June 4 to 5—Slowing Down, Making Plans, and Lovin’ Live Jazz

Dear Family and Friends,

We continue to slow things down as we get to know Madrid more and more. Monday, we slept in once again, went to the market once again, and then packed up a bag and took a long walk, once again. We’ve been craving veggies and poultry, so picked up an entire chicken, leeks, a green pepper, onions, and carrots to spend an afternoon/evening making a soup. Before our walk, we boiled the chicken and did some of the prep work with the onions and carrots. Dani also made us a great lunch of pork chops, onions and spinach in garlic, and carrots with marmalade (GraSP STYLE!!)!!

After a grand lunch, we headed Northeast past the open windows of the stylish shops in our neighborhood, where we noticed that some of the mannequins were plus-sized! We got lost trying to find a plaza that we had passed through on Saturday’s wanderings, and finally found it in the Chueca region, plopping ourselves on a bench to people watch over our books. (Well, Martha actually read … Dani was too distracted by the people.) It was a fine way to pass the time in the afternoon sun, as we were surrounded by people going here to there or sitting to be served evening snacks and beverages.

A punkish couple went from table-grouping to table-grouping, playing a flute (rather well), juggling, and collecting change. People walked their dogs (and Martha has even gotten finally to pet a couple of the furry critters … but no comparison to soft Willow lovin’s—miss her!). Before long, we wandered back towards home, passing people dressed up for a Monday night out on the town; Dani took pictures of familiar buildings along the Gran Via in different light than before. We passed the evening eating curried salchicas and playing Yahtzee!

As we played Yahtzee, we listened to the Gipsy Kings, a group from Spain that we both have loved for a long time, and have found ourselves humming some of their songs during our walks. Some of you may have seen our posting of the Flamenco show from last week, but hearing the Gipsy Kings after hearing the raw vocals of the man from the Flamenco show brought a whole new perspective—a new appreciation for the roots of the Gipsy Kings’ music and their triumph in bringing the heart of Spain to the mainstream, and to two girls growing up in America.

Tuesday, Day 22, we worked on planning our next steps after leaving Madrid in 20 short days. Martha contacted Alisa in Bosnia to see whether we should head that way, and Dani booked our flight from Dusseldorf, Germany, to Bangkok, Thailand, for 5 July. There were no direct flights from Madrid to Bangkok under a gazillion dollars, so we had to choose a layover somewhere, and splitting the trip up into one short flight to Germany and then the longer flight leaves us some flexibility as we determine timing with others. After some more inqueries during the day, it looks like we will have some free time between 22 June and 5 July since Alisa’s family will be in town around that time in Bosnia. We will try to see her in September or October, instead!

In the meantime, Dani made a startling discovery after booking our flight in and out of Germany: Oktoberfest starts two days after we arrive!! So, now we are looking into how to get down to Munich from Dusseldorf so that we can enjoy that experience for a few days before returning to Spain. It looks like getting a Eurorail pass for the last two months of our stay may be the most cost-effective way of getting around from Germany down through the regions of Spain that we hope to explore at that time of year and then back up North to catch our flight at the end of November. Still much to figure out, but at least we know we will be spending a few months exploring SE Asia!

Meanwhile, Dani spent most of the day on the computer figuring things out and writing to friends. Martha put together the chicken soup for lunch, making enough for another meal in the near future. As nighttime came around, we decided to enjoy another night on the town and finally left the apartment around 8 PM. First stop was ‘our pub’ … Magister, which makes its own beer and offers free tapas with your first order—Martha’s was brie queso and tomato and Dani’s was jamon with a small egg on top. Plus, we had a little Minicard which gave us a double-sized beer for the price of a single. We also ordered some additional appetizers, ‘pichos,’ of brie with bacon and a little pork chop with amazing red onions beneath.

Dani had found in the Lonely Planet a pub that offered free jazz/blues every night! Boy do we ever wish that our buddy, Glenn, was with us tonight! The group was made of five: Jim Kashishian on trombone and vocals, Pepe Nunez on trumpet, Fernando Sobrino on keyboard, Antonio Dominguez on cello, and Antonio Calero on drums. Wonderful show, and we got some video for you all, too! The pub itself, called Populart, was an amazing collection of old photos of American-based favorites: Dizzy Gillespie, Louise Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald … surrounding this group of seasoned men who had obviously been playing together for a long time because they were amazing. Thanks so much for the great performance, Guys! Maybe we’ll check you out again another night.

Afterwards, we attempted once again to find the pub with the fantastic sangria from our first night in Madrid, which we have been unable to locate in our daytime wanderings! We finally found a place that seemed to be it—the bar was in the right spot, it had two rooms, and the sangria jar was similar … but it wasn’t quite right, thought Martha. We sat down for some sangria and tapas of salmon and (more) cheese, and talked about the music and how nice of a night we’d been having. At the very least in this adventure, we are joyfully thankful to be here every moment.

Ready to head towards home, we walked out the door … to find that the ACTUAL pub we were looking for was RIGHT NEXT DOOR! Silly us, at least we know where it is for ‘next time.’ We continued home, Martha carrying shoes that were wearing holes in the backs of her feet, and took some time to dance with one of the locals, although he seemed a bit stiff.

In love and light,

Martha and Dani