Tuesday, June 29, 2010

June 16th - June 22nd

Well it has been quite a while since I last wrote but it is time that I get down to business and tell you all how the last week or so has been. In one word, AMAZING! Ok, so not all of it was amazing, but the second half definitely was off the charts.
On Tuesday I hung around Marc’s house for the majority of the morning before heading into Madrid with Marc, Pitu, and Ian (Marc’s brother). We were meeting up with a few of my Portuguese friends for a going away party/dinner for me. We met up at Metro Lavapies and enjoyed a wonderful meal at Marc and my favorite little Indian restaurant. In total we were 7: Marc, Pitu, Ian, Rita, Carlos, Mimi and I. It was a great little get together, and I was close to all of them throughout the year. Dinner carried on until the wee hours of the morning with laughter and stories, and then it was off to the house to get an hour or two of studying in before my Corporate Finance exam the next day.

Wednesday I woke up at a relatively good hour, around 8 and was on campus by 9:30 for my exam at 12:00. The exam went well. It was just about what I was expecting and the material that I covered was the stuff that was on the exam; I know this might sound a bit ridiculous, but you have to take into account that in Spain they only give one final at the end of the semester that your whole grade rides, so you do not know what to expect from the teacher seeing as you have not taken any mid-terms to gage off of. After the exam I ran as quickly as I could to the train station to catch the train to Pozuelo, where I was meeting Pitu, to go watch Spain play against Switzerland. We went to a bar near his house and watched the game with a few of his friends from his university. It was a good game, where Spain controlled possession for the majority of the game, but still lost to Switzerland 1-0 because of a defensive break down on the one scoring chance that Switzerland had. It was quite the game to watch with all the Spanish jumping up and down with every scoring chance, and a pity that they did not put in a few of the opportunities and win. After the game I got a bit of studying in and it was off to bed to rest up for the last exam.

Thursday morning I made to campus at a good hour and tried to get a few hours of studying in before it was time to get down to business. The studying did not go too well because I was burnt out form the other three but you got to do what you got to do. The exam did not go as well as I wish it had, but that is life sometimes. It was good to be done with all my exams and it was finally time for SUMMER BREAK! Thursday night we had a low key night and then met up with Joaquin and Pitu for a coffee and to hang out. It was a good way to end the semester.

Friday morning I packed up my bags and Pitu picked me up to give me a ride to the airport. My flight arrived on time and before no time it was back to the airport to pick up DAD in Tia Nicha’s car! It was completely awesome to see dad after 10 months. It ended up being 10 months and 1 day on the ball! After picking him up we went to Avo’s house to give her a kiss and say hi, and then it was off to see Felicia at the old people’s home run by the local church that she is staying at for the summer. She seems to be doing really well and is the sharpest one in there by a good margin. It gives her people to chat with during the day and the gals that take care of the ladies are really sweet. When we were near Avo’s house I asked dad if he was hungry for a snack and he said no, but sure enough 30 minutes afterwards, after we saw Felicia, it was all he could think about. We stopped at a bar near the house and had some peal and eat shrimp, icy cold beers, and olives…a true Portuguese summer time snack! We then made our way to Tia Nicha’s house again and had a dinner with: Tia Nicha, David, Teresa, Maria, Francisco, Domingos, and Francicso (Teresa’s boyfriend). It was great to have all of us together and then as quickly as we had dinner, dad was off to bed!

Saturday morning was an early one. Dad and I were up around 8 a.m. and it was off to pick up the rental car for the next 20 days. We managed to grab some croissants with ham and cheese at Careca (the coffee shop near Tia Nicha’s house) before we left, but still were there by 9a.m. It took a while to get it all taken care of but that’s always how it is at the airport. A little later Dad and I picked up Avo for lunch, and met Tia Nicha, Maria, and David near the river for some grilled fish. We enjoyed a wonderful meal, and then it was off to go visit Felicia, and drop off Avo before blasting out of town for a little road trip. I say road trip, but it probably will sound more like some sort of gastronomical adventure at the rate we were stopping for snacks and meals! I mean you wouldn’t want to run out of energy. After driving off the beaten path for hours and hours, eating pastries in a little town with a plaza overlooking the church (like most all European cities), and exploring the various terrains of mountains and hills in Portugal, we ended up staying in a city called Oliviera de Azemeis. We were beaten down looking for a place to stay when we asked a gentlemen and he sent us to the hotel that he worked at in town, and told us exactly which room special to ask for…I think the lady at the counter was a little bit surprised when we came in looking for this smoking deal, but it was her colleague that sent us in, and I had to end up describing him and his dog that he was walking before she finally realized we were not full of it! After eating all say we decided to grab something light so we had soup and salad at the restaurant at the top of the hotel. Let me tell you, this was a weird experience. About fifteen minutes into the meal Dad looks at me and says something along the lines of “do you know where we came in from?”…thinking it was ridiculous that he was asking such a simple question when he has a good sense of direction, I turned over my shoulder and was about to say “right there” when I realized that it was not and that I was completely turned around and confused now too. Sure enough, the room had been spinning in a slow circle since the time that we walked in and Dad thought that he was jet lagged and I had not even began to notice! Of course after discovering this I started to realize that the bar was creeping up on up, the Dj Stand, the balcony that was behind me when I sat down was now the view I was looking out on…it was a very strange feeling for the rest of the meal. I felt, I am not sure how to explain it, almost sea sick or dizzy from just thinking about it the whole rest of the time.

Sunday Morning we had a slow start and then made our way north through Porto and into Galicia, Spain (the most north western province). First stop in Galicia was Vago for lunch. Vigo was a cool little costal town where we found a tiny little bar full of locals, near the shipping docks to have a bite to eat. We started out with some squid and pimientos de padrón with the house white wine and then moved onto some cozido (Meat and vegetable stew). It was a fine meal. After lunch we made our way to Santiago de Compostela. A town a little farther north that is the ending point of a bunch of pilgrimage trails throughout Spain. It was a nice old city with a pretty cathedral and old town area, but we did not spend much time touring the monuments, instead we jumped back in the car and continued north through the lightly used country highways until we reached A Coruña. A Coruña is one of the northern most cities in Spain, if not the most northern city. We got out briefly and walked along the water but it was a bit cold and there was not anything in particular that jumped out at us to go and see. We made a loop around the coastal areas and then, again, it was back on the road. We ended up in Lugo, an ancient city that is surrounded by the “Best Preserved Roman Walls”. I am not sure how true that claim is, but I can tell you this, they were really quite spectacular. We found a little hostel just outside the old city walls where we ended up staying for the night. It was just about this hour, around 9:30p.m. that I realized that it was Fathers day! Ok, so that is a little bit of a lie, I think I remembered at lunch, but it was later than it should have been, but we had a hell of a day. To finish off the day we had a fabulous little meal in the downtown area. We had some steaks, salad and homemade french-fries. What more could you want right? Oh wait, that is right, we also had a fine bottle of red wine from Galicia, and some cheese and marmalade for desert with an Aguardiente (liquor) from the region. It was a mighty fine father’s day if I could say so myself.

Monday morning we got up and found the right looking pastry shop to charge the batteries at before walking the mile and a third all the way around the old city walls. After the breezy walk around the walls we jumped right back in the car and headed off to Asturias. We were planning to go to Oviedo, but did not end up making it all the way there. We drove through tiny mountain passes where we ran into very few other cars and took our time to make our way towards Oviedo. We stopped for lunch in some little town called Grandas de Salime, and had a great meal overlooking a beautiful view of the valley below us. We ended up arriving in this little one horse town call San Roman in the early evening, and checking into a rural hotel. The whole town was not much longer than 100m long in total with two bars, one of which was open, and one restaurant, which was closed. We kicked back for a little bit and then went to the bar to have some Sidra, and watch Spain’s second match. Asturias is famous for their Sidra (Cider) but it the bottle that we tried at the bar was kind of funky so we switched over to Cañas. Finally the Spanish squad got their act together and won the game. After the game we ended up calling it a night.

Tuesday we headed into Grado to find a decent looking pastry shop for breakfast. We enjoyed some barras con tomate and café con leche before heading down towards Leon. We worked our way through a natural park called Parque Natural de Somiedo. It was quite an incredible park, and a completely different than the part of Spain you see near Madrid, or in the south. The park was lush with trees, full of running water, and blooming with wild flowers; the peaks were rugged and the terrain was steep. We got about half way through the park and stopped at a local tavern that some road workers had recommended to us for lunch. We ate the Menu del Día (daily special) and enjoyed a nice cup of espresso near the creek that ran right by the restaurant. The fellow that worked there was really nice and was explaining to us all of the different types of animals and fish that are hunted and caught in the area, the different types of ways that they prepare and dry the meats, how the families depend on the hunt. It was really interesting to hear all about the area and the people’s ways. After lunch we continued up and over the pass to get us out of the park and on our way to Castílla y Leon (the province). Before leaving the park we ran in to a bit of farming land with some beautiful cows on it, yes that is right, good looking cows. Let me tell you HAPPY COWS COME FROM ASTURIAS! Please see the image below. It was almost sad to come out of the coastal mountains of Asturias and into the dry plateau of Castilla y Leon, but it is pretty in its own way. When we got to Leon we tried to go find a good looking bar in their bar and tapas district to have a snack and a cold refreshment, but were more than disappointed to find the whole place looking like a ghost town. I am not sure what it was but it was nearly impossible to find a place to have a drink and a sandwich with any sort of life or ambiance. While walking through the Plaza Mayor, dad and I saw one of the funniest things that I have ever seen. Let me paint this picture for you. Lying on the steps in the shade on one end of the plaza was a transient man, clearly napping from having a few too many drinks. This might not seem abnormal or funny at first glance, until you realized that he had his trousers undone and a hand supporting himself. It was quite the sight, and dad and I got quite the kick out f it. After leaving Leon we made our way south west until we reached the north eastern part of Portugal, a town called Braganza. We ended up staying the night in Braganza. We stopped for dinner at the bar that was most crowded and ended up having a fine meal. Alright, the food was nothing to particularly write home about but we had a nice bottle of wine and then the owner started pouring us all sorts of kinds of homemade aguardientes. The first one was made from crushed grapes, similar maybe to a Grapa in Italy; and the second one was the same stuff flavored with fig leaves. It was very different than anything that I had had before back home. After dinner, the owner recommended a hotel to us down the road so we went and got a room. I would say I feel bad about torturing the lady working at the desk, but I would be lying! We checked in, and the lobby smelled strongly of paint; after we made it up to our room we learned that there was no internet so we immediately called down to complain. Because we were joking with her when we arrived, the first thing to come out of her mouth when I called down and told her the paint was giving Dad a headache was “are you kidding, or being serious?”. Without skipping a beat I told her that I was very serious…she replied that there was free internet in the lounge, so I told her that his headache was worse in the lounge because the smell was stronger. When she told me that she would have to send her director up to check I knew that she was done for, I told “oh please do, it is really bad, he is not doing too well!” Within about a minute she called our room back and gave us the key to get into the wireless internet…poor girl! We had a heck of a time and were rolling around on the floor laughing, Uncle Ralph would have been proud of us!

Well, that was quite a bit in one shot. I hope you all were not bored by it, and the other half of these last two weeks will be back up soon.

Much Love Always,

Phil

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