Help me, Ronda

March 11th—Help me Ronda, help, help me Ronda! That’s all we could think about or sing when going to the beautiful town of Ronda, Spain. We travelled by bus about an hour and 15 minutes north of Puerto Banus. The bus was nice, but the roads were a little rough. The majority of the trip was on a windy road up into the mountains. I had flash backs of Colorado. Abby and I had to spend majority of the time watching the road to prevent from getting “car sick”. In fact, at one point on the way to Ronda, we thought Abby was going to be sick, but it passed. Anyway, we survived the trip and were glad to be in Ronda. We arrived about 10:30. It was about a 15 minute walk from the bus station into the town area. Our first thing to see was the gorge and New Bridge (Puente Nuevo), built in the late 1700s. Once on the bridge, you can look down into the ravine, called El Tajo. It is 360 feet down and 200 feet wide. It divides Ronda into the old Moorish town and the new town. From the bridge, we got a good view of the unbelievable scenery that Ronda has to offer. It really is breathtaking! After crossing over the bridge, we walked into the Old Town area. We wandered into Plaza de Maria Auxiliadora for more views and a look at the two rare pinsapos (resembling extra-large Christmas trees) in the park. This is the only region in Europe where these ancient trees are found. From there, we went into the Mondragon palace (Palacio de Mondragon). This beautiful Moorish building was erected in the 14th century, possibly as the residence of Moorish kings. It has been turned into a museum that focuses on prehistory subjects like cavemen, tools, metal and pottery with displays of archeological pieces found in the area of Ronda. After that, we wandered through more of the Old Town area and passed by the Santa Maria la Mayor Collegiate Church. Along the way we saw very full orange trees in front of the Town Hall. Abby even found an orange on the ground that she proceeded to carry the rest of the day. Then, we walked to Plaza del Socorro where we found a restaurant to eat lunch. Since it was such a beautiful, sunny day, we were able to enjoy a restaurant that had outside tables in the plaza. We had seen many horse and buggy rides throughout town so the kids really wanted to do that. We got on the carriage outside of the bullring. It was a nice ride through Old Town and New Town. After getting off the carriage, we toured the bullring. Ronda is the birthplace of modern bullfighting, and this was the first great Spanish bullring. We first saw the chapel where all matadors stop and pray to Mary for safety. After the chapel is the museum which houses stuffed bull heads, photos, artwork, posters and costumes. We then walked in the actual two-tiered arena where we all played toro. It was really neat! The kids then wanted ice cream so we got some and found a park to play at before heading back to the train station. We caught the 6:00 train back to Puerto Banus. The ride was much better back because we knew what to expect this time. Abby and I both sat on the aisle seats and watched the road the entire time. We arrived back at the apartment by 7:15.

Arriving in Costa del Sol

Hola Puerto Banus
March 7th—Today was a travel day and all went very well. We left our apartment in Madrid about 9:30, took the Metro to the Atocha train station and got on the AVE train at 10:30 heading to Malaga. It was a very nice, very fast (we topped out at 297 km/h) train; very similar to flying. It had a movie on the TV in English. However, it was Hellboy II so ended up being not very appropriate for the kids. The nice thing about traveling by train is that the kids can move around as much as possible and there is a lot more space too. We arrived in Malaga a little before 1:15. We walked to the bus station, which was across the street from the train station, to get a bus ticket to Marbella. Luckily, there was a bus leaving at 1:30 so we hopped onto the bus and headed for Marbella. It was about a 45 minute bus ride, but very beautiful because the highway travels right along the coast. When we arrived in Marbella, we took a 10 minute taxi ride to our new apartment. Wow! It is beautiful here and our view is awesome. From our balcony, we have a 180 degree view of the mountains all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The minute the kids saw the water, all they wanted to do was go get in it. Since we hadn’t had lunch yet, we first went to get something to eat. After eating, we walked down to the beach. It was sunny, but a little chilly with the wind. That didn’t stop the kids from enjoying themselves and wading around in the water. Although we rolled their pants up a bit, before we knew it, Austin was soaked all the way up to his bum! After our quick trip to the beach, we needed to go to the grocery store. This is becoming our normal routine. Once we arrive at a new apartment, we have to find a store to get the basic essentials. Luckily, there is an El Corte Ingles a block away from our apartment. It is a huge department store (attached to a mall) and has the biggest grocery store we’ve seen so far. We actually were a little overwhelmed with all our options. However, we were excited to find peanut butter again. We just decided to eat dinner at the apartment and call it an early night.

Happy Birthday, Amy!
March 8th—I woke up to Mike and Abby singing Happy Birthday to me and a beautiful sunrise over the water. I couldn’t ask for anything more. We had a slow morning trying to convince the kids that it was too early and still a little too chilly to head to the beach. Finally at about 10:30, we had exhausted the term “not yet” so we got ready for the beach. There is a wonderful beach area with lounge chairs across the street from our apartment. As we headed there, we had to make a quick stop for some beach toys. We all enjoyed the beach for a couple of hours before walking along the port / marina area for a spot to eat lunch. The walk was filled with a ton of restaurants to choose from and along the way there are a lot of high dollar stores too. Puerto Banus is apparently a port to the rich as the marina was filled with million plus dollar yachts. During our walk, we passed 3 Lamborghinis. We stopped at a restaurant right along the marina where we could see all the boats. Mike and I shared our first paella and it was really good. The kids got crepes, but didn’t eat them all so we had them as dessert. They were really good as well. We headed back to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. It had warmed up by then and the kids actually got in the water some. We met some people who now live in Marbella but are originally from the UK. One of them had a little boy, Mikhel, who was Austin’s age so the kids played really nicely together. It was fun to talk to them about the area and our future travels. We basically closed the beach down, if there is such a thing. It was about 6:00 before we headed back to the apartment for much needed showers for the kids. Austin was literally covered from head to toe in sand. After they went to bed, Mike and I had pizza, wine, and raspberry/chocolate dessert while watching a movie. It was a great first day at Costa del Sol…we love the beach!

Adios Madrid

March 6th--We had beautiful weather for our last day in Madrid. Since we have had a couple of days of cold and rainy weather, we decided that we definitely needed to get out and enjoy the park one last time. So, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Retiro Park. The kids wanted to eat immediately when we got there so we let them go ahead and eat. After that, we walked over to see the Palacio de Cristal. It is a glass pavilion that has been built since 1868 and houses museum collections. Then, we sat at an outdoor take-away eat spot where Mike and I enjoyed our bocadillos (sandwiches), chips, and drinks. Austin spent most of his time feeding the birds our chips and bread. He got a big kick out of it. After that, we went to the playground that we had visited a couple of times, but there was a herd of kids all dressed in their school uniforms. Mike described the scene as a bunch of ants on a playground. Since there was no room for our two kids, we went to a small area within the park until the school kids left the other playground. Anyway, we all played at the park for several hours this afternoon until we realized we had procrastinated enough on the packing. So, we headed back to the apartment to do so. Tomorrow, we leave Madrid, by train, to Malaga. We will be staying at Puerto Banus, right on the Costa del Sol.

Guys Day Out

March 5th -- We decided to split up today, girls and guys. Amy and Abby set off to do what girls do best....shop! Austin and I set off for Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the home of the Real Madrid futbol team. When we left the apartment it was blue skies and sunny (although still cold and windy). We actually went back up to the apartment to get our sunglasses. A 10 minute metro ride later, we arrived at the stadium to cloudy skies and rain. Luckily it was only a 100 meter walk from the metro to the stadium and we began the tour inside. We took an elevator up to the top of the stadium where we could get a birds eye view of the stadium and playing field. It was the first time I had ever been to a soccer, excuse me, futbol stadium and I was surprised at how big the stadium was (85,000 seats) and how large the field was. We then went down inside the stadium to visit the trophy room. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about futbol history, but judging by the number of trophies, Real Madrid has been a top team for a long time. We then walked around the stadium to the Presidential Box. It's an exclusive area reserved for the management of the two playing teams and special guests. We then were able to walk down to the field level and sit in the players and coaches area. We left the field and headed down the tunnel into the players dressing room and finally to the press room. The tour was self guided and was actually a fairly impressive tour of the stadium. Austin really enjoyed the stadium and was only disappointed by the fact that they were not actually playing futbol. Luckily since it was raining, I was able to explain to him the game had been cancelled due to rain. This kept him from being too upset! We left the stadium and headed to Puerta del Sol to meet Amy and Abby for lunch. We decided to go to a historic restaurant near Plaza Mayor called Botin. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the oldest restaurant. Botin had been recommended to us and we enjoyed a great meal. We've enjoyed having big, long lunches and light dinners. After lunch, we were heading back towards Puerta del Sol and we passed an old barbershop. You don't find too many old barbershops anymore and so I decided that Austin must have a good old-fashion haircut. Between the fast scissor work and the straight razor, we weren't disappointed. Austin really enjoyed the haircut and judging by the smiles of those in the barbershop, they enjoyed having him there too. We then split up again and Austin and I headed to the train station to try one more time and resolve the overnight train ticket issue. We didn't post yesterday b/c we didn't do much, but I did spend 2 hours at the train station trying to get a single room with no success. It took a little work today, but we finally got it done. I decided Austin was the good luck charm.

Holy Toledo!

March 3rd--It was a rainy and chilly day in Toledo, but that didn't stop us from enjoying this former capital of Spain that is located 30 minutes (by train) Southwest of Madrid. We left Madrid at 10:30 and arrived in Toledo at 11:00. We took a bus about 15 minutes into the downtown area. It dropped us off at Plaza de Zocodover, the main square. From there, we walked down the small, pebbled streets toward the Cathedral. This is one of Europe's best Cathedrals built in Spain's leading Catholic city. One of the fascinating things to look for throughout the Cathedral was the faded red hats hanging down from the ceilings. A perk that only a cardinal enjoys is to choose a burial place in the cathedral and hang his hat over that spot until the hat rots. There were several hats/burial places throughout the cathedral. After walking through this elaborate cathedral, we journeyed through more streets to locate the workshop of Mariano Zamorano. We saw many swords and knives made by him personally. Looking at his hand is a good indication that his knives are among the sharpest (as he is missing a couple of fingers). We, then, decided it was time for lunch. So, we decided on Adolfo Colleccion, a wine bar. Per Rick Steves recommendation, we basically just threw ourselves at the mercy of the waiter and decided on the specials of the day. We both had a good vegetable soup, not your typical vegetable soup though. It was like all the veggies were pureed and made into soup. Then, Mike had venison (a typical Toledo dish) and I had a pasta dish. Both were very good. The kids had pasta as well. We ended the meal with postres mazapan. Yummy! Mazapan is becoming one of our favorite things to eat around the area. After lunch, we obviously decided we need to walk some of it off because we walked a lot at that point. Toledo is full of narrow, winding roads (no "grid" system) and I think we walked most of them. It's a good thing there are all these streets since we are in the middle of potty training Austin. We've decided he has a bladder the size of a pea. Since "public" restrooms are hard to come by, we "washed off" about half a dozen walls on some of the side streets. In between Austin's many potty stops, we walked to look at Santa Tome, a chapel that holds El Greco's most beloved paintings, walked to the Simian shop where we got to see the work being done on the shiny inlaid plates, and then walked back to Plaza de Zocodover for an afternoon snack. The kids decided on ice cream, but Mike and I (of course) decided on Tarte de Mazapan. After snacking, we went to the Santa Cruz Museum. This Renaissance building was originally an orphanage and hospital, but now houses wonderful artwork. Unfortunately, the Alcazar (Spanish castle) and the El Greco's House were closed for renovations. We walked through some of the many stores and back to Plaza de Zocodover. There was a McDonald's located in the middle of this historic plaza and so we allowed the kids to eat dinner there (their first since we left the US) before heading back to the train station. We caught the 7:30 train back to Madrid, arriving at 8:00. When we got back to the train station in Madrid, we decided to buy our overnight train tickets for our trip from Barcelona to Nice in April. After our previous experience, we wanted to buy early. We went to the international desk, but apparently the lady helping us was new. The language barrier created some difficulties and she spent most of the time with a supervisor helping her. Mike kept telling her we wanted a single room (parent-and-child compartment) and she acknowledged, but after about a 30 minute process of getting our tickets, we didn't think we had the right tickets. So we went on a journey of being passed through 3 different customer service offices, before we finally found a young worker, Carlos, who spoke good English and could help us. He was finally able to explain to us that we were booked for 3 beds in a 6 person room. The other 3 beds could be occupied by anyone. While we are all about adventure, we are not about compromising safety with the kids and we are not comfortable on a sleeper train sharing a room. So, by the time we had figured all of this out, the ticket office had closed. So Mike will head back tomorrow to straighten it all out. At least we started working on it a month in advance!

Life on the Road

It's just that...Life on the Road! We've had several requests for filling in the details of the less exciting things that go on. What we are experiencing is different than someone that just "travels" to a destination, does all the tourist sights and then goes home. We aren't constantly on the go. We have made a point to have several down days where we just relax, take naps, get caught up on laundry, etc. Even days when we are doing the "tourist" stuff, we are doing so at a relaxed pace. Also, it's not like we are constantly packing up and getting on a train or plane. We are renting furnished apartments where we get to unpack our stuff and call a place a "home" for a couple of weeks. This helps prevent any "travel fatigue". During our stay in Madrid, we have had satellite TV with a few English channels and Internet. So on a typical day, we get up and eat breakfast at the apartment. The kids spend time coloring, watching tv, playing around, fighting...normal kids stuff. Amy and I spend time responding to emails, updating the blog, looking for apartments for future destinations and planning the day by looking through travel guides. The last couple of days have been cloudy and/or rainy and so we have either "hung out" in the apartment or spent time at the parks near our apartment. Then in the evenings we often cook dinner at the apartment, bathe the kids, play games / watch TV and then it's bed time for the kiddos. Amy and I then use the time to again check emails, Facebook, Skype and just relax. Also, things like grocery shopping, laundry, etc make the days seem more "normal" than "vacation". At this point, we have decided that 2 weeks per location is a good balance. It allows us to see the sights, scatter in a few day trips while also relaxing and enjoying the culture of the location. The kids have adjusted just fine. In Switzerland, they enjoyed playing in the snow, skiing, sledging...winter sport activities. In Madrid, they have enjoyed all the parks and playgrounds. Honestly, they don't really know the difference. Since the apartments are fully furnished, it feels like "home" to them. And as we have commented in some of our blogs, it is really cool to experience the sights through the eyes of a 3 and 5 year old. At this point, Amy and I are truly enjoying "simplicity". We haven't been on a cell phone / blackberry in a month (although we enjoy Skype / Facebook chat with friends and family). We've also enjoyed the 700 sq ft apartments and minimal cleaning. So, while we often post about the "exciting" parts of our journey, our days are filled with plenty of "normal" activities as well.

Our little monkey turns 3

February 28th--Happy 3rd Birthday, Austin! Austin started the day off opening his gift which was a Real Madrid 'futbol' uniform (jersey, shorts & socks). He loved it and is very cute in the whole outfit. Then, he enjoyed some donuts for breakfast. After breakfast, we all got ready and headed to the Madrid Zoo & Aquarium. It was a great zoo! We saw every animal you can possibly imagine...white storks, flamingos, penguins, zebras, giraffes, elephants, pandas, kangaroos, koalas, buffalos, monkeys, hippos, rhinos, snakes, fish, sharks, birds, bald eagles, lions, tigers, and bears...OH MY! Abby's favorite animal was the hippopatamus. Ever since seeing Madagascar 2, she thinks they are very funny animals with big bellies and small booties. We watched 4 hippos for a while. At first, they were out of the water and so we couldn't leave until we saw all of them get in the water. There was one that had long teeth hanging out of his mouth and he was not nice. We decided he was angry because he needed to go to the dentist. :-) Then, we saw the monkeys, Austin's favorite. They were being fed so we watched them all fight over the food. It was definitely a site and it's amazing how human acting they really are. Watching the monkeys eat made us hungry so off we went to find a place to eat lunch. Right next to the eating spot was a wonderful playground. We ate a quick bite and the kids were off to play for a while. We then attempted to go watch the Dolphin show. It was really funny because we were sitting there waiting for it to start, a woman came over the speakers and said a bunch of stuff in Spanish (obviously we couldn't understand her), then everyone in the crowd got up from their seats and left. Mike looked at me and said "I guess it's cancelled?" We started laughing, but continued to sit there like we were still trying to figure out what was going on. Anyway, it was definitely cancelled and we were a little disappointed, but were definitely able to find many other things to do. We spent about 6 hours at the zoo and probably could have been there longer, but it looked like it was going to start raining and we didn't want to get stuck in it. So, we left and headed to the Metro Station. As we were walking, we asked Austin if he had a good birthday at the zoo and he said "Yes, but I haven't had cake yet." We decided we needed to find the boy a cake so when we got off the subway by our apartment, we went to the bakery. We had a little trouble ordering in the all Spanish speaking bakery, but we explained it was Austin's "cumpleaños" and they pointed out a chocolate truffle cake. We then went by the pizza place to get pizza for dinner. The pizza and the cake were very good. Austin had a great 3rd birthday!