June 22, 2017 Fort Collins, CO to Smith Creek Recreation Area, Nebraska

We headed out today for Iowa to attend my 45 year class reunion in our trusted RV. Penny was not happy with us because she is staying home with our house-sitter during this trip! We will have to bring her a good treat when we get home.

Our route took us on Colorado Highway 14 east through Ault, past the Pawnee National Grasslands and connected to Interstate 76 and north to Interstate 80. Just east of Fort Collins, we passed the Poudre REA solar farm which I had never seen before. It was encouraging to see this alternative energy source! Later, we passed several areas where the oil companies are fracking and there were large walls constructed around the rigs. As we neared Nebraska, we enjoyed seeing the green oasis along the Platte River. We have made this trip many times and always comment about the many small “lakes” that border I-80 and wondered about their origins. They look like they should be ski lakes because they are fairly narrow and long. Tobey got online and found out they are called “borrow” pit lakes. Because Nebraska is so flat, when they were constructing the interstate, they “borrowed” soil along the way to build the embankments for the overpasses. The water table is high and when they harvested the soil for the embankments, the holes filled in quickly because the ground water along the Platte River area is so high. Conservationists and wildlife biologists worked with the government to put the 50 borrowed lakes into use. Today, forty of the lakes are open to the public for fishing and recreation. Sunset on the road was pretty. We are camped at the Smith Creek Recreation Area, about 14 miles east of York, Nebraska. Even with strong head and side winds, we put 441 miles behind us today. Our gas mileage was horrible – less than 9 miles per gallon! We hope the wind dies down overnight because we still have about 300 miles to go.

June 8, 2017 - Madrid, Spain to Fort Collins, Colorado

Maybe it was the heat, or the noise from outside, or anxiousness of getting up early, but none of us slept well last night. When the alarm went off at 4:30, it was almost a relief to get up! We left the apartment and headed down the 63 steps to the street level and out to Puerta del Sol to catch a taxi to the airport.

We were a little nervous that we might not find a taxi at that time of day, but once outside we realized we had nothing to be worried about. Madrid is still on the go. There were young people still walking home from clubs, street sweepers cleaning, and plenty of taxis available. Our driver this morning was so calm compared to the one we had from the airport – he was friendly, courteous, and we didn’t feel like we were competing in the Indy 500 races! We arrived safely at the airport and checked in for our flights home via Frankfurt. There was a Priority Pass lounge near our gate, so we hung out there until our 8:30 departure.

Food on Lufthansa was much better than our other flights, and they offer several in-flight movies. From Frankfurt to Denver, the flying time is about 10 hours. We all managed to sleep a little, watch 3 movies, and they offered two meals! We arrived in Denver at 3:30 pm which was 11:30 pm Madrid time. We cleared customs and waited and waited for our bags. When they finally arrived, Wendy’s had been damaged so after immigration we went to the the Lufthansa baggage to file a claim before heading to the car.

I-25 was very slow going – almost stopped for a good portion of the drive and we finally got off about 20 miles south of home and took an alternate route. We found out later there had been a fatal crash at 4pm and the road had been closed until 6:15 pm and they were still cleaning up when we got near there. After stopping at Wendy’s to get our car and head home, we finally arrived about 7:15 pm! (3:15 am in Madrid!) We had been up for almost 24 hours and we were tired.

It was great to be home and see our moms who were house/Penny sitting for us. Penny was beside herself with joy and wanted to lick our faces and do what she likes to do best – bite at our nose! They had dinner ready and we recounted stories of our trip, unpacked, and were in bed by 9pm.

It was a great trip, but it is always great to be home.

June 7, 2017 - Madrid, Spain

We had another Spanish morning but managed to walk almost 10 miles around the city! We headed east toward the Prado Museum and Botanical Gardens. We passed the Cervantes statue and Neptune’s fountain on the way.

Because of time constraints and not enough knowledge about Spanish artists we chose not to go in the Prado, as there was a huge line to get tickets.

Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid is an 8 hectares botanical garden in Madrid. We were disappointed that not many flowers were blooming, but we covered a good portion of it!

We noticed a few areas were the trees and benches were covered with these green, knitted blankets and shawls. It is a project called social knitting. The knitters use mainly green yarns and it is to bring awareness to a disease called Myasthenia gravis. Myasthenia gravisis a long-term neuromuscular disease that leads to varying degrees of skeletal muscle weakness.

The hydrangea was different that ones we see at home and some of the lilies were almost as tall as me.

After the gardens, we headed west, back toward the palace to find the Templo de Debod. We passed many shops setting up special decorations for a celebration of Madrid that starts tomorrow and lasts for a week.

We needed to stop for churros and chocolate, because the guide books say it is a treat not to be missed in Madrid.

We shared an order of 4 churros which are similar to the ones we have in Colorado, and the chocolate was served hot and had the consistency of a cooked pudding before it cools. You dip the churro in the chocolate and enjoy! They were the yummy pick-me-up we needed.

Along the was we passed many interesting buildings and churches. Wendy and I went inside the Parraquia de Santa Cruz to see what all the people were looking at. The inside of the church was beautiful.  Most of the people were in line to stop at one of the icons, perhaps for a special blessing from the saint.

We finally made it to the Templo de Debod which is an ancient 25 century old Egyptian temple that was dismantled and rebuilt in Madrid, Spain. The shrine was originally erected 15 kilometers south of Aswan in Upper Egypt.  In 1960, due to the construction of the Great Dam of Aswan and the consequent threat posed to several monuments and archeological sites, UNESCO made an international call to save this rich historical legacy. As a sign of gratitude for the help provided by Spain in saving the temples of Abu Simbel, the Egyptian state donated the temple of Debod to Spain in 1968. The temple was rebuilt in one of Spain's most beautiful parks, the West Park, which is near the Palacio Real.

We journeyed back to our apartment and again, saw plenty of beautiful buildings.

Wendy had to say adios to her new friend before we leave for Colorado in the morning.

After a tapas dinner, Tobey and I stopped in the Bingo Hall just around the corner from our apartment to see what it looked like. We had to have our passports for identification! It looked much different than our bingo halls. There were several rooms with electronic slot machines and then a large room for bingo. They play with 90 numbers and it looked like there were several “free spaces” on each card. We didn’t stay to play, we just wanted to look.

Tomorrow will be an early morning because we have a 30 minute cab ride to the airport and an 8:30 am flight.  Buenas noches!

June 6, 2017 - Madrid, Spain

We are on Spanish time … we didn’t get up until after 9am, so we didn’t leave the apartment until after 10! We walked from Puerta del Sol to Plaza de España, a large square,  at the western end of the Gran Via, where there is a statue of Don Quixote and his sidekick, Sancho Panza.  There is also a statue of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and is just a short walk south from the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). 

We continued to the Palace and approached from the north which has some gardens. The magnolia trees were blooming and the flowers were huge!

We brought our own royalty with us, King Tobey.North side of the palace – in the gardens

We took a self-guided tour which includes 50 of the 2000 rooms in the palace! The palace is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family at the city of Madrid, but it is only used for state ceremonies. King Felipe VI and the Royal Family do not reside in the palace, choosing instead the more modest on the outskirts of Madrid.

We entered through the grand stairway. The ceilings were were beautiful!

The royal armory

Views from the palace

We wanted to tour the Cathedral Museum but it closed at 2:30, and it was 2:30 when we got there. Oh well, another trip! We wandered back to the apartment for naps and relaxing before we headed out to a flamenco show. We took the long way there – about 4 miles roundabout!

We went past the Metropolis building which is just an insurance company, but the building was interesting.

 

We enjoyed all the different architecture as we walked.

The building below is the Palacio de Communicaiones  (Our Lady of Communications) and hosts the post office. Apparently, the inside is dismal and resembles a prison! We didn’t go inside to check it out, we decided to take the tour book’s word!

The statue is Cybele, a controversial Greek fertility goddess. She is seated on a chariot pulled by two lions. This is located in the Plaza de la Cibeles.

We walked and walked and walked back to the Plaza de España and Las Tablas, where the flamenco show was held. It was interesting to watch. There were three dancers, one guitar player, and one singer who told the story of the dance through song.

The show was different than what we expected, but we were glad we went! After the show, we passed a few buildings with interesting door knockers. Fun to see!

And, to end the day like real Spaniards, we had dinner at 10:30 pm! It was close to midnight by the time we got back to the apartment for the night. It was definitely a busy day and have another on tap for tomorrow.

June 5, 2017 - Casablanca to Madrid, Spain

We had an early morning wake-up call and 7 am shuttle to the airport. Our flight wasn’t until 10:55 am, but Abdulwahab was concerned that we wouldn’t arrive in time. We got there at and had almost 3 hours to wait! The flight was bumpy, and we had a bratty child behind us who kicked my seat and even when I asked her mother to stop her, did not. She screamed and sassed the entire flight. It was great to get off that plane!

Getting through customs and immigration in Madrid seemed to take forever. We finally made it out to the taxi queue, and ended up with the WORST driver! First of all, he wasn’t sure where our apartment was, then he played his radio full blast on a Spanish talk show, waited until the last minute to change lanes, ran over some traffic cones getting into the express lane, argued with a policeman telling him he couldn’t use the express lane, then had to back up because their was an accident in the express lane and he couldn’t drive over the curb to get back into the regular lane of traffic. FINALLY,  40 minutes later, he dropped us a block from our apartment just off the Puerto del Sol and we walked the rest of the way!

Our apartment is three – yes three, flights up a winding stairway, one block from the Puerto del Sol. It’s a great location, even if it is pretty small. After settling in, we went to get some food since we hadn’t eaten since 6:30 am and it was not close to 5 pm and we were all getting cranky!

After looking at several places, we ended up at Rosi La Loca, just outside of apartment. We shared four different tapas (appetizer sized dishes) and were much happier. Two of our favorites were the Iberian ham croquettes and the pork tenderloin with sweet potato fries.

After refueling, we were ready to walk and explore. The statue of the bear and the strawberry tree is a sculpture from the second half of the 20th century. It is located on the east side of the Puerta del Sol. It represents the coat of arms of the city of Madrid.

There were some protestors in the square trying to raise awareness about global warming. They wanted President Trump to “think a little if you can” about the situation!

There were mariachi bands and lots of other street entertainers.

We made our way to Plaza Mayor. Plaza Mayor was built during Phillip III’s reign (1598–1621) and is a central plaza in the city.  The Plaza Mayor is rectangular in shape, measuring 423 feet × 308 feet, and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entrance ways.

Located along the outside wall of Plaza Mayor, we stopped at Rincon de la Cava Meson, a tapas restaurant that is owned by the family of Tyler’s, former exchange host family. I visited there with Tyler and host family in 2002 and it is just as nice as it was then.

We worked our way westward past a beautiful government building before arriving at the palace.

We plan to tour the palace tomorrow, and hope to see the Almudena Cathedral, as well. Because the palace was already closed for the day, we were able to take a picture with no people interfering with the view!

Almudena Cathedral

We decided it was getting late – but not dark – so we headed back to the apartment. We picked up pastries for breakfast, and along the way, Wendy met a guy. She isn’t sure if the long-distance relationship will work out, but they seemed to get close rather quickly!

We are all exhausted tonight and hope we are ready to go for a full day tomorrow.