations may be chosen instead.

I have to wonder if, because of the economic crisis, the typically high hotel prices during this HIGH season will drop significantly or only slightly to entice more travelers - or, maybe, stubbornly, not at all. We'll see how it plays out. But since Spaniards are passionate about big family vacations, expensive or not, (have credit cards will travel!!) I expect turnout to be high still.

Places mostly avoided by Spaniards during their summer vacations include, among many, the hotter summer destinations, almost all of which are in the southern region of Andalucia, like Seville, Córdoba, and Granada but also Salamanca, and Zaragoza will likely be excluded for the most part. Non-Spanish tourists, however, will drive themselves to these destinations no matter the temperature.

Ahhh... "The Village". The village can be quite lovely (using a British expression). I too have been fortunate to spend a little time, one week or two, in a particular northern valley village with only 25 inhabitants and surrounded by tall yet gentle mountains. There, days can be warm but nights cooler, mosquitoes can be pesky but the natural beauty and its accompanying silence far out-shadows them.

In "The Village", life is definitely simpler. In some of them, the smaller ones like the one I've stayed a few times, don't even have any stores, bars, or restaurants. A van goes from village to village every morning, with their horn-a-honkin', raising attention to their arrival. Of course, each van uses their own "style" of horn-honking so the residents know which horn belongs to which van. Different vans sell different things. There's usually the bread van, the cheese van, and the meats-and-chicken van. Sometimes there's even a fish van. Resident will often make minor, daily purchases from these vans, sometimes making once-a-month trips to the big stores to stock up on other things, frozen foods, canned foods, milk (non-refrigerated), soft drinks and the like. The days in "the village" are quiet except for the sounds of distant cow and goat bells, dogs barking, kids shouting while riding their bikes, neighbors chatting while walking the streets, and maybe the sounds of some traffic from the distant main highway. So if the days are quiet, the nights are totally peaceful, making every chirping cricket sound like a live orchestra. Village life is different from City Life. In "the village", neighbors come over (unannounced) for coffee and a casual chat while you're hanging your laundry or reading a book on the porch or patio.

I've yet to experience and entire "beach holiday" in the summer months but they certainly look like decadent fun, that which I see daily on Spanish TV news reports. All those people laying about on the sand, packing into the beachfront terrace restaurants for seafood meals, working on their tans, reading books and taking walks. It all seems so relaxing and, well, totally self-indulgent too. hehehe.. But every now and then, well, we have to take extra special care of ourselves, right? I'll be sure to put that on my To-Do List.

I'm already looking forward to my week away this summer. Although I love the city, I don't care much for the heat which gets absorbed by its asphalt, concrete, and brick. It's amazing the notable temperature change just when passing by a grassy park or alongside a fountain.

Last year, Madrid hosted Europe's Orgullo Gay festival. This year is a more typical year with the somewhat smaller-scale Gran Vía parade and Chueca-wide street parties from 25 June to 5 July 2009. While last year's attendance was HUGE, inviting supporters and partiers throughout Europe, the novice won't see much difference this year because Madrid's Gay Pride Festival is big.

While I, MadridMan, am not gay, I do respect the rights of others to do pretty much whatever they want if not harming others - and I always enjoy a good party. One would have to be in deep denial if they couldn't see that Gay Pride is one BIG party and a lot of fun! I've never seen a bigger, better party for everyone; gays, straights, and anyone who likes to enjoy life - and see some things you aren't likely to see on a typical day on the streets in Madrid (or anywhere!). You can see the true joy in people's faces, everyone smiling, everyone laughing, everyone hugging (and possibly kissing), whistling, hand-holding and @$$-grabbing goes on too.

Festivities and shows begin on June 25th but the big Gay Pride Parade takes place on July 4th (how dare they schedule such a thing on USA's Independence Day!! (tongue-in-cheek).The Madrid Gay Pride Parade starts at 6pm and the parade route is as follows: The parade starts at the Puerta de Alcalá, heads west through Plaza de la Cibeles, up the Gran Vía, and ends at the Plaza de España.

The news these days about Madrid's Gay Pride festival is that next year's festival location may take place OUTSIDE the city of Madrid, far away from its home of the "Gay Neighborhood" of Chueca. It's hard to imagine the Gay Pride festival in, say, the suburbs of Parla or Pinto - although those places would be more than happy to have the economic inversion, I'm sure - but people would then have to take trains and cars to get there. This is not conducive to a "central" festival. But many of those who live in the Chueca neighborhood have filed complaints about the noise during the Orgullo Gay festival so the city was to take action. Yesterday, the "Orgullo Gay Organization" did not agree to the terms and says Orgullo Gay will stay in Chueca.

I think I've attended 3 Orgullo Gay Parades here in Madrid since moving here 4 years ago. They're all fun, they're all HOT, and there are always A LOT OF PEOPLE, both gay and non-gays, in attendance. In my opinion, there are a number of PROS & a number of CONS to the parade and festival in general. Here are mine:

PROS:

• a great opportunity to remind people that homosexuality exists and should not be feared
• a day for gays to "come out"
• a day to tolerate and/or support alternative lifestyles
• a day & place to be OPEN about being gay with other gays
• a day to feel more accepted by your peers
• to remind people that you don't have to be gay to be "gay friendly" (or "gay tolerant")
• some incredibly colorful outfits
• a day which can be very romantic because there's so much "love" in the air
• free condoms are available everywhere
  

CONS:

• the festival is always HOT in temperature
• lots of sweaty bodies rubbing past you in the crowd
• few or no public toilets - those available have long lines
  
• some people pee in the street or between cars
  
• bars in Chueca close their doors at night & serve drinks on the street (no toilets)
• trash is everywhere and garbage collection insufficient
  
• noise is unbearable for many Chueca residents throughout the festival
• long hours waiting for the more "colorful" parade floats/buses/presentations
  

You may laugh, you may shake your head, or you may join in. But one thing's for sure; Orgullo Gay Madrid - Gay Pride 2009 is a lot of fun, a true spectacle which should be witnessed firsthand.

Useful Links:
http://www.madridgaypride.com/
http://www.gaypridemadrid.com/
http://www.madoweb.com/
http://www.chueca.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chueca

The USA National Soccer Team, never (ever!) known as Giant Killers, came a step closer to earning the title for the first time.

Last night, USA stunned Spain in the soccer semifinal of the Confederations Cup in South Africa, a game everyone thought would be an easy win for Spain - the European Champion. Final Score: 2-0. The first goal was scored in the first half by Jozy Altidore. The second goal, much more spectacular, was scored in the second half by Clint Dempsey near the net and through the legs of ex-Atlético de Madrid star (and Madrid-born) Fernando Torres and past forever-National-team-goalie and team captain Iker Casillas.

Spain will play Sunday for a third-place medal while the USA will also play Sunday in the Final against Brazil, last year's Champion.

You have to wonder if Spain was overconfident with history, numerous recent wins, and top-shelf players running the grass with all opponents, possibly underestimating an admittedly embattled USA team in the Confederations Cup if not also in world reputation.

After reading through many articles and accompanying comments by Spaniards, one thing seems clear; first, Spaniards are very congratulatory to the American Team for what they've accomplished. A second thing is clear, Spain WAS overconfident and NO ONE was expecting much resistance by the lowly American team. Apparently, everyone was already talking about the Spain-Brazil final, bypassing the remote possibility of a win by the USA. This is what happens in sport; it's when you don't give due respect to your opponent that they rise up and bite you in the rear. I've seen this countless times in University Football games in the USA.

Interesting Spanish titles of articles written for this morning's publication include (translated into English):

• "Disaster: Made in the USA"

• "Spain Is Human Too"

• "Spain Eliminated"

• "Yankees Drop Us from the Clouds"

• "USA Puts the Breaks on the "Red's" Records & Euphoria"
  

• "How Strange it is to Lose!"
  

• "Spain Loses its Style"
  

• "USA Derails Spain's Legend"
  

• "Spain: Under the Obama Syndrome"
  

• "The American "Marines" Overwhelm Spain"

• "Spain Choked by USA"
  

• "We Are Not Invincible"
  

Don't expect another blog entry should the USA team beat Brazil in Sunday's final. I'm not really a fútbol/football (i.e. "soccer") fan but always try to catch the biggest games which involve Spain. Gotta keep up with what's on the lips of the common man on the street, don'tchaknow.

The "Pez de Cristal" - or "Glass Fish" - will be inaugurated as the new landmark in Madrid's Puerta del Sol on Saturday, 27 June 2009 at 11am and will be presided over by the President of the Comunidad de Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre & Spain's President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The first day of normal operation will be Sunday, 28 June 2009 at 5:15am. The controversial structure, in the rounded shape of a fish, was likened by Esperanza Aguirre herself (the Regional President of Madrid) as what the glass pyramid is to Paris' The Louvre Museum. Well, I don't know about all that but it does have 'glass' and 'controversy' in common at the very least.

Just what is the "Pez de Cristal" and why do we need it? This is a good question, one many of us will be trying to answer for at least 5 years in the future (if the fish lasts that long). The Glass Fish is the entry/exit to the new Cercanías-train hub, the only one now in Old Downtown Madrid, allowing natural light into the belly of the enormous space below ground. This station will also connect cercanías lines between Chamartin and Atocha train stations, completing the infamous"Túnel de la risa", and carrying passengers directly to Kilometro 0 without taking metro or buses as was before necessary.

The new station will also connect metro lines 1, 2, and 3 with cercanias lines - but I have to wonder if the old, historical Puerta del Sol metro station entry points will now be removed. Surely not. Apparently, the below ground space is large enough to house a 60-story building horizontally, making it the largest below-ground man-made cavern in the world. Also, some of the remains of the Buen Suceso Church, unearthed during the excavation, will be on display. Their discovery, in large part, delayed the station's construction due to their careful study and examination.

Many people in the blogosphere think the comparison of the Glass Fish with the Glass Pyramid of Paris' The Louvre is far fetched. They are both glass, that's true. They both are comprised of attached glass panels, allowing natural light into the space below ground. Many other bloggers also think the introduction of a super-modern structure into the historical Puerta del Sol is a mistake. Still others believe the fish will be covered in graffiti and the panels scratched and marred within days. This IS likely to happen.

It's always nice to have something which adds to the skyline or structures which give people the impression that something "new" is going on, staving off that old, hum-drum, complacent, boring aspect which many historical cities eventually face - and it's true that Madrid has very little of that going on as compared to (dare I?!?) Barcelona. Personally, I think a better choice could've been made. I commend their goals, however.

I'm anxious for the inauguration of this new station on Saturday, to take a first look for myself, which will seemingly end (?) nearly 5-years of construction on Madrid's Puerta del Sol. Its inauguration will be the headline and lead news story for Madrid (and many Spanish) news media outlets this week.

Last Wednesday I was very happy to watch the Barcelona-based Las Migas perform in the beautiful, 130 year old Teatro Lara in Madrid. There's is a kind of flamenco fusion, fused with folk music and songs, many of which performed contained lyrics by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

The band is made up of 4 women; one Catalana (singer: Silvia Pérez Crúz), one Sevillana (guitar: Marta Robles), one French (guitar: Isabelle Laudenbach), and one German (violin: Lisa Bause). Singer, Pérez Crúz, while being absolutely beautiful, has a perfectly pure voice. They were accompanied by a male percussionist through much of the concert as well.

Their songs were soulful, mid-to-slow-tempo, all sweet in sound and lyrics, and the audience could sense their enjoyment in performing for the 2009 Suma Flamenca flamenco festival in Madrid - my last flamenco performance of the festival. They'd also recently performed for Barcelona's Flamenco Festival a few months earlier.

The concert was very enjoyable, not all that passionate, rather quiet and soft. Very pleasant. But as I stated above, their joy in performing was obvious, Silvia Pérez Crúz, the lead singer, was smiling nearly the entire time and exchange casual banter with the audience between songs. The other performers also smiled at the audience and with each other throughout the musical numbers, offering the occasional nod and chuckle when making eye-contact with their fellow band members. The addition of the violin - by Lisa Bause - was a nice touch. All songs sung during the concert were in Castellano - although many of their recordings are done in Catalán.

The theater, Teatro Lara, only seats 400 persons on the floor and 3 more balcony levels - each of which is circular and hugging the theater's wall from stage corner to stage corner. The floor seats, all upholstered in an aged black leather, were about two-thirds occupied and the balcony seats were about half-occupied. Our seats were excellent, on the first balcony and very near the left-hand side of the stage for a good perspective. This balcony was reserved exclusively to press and many photographers were snapping photos and cameras from TVE and TeleMadrid were making their recordings as well.

This was my last flamenco performance of the 2009 Suma Flamenca flamenco festival - and it was a good one. The season has come to an end and I look forward to the 2010 Suma Flamenca festival, no-doubt full of new flamenco performers as well as some old ones.

What a shame!!! I was about to leave for the María Juncal flamenco dance performance when I received an email (sent 3 hours earlier) saying the performance had been canceled due to lack of ticket sales. This was to be my last Suma Flamenca 2009 dance performance of this year's Madrid flamenco festival (the last one, tomorrow, is a flamenco singing and music performance).

María Juncal's "TERCERA Llamada" was scheduled to take place tonight at 9pm at the beautiful Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón on the Plaza Jacinto Benavente (next to Cine Ideal). There was no information or explanation as to why the performance was canceled in the email but Europa Press (click for article - in Spanish) writes it was due to lack of ticket sales, among other incidents.

Apparently, María Juncal's company was notified yesterday of this development by the production company, "Feed Back". Juncal and company then offered to perform for free if the production company would take care of the technical aspects. The production company apparently declined, saying that even with this concession of a "free show", the 1,500 Euros in ticket sales would not cover the 8,000 Euro price tag required to put on the show.

I'm not sure if this has to do with the production company, the Teatro Calderón, Suma Flamenca or what but I do know there have been past problems putting on shows at the Teatro Calderón in the past with last-minute cancellations of performances due to economic issues. I'd never heard of such a thing before but apparently it does happen, if at the last moment there aren't enough tickets sold, the show DOES NOT go on.

It truly is a shame. I was really looking forward to seeing María Juncal's flamenco dance performance tonight. María Juncal herself must also feel terrible as dancing for the Suma Flamenca festival is quite a note of distinction on anyone's resumé, particularly for the younger performers just getting started. Oh well. They mention the performance may be rescheduled for July - BUT OUTSIDE of the Suma Flamenca festival. What a shame. I won't be able to attend that one.

Tuesday's Miguel Poveda's "Sin Frontera" was probably the best flamenco singing concert of the Suma Flamenca 2009 season. Just excellent. Having seen him sing in last year's Suma Flamenca I knew we were in for a good concert. This year it took place in the beautiful old Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón on the Plaza de Jacinto Benavente. The ticket collection was nothing short of chaos for everyone and the show started late because of it, but in the end we were seated in one of the private side "palco's", slightly above stage level, and directly alongside the third row. Perfect.

The stage and band orientation is a common theme among Miguel Poveda's concerts. There, you have 2 or 3 wooden tables with chairs all around where the guitar players, palmeros, and singers sit. On the tables are glasses and pitchers of water for the thirsty. Oftentimes, when not singing or clapping, those at the tables will knock in rhythm on the table's top.

One male dancer, Andrés Peña, entertained the sell-out crowd to several numbers throughout the concert. At the end of the evening, when the last song was sung, Miguel Poveda and his band got a much-deserved standing ovation and an all-in-unison chanting clap as they left the stage.

Miguel Poveda is an excellent singer and already wildly popular in the flamenco scene, although still young at 1973 (and born in Badalona, Barcelona, Spain). Who says flamenco doesn't come out of Catalunya?! At just 15 years old he was singing in the Flamenco Peñas throughout the region. In 2003 he moved to Sevilla.

Tomorrow is the first day of June - and I've already broken out the shorts. I usually put it off until June 1st but a few days ago started a heat-wave which I couldn't stand in jeans. Normally, my "what's socially acceptable" conscience gets the better of me and I literally sweat-it-out, but having already seen a  number of Spaniards wearing shorts I thought my wearing them wouldn't bring too many strange looks - but a few older people did give me a glare or two.

"They say" yesterday it hit about 90ºF - and I believe it. Today, "they say", it should be about the same. It's definitely hotter this year at this date than in previous years. Although I remember some VERY HOT "Fiesta de San Isidro's" on May 15th, ones which warranted shorts but I wasn't brave enough to wear them.

Usually June is the first month when people are commonly seen wearing shorts. Of course, July, August, and the first half of September is a given. All bets are off at that time because it's so darn hot. And me, being a hot body, HATE these summer months, my only savior are the shorts and light cotton T-Shirts. And Thank God for His invention of linen pants! Man, those are almost better than wearing shorts - when you have to wear pants.

But in these summer months when it's HOT - and I mean HOT with a capital HOT - my superficial temperature rises as does the core, copious liters of sweat are "spent" daily while climbing my 5 flights of stairs to home, more is spent when carrying groceries, of course. It's odd ARRIVING at the gym already sweating. But it's true what they say, it really is a dry heat. Sounds funny, but it's true. Every night before going to bed I take a as-cold-as-it-gets shower and I'm usually good-to-go to sleep. There's no air conditioning in my bedroom but, in times of heat crisis, I can go to the other bedroom where there is.

Ventilation fans are essential for me. I love them. Many of the Spaniards I know hate them. They say it makes them stuffed-up, gives them colds, or just makes them feel bad. Can't imagine that. I usually have the fan going all night long. Spaniards I know generally feel the same about air conditioners. "They're just not natural". And I'm thinking, "You'd rather stew in a puddle of your own sweat while lying in bed??!" Seems the answer to that question is "yes".

More and more people buy air conditioners in Spain, disregarding the environment. Thankfully, more people are buying these humidifiers, machines which evaporates water and sends the hot air outdoors, thus lowering the inside temperature - something like that. They're odd-looking machines but are cheaper than air conditioners and are much better for the environment apart from the electricity they consume.

Bars and some smaller restaurants will often simply open their windows at night instead of turn on the A/C. Cinemas/Theaters are often under-air-conditioned from my sub-zero-public-space-American perspective. I often find I'm fanning myself with a folded piece of paper while watching the movie. Shopping malls are usually comfortable, but I rarely patronize them.

The terrazas (outdoor/patio bars and cafés) are teaming with people in warmer weather and you always see anxious onlookers waiting for an available table.

So whether or not I like the weather, the heats-a-coming to Madrid and to Spain.

Last Monday evening I went, yet again, to the Teatros del Canal to see another flamenco performance. This time it was flamenco dance, headlined by Rocio Molina. What surprised me most was that it was a traditional flamenco dance performance but one with ballet and modern dance added to a little traditional flamenco.

Rocio Molina is young. She was born in Málaga in 1984. At just three years old, they say, she started her dancing "career". At 18 years old she graduated with honors at the Real Conservatorio de Danza de Madrid. Wow. So accomplished and still so very young.

The performance was a mix of ballet, traditional flamenco, modern dance, and even some performance art thrown in. The music and audio was the same. At times you had no idea what was happening or why and, I must say, I didn't care for it much. At one point, a man went from corner to corner of the stage and filled some small pots with water, after which, pinpoint spotlight illuminated the tiny pots, revealing what appeared to be splashes from above-falling water. It was odd.

Rocio Molina wasn't the only one performing. There was another (very very large) female flamenco dancer in a colorful dress who dances several numbers alone but also performed a kind of "I'm on the bench" sketch with the cast. Two very thin and young men, seeming skilled in ballet, danced several numbers but also assisted in the sketches, wearing clothing from suits, to open button down shirts, to only pants while dancing. It wasn't until the final sketch when the two women danced traditional flamenco onstage at the same time, seemingly "dueling flamenco" on their own half of the stage, which was entertaining.

The dancing was excellent and movements were precise. One could only imagine how much work went into the individual portions of the performance and how much rehearsal was involved. Truly impressive.

Below is a 5:04 video from Rocio Molina's "Oro Viejo", the same performance I saw last Monday. This snippet is near the most "traditional" of the entire performance - and it's quite modern.

Last night at the Los Teatros del Canal was another enjoyable Suma Flamenca evening of Flamenco Singing. Coincidentally, we had the exact same 5th row seats as the previous night. Unfortunately, the venue was maybe only half-full, possibly due to the previous night's rains and cool temperatures. Who knows. But they missed a very good performance.

A note worth mentioning, the vast majority (or nearly all of them) of those attending last night were clearly Spaniards, lest anyone thinks that flamenco is only for tourists. It's true, the flamenco tablaos DO cater mainly to tourists but the concerts and performances of the Suma Flamenca flamenco festival is very VERY Spanish, and very few non-Spaniards attend.

Performing first was José Cortés Jiménez "Pansequito", who was discovered at 15 years old by none other than Manolo Caracol in 1963. "Pansequito" is a distinguished man, short of statue yet forceful in voice.

He was a true gentleman, a true artist. You could "feel" as he sang. While flamenco song is difficult to understand - even to many Spaniards - I understood enough to be touched slightly. Many songs were about family and lost loved ones. He truly seemed comfortable onstage, which is to no ones surprise as he's been performing for more than 45 years. He's worked with greats such as Camarón, Juan and Pepe Habichuela, and Tomatito to name only a few.

La Macarena-born (Sevilla district) Aurora Vargas performed second and had the same accompanying group of one flamenco guitar player and two excellent palmeros as did "Pansequito". Ms. Vargas displayed great vocal power throughout her 6 or 7 songs. Towards the end of her set, she dedicated one song to an elderly flamenco singer whom was in the audience, and even brought her up on stage to dance a bit during the Big Finale. You could tell she was thrilled to be there, acknowledged, and onstage again.

It was during this Big Finale where both Aurora Vargas AND "Pansequito" both displayed some fancy flamenco footwork along with their invited guest. It was a fun ending to an enjoyable evening.

After the concert we went to a nearby bar ("La Mina") for some of their legendary gambas a la plancha and boquerones en vinagre. After that, we walked (again) through the nearby Plaza de Olavide and found one of the other El Brillante bars, where we just had one quick last drink before ending the evening. Can't wait 'til Monday night's performance!

Last night I watched a wonderful Flamenco Dance performance by the famous Manuela Carrasco in "Sala B" of the Teatros del Canal. She danced three times and two males each danced two numbers apiece.

Manuela Carrasco, from Triana, Sevilla, had won many awards for her expertise in the 1970s and continues to thrill audiences to this day. During two of her three numbers, each of which included a costume change, the combs pinning back her hair went flying. When seeing this, I sometimes think the dancers expect this will happen, adding a "Wow!" affect for the audience. Get can't nuttin' passed me! The dance group was accompanied by a wonderful crew of 10 members including guitar players, palmeros/singers, and one "box" player.

While I enjoyed her dances to some extent, I especially enjoyed the performances by the two young men whom, with force, precision, and passion, showed what's to come in the world of flamenco dance. If they were any indication, we're in for a treat.

Unfortunately, no photos or videos are allowed during the Suma Flamenca performances. One woman, sitting alongside the stage, took two flash photos and an usher asked her to stop. We had 5th-row seats in the center, but this was in the first row of the main section. The first four rows, at nose-height with the stage, seemed to be reserved for VIPs and professional flash-less photographers of the press.

After the performance, I enjoyed some raciones and "cervezas con limón" (beers with lemon) at a terraza nearby. I thank those whom invented linen pants and silk shirts. It was a hot night and a cool shower was awaiting me when I arrived home at midnight by metro. Tonight, I'll do this all over again but it's much much cooler today after last night's rains. Read the review tomorrow!



1986 Video of Manuela Carrasco dancing

A couple nights ago I attended a very good flamenco guitar concert by Seville-born star VICENTE AMIGO, as part of the Suma Flamenca Flamenco Festival. This was good timing as he was promoting his recently released (5 May) album, "Paseo de Gracia". (visit the Vicente Amigo website for music clips).

This concert took place in the brand new city-owned "Teatros del Canal", located alongside the Paseo de la Castellana at metro CANAL. It's a new steel and glass structure, the location of the Suma Flamenca press conference. I didn't have high expectations for this modern venue for a flamenco - but I was pleasantly surprised. The truth is, its modernality does NOT add character to the traditional performances taking place on state, the seats are (still) comfortable and spacious, and the air conditioning mercifully worked very well.

From our second-row seats, we could see the entire Vicente Amigo accompaniment band. With Vicente himself in the middle, he was flanked by an electric bass guitar, flamenco guitar, two percussionists, two palmeros/singers, and one violinist - all male. The "players" came and went, depending on the song being performed, sometimes Vicente was seated alone.

The concert lasted just less than 1.5 hours, no breaks, and two encores were granted. Each song lasted between 8 and 15 minutes, typical for flamenco guitar compositions. Vicente Amigo himself seemed rather timid speaking, but was able to dedicate one song to his mother whom was in the audience, coming from Valencia.

Those in attendance were notably a younger crowd. We didn't see the older couples or famous people you usually see at the Suma Flamenca performances. A young, Spanish crowd gives great hope for this wonderful art form. We only saw one famous person, Amador Mohedano - brother of the late Rocio Jurado.

Everyone enjoyed the flamenco guitar concert on that Monday night in Los Teatros del Canal. At times I found myself tapping my toes and drumming my fingers on my thighs.

See the video below of Vicente Amigo's song, Paseo de Gracia, from the album of the same name. Other songs on his new album include vocals by Alejandro Sanz, Niña Pastrori, Estrella Morente, & Enrique Morente.

Today is no ordinary day in Madrid, Spain. It's May 15, 2009, which is el Día de San Isidro el Labrador - Madrid's Patron Saint Day. So to honor his Saintness, I walked the half-kilometer to the Pradera de San Isidro, which is the park alongside La Ermita de San Isidro, or more simply, La Ermita del Santo.

This year 15 May fell fortunately on a Friday, forcing a 3-day holiday. The 15th of May is always a city holiday so banks, schools, and many establishments are closed in the city of Madrid.

I woke up pretty late, around 9:30am, showered, had a light breakfast, dressed, and ambled the half-kilometer to the Pradera de San Isidro, the park alongside the Ermita de San Isidro El Labrador - or more simply put, La Ermita del Santo, located just across the river from the Vicente Calderon football stadium and home to the Atletico de Madrid football team.

Thank goodness it was a cool-ish, sunny morning so my jeans and short-sleeved shirt and sandals getup wasn't too hot. I made my way uphill at about noon, passing the throngs of long-line-pedestrians waiting their turn to step up to the San Isidro fountain to sip from a glass or fill their jugs with the cool spring water - which apparently has "healing powers". The water's good, there's no doubt, but this year the line STARTED at the bridge which crosses the Rio Manzares and I wasn't about to spend the 1.5+ hours. I'd taken a sip last year and the healing powers seem to have kept me in good shape since then. Still, I was happy to reach the Pradera de San Isidro early-ish in the day before the great masses arrived.

As I made my way up the hill (it's ALLLLLL uphill, by the way, no flat parts whatsoever, except for a 30 meter stretch in front of which the mass is always held) I passed another, somewhat shorter line. This line was to ENTER the Ermita del Santo. I went in a couple years ago so, again, I wasn't going to the spend time as I didn't have all day to kill, just about an hour before meeting friends for a terraza lunch in the Casa de Campo next to the lake.

After passing all the "rosquilla" (las tontas y las listas, like hard-fried doughnuts) stands on the left and the paramedics and community group stands on the right, I had to wind around the backside of the catholic mass which was being given to the seated masses in the street. There must've been 10,000 people there, all seated and listening intently, most of the men left their chulapo hats on for protection from the sun, as did the women with their scarved-and-carnationed heads. A number of women also fanned themselves even though it was not cold - but as their costumes may have been heavy and the sun direct on the backs of their heads, I couldn't blame them.




Passing the mass(es), I continued uphill seeing a few State-Fair-like game stands, but then it was just one terraza after another, covered and uncovered, bar after bar, all displaying piles of these incredible Spanish dishes like croquetas, calamares, salmonetes, fried potatoes, chopitos, and one humongous paella pan after another, all with freshly garnished shellfish and lemon wedges. There was even one Kebap stand - which didn't have anyone waiting at it at the time of my passing. Since it was still relatively early, there weren't many eaters but I could imagine how full those terrazas would be the minute the mass was concluded at around 1pm or so.

On my way up the hill, and subsequently on my way back down the hill, I passed one cutie-pie girl after another, tiny things, maybe 5-8 years old, dressed up by their mothers as "chulapas" (traditional Madrid dress) with tiny red polka dots, oftentimes a white shawl around her shoulders, and always a white scarf covering her heads, topped off with a single red carnation. They were adorable, you just wanted to give them a big hug. The little boys, dressed alternatively as "chulapos", were cute too but not as cute with their black pants and black shoes, white button-down shirts, and a hounds tooth, button front vest, topped off with their gray hats.

Returning to the bottom portion of the road passing through the Pradera de San Isidro, I stopped off near the Ermita de San Isidro to buy some delicious Rosquillas: Las Tontas y Las Listas. Rosquillas are like a harder fried-dough version of a doughnut, topped with a variety of icings. They're great with coffee for breakfast or merienda. I only bought a dozen. But since rosquillas are only sold around the San Isidro holiday, by the time the last rosquilla is eaten is when we realize we have to wait until next year before we can buy more.

With the two-handle plastic bag containing rosquillas now wrapped around my wrist, I turned around to see a group of 20 older Chulapos y Chulapas dancing El Chotis, perfectly choreographed to recorded music, and a large group surrounding them, everyone taking photos and video - including me (see below!). These dancers belong to "Peñas" or associations, each having its own banner/flag to represent them. They practice every year to perform for the Fiestas de San Isidro and, I suppose, whomever else will have them. They don't get paid, I'm sure, but do it for the love of the dance, the love of their city and its history. Sadly, however, the members of these associations are always older. Rarely does a young person join the ranks as "it's for old folks" and, I'm sure, "it isn't cool". So I have to wonder WHO will be dancing El Chotis on San Isidro in 25 years time when ALL these people have passed away. "That's progress"??




So I'm officially done with the San Isidro Holiday although events take place throughout the weekend in various locations around Madrid, including the Pradera de San Isidro. Tonight and tomorrow night, from my window, I'll hear loud rock concerts until late. And then, on Sunday evening, marking the end of the San Isidro Holiday, there will be an incredible fireworks display in the Pradera.. And from my rooftop I'll have the best view in the area, being only a half a kilometer away. Can't wait for that.

15 May in Madrid is Madrid's Patron Saint Day, la Fiesta de San Isidro. It's the day when Madrileños, both natives and transplants, show their pride and spirit for Madrid, Spain.

And they show their pride in many ways but the biggest way to celebrate is to organize a huge festival. During the weekend of San Isidro there is MUCH going on. Not only are there parades through downtown Madrid with music, dancing, older folks and children dressed as chulapos and chulapas (traditional Madrid costume), but there's also a huge gathering at the Pradera de San Isidro, around the Ermita de San Isidro, located just across the Manzanares river from the Vicente Calderon Atletico de Madrid football stadium. In the Pradera there are concerts, stands selling las rosquillas del santo (a kind of pastry/cookie), food stands and terrazas, traditional dance displays, more costumes, a Catholic mass, and free distribution of the clear, cool spring water from below the Ermita which, it is said, has healing powers.



For other, more bloody entertainment, there's the month long bullfight festival, the la Feria de San Isidro in the Corrida de Toros de Las Ventas Madrid. There, bullfights of varying levels take place nearly every day and tickets are at a premium, almost impossible to find as nearly every bullfight is totally sold out long before it takes place. And don't be fooled, this is a festival FOR SPANIARDS. Why? Mainly because it's a Madrid festival and many MANY Madrileños have "abonos" for the entire bullfight festival, renewing them year after year, sometimes for thousands of Euros - depending on the quality of the seat location. Also, attending a San Isidro bullfight is a kind of Status Symbol, to see and be seen as one of Madrid's elite class since tickets are expensive and difficult to get. They go very well dressed in their best suits and dresses, made up and hair slicked back.

Not to be left out - and not specifically related to San Isidro - is the month long Suma Flamenca flamenco festival in Madrid of which I'll attend my first flamenco performance on Monday and am looking forward to a dozen more flamenco performances during the festival.

After tomorrow, I'll post some photos - and maybe some video - of the things I saw while at the Feria de San Isidro.

Read the EsMadrid.com website page for a detailed agenda on San Isidro activities (only in Spanish, sorry!).
Read about the Ermita de San Isidro (only in Spanish, sorry!).

Read and see photos from the May 15, 2008 San Isidro Festival blog entry and also from the May 13, 2008 San Isidro Festival blog entry..

(NOTE: also read the 24 November 2009 blog entry regarding this Saturday's Real Madrid - Barcelona game)

It's time once again for "El Clásico", the 2nd seasonal match-up between Spanish football heavyweights Real Madrid & FC Barcelona (a.k.a. "Barça"). This time around it takes place tomorrow night/Saturday at 8pm at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium (see webcam) on Madrid's Paseo de la Castellana. The game often decides the fate of one team or the other's in the Liga Española, Spanish Primera Division, Champions League, or "other" league.

Tomorrow night's 8pm game will be shown ONLY on Pay-Per-View for 12 Euros whereas their first meeting was on non-Pay-Per-View, but now I don't recall if it was simply on cable TV (Canal+) or on public/free TV. It was one or the other, but it was not Pay-Per-View, that's for sure, because I watched it and have an aversion towards PPV events. It's not so much that I'm cheap but I'm not passionate enough about any event to pay to see it on TV. If I'm going to pay, I'll go see it live and in person. I've always believed that Pay Per View events were a dangerous marketing route. Sure, it makes a lot more money but you also tend to alienate the majority of your fan base. Look what happened to boxing's title fights on PPV, now almost no one watches anymore, no one talks about boxing anymore, and no one really cares, either. PPV will be the demise of boxing. The same could happen to football/soccer with only a small percentage willing to fork-up the cash to watch their favorite teams, opting instead to read about it in the newspaper the next day or just listening for free on the radio - or they might just stop caring about soccer altogether. That'd be a huge blow to merchandising!

Tickets are sold out for the game to no surprise to anyone. Recent headlines are stating that re-sellers are getting up to 500 Euros per ticket - for which they paid 225 Euros. And if Real Madrid wins you can be sure to hear car horns and shouting fans in the street until the wee hours of the morning. Watch for closed traffic at the Plaza de Cibeles fountain (see webcam), where the team and its fans often celebrates its biggest victories.

One can listen (in Spanish) for FREE to online broadcasts from outside of Spain or via regular radio for residents on the peninsula. Surely many people will be gathering in their favorite bars which choose to PPV the event - and therefore sell LOTS of beer and snacks.

There exist a few not-so covert ways to actually watch the football game online with fair-to-poor video quality. I've watched a few sporting events like this in the past but sometimes the poor quality can be off-putting to the point that it's not watchable.

Find links to WATCH & LISTEN to the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona football match on the MadridMan's Madrid Radio, TV, Music, & Movies page.

Not sure who to cheer for, myself. I never claimed to be a true fútbol/soccer fan, much preferring the other style of football where helmets are worn and hands can be used for fingertip catches in the endzone. Still, it's fun to watch the entire country get jazzed-up for Spain's greatest rivalry.

RESULT: Barça beats Real Madrid 6-2.

It's that wonderful time again in Madrid, time for the 2009 Suma Flamenca - the month long Madrid Flamenco Festival featuring some of flamenco's best artists; singers, dancers, and guitar playing. This year will be my 3rd round of the 4 years of the flamenco festival's existence.

Last week I attended the press conference for the 4th Annual Flamenco Festival of the Comunidad de Madrid in the Teatros del Canal (Calle Cea Bermúdez, 1, metro Canal, Paseo de la Castellana near the Plaza de Castilla). First, the large building, Teatros del Canal, is brand new, ultra modern, glass and steel, and lacks any character. But since the newly built theater venue is owned by the Madrid City Government they've got to put it to good use.


The press conference was the 3rd I'd attended. The previous two conferences took place in the beautiful old brick El Aguilá Beer Factory. This building had been totally renovated inside, but no matter. The new Teatros del Canal is what we're given this year for the site of the press conference and a number of the flamenco performances for this year's Flamenco Festival.

Santiago Fisas, Juan Verdú, and even singer Paco del Pozo & dancer Roció Molina sat on the panel to discuss this year's flamenco festival and all that entailed. Apart from discussion about the performers and venues, much attention was given to "La Crisis" and how it will affect this year's flamenco festival in Madrid. At the end of the press conference, there was a short performance given by singer Paco del Pozo and dancer Juan de Juan which was quite entertaining (photo at right).

The 2007 & 2008 Suma Flamenco press conferences ended with a huge, catered affair with more performances, television interviews of the stars, and lots of FREE wine, beer, before-your-eyes-poured sidra, before-your-eyes-cut jamón serrano, even hot cocido madrileño served in tiny terracotta bowls. ALL kinds of food and drinks were served by shirt-and-tie servers, all waiting on you hand-and-foot. Plus free Suma Flamenco T-Shirts! After this year's press conference, we were sent off with a smile and a "Thanks for coming!" That's the economic crisis for you. Mind you, I'm not complaining, the expenses for previous-year's press conferences were exaggerated - but welcomed, nonetheless.

We were told there would be more venues used this year and about as many performances as last year. Take a look at the Suma Flamenca website for the schedule, venues, and performances. Overall, in comparison to previous years, I'd say the line-up looks pretty good. Some of the performers I'd seen last year in downtown Madrid are performing in the other cities and villages of the Comunidad de Madrid and not in the city. And since I have no car - and don't drive in Spain - I won't be attending any not reachable via metro. I'd hoped to see singer María de Toledo and dancer Belén López once again. They're impressive. But I'm sure I'll be impressed by some of the newer (new to me) performers and venues.

Sadly, since La Comunidad de Madrid closed down the Teatro Albéniz last year - converting it to flats - I'll miss this centrally located theater. Also on the DOWN-side, many of the performances take place on the far-north venue of Teatros del Canal, about 45 minutes away by metro for me. On the UP-side, the Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón de Madrid (downtown, next to the Cine Idea on the Plaza Jacinto Benavente) and Teatro Lara will be a nice change, I'm sure.

So if you have the chance, attend some of the 2009 Suma Flamenca performances from 7 May to 20 June (although their logo above incorrectly shows the ending date to 15 June)  throughout the Comunidad de Madrid - as well as IN the City of Madrid. The vast majority of performances are those of flamenco singing but there are a handful of flamenco dancing performances to enjoy as well. Tickets are pretty reasonably priced and you can't get a more Spanish experience. In fact, the vast majority of those attending these performances ARE SPANISH! I saw very few non-Spaniards at the previous years performances, and you even see some Spanish celebrities in attendance. This year, I hope to attend 10-15 flamenco performances. Can't wait!!

People often ask me which is the best way to travel around Spain for the visitor. Answering this question is always difficult because "the best way" means different things to different people and many details must be considered before deciding.

Below, I'll detail the pros and cons of each form of travel. Please feel free to add your own comments to this travel blog posting.

Spain Bus Travel:

pros: by far the cheapest form of travel in Spain, the bus line network is vast, buses are comfortable and modern, many long-distance routes show movies (in Spanish) and have recorded music channels like on airplanes, you can carry-on practically anything, sometimes good highway views through large windows, comfortable & spacious seats, sometimes buses travel as fast as trains, bus stations are usually in or very near the downtown, sometimes a more expensive "Express Bus" is available along some routes which makes fewer or no stops.

cons: buses don't go everywhere or one must change buses at major city hubs, tiny toilet - if any, morning/afternoon sun can be annoying, sometimes inadequate air conditioning, sometimes nasty bus stations, low-security in bus stations and bathrooms, always complaints about luggage theft, sometimes buses travel slower than trains - particularly slower than high-speed AVE trains.

Spain Train Travel:

pros: the most comfortable method of travel, wide & long seats, many and large bathrooms, great views of the countryside, fast travel on the AVE trains, lots of luggage space, faster lines at train stations, train stations are generally located within the cities, long-range trains usually show movies (in Spanish) and have music jacks and free headphones, the cafe/bar car.

cons: expensive, trains may not go where buses will, the possibility of getting a rear-facing seat.

Spain Airplane Travel:

pros: fast point-to-point travel, can be cheap with low-cost airlines like Easyjet, RyanAir, and even Iberia if you get very lucky, best when going from coast to coast or extra long distances.

cons: traveling from/to the city to/from the airport in the outskirts can take time and traffic jams are always a possibility, can be very expensive if tickets are bought without anticipation, waiting in check-in or security lines can take a long time, carry-on restrictions of liquids and other items, no view from airplane windows, narrow seats, no movie.

Next week I'm making my fourth visit to the city of Granada, Spain. This time, for the first time, I'm going by bus but have taken the train the two previous visits and have gone by car once. To give an example, I'm paying 31 Euros for a round-trip bus ticket from Madrid to Granada. The train would have cost about 130 Euros. That's a 100 Euro difference! And the trip takes about the same amount of time; 5 hours. My only concern about taking the bus for the first time is the fact that one cannot stretch their legs like on a train, plus the toilet is roughly the size of a small broom-closet - and you NEVER see anyone using it. There must be a reason why.

I've only traveled Spain by bus a couple of times and, generally speaking, I don't care for bus travel ONLY because of the lack of mobility and the issue of the toilet on long-distance trips. But this time around, considering the cost difference, I'm going to try it and will report my experience later.

How do YOU prefer to travel around Spain and why?

Holy Week, or "Semana Santa", in Madrid is more than just watching one procession after another through the streets of Spain's capital. It's truly special - if you can get close enough to admire it. I've already watched the Domingo de Ramos procession last Sunday evening and expect to watch more today/Wednesday/Miercoles Santo, as well as tomorrow's Jueves Santo, then Friday's Viernes Santo, and Saturday's Sábado Santo. There are no processions on Easter Sunday, somewhat surprisingly to me.

The few Spaniards whom choose to stay home for Holy Week and not travel to Andalucia, to "el pueblo", or to travel abroad have a special treat. Not only do they get an eyeful of Spanish religion at its pinnacle but they also enjoy shorter lines at Madrid restaurants, more parking spaces, less traffic, and generally a quieter Madrid.

Semana Santa processions are beautiful and popular among the remaining Spaniards and a few tourists whom are aware of them. Many of these "floats" are some hundreds of years old, made anew each year with special polishing and care, new flowers bought and expertly arranged around the effigies of Virgins and Christs.

These effigies typically sit upon a kind of platform surrounded by flowers and candles, carried on the backs of the faithful whom are usually the sons of those whom had carried the same platform for the previous generation. It's considered a great honor to bear the wait of the several-thousand-pound platforms.

I've seen several processions in Madrid but this city is not known for them - although they are nice. Those in nearby Toledo are particularly pretty. And, of course, those in Sevilla are the best in all of Spain.

Not only does Madrid - and Spain - have wonderful processions, but they also have TORRIJAS! Torrijas are the typical dessert/breakfast/merienda of Semana Santa-Holy Week. Torrijas are generally made by adding slices of bread to milk, egg, lemon, cinnamon, sugar, then frying the bread. It's a complicated process and since I've never made them before I won't profess to know anything about their preparation but here you can find one recipe for torrijas in English. But I sure love to eat them every chance I get because they're generally only available during this Holy Week.

(torrijas are discussed, in Spanish, in this blogspot blog from Pozuelo, Cuenca, Spain)

I've just returned from watching Madrid's only Palm Sunday (called "Domingo de Ramos") procession of Easter/Holy Week, called Semana Santa in Spain.

Today's procession was called "Procesión del Cristo de la Fe y del Perdón" and was a somewhat simple procession with an 18th Century Christ on a Cross sculpture, led by pointy-hooded navarenos.

The Palm Sunday procession started at 7:30pm at the beautiful Basílica Pontificia de San Miguel on Calle San Justo, 4. It was here where the Christ effigy exited the basilica and headed slowly uphill through the crowded Plaza de la Villa (Madrid's one-time City Hall), where I first took up position at the top of the slight incline near the Calle Mayor for a better vantage point.

After the procession crossed Calle Mayor it headed for Plaza de Santiago where I was once again waiting for its arrival. The procession moves so slowly that it's relatively easy to get a head of it.

It was from here at the Plaza de Santiago that I made my way home. It was already nearly dark and I'd already taken nearly 100 photos and had to get home. It was a beautiful late afternoon for a procession; skies were clear and I was comfortable in just my short-sleeved shirt.

Today's Palm Sunday procession was the first of several Holy Week processions in Madrid. More processions take place in Madrid on Holy Wednesday (2 processions), Holy Thursday (5 processions), Holy Friday (8 processions), and the last processions taking place on Holy Saturday (2 processions). There are no Semana Santa processions on Easter Sunday. There are an amazing 18 processions in Madrid for this year's Holy Week.

See http://www.esmadrid.com/semanasanta/procesion.html for Madrid's Holy Week processions, procession routes, and other details. Unfortunately, this page is only available in Spanish.

Madrid.com, a NEW website in direct competition to MadridMan.com, is surprisingly NOT owned by the city of Madrid - or even the Comunidad de Madrid. It's not even owned by a Spanish company. It's owned, in fact, by Barcelona.com, Inc., a (one-time??) Maryland, USA-based company which ALSO owns Barcelona.com. The two websites even look similarly. The original registrants of Barcelona.com and founders of Barcelona.com, Inc. are/were both Catalán-Spanish citizens.

In 2003, Barcelona.com, Inc. successfully appealed a 2000 WIPO decision (WIPO: "World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center") to transfer the domain name to the city of Barcelona, Spain and retained the domain name after the 3-year dispute.

It would seem that Barcelona.com, Inc. has become emboldened, successfully purchasing Madrid.com from Mail.com, a Free Email service which bought and warehoused hundreds of recognizable country, city, and other .com names for use of *.com email addresses. Mail.com owns USA.com, Europe.com, Berlin.com, & Tokyo.com to name only a few. For years, I've had an email address using the *.madrid.com domain name. In fact, I see it STILL WORKS - for the time being!

Madrid.com has only been online for a few months, has only a Google PageRank 3, and has a very poor Alexa Traffic Ranking due to its "newness". If you conduct a Google search using the following syntax, link:madrid.com, you'll find the ONLY links to it come from other Barcelona.com, Inc. owned websites including Barcelona.com, Asia.com, & India.com, and none from other outside sources. This tells me that almost no one else knows about it yet. Expect a huge marketing campaign coming soon, however. They didn't go to all the effort and expense to acquire the domain name for nothing!

Simply owning Madrid.com does not ensure success on the internet - but it certainly helps. It's still totally new and they need to get the word out that Madrid.com even exists as a Madrid Travel Portal. That costs money in advertising. Money, I'm sure, they have.

So why am I, MadridMan.com, HELPING Madrid.com with free advertising? Good question. I don't mean to promote them. I mention it mainly because RIGHT NOW - and so far - MadridMan.com ranks higher than Madrid.com in every way - and MadridMan.com has better advertising rates too! (the Barcelona.com advertising rates are sky-high!). The story about Madrid.com's existence is news-worthy. You've got to admire the lofty goals of some companies - and people. To achieve such seemingly impossible goals is truly inspiring - as long as no one gets hurt along the way, of course.

But I can imagine the day when Madrid.com may become Madrid's Main Travel portal just as Barcelona.com has become for Barcelona. Owning any city's dot-com domain name is a powerful tool; it's simple, short, and descriptive. Big travel corporations like Barcelona.com, Inc. have a lot of power, money, and influence.

Barcelona.com, Inc. is likely to be comforted that in 2002, the city of Madrid LOST a WIPO decision to the email warehousing company ("Easylink Services Corporation") for the proper ownership of the Madrid.com domain name. But should the Madrid City Government or Madrid Regional Government grow new teeth and make a better case for themselves, Barcelona.com, Inc. will likely be ready for the challenge. The 2002 WIPO decision for Madrid.com and the 2003 appeal to retain Barcelona.com sets strong precedents and carries a lot of defense ammunition should the region or city of Madrid attempt such a takeover attempt again. They, the Comunidad de Madrid, should be happy they DO OWN the Spain-based domain name (with .es extension) Madrid.es and leave it at that.

That's right! I've been criticized for enjoying flamenco music! And criticized by Spaniards, no less!! Is there anything MORE "Spanish" than Flamenco Music??

All those years living in Ohio, USA, I was listening to flamenco music almost daily, allowing its guitar and vocal sounds to virtually "take me away" to the country I pined for so desperately. Flamenco was part of my "assimilation" process. And now that I live in Spain I actually get criticized for listening to flamenco radio stations like RadiOlé! Can you beat that??!

Generations of Spaniards have been listening to flamenco music on the radio, I suppose, because there was little else broadcast. Now we have more choices, of course. So why would an American living in Spain choose to listen to flamenco music on the radio? Because I like it!!'

Now I feel like if I'm not listening to Spanish or English pop music that I'm "cutre" or "old fashioned". I've been called "cutre" many many times by Spaniards for choosing to listen to RadiOlé and it always ruffles my feathers. It's as if I should be listening to the Rolling Stones or Elton John or whatever.

Is it that Spaniards are shunning their heritage because it's not cool? There must be enough of a following for flamenco music because radio stations like "Radio Olé" are alive and well. I can't believe that ONLY the gypsy population is the only group of people listening but maybe so. According to some, only gypsies, tourists, and old Spanish women listen to flamenco. Maybe that's true but today's standards. I don't know. I'm inclined to take an opinion poll in the Puerta del Sol and ONLY poll Spaniards - if I could get more than a dozen of them per hour in SOL, that is. Surely I could.

The population in any given Suma Flamenca flamenco festival (every May) performance is, without a doubt, 95+% Spanish in attendance. Is it because it's art-and-theater and not intended for tourists? Not sure. So it would seem that flamenco performances, at least, are enjoyed by Spaniards. But why if these same people don't listen to flamenco on the radio or on CD in their homes?

I enjoy Spanish pop like Amaral, Chambao, Ismael Serrano, Jarabe de Palo and the like. But when I'm working or doing the dishes I like listening to flamenco music. Why? I guess because it seems so soulful, so ancient, so down-to-the-roots Spanish music.

Do YOU, a non-Spaniard, enjoy Flamenco Music? Or if you are a Spaniard, why - or why not do you enjoy flamenco music?

It never ceases to amaze me the things we happen to find on the internet.

Just now, I was searching "back-links" to MadridMan.com and happened upon the following July 18, 2003 Blogger blog entry about MadridMan.com. It's interesting to read what others have written about MadridMan and MadridMan.com from, what, nearly 6 years ago now:

Friday, July 18, 2003

There isn't much going on in my mind tonight. It was a rough work week. My rent is going up. My life seems dry. Even the dog acts like she's bored with me. Apparently, I need a long vacation.

The one place I really want to visit, and that I haven't yet visited, is Madrid. Sometimes, when I get in moods like the one I'm in now, I head over to MadridMan's Yankee Home Page and think about actually going. I've been visiting MadridMan's site for years, longer than I've been (regularly) visiting just about any other site. He lives in Columbus, Ohio (he loves those Buckeyes), and he's about my age. His interest in Madrid seems to be a big part of his identity. Naturally enough, he started a site that has gradually become downright comprehensive. There are links to Spanish radio and TV stations, photos from his several trips to Spain, message boards for those planning their own trips, links to Spanish news sources, and on and on and on.

MadridMan also has a webcam at his desk. I don't know why I find it so compelling, but I do. Tonight, for instance, as I write this, MadridMad is sitting at his desk, in what is now his familiar living room, working away. He's shirtless, as he often is, and he seems pretty content. I don't know what the webcam has to do, really, with providing information about Madrid, but it makes me feel like I know him just a little bit. Somehow, it makes him seem all the more trustworthy. And--on a night, like tonight, when the world seems a bit awry--it's comforting to know that MadridMan is there.

Should I plan a winter trip to Madrid?

posted by Jimmy  # 11:50 PM

The above is an interesting account of what a "normal visitor" sees at MadridMan.com. The MadridMan Live Cam has been online for more than 11 years. Wow, that's a long time. Here are a few of the funniest webcam photos "caught on camera" - I'm not including the naked and near-naked photos of which I DO HAVE SAVED but will never show again in any public forum. Hahahaa... Note the dates of these Live WebCam photos:

Last night, 22 February 2009, Alcobendas-Madrid-born Penélope Cruz won the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actress for her role as "María Elena" in the 2008 Woody Allen film, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". It's a proud day for Spain, Spaniards, Spanish actors, and those from Madrid and Alcobendas.

During her acceptance speech, "Pe" thanked Woody Allen, Pedro Almodóvar, Bigas Luna & Fernando Trueba for giving her her first two movies. She dedicated the Oscar statue to her parents, brother & sister, and everyone who helped her since the beginning.

Especially touching was her emotional story about how she grew up in Alcobendas (a suburb of Madrid) where winning an Oscar was not a very realistic dream. She said she would always stay up to watch the Academy Awards and always felt the ceremony was a moment of unity for the world, "Because art, in any form, is an has been and will always be our universal language. And we should do all we can to protect its survival."

At the end, the 34-year old actress said in Spanish that she dedicated the award to all Spaniards and Spanish actors sharing this moment with her.

Congratulations, Penélope!! All Spaniards and Spaniard-wannabes DO share your joy and we're all very proud of you.

Also read MadridMan's blog Review of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" HERE.

Today's blog entry is one I've had on my mind for more than a year. I hope today I do this important topic its due justice.

People who know Spain and Spaniards know what I'm talkin' 'bout. And I ain't not talkin' 'bout a revolution, neither!

I'm talking about what bag Spaniards choose when, for example, they take an old sweater to a sister's house across town, they do the day's market shopping, or when they take a nice bottle of wine to a friend's dinner invitation.

I, for one, would usually grab the first plastic 2-handle grocery bag from the top of the one-thousand-bag-pile to carry just about everything. But Spaniards are particular. It's got to be just the right bag because, afterall, people are watching what bag you're carrying and you wouldn't want to be caught carrying, say, a LIDL (super cheap supermarket) or "TODO POR 100" (cheap-o Chinese stores) bag and have to admit you actually shop at those places.

The usual bag of choice is the famed white with green, two-handle, thick-plastic El Corte Inglés bag with the pleated bottom. Choosing this bag tells the public, "Look! I do my shopping at El Corte Inglés. I'm not some commoner, don'tchaknow!" Others really pushing the self-image envelope might choose a Mongo or even Zara bag to say, "Hey! I'm into fashion!", or some another bag from some other fashion line with which I'm certainly not familiar so I won't attempt to be falsely knowledgeable here.

El Corte Inglés is, by no means, the rich-person's department store but nor is it a place to go for anyone on a budget. Their store brand line is decent and somewhat reasonably priced. But WITHIN El Corte Inglés there are a number of select, high-end fashion departments. They even sell furs, for goodness sakes!  75 Euros is what you'd maybe pay for their cheapest Levi jeans. (that's about $96, folks!)

Sometimes I have to laugh to myself because, NOW that I'm aware of this fact, I'm constantly glancing at the bags people are carrying and wondering what NON-El-Corte-Ingles-items are inside. It's funny to see an incredibly warn El Corte Inglés bag which appears to have been used for 5 years of transporting everything from documents to the day's supermarket goods and the green El Corte Inglés lettering is still barely visible from wear and tear.

One time I was going to a friend's house for dinner and I grabbed "the first bag I saw". WRONG CHOICE! Someone of the female persuasion convinced me to, instead, choose a foldable rectangular paperboard bag with dual rope handles.

Plain white, green, or even supermarket brand bags are fine for re-usable purposes when you go to the supermarket. But people whom are REALLY concerned with appearances will even use El Corte Inglés bags to line their trash cans. This way, as they walk to the dumpsters outside, in full view of their neighbors, it suggests that they shop at El Corte Inglés so often that they can "afford" to use these status bags for their everyday garbage. Well, la-dee-da!

We humans must periodically retrain ourselves to stay with the current trends and technologies. MadridMan is no exception. If you haven't noticed yet, the MadridMan.com FRONT PAGE, Madrid Hostels, and Madrid Apartments pages have taken on a whole new look.

MadridMan's website has gone through (or is going through) only 3 "versions". The first layout appeared online on a free Geocities.com website account. The second layout, the previous one, lasted a good 8 or 9 years. That's a long time with the same format but it served me well and seemed to be easily navigated. But things and times change.

Why have I made this latest change? In short, "because Google told me to." And in today's internet age, what Google says is Rule of God. Defy God, and, well, "they say" bad things will happen to you. It's not that I knowingly defied God, I just hadn't read the Google Bible - which really isn't even published or publicized.

So after several years of great success online thanks to my hard work, my passion, and shining star in the eyes of Google, "That which Google giveth, Google taketh away," the number of visits to particular pages started waning.

Why? No one will ever know for sure. Call it a worldwide economic crisis, higher gas prices, and fewer travelers. Call it increased competition for the same slice of the delicious Madrid Travel Pie. Or call it a change in the elusive Google Algorithm.

Errr... What was that last thing? For people working in the Web World, we know that Google periodically changes its search algorithm. The algorithm is a sequence of finite instructions, of mathematical computations designed to better help you, the searcher, find more appropriate results. What makes up the algorithm? That's a closely guarded Google secret and mortal man will never know for sure. Solve the Google Algorithm and you could instantly become a millionaire. How? By placing yourself at the TOP, #1 search result for any given search querey.

For years, many of the individual pages of MadridMan.com were found as #1 or #2 or at least on the first page of Google search results. And while this fact never made MadridMan a millionaire - or even close - it certainly made life very very comfortable, happy-go-lucky, I'm-on-top-of-the-world-ma'. In short, it was alllll gooooood.

Then, literally overnight, when, for example, a search querey for "Madrid Weather" yielded MadridMan's Madrid Weather page as a #1 result in Google, the next day it had fallen to PAGE 10 of search results - or wasn't listed in Google at all? Why? WHY!?!?!?! WHYYYYYY??????!!  If only I knew for sure.

Over the past several months I'd contacted SEVERAL SEOs (Search Engine Optimization specialists). Somewhat to my surprise - but not much - they were all too busy to answer my emails or give me an estimate. These guys are working hard to make big money for big companies and, probably, couldn't be bothered by my po-dunk personal website.

One Spanish SEO guy, right here in Madrid, gave me a test-run, TOTALLY changed my website including the front page, essentially changing the descriptions, keywords, and anchor text TO SPANISH PHRASES!! I was furious! And then HE was furious because we apparently had a lack of communication. He tried to convince me that if my goal is to drive visitors to, say, "Hoteles en Madrid" I must Optimize the entire website to that goal. I told him that MadridMan.com was basically an English language website with a few Spanish versions of lodging pages but that was all. He said no, that one must optimize an entire domain name to one end. This guy REALLY seemed to know what he was doing. But the more research I did on my own the more I realized that he probably does a good job for companies selling ONE product - but maybe had yet to work with one promoting SEVERAL products, like MadridMan.com does. He also told me that one CANNOT OPTIMIZE individual pages of a domain, that it must be done throughout the domain name. Now, that sounded just wrong to me.

So I took all this SEO stuff upon myself, convinced I could learn it - because I had to! Plus, there are a lot of SEO sharks out there, promising First Page Google search results, charging A LOT of money, and then there's the maintenance fees! Most promoted themselves saying they guaranteed such results and if they didn't achieve these goals for their clients that the client would pay nothing. OF COURSE, however, the client had already paid for the initial work. So if the SEO didn't get the client to the first Google page then, what? He's already been paid. Sharks.

I'm no SEO expert - and surely will never become one - but I've learned quite a bit just from reading SEO discussion forums, and using different software for analyzing website files and structure. There's A LOT of information on the internet and it alone would take a lifetime to learn it. Plus, it's always changing!

In a nutshell, I've learned that the basic HTML language, upon which all of my websites were built (as are, still, the majority of websites on the internet) contains NUMEROUS outdated and "deprecated" codes. I've also learned that "nested tables" are a BIG no-no for designing the layout of websites but are okay when used for localized purposes. Again, all my pages were designed using TABLES, and tables nested within other tables. This was perfectly fine for years, or since the beginning of internet time. The use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a near necessity these days, too. Google "judges" the use of CSS as a BIG POSITIVE, allows the Google bots to better scan webpages and allow it to sift through less code on the HTML pages which also load faster. My new webpages are all based on a very strict XHTML code. Fail the code and you lose points with Google. QUESTION: How could the aforementioned SEO NOT KNOW THIS???? He never mentioned HTML coding or architecture at any time!

So to sum up, the web page's HTML on which all my websites are built are now quickly becoming outdated. I'm moving to the new XHTML code, using Cascading Style Sheets, and passing the XHTML pages through a W3C Markup Validation Service. When the code fails on check, I fix them until they pass. In rare cases the page will fail because some code I've added for one thing or another. In fact, one page failed because of a snippet of Google Analytics code I'd inserted to track the page. That makes me laugh.

Does all the above sound "Geek" to you? Maybe so, particularly if you have a website designed on Wordpress or Blogger or something like these where you use the host sites' graphical interface to manage layouts and add features. Even these websites, sometimes, fail strict coding requirements but less-so than if you would build your website by hand - like I always have, using nothing more than a text editor.

The new MadridMan.com pages, and soon also the BarcelonaMan.com, GranadaMan.com, ValenciaMan.com, and on and on, will be totally re-built using the new (for me) XHTML language and using Cascading Style Sheets. The menus are cool, the visuals are nicer, the page as a whole just looks cleaner and they definitely load faster. While having the new template created, still, adding all the individual links and text from the old to the new page takes a lot of time and, these days, I'm working myself to a frazzle, not sleeping well, and am definitely more irritable. That's not good. But I try to remember those other long days at home, creating the last version of MadridMan.com, working all night some nights AFTER coming home from my day job. It was hard work but fun at the same time an I knew it was all for a greater good later on. Hopefully the new architecture will help me regain some of my former fame, that's always tough, but at the very least my pages will be seen as keeping with the times, not seem so dated, and this too will tell me visitors that I (seem) to know what I'm talking about and that I care about how my websites look

If you are an SEO specialist, website creator, or know something about design and internet coding DO's and DON'Ts, please add your comments here (OR CONTACT ME), recommend websites, offer some insider's information which you think might help or that I lack. I welcome all suggestions and comments.

Although the title makes it sound like a scene from a sexy porno movie, the fact remains that there are constantly women in the men's locker room at my gym! On at least 10 different occasions I've seen the cleaning women in the men's locker room. Doesn't this strike anyone else as being odd? Or maybe it's simply explained by the phrase, "This is Spain."

The first time, I was standing at the locker room urinal doing my bid'ness when I heard rustling behind me at the always-locked supply closet. I turned my head to see a short, middle-aged woman wearing what looked like loose-fitting hospital scrubs. Quickly, I turned my head back, eyes front, hands steady at the wheel.... Suddenly, I was nervous, shifting slightly my orientation in the opposite direction to further block any potential gaze until she left with her bags, bottles and such. "Whew. That was a close call. What's she doing in here?!"

Another time I was arriving at the gym and entered the locker room. No sooner had I turned the corner when I was passed by another woman, same hospital-looking garb, wearing yellow rubber gloves and carrying cleaning supplies. She was on her way out. But as soon as I passed her at least 2 naked men were entering the showers, crossing the same path which she had just walked.

On a different day, I was getting dressed and facing my open locker door, sinching up my shorts when another cleaning lady, this one much younger, passed through the entire length of the locker room. No one flinched, No one grabbed a towel. No one said a word. AND THESE WERE SPANISH MEN!!!

The above accounts happened at my current gym, where I've been going for about 1.5 years. At my previous gym, at the "Piscina Miami",  the same kinds of things happened until the closed for some building violation. The building, which was a combination-use gym and swimming pool, and has since been demolished.

Even at that previous gym there were always women in the men's locker room, casually mopping the floors and cleaning the toilets every morning at 9am, shortly after they opened. And there I was in all my morning glory getting dressed. Actually, my "glory" was nothing more than me in a sweat suit because I always arrived fully dressed and ready to peel-off the sweats and get bizzy. But many other guys at that gym were struttin' their stuff when walking from their lockers to the showers after a workout.

At first I thought it must be difficult working in such an environment, seeing all these naked, sometimes muscular men in the same place where you work. Or maybe, like male gynecologists, when you see this kind of thing everyday you become totally desensitized to it all. And maybe the same goes for the guys in the locker room whom see these cleaning women in their daily midst. No big dillio.

I've YET to see any high-heal-wearing cleaning ladies with tight shorts, tight half-shirts, with large artificial breasts, winking at all the guys as she struts through the locker room like in the porno movies - not that I'd know anything about that. This is a family forum, afterall. Gyms are places for getting "fit", not for getting "it".

Last Friday, when at the gym, I saw a guy there whom I've seen at the gym several times. He's probably about 22 years old, short, rather round, blond hair, blue eyes, wears glasses and Nike weight-lifting shoes. On previous occasions he's worn a Purdue University t-shirt so, upon seeing him, I was SURE he was a midwestern farm boy, ex-high school football player, come to Madrid as a study-abroad student.

So on Friday I saw the same guy, this time wearing a Chicago expositions t-shirt of some kind. So I got up my nerve to go over and introduce myself, something I ABSOLUTELY never do at the gym with anyone. He was exercising near me and during one of his breaks I went over to him...

"¡Oye, Américano!", with a big smile on my face. "I'm Scott.What's your name?", as I offered my midwestern hand to shake his. He reluctantly lifted up his own hand with a puzzled look on his face and stammered, in Spanish, "Perrrrrro.... no soy...."

'Oh, God', I thought, totally certain, that this guy was a guy from my part of the USA. And when he said he wasn't from the USA I mentioned that I'd seen him in his Purdue shirt and, today, with his Chicago shirt, that I was sure he was from there. But no. And he offered no other explanation so I didn't ask. I told him he totally had the look of someone from the midwestern USA, right off the farm.

I finished my workout, dressed, and was on my way home when I saw him getting into his car so I shouted, jokingly, "¡Hasta luego, Américano falso!" He looked up with a smile and replied, in Spanish, "Be careful! That name might stick!" We both laughed and went our separate ways.

Man, I was so sure this guy was an exchange student, study abroad student, or maybe some very fortunate individual who'd been able to find work here in Madrid. Surely, if he was Spanish but spent a summer at Purdue University that he would've mentioned it. But no. Nothing. No explanation as to why he had such t-shirts.

I've seen other Americans at the gym, whom I was sure were Americans and probably were, as I've heard them speaking English among them. But few Americans are found in this part of Madrid.

Hay cientos de Hostales en Madrid y más de 150 de ellos tienen página web. Yo tengo todos en un directorio aquí en MadridMan.com.

Cuando se celebran ferias en Madrid, como FITUR ("Feria Internacional de Turísmo"), los hoteles en Madrid siempre están completos. Por eso, en estos días de ferias, es difícil para un turísta común que busca alojamiento en Madrid encontrar una habitacion disponible en un hotel.

Sin embargo, mucha gente debería considerar la opción de alojarse en estos hoteles pequeños, encantadores, familiares, limpios, seguros, y, ademas, muy baratos. Este tipo de hoteles es lo que se conoce como un hostal o pensión. Otra ventaja de estos hostales o pensiones es que están, generalmente, situados en la zona más céntrica e histórica de Madrid, sin olivdar sus excelentes precios.

Debido a que hay mucha oferta de hostales, algunos con incluso 45 habitaciones, es siempre mucho más fácil para el visitante encontrar una habitacion disponible y a buen precio en un hostal que en un hotel.

La verdad es que decidir dónde alojarse en Madrid es difícil. Hay cientos de lugares dónde pasar la noche que están muy bien situados y que tienen buenos precios. ¿Qué es más conveniente: dormir en un hotel, ir a un hostal o compartir habitación en un albergue juvenil? Sólo tu puedes decidirlo, pero aquí incluyo una lista con todos los hostales de Madrid que tienen página web por si quieres conocerlos y hacer una reserva.

En mis visitas anteriores a Madrid, me he alojado en algunos de estos hostales de Madrid y siempre he quedado muy satisfecho de su servicio, su limpieza, de la amabilidad de sus dueños, de su buena situación, y, por supuesto, de sus precios baratos. Debes saber que en algunos de ellos, los menos, a veces no disponen de ascensor, ni de aire acondicionado, o aceptan tarjetas de crédito. Sin embargo, más y más de estos hostales disponen con mayor frequencia de conexión Wi-Fi a internet.

Por eso, si estás en Madrid para la feria de FITUR, para otros negocios o como turista de vacaciones, ¿por qué no considerar un hostal limpio, céntrico y económico en tiempos de crisis, como la mejor opción para alojarse en Madrid?

It's time for the next...


When: Saturday, 24 January 2009, 8pm - 10pm+
Where: El Brillante bar, below the Hotel Mediodia, on the Glorieta de Carlos V (a.k.a. Plaza de Atocha)
Why?: Meet your fellow Madrid-lover (or make a new one), drink, eat, talk
Who: ANYONE! Come if you're reading this blog, message board or Facebook members, residents & visitors to Madrid

We've had so many of these "Party with MadridMan in Madrid" gatherings that I've lost count. The first one was in 1999, I think. We've even had a television crew record one gathering for a USA-based travel show. But one thing's for sure, they've all been a lot of fun. The first party only had about 7 people. Our biggest gathering to date numbered about 50 guests. Others have been in the 30s and teens. A lot depends on the amount of notice we give people so they can see if the gathering fits into their schedules. Holidays are usually bad as people are out of the city. Weeknights are bad too.

The mix of people has always been interesting. At the beginning the nationality most represented was the USA. But over the years that's shifting to about 50% Spanish and 50% "other". We had one gathering where English speakers were in the tiny minority. It's also a GREAT opportunity for non-Spaniards to speak to Spaniards about their lives in Madrid and Spain. Spaniards get to practice their English and non-Spaniards get to practice their Spanish.

We typically sit at terrazas or in bars to talk, drink beer and wine, and eat delicious tapas. The "El Brillante Bar", a MadridMan FAVORITE, is a great spot to do just this because they have a large central space for people to stand together, there's no loud music (or any at all) to shout over, and the clientelle is decidedly Spanish! The only negatives about the place is it's a bit kitch/cutre, there's no place to sit inside, and it's not very centrally located (across from Atocha) for some travelers' or residents' likes. In nicer weather we've taken up near-total-occupation of their large terraza outside.

El Brillante is a good "Starting Point" to get to know your neighbor. There, we enjoy cheap food, cheap drinks, and easy conversation. The problem always arises when the bill comes when we're ready to leave. How do you sort out how much Joe owes and how much Sara owes among 20-50 people?? After a couple hours of talking in relative peace, most go home, but some more hearty partiers go on to noisier, busier, more crowded bars for additional fun. We've had problems with the post-El-Brillante bars in the past because of the size of our groups. Since the gatherings are usually on Saturday nights, you can imagine how packed the small Madrid bars are upon our arrival. It's just impossible, most of the time for our groups.

I've met some very very nice people over the years at our gatherings. Some of them have become very very good friends and I'm fortunate to know them. Other people attending are visiting Madrid for the first time and want to pick the brains of locals and residents to make their trip more fulfilling. Some are residents like me, Expatriates living in Madrid and loving it. Another group of attendees are the Spaniards themselves. THEY truly make these gatherings what they are and I'm happy they are interested in meeting new people from other cultures.

MadridMan rarely gets to spend much time with any given person at the "Party with MadridMan" gathering because of the size of the groups. With smaller groups it's much easier, of course. Terraza gatherings are always so nice and relaxing but it's more difficult to mingle when you're seated in a chair.

So we hope you'll be able to attend next weekend's "Party with MadridMan in Madrid"! See the below links for more information:

Current Thread: MadridMan's ALL SPAIN Message Board about the "Party with MadridMan"
Facebook Members: Event posting about the December 2009 "Party with MadridMan"

Message Board: December 2001 Party with MadridMan discussion and photos
Message Board: April 2004 Party with MadridMan discussion and photos
Message Board: July 2005 Party with MadridMan discussion and photos
Message Board: December 2006 Party with MadridMan discussion and photos

Madrid taxis can be found throughout the city - but fewer in the neighborhoods immediately outside of the downtown (where I live). Taxis are always found around shopping centers, hospitals, and, of course, bus & train stations as well as long lines of them at the airport.

Generally speaking, taxi drivers in Madrid are always very professional, nearly always men, and always Spanish. I've yet to encounter a non-Spanish taxi driver. Why is that? Because the taxi driver permit or license can only be passed from family member to family member but can also be rented, although this is rarely done.

Taxi drivers normally own their own car and are responsible for its maintenance. You rarely see a dirty taxi, either inside or out. Most drivers spend long periods of time at the train station and airports, waiting their turn to serve, and pass the time cleaning their cars, doing Sudokus, talking with other drivers, or even practicing musical instruments. I've seen one television report of a small garden outside of the Atocha Train Station in Madrid where the taxi drivers care for and cultivate plants and vegetables in their spare time.

Today, I had the opportunity to take two taxis. Both were men. Both were Spanish. And both had GPS units on their dashboards. It's a good thing, too, because on the second trip today I couldn't give directions, only an address. On two occasions I'd had women taxi drivers. One was a terrible driver, using the break and gas peddle too liberally, giving us that constant stop-and-go, jerky feeling along the ride. The other, oddly enough, claimed openly to be a witch, of all things. The former of these two women was interestingly - and constantly - smoking a smokeless cigarette, which I'd yet to see here in Spain.

Most taxi drivers are talkative. They like to not only share their opinions about the traffic but also about local government and the usefulness (or uselessness) of the tunnels and their camera-vigilant speed limits. Some complain about Real Madrid's latest loss and others complain about other drivers. But one thing seems to be true throughout, few (if any) speak any English. For this reason, it's a good idea to take a written address whenever entering a taxi if you don't speak some Spanish. Luckily, I now speak Spanish well enough to get by.

Taxis in Spain, I think, get a bad reputation for being crazy drivers but I don't find this to be true. Sure, they may exceed the speed limit most of the time, dart offensively in and out of lanes and between cars, but these guys are true driving experts and are ultra-aware of the size and power capabilities of their vehicles. You RARELY see one in an accident.

Normally, I don't wear a seat belt while riding in a taxi in Madrid. It's not required by law (at least in the back seat). And, I have to admit, with the seat-belt-wearing awareness in the USA I always feel somewhat naked and vulnerable when I don't wear it. But whenever we get on the M-30 or are on our way to the airport, accessing the faster highways, I ALWAYS lock-and-go.

Taxis have a complicated array of pricing. Prices depend on several things including hour, day, airport/train pickup or drop-off, luggage or no luggage, and maybe there's more of which I'm not aware. But generally speaking, prices are not high like in New York City. One can essentially cross the city for no more than 15 Euros. A trip to/from the airport can cost up to 30 Euros, however, depending on the destination/origin within the city.

Hailing taxis is pretty easy. Just like in the USA, one stands on or near the curb and raises his arm towards an oncoming taxi which has the "LIBRE" sign visible in the front windshield and the green light turned illuminated on the rooftop next to the "TAXI" sign.

Robberies of taxi drivers does happen in Madrid but not very often at all. When it does, it makes the news. Most taxis do not carry the Plexiglas barrier separating the passengers from the driver but I have seen a few of these before. During the day, these barriers are always open but at night they're more often closed, causing the passage of payment through a small slot.

I actually like to take taxis. It gives me a fleeting feeling of luxury, although I tend to opt for buses as they're much much cheaper - and there's a bus stop around the corner from my house. Sometimes, if I have an appointment for which I'm running late, and if the bus doesn't come along quickly, I'll usually grab a taxi and bite the payment bullet.

There has been some talk over the years about unfair or illegal charges for taxi rides. Sure, there are a few bad apples everywhere in any profession. ALWAYS be sure the taxi meter is turned on upon getting in or shortly after moving. The vast majority of drivers are nice, honest, down-to-earth people simply trying to make a living or to augment their day-job income. I always tip them something although it's rare for Spanish clients to do so.

So treat your taxi driver with respect and kindness and they'll always return the sentiment.

Tonight is New Year's Eve in Madrid, Spain and, of course, throughout the world.

How do people celebrate New Year's Eve in Madrid and throughout Spain? Unlike Christmas Eve, which is an important family-gathering holiday, New Year's Eve (called "Noche Vieja" in Spanish) is more for gatherings of friends, going to parties, going from house to house to have a drink and personally give well-wishes. Many Spaniards do stay at home with family - almost by default - but many young people will venture out into the night.

What is there to do on New Year's Eve in Madrid? LOTS! If you're young and energetic, you'll not only go to parties at people's houses but also to the small "bares de copas" (i.e. "drinking bars") and small clubs around the city. If you have some money, you may choose the 70+ Euro entry-fees for the BIG, organized parties at some of the large discotheques and restaurants. If you're young and poor, you may find yourself at a "botellón" with your friends in some public park, drinking cheap wine from a box mixed with coca-cola (called "calimochos"), peeing behind trees, vomiting in bushes, and generally having lots of "fun".

Still, year after year, hoards of people gather in Madrid's Puerta del Sol (the "Times Square of Madrid") in the hour before midnight, awaiting the 12-chimes from the square's bell tower. The chimes cannot be heard over the din of the crowd so chances are good that the ball will drop and they'll illuminate the "Feliz 2009" sign. The custom in Spain is to eat one olive with each of the twelve chimes of midnight - if you can - and then kiss your loved-ones and strangers around you, wishing them a Happy New Year. These years, very few people FROM Madrid actually go to the Puerta del Sol. Most people occupying the Puerta del Sol for New Year's Eve are Spaniards from other parts of Spain as well as foreigners & tourists visiting Madrid just for New Year's Eve.

Getting dinner reservations in Madrid on New Year's Eve is VERY difficult. Most are booked for at least one month in advance. Many smaller bars, restaurants, and shops will close by 6pm on December 31st as the proprietors spend time with their own family and friends. The downown tourist bars, which are mostly open late into the night, are usually too full to enter - let alone speak to anyone because the noise is so loud.

Shortly after midnight begins the millions of calls and text messages to friends and family, wishing them a Happy New Year, forwarding poems and well-worded well-wishes. Year after year the phone and mobile phone lines are choked with these calls, the system is overloaded and one cannot connect.

I've been to the Puerta del Sol only one time for New Year's Even in Madrid and enjoyed it. The night I was there it was blisteringly cold and we nearly froze to death waiting for midnight. But it was fun to be there and see how it was. Tonight, I'll enjoy a quiet night at home with the people I love - some of whom are too old to go out so I'll keep them company.

But regardless of where you find yourself in Spain, one thing is a near certainty; you'll bring in the new year eating those twelve grapes with the 12-chimes of midnight, either with family, friends, or total strangers.

2008 has been difficult for many reasons for many people, not only economically and professionally, but we've lost friends and family to disease or old age, broken relationships, and the list goes on. We must cheris the wonderful which have happened in 2008 and remember those whom are worse off than you. Take care of the older folk, lend a hand to those who can't, do good deeds as often as you can, and tell the people you love that you love them. Who knows, they may not be around for the next New Year's Eve - you never know. Cherish them.

Every year for the past few years, the Madrid tourist office has organized a "Bus de la Navidad" or Christmas Lights Bus (website only in Spanish). It's a double-decker bus which, this year, only picks up passengers at its one stop at the Plaza de Colón. Tickets are bought on the bus for 1 Euro each. CHEAP! The one-stop idea was a good one. In past years the bus stopped throughout the city as long-suffering would-be passengers were constantly turned away as another full-bus passed them by. The only problem is... and it's a BIG problem.. the lines are SO LONG that you'll likely wait in line 2-4 hours for the 1-hour bus ride.

We arrived at 7pm to find a line around 250 meters long, winding back and forth, much of it under surface level UNDER the tower of Christopher Columbus on Plaza de Colón. Children were running and playing everywhere while their parents stood solidly in line, moving when the next bus would come and fill ONLY the top deck of the double-decker bus. I estimate there are no more than 15 rows X 4 persons per row, that's 60 person total per bus.

I'm not sure how many buses run the tour but there are at least 4. And if each bus takes 1-hour to make the loop, that's roughly mean a new bus would come to re-load every 15 minutes. We waited in line for only about 10 minutes and decided not to pay-the-price with our backs, legs, feet, and patience.

So we left. Dejected. We walked down the Paseo de la Castellana and admired the lights on foot to the Plaza de la Cibeles. Down the Paseo del Prado there were pretty lights and at least 3 different Christmas trees. Very nice. We reached the Glorieta de Carlos V (a.k.a. "Plaza de Atocha") where we stopped in to a crowded El Brillante bar for bocadillos de calamares (fried squid sandwhiches), patatas bravas (diced, boiled potatoes in a spicy red sauce), and beers. That was nice. Possibly the highlight of the evening!

So much for the Christmas Lights Bus. I doubt we'll even try next year.

Watch the below promotional video, created by the City Madrid, about Madrid's Christmas Lights for 2008.

Ismael Serrano is probably my all-time-favorite Spanish singer-songwriter. I'd say he's been considered a Spanish folk singer because his songs are mainly ballads, often about social issues, love, and humanity.

According to the Wikipedia page on Ismael Serrano,:

He was born in the neighbourhood of Vallecas of Madrid (Spain) in March 9, 1974. After studying Physics in the Complutense University of Madrid, Ismael Serrano started his musical career in the early nineties in Madrid, singing folk based guitar music in a café circuit, at abashedly political venues like Libertad 8, Galileo and Nuevos Juglares. The movement proved to be very popular, inspired by the 20 year old 'Protest' song movement under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, as well as the Nueva canción movement of Latin America.

I first became a fan when I heard the song "Kilometer Cero", a song Serrano wrote and performed for the 2000 comedy movie of the same name, "Km.0". I haven't seen the movie yet - and heard it wasn't all that good - but the music video for the song shows scenes from the movie as well as Ismael Serrano himself walking the streets of Madrid, from a Madrid rooftop, and (presumably) from an large kitchen in a huge, old flat in downtown Madrid. Watch the "Kilometer Cero" music video below.

Kilometro Cero (2000)   -   Papá cuéntame otra vez (1997)   -   Eres (2002)


Since hearing the enchanting song "Kilometer Cero" I was hooked. I remember well listening to the song in the early 2000s, sitting at my then day-job, and getting all teary-eyed while daydreaming about Madrid. And since then I'd bought all of his subsequent CDs, growing more and more interested in his work.

"Kilometero Cero" refers to "The Zero Point" in Spain, the geographical center of the country & the point from which all other distances are measured. This location (although not exactly the actual mid-point of the country) is marked by a half-circle plaque on the sidewalk in front of the Comunidad de Madrid Government building in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. (see photo at right)

Most of his songs, slow and soulful, makes a person imagine himself exploring the historic streets of Madrid, contemplating life and observing human nature. Many songs, whether or not you understand Spanish, have the ability to bring you to tears. His guitar playing is sensitive, with rhythms and chords not often attempted. His voice is strong, precise, and unmistakable. His self-written lyrics are clear, great for the person whose first language is not Spanish.

All of the songs from his 1998 CD, "La Memoria de los Peces", 2000 CD "Los Paraísos Desiertos", and his 2002 CD, "La Traición de Wendi" were definitely his best work but he continues to make good music.

One can visit his website at http://www.IsmaelSerrano.com for all lyrics - both in Spanish AND the translated version in English - as well as song and video clips, discography, photos, tour dates, and more.

Since moving to Madrid at the end of 2005 I was anxious to see Serrano live in concert. But every time he came to Madrid his shows were always and immediately sold out. Not to be deterred, I found him playing in Tarragona City on Spain's eastern, Mediterranean coast and decided to make the 3-hour train trip, reserve a hotel for 2-nights, and see my hero live. What a show. He played alone onstage with nothing but his voice, his guitar, and a microphone  to roughly 75 or 100 people in a small venue and sang all the songs I knew. I literally had goose bumps throughout the show! Happily, everyone stayed in their seats during the concert until the last 2 or 3 songs when he picked up the pace.

Ismael Serrano is performing 2 shows here in Madrid later this month but tickets are already sold out. Figures. If I want to see him live - where tickets are still available, I'd have to travel to Jaén (tomorrow!) or Salamanca in January (hmmm... that one's a possibility!).

Of course I don't personally know Ismael Serrano, but he seems like a very accessible person, someone very friendly and open. His lyrics and comfortable stage persona while addressing the audience makes you think he's someone you could invite over for a beer and he'd happily accept. Who knows how he is in real life but he's someone I'd like to meet someday, at least to thank him for making me "feel". His music meant a lot to me in those years before moving to Madrid.

You'll love this... (it becomes a "rant" further down)

Madrid's City Hall (EsMadrid) and Google Travel Spain have apparently teamed up to hold a one-day conference, 15 December 2008, from about 10am to 7pm, in the Casa de Campo Theater Auditorium to assess and combat the depths of the economic crisis affecting the travel and tourism industry in Madrid.

Entry Fee: 75 Euros per person - which includes a nice lunch and coffee breaks. How generous!

Madrid TravelThink is what it's called. The conference includes open-forum, round table discussions after each of the four, 1-hour topics is presented. See the discussion topics below:

1) Changes in promotion and management of turistic destinations
2) Changes in the distribution model of tourism services
3) Changes in the informational habits and consumer purchace
4) Changes derived from the cold, economic climate

So there you have it in a nutshell. 4 hours of "information", and 4 total hours of round table, open forum discussion (one hour after each topic presentation) for this conference, hosted by a VERY concerned Madrid City Hall and Google.

All this for 75 Euros!?!?!!? That's a day's wage for most travel professionals - WITH university degrees! Oh, did I already mention this price includes the lunch and 2 coffee breaks?!

Rant Time: Google and EsMadrid is organizing this event to help those of us in the tourism sector better manage this time of tourism crisis for Madrid and Spain. APPARENTLY, they only ask 75 Euros per person to help offset the cost of organizing such a conference and do not intend to profit from it. UH-HUH. RIGHT!  But 75 Euros per person?!?!? How much is the lunch and coffee breaks worth? And shouldn't the CITY OF MADRID be DONATING the Theater Auditorium in the Casa de Campo, with hopes that Madrid and Spain's tourist professionals may better deal with the fading tourism industry, thereby putting more money into the Madrid City Hall's pockets?? Or maybe EsMadrid is flying in all their keynote speakers, via First Class Airfare, from around Spain, U.K., France, Italy, Germany, and New York City - not to mention 1 or 2 night's stay at a 5-Star Madrid Hotel?

First, Google's worth billions of dollars. Good for them. Madrid's City Hall, who is really dealing with this problem on a local level, is also contributing personnel to this conference. But couldn't they do much much, MUCH more?

Tourist professionals ARE feeling the economic pinch from fading tourism. I FEEL IT! Can we now afford, IN THIS TIME OF ECONOMIC CRISIS, 75 Euros per person to tell us (probably)  what we already know and feel? Many cannot afford it. Wouldn't THIS be a PERFECT opportunity to invite ANYONE in the tourism industry to share in this presumably enlightening event - FOR FREE? Wouldn't THAT help the industry and the City of Madrid?

I've registered but stopped short of paying so I'm not going. 75 Euros is just too much. I'd consider it if it was only 30 or 40 Euros but no-way will I pay 75 Euros. Not unless, of course, Google is "gifting" all those in attendance with a electronics-filled gift-bags. Doubt that.

Here's hoping all you United Statesens had a wonderful, warm, and memorable Thanksgiving Day yesterday.

After everyone left and before I went to bed, all alone, I finished one of the brought bottles of delicious red wine and watched the first half of that action-packed-yet-sad Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans NFL football game. But that ended the evening well, having "The Grand Even" behind me, a disaster area in the kitchen with piles of plates, stuffing scattered around the floor, and me drinking wine while watching my beloved football in total peace. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh......        :)        (insert HEAVY sigh of relief here.....)

See group photo below of the three of us whom are NOT afraid to have our photos on the internet:

Left to right: MadridMan, steve robinson, and replay (Rafa)



The stuffing I made early in the afternoon - which I mentioned in my previous post above - ended up in the trash        :(        because I forgot to first saute the onion and celery chunks. And yet I didn't realize this until AFTER I stuffed it in the bird and put it in the oven. That was okay but we weren't about to eat the leftover raw-onion-and-celery stuffing (at least I wasn't). (sorry, Esperanza!!!) It's a true shame too because the stuffing itself looked so delicious. I considered picking out the pieces of onion and celery but had neither the time nor the patience to take on that task with so many other things going on. Luckily, I'd bought two back-up boxes of the stuff(ing) at The American Store and made that. It turned out okay but wasn't as pretty. hehehe....

The pre-meal salad plate for guests went over very well with little pickles, black olives, anchovy-stuffed green olives, and cherry tomatoes. I'd spent 45 minutes earlier in the day peeling and quartering carrots for said salad plate - but forgot them in the refrigerator.

As guests came they would kindly say upon entering the house, "Mmmm.. Something smells good!" Of course, what they were really smelling was the smoke billowing from the kitchen's oven!        :eek:        Throughout the "social-hour", they'd poke their heads in the kitchen while I was preparing the corn-on-the-cob or the green-beans-with-mushroom-soup to chat and look through the oven-glass to the turkey. From time to time we'd ALL have to leave the kitchen because THE SMOKE was just too bad. I began worrying a concerned neighbor might call the fire department.

About the Turkey...

I'd spent nearly an hour preparing the freshly slaughtered turkey, thinking it'd only take 20 minutes. First, NOT ALL of the turkey's feathers were pulled out so I plucked those remaining. Then I washed the turkey in the sink, inside and out according to instructions, patted it dry throughout with paper towels. Then I applied olive oil first, then salt, pepper, and parsley. Good. The oven was preheated to 350ºF for the previous 45 minutes and ready to go.

The turkey was put into the SPECIAL turkey cooking bag, made the recommended 6, 2-inch slots into the plastic, and it all went into the oven at 6:30pm. I was starting to get a little nervous, knowing it would take at least 3 hours to cook and 20 minutes to cool, and my guests were told we'd dine at 9pm. This wasn't going to all come together perfectly...

As mentioned above, about an hour into cooking the 12-pound turkey (7:30pm) the smoke was filling the kitchen. Because I was beginning to doubt the EDIBILITY of the thing, I sent one of the guests to buy a couple roasted chickens. JUST IN CASE.

By 8:15pm, having already lowered the temperature twice, I turned off the oven - AFTER ONLY 1 hour and 45 minutes cooking time. "There's NO WAY we're going to be able to eat this thing." It's going to be burned on the outside and raw on the inside!!

First, this so-called magical cooking bag, something which was supposed to retain the turkey's moistness, wrapped itself around the bird like a condom throughout the baking process, and eventually, literally became its second skin - with 5th degree burns!

Thank goodness we had these roasted chickens as backup...

I took out the turkey, ready to toss it directly into the garbage in disgust but one of my female guests stopped me with her very kind and encouraging, "No! No! It doesn't look so bad! I'm sure it's delicious! We can save a lot of it, just look! Really!" This is when she took over.

Surprisingly, after cutting away the half-inch of charred plastic and flesh, revealed was some very edible-looking breast meat! Voila! We have our Thanksgiving Day Turkey!! The guest was able to cut away enough meat to almost fill one large plate, just enough for the 7 of us to try a little.

"¡ALAAAA!" was the cheer by the 5 seated Spanish guests (and one English guest) upon my entering the dining/living room with plate of turkey slices - NOT the entire turkey. Of course I had this typical image of entering with this beautiful big, brown, garnished turkey and laying it in the center of the table for everyone to admire. BUT...it didn't happen like that. They'd already gotten a glimpse of the charred body in the kitchen and no one had any grand expectations.

So we salvaged some turkey. Everyone tried the strange looking (to them) turkey gravy and liked it. I decided not to make the mashed potatoes afterall because it was just too much work and too many side dishes, people liked the green beans and mushroom soup. The stuffing went mainly untouched. The corn-on-the-cop raised much discussion by the Spaniards, saying it looked a lot like "the food the pigs eat". I'd FORGOTTEN the cranberry sauce in the refrigerator. But everyone LOVED the pumpkin pie. In an earlier post I'd mentioned I burned the no-bake graham cracker crust of two pies, which I did, but I scooped out the good middle and spread it all into a third "reserve" no-bake pie shell and served it like that. A big hit! We finished the meal off at about 11:30pm with glasses of Crema de Orujo liqueur.

The evening was wonderful, filled with Spanish political and religious debate, a little about Barack Obama's Presidential election, and general discussion. As an afterthought, I should've told my guests more about Thanksgiving, what it was, and what it stood for but I was just too overwhelmed with everything, I guess.

In total, we were 2 Spanish males (including message board member replay), 3 Spanish females, 1 Englishman (message board member steve robinson), and me, the only Americano.

MORE ON THE COOKING BAG: I followed the instructions perfectly. REALLY, I DID. My Spanish female guests kindly suggested the plastic bag burned because the oven was too small, the turkey was too close to the heating element, and that the oven may not have had a self-regulating-temperature (whatever that means - don't they all self-regulate?). Initially they said, "Well, why did you use a plastic bag of all things? That's VERY strange!" So I had to explain to them that it was "A new thing." They just shook their heads in disbelief.

So my FIRST attempted Thanksgiving Day Feast was a semi-success. But at least we all had a good time and were together. Afterall, THAT's what's most important.  :)

Sometimes photos speak more than do the written word. See MadridMan below, the proud Ohio State University Alumnus (Class of 1989, Geology), watching his 10-2, 10th Ranked OSU Buckeyes beat the University of Michigan Wolverines for the 5th straight year in football. This year it happened in front of more than 105,000 spectators at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, USA. This wins the Buckeyes a share of the Big 10 Title - shared with Penn State University. Notice MadridMan is wearing his favorite Ohio State sweatshirt for luck. Believe it or not, he bought that sweatshirt on campus at Long's Bookstore DURING his college days.

I couldn't stand it anymore. Exhausting ALL of the published possibilities of easy-in-easy-out restaurants serving a Thursday turkey dinner, I've resigned myself to cooking the turkey myself - IN MY OWN HOUSE. I must be crazy.

My local "Chicken Shop" tells me they can order a whole turkey with 24-hour notice. I asked, sheepishly, "Will it still have the features on it?" Both "The Chicken Lady" and another woman - who was there just to chat - laughed and said, "We don't live in a village, you know!" So yes, the bird comes "clean". I forgot to ask if it came with its innards, head and feet, though. Probably not. 5 Euros per kilo, she tells me. Is that expensive? I guess it doesn't matter now. I'm in up to my elbows in resignation of being the Thanksgiving Day chef.

Hmmm... Why does the image of Mr. Bean attempting to cook a turkey for the first time come to mind? (see photo at right)

Having the turkey taken care on "the front end" is one less thing to worry about, albeit simply ORDERING the turkey is the easy part. Now I need the supplies to cook the gobbler. What will I need?

I carefully summon visions of Grandma's annual turkey-cooking efforts and make a mental list of things I'll need. And how does one get such American holiday cooking items here in Madrid, Spain? That's simple! At The American Store! So that's where I went yesterday, to the store location just a hundred meters from "El Clínico de San Carlos" hospital. And it was there I found nearly everything I needed. Not only do they carry all the "normal" things like Peanut Butter & Jelly, pancake mix and syrup, fudge brownie mixes, and every American candy and snack known to man, but they also carry seasonal food stuffs like the ones I was seeking.

Right on the "end cap" upon going downstairs were (nearly) all the Thanksgiving Day items necessary to create an All American Thanksgiving Day feast. Here's the list of my purchase:

• Aluminum Turkey cooking pan: 2.50 Euros
• Box of stuffing: 3.00 Euros ea.
• Box of Turkey Cooking Bags: 3.50 Euros
• Packs of Turkey Gravy: 1.85 Euros ea.
• 2 Cup measuring cup:  2.10 Euros
• Big-@ss Can of Pumpkin Pie filling: 4.75 Euros
• Graham Cracker Pie Shells: 3.90 Euros ea.
• Cranberry Sauce: 2.75 Euros ea.
• =======================
  
• Purchase Total: 54.60 Euros

I walked out of there and towards the Moncloa metro station with two big bags of STUFF, kind of proud of myself, and taking another step forward in having a successful All American Thanksgiving Day feast with (mainly) my Spanish friends at home.

Now I have to do some internet research about how long to cook the bird, at what temperature, and other details. Many of the boxes I bought had instructions on how to calculate such things so I'm feeling confident. I've seen others essentially "wrap" the turkey in aluminum foil for cooking but I'm trying these clear-plastic turkey-cooking bags. The box swears the plastic won't melt around the bird at high temperatures. Hope that's true!

Surely I won't sleep a wink the night before, fretting over the details, worrying about an undercooked, bacteria-rich turkey or an overcooked, dry-as-a-wishbone one, leaving my Spanish guest STILL wondering what a properly cooked turkey must taste like. So wish me luck, everyone! I'LL CERTAINLY NEED IT!

Oh, and by the way, THIS is my 100th Blog Posting!!

UPDATE: Read the aftermath of the aforementioned Turkey Day preparation in the blog posting entitled "Homemade Thanksgiving Feast: A Semi-Success" for details and photos.

YIKES!

Imagine my surprise when I walked through my local neighborhood and saw this through an open door; a seated woman and a headless man hanging from a cable with his arms outstretched!

Clearly, this some kind of sculpture workshop but wow, they were so realistic! The room was full of dust and I peaked around the door a bit to see the workman/artist working on another piece wearing, thankfully, a protective mask.

The 2-way, 4-lane Calle de San Bernardo, the stretch between Gran Vía and the Glorieta de Ruiz Jimenez (a.k.a. Plaza de San Bernardo), is one of my favorite streets in Madrid - and I only recently discovered it!

Go to http://www.Google.com/maps , enter Calle de San Bernardo, 10, Madrid, Spain, turn "left" by 90º to head north, and start-a-walkin'.

WHY do I like this street? Because it's so mixed culturally, has a kind of bohemian feel to it while maintaining most of its traditional stores and bars. It's probably one of the most overlooked streets by travelers to Madrid. Not only does it have some of the most architecturally stunning and historical buildings in Madrid but also some of the ugliest office buildings - not to mention the worst graffiti covered buildings in the city.

Overlooking the graffiti (and it's difficult to do), you see some buildings which will make you stop, gawk, and cross the street for a better look, wondering how they must look on the inside. The "upper half" of the street is cooler and more historic than the "lower half".

Also along this route is the two-spire "Ministerio de Justicia" building (Calle de San Bernardo, 45), the connecting-and-cool Calle del Pez to the right. A couple blocks up and to the right is the Calle del Espiritu Santo where you find the (American) English-language, second-hand bookstore J&J Books and Coffee (and free Wi-Fi). Up San Bernardo a little further you have the absolutely stunning residential building at Calle de San Bernardo, 67. For this, look at my photo below and also on Google Maps "Street View", look up and down.

Further up, at Calle de San Bernardo, 79 at the left, we see the large, beautiful barroque-style church, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat, designed by the famed Madrid artist, Pedro de Ribera, and whose construction began in 1668. Directly across the street from it is the yellow-façade convent "Convento de las Salesas Nuevas".

Along this street there are countless kitchy-bars, a couple restaurants, and lots and lots of shops. The graffiti really is a problem, though. See the photo at right (Calle de San Bernardo, 18) of the interesting, late afternoon sun reflecting from an adjacent building - and the graffiti too.This bank seems to be open for business so I don't know why they haven't painted the outside façade in so many years.,

I feel I could live in an area like this because of its variety. There are two metro stations along this street; one at mid-point called "Noviciado" and another at the top called, appropriately, "San Bernardo".

So take a walk up Calle de San Bernardo the next time you're in Madrid and see a part of the city often overlooked. Or simply take a virtual Street Maps stroll up the street. Either way, you'll enjoy yourself.

Little Known Fact Among Tourists:

The Old and decrepit La Sepulvedana Bus Station on the Paseo de la Florida, 11 has moved across the street to the new "Intercambiador" at Príncipe Pío Station and Shopping Center. This happened about a year ago, by the way.

All the old guides - and some of the new ones - list the Old station as the location to travel from Madrid to Segovia by bus. It no longer exists. Now, a PC City computer store occupies the space. I LOVE this computer store chain. And now it's RIGHT on my local bus route. Woo Hoo!!

For years, the old bus location had received many complaints about bad smells, dirty conditions, beggars & drunkards hanging around. Even I, MadridMan, recall going to Segovia at least twice through this "hole in the ground" entry. Upon entering the front door you would have to go down a series of ramps to get to the lower-level where one could buy tickets, wait in the waiting area, eat something at the cafeteria, and wait for your bus to leave - HOPING you'd get on the correct bus.

The new station across the street at Príncipe Pío, located also underground in the "intercambiador" - joining buses, metro, and train - is newer, cleaner, and patrolled by police. The buses leave the station through a series of tunnels until they leave after crossing under the Manzanares river and out the Avenida de Portugal.

While I haven't been able to get a very current price, last year's one-way ticket price was about 6.43 Euros. That's cheap for the 1-hour trip to Segovia, in my opinion.

The bus station in Segovia is not far from the Old downtown either. You can walk from the station to, say, the Roman Aqueduct in about 15 minutes maximum. And on the way you pass a number of old churches. This bus line JUST invested in a brand new, ultra modern fleet of buses.

If you have any doubt about the departure or approximate price of the tickets, ask at any Madrid Tourist Check Point or Tourist Office around the city.

Links of interest:

http://www.adn.es/local/madrid/20071008/NWS-0120-Sepulvedana-cambia-acera.html
http://www.nortecastilla.es/20071009/segovia/parada-sepulvedana-madrid-trasladara-20071009.html
http://www.lasepulvedana.es/

Yesterday, I finally saw the (written & directed) Woody Allen movie, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (official website link at left - not Firefox-friendly, though). It was good! Not great, but definitely good.

The movie stars the Allen-fave Scarlett Johansson as "Cristina", Rebecca Hall as "Vicky" (who doesn't even get top-three billing!), and Spaniards Javier Bardem & Penélope Cruz - who has the smallest role of all and yet gets SECOND-billing. The latter surprises me only somewhat. Rebecca Hall, while lesser known, has every bit of time onscreen as Scarlett Johansson but her name is lost in the "Also appearing" credits at the bottom of the movie poster.

But this isn't your typical Woody Allen movie. First, Allen doesn't act or narrate the movie. GOOD! I think most moviegoers these days are a bit tired of the fast-paced dialogue and neurotic character of him. He definitely knows how to write, though, and wisely - yet curiously - chose a young man's voice to narrate the film. We never find out who this man is. Just a narrator!

For movies like this one, knowing I'd have to someday review it, I purposely shielded myself from video clips, reading other reviews, or talking to friends about the movie. But still, while most of the film takes places in and near Barcelona City - as well as some scenes in Oviedo - I'm surprised by the lack of "buzz" for this movie here in Spain. And Spaniards absolutely LOVE Woody Allen. This seems to be his second home, constantly being honored with film-related awards and seemingly constantly playing his clarinet in big concerts in San Sebastian and other northern cities.

Movie Summary: Vicky & Cristina, both American east-coast, big-city 20-somethings decide to go to Barcelona for the summer - each with their own reasons. Vicky, an impetuously wild spirit, wants to clear her head after yet another stormy and failed relationship. Cristina is having one last adventure as a single, goal-driven and responsible woman before getting married to the "perfect-yet-boring" man.

Vicky & Cristina meet bold Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) at a Barcelona restaurant after Vicky continues to stare at him from their table. He's a free-thinking, socially and sexually liberal painter with a fiery past - and ongoing - relationship with his ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz). Juan Antonio walks over to meet them and immediately invites them both to fly to Oviedo for a weekend of wine-tasting, sight seeing, and threesome sex. Cristina is shocked and rejects him but Vicky is intrigued. Still, they both fly to Oviedo with him in his friend's 4-seater plane.

During the weekend, circumstances shift. While Vicky becomes sick and stays in bed from an existing ulcer, Cristina falls for Juan Antonio and has a beautiful, profoundly romantic experience with him, forever changing her concept of love and dedication.

The movie continues and Cristina comes to her senses, re-committing herself to her visiting fiance. Vicky's health improves and she falls more deeply in love with Juan Antonio, moving in with him to his house/painting-studio, and Cristina never shares her secret love affair with Vicky.

It's while Vicky is Juan Antonio's live-in-lover that suicidal Maria Elena first appears, recently released from the hospital for a near-overdose of pills. She's tortured and also an artist (cliché??!!), still deeply in love with her ex-husband Juan Antonio. Due to her fragile condition, Juan Antonio invites Maria Elena to move in with them. Shocked, Vicky reluctantly agrees.

Days pass and the three of them grow close. They live the stereotypical bohemian life in the rural art studio with impassioned painting, deep discussions, and two-way, three-way, heterosexual, and lesbian sex with interchangeable partners under the same roof.

Everything goes perfectly well for awhile but surprisingly it's Vicky whom removes herself from the situation, saying it's just too-much for her, and she decides to travel France for the last couple of weeks of the summer. Shortly thereafter, Juan Antonio and Maria Elena are left alone again to their stormy and self-destructive ways as a couple. Maria Elena leaves.

Juan Antonio reconnects with Cristina who can't stop thinking about him and her eye-opening experiences with him in Oviedo. With Cristina's fiance playing golf with friends, she meets Juan Antonio one more time, not having to wonder forever if HE was the ONE for her. They're interrupted by drunken and crazed Maria Elena who's carrying a gun and threatening murder and-or suicide.

At the end of their summer in Barcelona, Vicky is still searching for unrealistic love but Cristina's concept of love and passion is RE-defined forever - yet she presumably goes back to marry her "perfect man".

MadridMan's review: The movie's end is, at least for me, left with nothing but loose ends, something "they say" shouldn't be done in a Hollywood movie. But Woody Allen movies are rarely your typical Hollywood fare - so in that regard it's a positive thing. The point of the movie is not necessarily to simply entertain but to cause us to question love and passion, how they are or should be, how fleeting love and passion are in a relationship, and the differences between "loving" and "being in love."

Barcelona Sights Seen in the Movie: We really don't see much of Barcelona. It must be difficult filming someplace where there are LOTS of people milling about at all times. For this reason, most scenes are either close-up or far-away. We see just a bit of Antonio Gaudi's Parc Güell (the painted tile mosaic lizard), a bit of some of the rides of the Tibidabo Amusement Park and a hazy horizon of Barcelona City below, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia towers and 2-seconds of the inside roof, 10-seconds from atop Gaudi's Casa Mila - La Pedrera while walking among the chimney pots, a brief closeup scene of looking at birds on La Rambla, and a couple no-dialogue scenes of Vicky taking photos in the Barrio Gótico.

Final Thoughts & Observations: "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is worth a look and it will make you think a bit about the concept of love and relationship. I have to say that while watching this movie I thought several times, "Ho! Every place they live, all the restaurants where they eat, all the sights they see are just too perfect!" They're kindly housed in the mansion of friends-of-American-friends in Barcelona's outskirts, but they also stay in a beautiful, historic, 5-Star Hotel de la Reconquista in Oviedo City, but also attend an intimate, romantic, 8-person wine-drinking, outdoor-gazebo-setting private performance by a Spanish guitarrist which made me say, "That NEVER happens unless you know the guitarrist personally!" Apparently Juan Antonio is an insider with such things. The movie's music is pretty good, with Paco de Lucia's "Entre Dos Aguas" played at least three times in the movie.

Movie Trailers:
Links:
http://www.vickycristina-movie.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497465/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_Cristina_Barcelona
http://www.hoteldelareconquista.com/
http://www.tibidabo.es/
http://www.sagradafamilia.org/

About a week ago I found a list of places around which which were serving an "American Thanksgiving meal" for Thanksgiving Day - this year it's November 27th.

Encouraged that this year I was going to be able to shared an "American Thanksgiving Day Experience" with my best Spanish friends, I started contacting the list of places.

Americans being Americans, they tend to book ANYTHING on the day it because possible to buy, rent, or reserve - as opposed to waiting until the last minute as some older Spaniards are still doing. Young Spaniards now book far in advance but still NOT NEARLY as far as Americans do.

And because Americans are Americans, as I went through the list of places serving the special annual turkey meal I found that they were either all booked, had odd-hours available, or weren't even serving turkey! One was serving RIBS of all things! What kind of Thanksgiving Day feast is that? Yes, it's a feas

This is disconcerting, to say the least. Last year I shared Thanksgiving with family in Switzerland but I'm not doing that this year.

The very consideration of having to COOK A FRIGGIN' TURKEY MYSELF (I've never done it!), cook all the side foods, set the table, host 8 persons in my small house (the table only seats 6 uncomfortably), cook in my tiny kitchen, AND THE CLEAN UP not only scares me to death but, well, it's just not going to happen. Uh-Uh!!!

What's an American boy to do?? Have a simple turkey sandwich with fried potatoes and the local bar??

UPDATE: Read the 22 November 2008 blog entry, "Homestyle Thanksgiving Dinner IS ON in Madrid".

Of course the title is a generalization - but I think it's an accurate one.

Most all "United Statesens" I know whom have visited Spain tell me the same things; "Spanish food is so fattening," "Spanish food is so greasy," "Spanish food is disgusting looking," "I can't eat anything that can look back at me from the plate," etcetera.

So then why are Spaniards so thin and among the "longest livers" in Europe?

I love telling Spanish-food-loving people my favorite stories of American friends whom have visited Spain. Most Americans say things like those listed above. But how can an overweight American who never exercises also be so fanatical about the healthy aspect of the food he's eating? More than one American has been served a Spanish dish, oftentimes it's the emblematic Paella, and the American couldn't touch it because of the tiny crab sitting atop the pile of rice and looking directly at its maker.

This really happened. A former coworker visited Spain and was served a plate of paella with a small crab sitting on top. After the waiter set down the plate he slowly spun the plate so that the crab was facing the eater. The eater, not used to eating anything which looks exactly how it looks in its natural state, couldn't eat the paella sitting below it.

Same goes with fish and roasted suckling pig. Americans can not eat anything with the eyes, ears, or tails still on it when it arrives from the kitchen. They just can't. They're disgusted. Spain is famous for its fish and pork and when an American receives his fish (s)he often sees something which still has its skin and scales, still has its tail, and - worst of all - still has its head and eyeballs. "Cochinillo" (roasted, suckling pig) is the same when it arrives, complete with its curly and crispy tail, crispy ears, crispy snout, and impossible-to-eat tiny hooves and toenails.

Most all Spaniards I know whom have visited the United States tell me the same things; "American food is so boring," "American food is so bland," "There's no variety in American food," "American food is so unhealthy and fattening," and "No wonder why so many Americans are obese, the food is terrible."

Yesterday I was in the company of 3 Spaniards having lunch at a Mexican restaurant near the Almudena Cathedral (yesterday was the holiday commemorating the Virgin Almudena, Madrid's female Patron Saint). The restaurant was my choice because I LOVE Mexican food and don't get it here in Spain as much as we Americans commonly eat it in the USA. I was in Mexican food heaven while the 3 Spaniards were unimpressed, unhappy, and didn't even finish. They complained that it was too spicy and, probably, not too easily digested. Frankly, they said, they didn't see what all the fuss was about, that Spanish food was SO much better. I can't really agree with this totally but I do love Spanish food.

The lunch sparked a conversation from those Spaniards who'd been to the USA about how poor the food is there, how it's boring, and that (exaggerating) "Everyone in the USA is so fat they have to get around in wheelchairs. This is because the food is so unhealthy." I set them straight-ish but bragged that the USA is now only ranked the SECOND-most overweight country in the world (the 1st Place winning medal of dishonor we carried for many years). And plus, not everyone eats just hamburgers, hotdogs, and pizza - except maybe college kids where "The Freshman 10 (pounds)" when I went to university has now become "The Freshman 25", the amount of weight first-year college kids gain after leaving the relatively healthy food prepared and eaten at home.

I can't defend much the quality or taste of food in the USA. Generally speaking, I like it. But I like Spanish food so much more. I guess there is a reason why America's first choice when dining out in the USA is at Mexican restaurants. I imagine it's similar to the popularity of Indian food in England where, they say, the food is so bland-and-boring.

It's a shame United Statesens don't LOVE Spanish food as much I have grown to love it but I can't fault them. My first visit to Spain in 1995 was exactly like their experience. I saw Spanish food as fattening, unhealthy, and disgusting-looking. Now, I often say that Spain is a food-lover's and alcoholic's perfect dream. The difference is Spaniards know how to self-moderate with these things but Americans generally don't - which is evidence with the should-be-illegal popularity of the countless All-You-Can-Eat restaurants in the U.S.A. Here in Spain there are few and not at all popular because overeating - as well as drinking too much - is frowned upon.

Visiting Americans, Eat & Drink Well - but in moderation. And come with an open mind. Maybe have a big glass of wine before chewing on your first of many toenail-looking "percebes" or fat-filled slices of "salchichón".

There was an article in last Thursday's 20 Minutes free newspaper. It detailed the number of closings of local stores taking place due to the flagging economy. Below is my translation of the article.

"The Economic Crisis Threatens Madrid Neighborhood Stores: 2 Stores Close Daily, southern region shops sell 30% less. Electronic and food stores are closing fastest."

After a lifetime of buying the daily bread in the corner store or chatting with the local clerks, many neighbors are finding their lifelong stores with their metal shutters closed and doors locked.

Every day 2 neighborhood stores close because of the decrease in sales. About 400 local stores have closed in the last 6 months. "This is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg, in 3 months the entire industry is going to collapse if no solution is made. (i.e. an injection of money by the Comunidad)".

The cause is the drop of sales: Madrid stores now take in about 7.1% less than in April, when the crisis was a true reality. In the periphery of the southern districts and municipalities the situation is most dramatic: sales have gone down by 30%, according to the store owners of the area.

Above all, the home furnishings and electronics are suffering more than most, selling 15.8% less, now that fewer and fewer new houses are being built. Food stores sales have also fallen by 3.8% mainly due to the rise in prices and the purchase of cheaper products.

This commercial "situation" translates into 1,600 more persons out of work, "most of all for immigrants and young people which are cheaply and easily fired," says the CC OO. "Even though these may be contracted workers."

The above loose translation of the article underscores my blog entry from December 2007 entitled "Neighborhood Spanish Establishments Closing", which details the closing of a couple of my favorite neighborhood stores. Even the place downtown near the Plaza Mayor, a store where I always bought my pancake syrup and a few other American products, has recently closed.

"They say" things are about to get much much worse in just the next 6 months. I can't imagine what that's going to be like. It's really hard to believe that "normal people" are paying much attention to this so-called "Crisis". Streets and stores are as packed as ever with shoppers, everyone's carrying shopping bags of recent purchases, and the bars and restaurants are full every weekend. Maybe these same people are just buying fewer things or maybe they're buying cheaper things. I really don't know, but it seems people aren't very worried - YET.

Google Maps recently revealed it's Super Cool 360º "Street View" function for the Spanish cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Valencia. It's a great way to take a virtual stroll through these favorite city streets.

One you go to Google Maps, type in an exact address in the aforementioned cities or just simply the city and country in to the search field. Once there, click the "Street View" button in the menu towards the upper right hand corner of map to show, in blue lines, which streets are covered by the Street View function.

If you chose the city-general Google Maps and see the available streets outlined in blue, double click the street you'd like to see in "Street View" and another window will pop-up on top of the map giving a 360º view of that location at street level. You'll see graphical lines and arrows showing the names of the streets. Click the arrows to move forward or backward, click-and-drag around the Street View image to move anyway, spinning around throughout the photo, up and down, 'round-and-'round, zoom in and out. It's super cool!


A number of the pedestrian streets and not all of the city streets have been mapped though. For example, almost none of the streets in the old Santa Cruz neighborhood in Seville are mapped. NONE of the streets in the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona are mapped. About half of Valencia's old town are mapped and most all of Madrid's old downtown is mapped.

The Google Street View cars were driving throughout The Top Four Spanish Cities last spring 2008 and just recently made this cool, new function available. Many of the big cities in the United States of America are already mapped. While I didn't see the cars myself in Madrid, I did find the photo of them (to the right) on the internet. They're a strange-looking vehicle with the tower-camera mounted to the roof of the car. While it drives through the city streets it takes a series of photos of a given location. Those photos are then stitched together, creating the 360º image. I have to wonder how long it took them to drive through these cities. Maybe only 2 days each! You can see the different heights of the sun in some photos, going from one corner to the next, sometimes it's cloudy and then 100 meters later it's sunny.

So if you'd like to take a stroll down Memory Lane from a long-past visit to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, or Seville, visit Google Maps, go to an address or, generally, one of the aforementioned cities, and take a virtual stroll to see how it's changed.

Rueda, a white wine produced in Spain's Castilla y León region, is MadridMan's ALL TIME FAVORITE white wine. l also like Galician Ribiero white wine nearly as much. Galician Ribeiro white wine is most often served with Pulpo a la Gallega, which is boiled octopus "disks" with paprika power on top, but I much prefer the fruity, cold-served Rueda wines for everyday consumption.

I don't mean to say that I consume wine everyday because I don't. But it's always good to have Rueda - and even a bottle of Ribeiro - white wine chilling in the refrigerator for that perfect, light dinner of home-made tapas, mainly lomo ham, cheese, and of course, the obligatory green-olives-stuffed-with-anchovies. A glass (or two or three) of Rueda makes the light dinner just perfect. It's just slightly fruity, always served cold, and is easily found in supermarkets.

Rueda white wine is also commonly served when ordering "Vino blanco, por favor," on one of Madrid's many terrazas or bars in Madrid. Other regions have other favorite white wines served but in Madrid, it's Rueda. Sometimes you'll encounter the ocassional Chardoney though.

F.Y.I., the Spanish word "rueda" also means "wheel". I don't recall ever finding Spanish Rueda wine in Columbus, Ohio USA when I lived there but Ribeiro or Albariño, two very good Galician wines, were easy to find.

Here in Madrid, a bottle of Reuda white wine can cost anywhere from 5 - 8 Euros in the supermarket. Usually, even when ordering an entire bottle in restaurants, the prices are very affordable.

While Spanish Red Wine is MUCH more popular in Spain and throughout the world, I much prefer the lighter, colder Rueda white wine. Red wines, even the good ones, tend to leave me with a headache afterwards.

Enjoy your Spanish wines, World! I know I will !!!

Hello loyal readers! Remember the posting I made a couple months ago entitled "Menu del Dia - Menu of the Day for Cheap Lunches"? Well, today's another story just as incredible as that previous posting.

Today I went to the SAME bar/restaurant about which I wrote in the aforementioned "Menú del Día" posting hoping for the same "Cocido Madrileño" offering - but I was INITIALLY disappointed because it wasn't listed on the menu board outside. Too bad. Oh well. So I tried something else.

Instead, I ordered the paella to start and the "huevos estrellados con jamón" ("broken eggs with cured ham). They first brought me the same mini-salad (about half the size of a normal starter salad). About 30 seconds later came the paella. I looked at it and it appeared full and tasty - and it was, but they brought it so fast I was worried it might get cold before I finished my salad.

3 minutes later, while I was still on my salad, the same older Spanish waitress brought me the SECOND course and set it next to the cooling paella. Hmmm... Now, that SECOND COURSE WILL SURELY BE COLD by the time I get through the paella!! This was more than a bit disconcerting but okay. USUALLY they wait until you finish your first course AND THEN bring you the second course. I couldn't complain too much for the SIX EUROS this meal was going to cost me.

I started in on the paella which contained the largest single "mejillón" ("mussel") I think I've ever seen in my life! It was good as was the paella rice and chicken pieces and single shrimp.

Then, finishing the paella, I started in on the eggs and ham. But this plate was ENORMOUS! And not only did it have eggs and cured ham strips but it was laying on a huge bed of salted, fried potatoes. Damn! My first thought was, "I hope I don't have a heart attack before finishing all this," since it was loaded with cholesterol. I didn't. Yet.

Just after beginning the plate the waitress returned and asked if they could heat up the plate a bit. I tried a potato and piece of egg and it was still warm so I stayed with it as it was. That was nice of her to ask and I thanked her for doing so. She went back to the bar and shouted something into the kitchen like, "Manolo! It was okay!" Apparently the cook was concerned that my quickly-served meal was cold by the time I got to it. Wasn't that nice!!?? I was impressed that they paid so much attention to this detail - whereas they didn't notice they served me too quickly. hehehe.... No problem.

As the bleach-blond waitress was going back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room, carrying plates and serving meals, I overheard her chanting, in not such a low-voice, the mantra, "OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!", all the while with a smile on her face. Apparently she was happy with the outcome of the US Presidential Election. I wanted to tell her that I was a proud American (expatriate) and that Barrack Obama was going to be my new President - but I refrained.

And also, every time a new customer walked into the dining room they said to everyone in the dining room, ""¡Que aproveche!", which means "Enjoy your food". The French say something similar, saying "Bon apetit!" I love this custom.

All the while eating I was drinking a freshly opened bottle of red wine - opened by me with my knife (plastic-covered topper) - and a new bottle of "La Casera" soda water. I refrained from drinking too much so I stopped at half a bottle. Funny, that AS SOON as I finished my second course the waitress whisked away not only the wine and bottle of casera water but also the remaining bread in the bread basket. Seems this is the custom. Who would drink wine with dessert, afterall??? Well, maybe *I* would!!!

Then dessert. I chose the home-made "pudin" which is a kind of cold, firm custard - not to be confused with flan, though. The Spanish "pudin" is not like the English "pudding" though.

Upon finishing I fished out the SIX EUROS and an extra 1 Euro coin and walked up to the bar where the bar tender/owner and older, Spanish waitress were standing. I handed the waitress the 1 Euro coin, thanked her, and handed over the 6 Euros to the bartender/owner for the meal. He apologized for the quick-service and I assured him it was okay and everything was still warm by the time I ate it.

Yet another good example of eating good food at cheap prices in Madrid - although I've yet to find such a place in the old downtown yet. This place is in my neighborhood on "the other side of the river".

I'm still stuffed. Now time for a nap......

It's just after midnight and I hope to get some sleep - even though I woke up just 8.5 hours ago, sleeping 'til 3pm after going to bed at 8am, staying up all Tuesday night for the US Presidential Election coverage on TV.

After one well-baked pizza and another burnt one (now the whole house smells like smoke), along with a couple bottles of beer, I hope to be sleepy enough to get at least a few hours of R.E.M. before sunrise. Maybe I'll do a little reading in bed. I'm finishing up "The Rainmaker" by John Grisham. Good book. A legal drama.

Tomorrow's not a big day by any stretch of the imagination but I do have some projects, some "homework", and some work towards the future of MadridMan.com to accomplish. Friday, I hope to return to the gym after a week OFF here in Madrid. I was "a good boy" while in Ohio, USA, going to the gym/YMCA every two days.

The Madrid city streets are now quiet and SOME of the Christmas lights are already hung and illuminated - not sure how I feel about that though. It's STILL autumn, for goodness sake!

Time to get back into a normal rhythm of things here after those long elections. Also, I returned from an 18-day visit in the USA just last Saturday and I'm still a little messed up.

So good night, world. Hope you all have hope for a brighter tomorrow as I do.

(This was hardly worth a blog entry, I know.)

What does this posting have to do with Spain? Answer: A LOT!

I woke up today at 3pm after staying up ALL NIGHT, until 8am, watching the Presidential Election coverage over a myriad of USA, Spanish, British, and several other international television stations.

In Madrid, John McCain supporters gathered in the Hard Rock Café while Barack Obama supporters waited in long lines to enter the Circulo de Bellas Artes, all to enjoy a long night of back-slapping, wishful drinking, and hand-shaking. One group went away this morning not only tired but disappointed, no doubt.

Spain's very conservative, rather right-wing newspaper ABC headlines today with "EL CAMBIO HA LLEGADO" ("Change Has Arrived"). It seems even the conservative party in Spain is happy with the choice of the only-slightly-left-of-center Democratic Presidential selection. On the front page of their website they show a truly inspirational video of Barack Obama (get your tissues ready) announcing "El Cambiado ha Llegado" ("Change Has Come"). And while it's not totally clear, it seems this 2:45 video was created by ABC themselves. See the video below (hope it loads):

Not to be outdone, Spain's left-wing, socialist party newspaper El País ALSO reports the exact same headline, "El Cambio ha Llegado" ("Change has Come"), ALSO posting a video - albeit much much less inspirational - a reproduction of the CNN+ Spain report (17 minutes) of Barack Obama's election night victory speech in Chicago and translated by a CNN+ person.

While EVERYONE in Spain and Europe (etcetera) would be happy for whatever Presidential change in the United States of America, it seems people are particularly happy with the choice made in Barack Obama.

Now the hard part; putting action to the inspirational words.

It's 3am late Tuesday night - or VERY early Wednesday morning and I'm watching the Elections for the next President of the United States of America. It's an exciting time.

Switching among CNN International, BBC World News, France 24 (English version), Fox News, TVE (national television station in Spain) and even Al Jazeera (English version) is giving me a very broad image of the international reporting of these all-important elections. Thank goodness for satellite dishes!

All channels report the elections to be "of World Importance", and "The World is Watching". I guess the world really does care what happens!

Not surprisingly, these aforementioned big television news media outlets are covering the elections without interruption but TVE here in Spain is now doing the same. Now that's impressive! Of course it's all in Spanish but what's interesting is the perspective they and other international news channels provide us. Even Jerome Socolovsky, my favorite National Public Radio ("NPR" in the United States) correspondent, is on the TVE panel of election experts analyzing the ongoing developments. Cool!

Today I saw a number of Spanish television stations interviewing people on the street, asking them if they were interested in today's US Presidential Elections. To my surprise, nearly everyone said that YES, they were VERY interested in the outcome of the elections. When asked which candidate they wanted to win, about 90% said they hoped Barack Obama would win. The other 10% could care less. No one mentioned John McCain's name.

It won't be long until the USA has a new President Elect - but that President won't start serving his country as America's Commander in Chief until January 20th, 2009.

There was an organized US Elections Party tonight (errrr.. last night) at 11pm at the Circulo de Bellas Artes but I couldn't imagine myself A) dragging myself downtown at that hour, B) paying 20 Euros entry and then extra for drinks/food (or maybe that was included? doubt it), and C) forcing myself to stay awake in the company of strangers until 6am.

Regardless of who wins the Presidency, it'll (hopefully help to) re-establish the reputation of the United States in the world's eyes. No matter what anyone says we have to keep lines of communication open and improve diplomacy to get along better with the world's nations, our neighbors.

How would YOU feel about this if you were a resident or citizen of Spain? Our initial reaction is shock and probably fear. But are we responsible for the actions of our parents?

The below is the English version of an El País article:

Bin Laden's Son seeks asylum in Spain citing fear of Arab Nations

Omar Osama Bin Laden, the son of the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, has requested asylum in Spain, claiming that he does not feel safe in Cairo, where he currently resides, nor in any other Arab country.

Bine Laden, who applied for asylum on Monday, will find out in 72 hours whether his application will be accepted, Spain's interior minister announced yesterday.

Omar Osama Bin Laden, landed in Terminal 4 of Madrid's Barajas airport on Monday, arriving on a flight from Cairo that was later due to head to Casablanca, Morocco. He had bought a ticket for the final destination of the plane.

"What we have done is to apply the law," Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spain's interior minister, said yesterday, "[Bin Laden] is currently being held in [an immigration holding room] in Barajas, and is being examined by the committee that has the legal capacity to decide whether or not this falls within the asylum claim, and whether or not we should grant him asylum in our country."

All sources with knowledge of the asylum process have suggested that the answer will be negative. If that is the case, Omar Osama will have 24 hours to appeal the decision, and the interior Ministry will then have another 48 hours in which to give an answer. If the appeal is rebutted, he can then take his case to the courts. He would then be obliged to prove that his life is in danger in his native country.

Bin Laden, who is 28 years old and is married to 52-year old Birton Jane Felix-Brown, requested a visa to live in the United Kingdom with his wife at the British Embassy in Cairo back in April, but his request was denied due to what officials described as the "considerable public concern" his presence would cause.

Omar Bin Laden, who is one of Osama Bin Laden's 19 offspring, has described himself as the "pacifist child" of the leader of terrorist network Al Qaeda, and has condemned the violent methods attributed to his father.

He was born in Saudi Arabia, to Syrian mother Najwa Ghanem, and lived with his father in exile in Sudan, and then Afghanistan, where, until the year 2000, he was trained in a terrorist camp. At the time of the September 11 terrorist attakcs on the World Trade Center, he was in Saudi Arabia.

Omar Osama Bin Laden married Jane Felix-Browne in Egypt in September 2006. The couple met when Felix-Browne, who already has three children and five grandchildren, traveled to Cairo for medical treatment for multiple sclerosis.