Winter Never Felt So Good

Enjoying churros with a scrumptious Nutella topping at my host family's business

            Did we mention we’re back from Toledo?  We’ve been home for a little over two weeks getting back into the swing of things (i.e. NONSTOP RAIN).  Yet we know we can’t complain since we escaped one of the worst winters in Wisconsin history, and we also escaped what was apparently the worst two weeks of weather in Galicia.  We read that the wind was so strong that the waves were gigantic.

            We started off the second leg of our vacation off right when we were bumped to first-class on our flight from Prague to Madrid! That was the first time that ever happened.  They gave us deliciously free cheese sandwiches.  Robin is certain that it was the BEST cheese sandwich he had ever eaten in his life!  Doesn’t take much to make him happy :)

 

         Flying over the snow covered Pyrenees Mountains.  What a view!

            Traveling the world means experiencing different cultures and tasting the best food each culture has to offer.  It also means that sometimes we get a little homesick and crave comfort food.  I’d say Robin and I were pretty adventurous eaters in Prague, so we decided to take it easy and enjoy a bucket of Crispy chicken at KFC.  The icing on top of the cake of our “All-American day in Madrid” happened inside a bookstore.  Robin was smart enough to bring English reading materials from home to Spain.  He sped through Stephen King’s Misery and It in a mere few weeks.  He even said that he was going to “ration” his last book to make it last.  So I found myself alone in the bookstore and discouraged because it seemed that the bookstore only had Spanish books.  I ventured further, and saw the words “Stephen King” written in very large letters.  Tucked away among a mere two-dozen English books was Stephen King’s newest book Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining.  So far Robin has demonstrated great self-control with “rationing” his newest book.  Here’s to hoping everything fits in our suitcases!

The Magical City of Toledo: But This Time With Robin :)

Why anyone would willingly leave this place, I just don't know.
The good news is that they love the new people moving in.

    It really happened!  Robin Wabalickis met my host family and was able to delight in the magic of Toledo.  It was a little surreal to see my host family who I spent so much time with while apart from Robin welcome Robin like they welcomed me two years ago.  I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised considering how thoughtful and kind they are!  Our Toledo visit was only a little chaotic since my host family was in the process of moving out of their absolutely beautiful home in the old, historical part of town into a new suburban apartment.  I think my host dad, Manolo, was very pleased to have Robin there to help him carry the washing machine first down three flights of winding stairs and then up an ancient, narrow cobblestone street.  This house is so beautiful that it was featured on an architecture show.  It was sad for me to watch this video with them during the moving process.  Sad times. Sad times.

           We rang in the New Year the Spanish way by eating twelve grapes as we counted down the twelve second until midnight for good luck.  Each person eats one grape per second.  This task is made more difficult in Spain by the seeds in each grape.  My host sister showed me how we could cheat by de-seeding the grapes ahead of time.  I still didn’t finish! Thankfully I married a grape eating champion, so his good luck should carry us through the year.  Just kidding!

                          No big deal...just carving meat straight off the family's pig leg.

            New Year’s Eve is a big family celebration in Spain.  The whole family gets together and eats a big meal, usually including a lot of seafood.  After midnight, all the teenagers go out dressed in formalwear (think prom).  They literally stay out all night and come home around 8:00am. This would not fly with the typical American family. Pure craziness!

Three King's Day

 
       Spanish children receive presents from the Three Wise Men in the beginning of January.  It is tradition that there is a very big parade for the Three Kings the night before Three Kings Day.  The Three Kings can arrive in a variety of ways. In Madrid, it's on a camel float.  Apparently on the Galician coast they arrive by boat!  The picture on the right is the traditional sweet bread we eat on the morning of Three Kings Day.  Basically, it is the absolute sweetest thing Robin and I have ever tasted.  Poor Robin! They gave him quite a large piece.  In each bread, the bakery hides a special figure inside.  In the past it used to be a baby Jesus.  Whoever received the baby Jesus inside their piece would have to pay for the bread.  My host sister received the figure and this year it happened to be Mr. Krabs from Spongebob.

THE LAST HIKE:
     For those of you who used to read the blog when I was studying abroad in Toledo, you may recall that I was a tad obsessed with a certain hiking spot that leads to a magnificent, panoramic view of the city.

 

    A dramatic goodbye (for now) :(     (To the right is one of my favorite views....my walk to school)

                                       A dead snake we came across on our hike!
Robin was brave enough to take a photo. I was not excited.

                       

DON QUIXOTE WINDMILLS
 We visited the nearby town of Consuegra, home to Don Quixote's famous windmills. In Miguel Cervantes's classic novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha.  In an epic battle, Don Quixote valiantly fights what he believes to be giants, but in reality are only harmless windmills.

The clay colored soil and olive tree landscape of Castilla-La Mancha (the Spanish province Toledo is in) is a great contrast to the lush, rolling green hills of Galicia.  

Funkenschlag, Bramborák, and Sledgebobs

Me with the Novak's parrot Sophie!

     We arrived at the Novak's cabin the day after Christmas.  There was a bit of melting snow on the ground, but we were excited to see any snow at all!  We got up early the next morning ready for whatever snowy activity was on the schedule for the day.  Vaclav's mother suggested a little hike to start our day.  We left the house at 10 a.m. bundled up and excited.  Alyssa had on two jackets.  The hike turned out to be a little further than expected, though.  We walked up a snowy mountain for three hours.  Alyssa had to take off one of the coats and tie it around her waist.  She was so hot and thirsty that she drank from several streams of melted snow along the way.  Everyone had to stop and wait for Alyssa who just wanted to take a short leisurely stroll and take a few pictures.  I was happy to get in a post Christmas workout!  As we neared the top, we couldn't see the path or the streams beneath the snow.  Poor Lyss fell into the stream several times and was wet up to her knees.  However, we pressed on determined and eventually made it to the top!  Two hours later we returned to the cabin exhausted.  The whole hike ended up taking five hours!  Vaclav's Mom began preparing our lunch of Bramborak which is the Czech version of the potato pancake.

 

The main cabin room with a very old stove. We threw logs in the black door to heat the entire room.

 

"Hurry Lyss.  We're falling behind!"  "Good.  Let's just wait here until they come back!"

 At the top!  Now that wasn't so bad was it?

     Alyssa may have fallen behind on our hike, but she left the Novak's and myself in the dust when it came to eating Bramborak.  Each potato pancake was about the size of a dinner plate and as greasy as a Cracker Barrel sausage.  I hadn't eaten all day and was starving, but I could not eat more than 2 1/2.  Lyss put away six without a problem and spent the rest of the evening happily reading National Geographic.  

 Vaclav's mother is making Bramborak!  Yum!

     Evenings in the cabin were very peaceful.  We watched Harry Potter and snacked on cookies.  The Novaks also like to read a lot, but most of their reading material is in Czech.  Therefore, I read the only English book available, "Hound of the Baskervilles," and Alyssa read every word of that one National Geographic magazine.  We also played a board game called Funkenschlag.  It was similar to Monopoly but was all about providing electricity to regions of Germany.  Since we had never played before Alyssa and I played as a pair.  I bought windmills, power plants, etc. and Alyssa counted our money.  What great teamwork!  Lyss wasn't a big fan of the game though and kept drifting off but she still kept an accurate total of how much money we made.  Despite our valiant effort and efficient devision of labor, we still finished in last place.  Go figure. 

     On our last night in the cabin we went Sledgebobbing which is what they call sledding.  In America we usually use cheap plastic sleds or inflatable tubes.  The Novaks had sledges with heavy metal bottoms, steering wheels, and brakes.  These sledges go about three times as fast and despite the brakes are much harder to stop.  We had a great time and it was a great last adventure in Prague.  We're in Toledo now and just visited the windmills made famous by Don Quijote.  

 Me setting up a slackline

 Vaclav walking the slackline in the woods!