rubia,

i can smell the roasting chestnuts now... mmmmmmmm...... and the nip of cold on your nose as you stroll around the city... (boo hoo.. sniffle...) i miss it so much! and my friends there too...

i haven't lived in the south or north of spain, so in turn Madrid and my pueblo in la mancha are what is home for me in spain, and those are not necessarily the winter tour spots, but they are a wonderfully warm memory in my past...!

SPAIN, anytime, anyplace.

¡viva la segunda patria!

pd> keep saving your money! you and yours will get to spain again!

[This message has been edited by real_megia (edited 08-17-2000).]

Madrid in Christmas is beautiful but I have to say that the sweetest Christmas that I ever had have been here, in USA. Last Christmas were my first ones here and without my family. I felt like it wasn't Christmas because you don't celebrate the 24th and 28th, I couldn't find a nice Belen, I didn't have turron, mazapan... So I was veeeeeeeeeeery sad. The fisrt nice thing that happened to me was that one of my co-workers whose husband in son of spaniards gave me some turron that her father in law gave her. Maybe it is silly but that made me feel much better because she did that in order to make me feel closer to home. Then, on New Years Eve my husband and friends bought grapes to celebrate in the same way that we do in Spain. They did very well and they ate the grapes on time, I couldn't eat mine because I was so homesick that I was crying like a baby. But the point is that even if they were a very sad Christmas everybody here tried to make me feel better and the adopted my spanish customs in order to make me feel at home and that is something that I didn't expected.
I cannot go to Spain next Christmas either because I don't have more time off so another Christmas without my family but at least I have good friends here and I wont be alone, and of course my husband is here too so that will make my Christmas wonderful again.

Hi Nuria - my wife's Spanish and she always feels most homesick when the festivals are on - Semana Santa for example (we're planning to be there for it next year). Right now it's the Feria De Malaga (her parents live there), and she's all day reading EL SUR on the web to see what's happening. We're always in Malaga for Noche Buena (!Ande, ande, ande...!) y los Reyes though - couldn't miss it.

Spain has so many great festivals, and no one knows better how to celebrate them. My wife can't understand how people get through the year without them. !?Como que no llevan tronos en Semana Santa? ?Es que no hay hermandades? Que barbaridad!

Y tiene razon...

Thanks for all the good tips guys. Due to some good luck, it looks like I will be able to celebrate New Year's Eve in Madrid after all.
If anyone has more suggestions on places to see or things to do at that time of the year, please post your thoughts.

IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO GO Madrid in Christmas can be an experience to remember . Christmas in Madrid is a very special part of the year since the whole metropolis cheers up, awakens from the winter to celebrate live. I would recommend you the taverns that fit with cold weather, “the winter taverns”. La taberna del buey in “General Pardiñas” street is one of them. It is a basque one (north of Spain) and has proven very cozy in winter. In front of it you have the buey restaurant a very famous one between foreigners (also expensive).
La taberna de Antonio Sanchez (the oldest in Madrid) is a must in winter but go straight since some streets near the tavern are a little bit dangerous if you are alone. The place is cool if you enjoy going back in time a hundred years. Try: Valdepeñas wine, tortilla española and montado de solomillo.
As long as the night my recommendation is “El Berlin Cabaret” in Costanilla de San Pedro Street. Trendy German-Cabaret in the thirties style, next to the second oldest “mudejar” tower in Madrid. I do not say what mudejar is, I want you to investigate. Visit the place, they have an inside board where the timetable of their shows is published. Young-modern public, artists and yuppies also.

Regards,
Andrés.


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