A Spanish sandwich with some Portugal in between…

We hesitantly left the sun-drenched bay of San Sebastian and caught the train toward Madrid, Spain. We arrived to Madrid rather late so we headed straight to our hotel and called it a night. The next morning we moved to a more centrally located hostel, which turned out to be perfect for us. We had read about a great Mexican restaurant across the street at the reviews for the hostel. We decided to try it out (since we both love our Mexican food!) And it ended up being our favorite restaurant in Madrid. It served four types of tacos (1 euro each), beer and water. Mike was in heaven! Okay, maybe I was too. :) We ate there twice, despite only being in Madrid for two days. After we got our first fix of Mexican food we headed to the Plaza Mayor. It was a picturesque Spanish square surrounded by buildings beautifully colored and filled with restaurants and crazy street performers. Our favorite performer was a Chris Farley-sized Superman. He looked absolutely ridiculous in his blue and red spandex, but we loved it ... And, in fact, we even supported his cause by posing with him in a few photos and donating a few euro cents to his ridiculousness. After this, we strolled through the city and made our way toward the Thyssen museum, which had a large collection of impressive paintings by well known artists. There were paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh, Lichtenstein, Dali, O'Keefe, Mondrian and Monet. Mike recognized more of the artists than I did, because he learned them in a class in high school and (for some reason) he remembers not only the artists names, but some of their specific works as well. That actually made the visit more fun for me as well, because he would get excited about seeing the paintings he knew about. After the museum, we made our way back toward our hostel and checked out some of the local scenery along the way. We knew that Nadal was playing in the quarterfinal match of the U.S. Open and we figured that it might be playing in a bar somewhere since he's from Spain. We came across a great little tavern and watched a few sets of the match, along with some of the Indianapolis Colts game which was also playing. Again, Mike was in Heaven! Sports After getting our fill, we went to find a place for dinner. We ended up at another place that was playing the tennis match, so we were excited to catch the end of it while grabbing a bite to eat. As soon as we sat down, the bartender came over and switched the station for a soccer (football) match that was coming up pretty We were bummed, especially because the match never came on the entire time we were eating! Thus, our food sucked, and we are pretty sure our waitress knew we did not like it because we ended up getting a coupon for a free bottle of wine on our next visit. Needless to say, this still was not enough to draw us back in for another visit.

The next day, we had an overnight train to catch to Lisbon, Portugal, so we checked out of our hostel and were off to soak in the city for the rest of the day. We wandered over to the Palacio Real, but unfortunately our timing was off because it was closed for the day due to some sort of ceremony that was going on. It was still quite impressive to see from the outside, and in the end, it gave us more time to visit the rest of the city that day. The Streets We wandered for a bit and stumbled across this great indoor market, where you could inexpensively try a wide variety of foods / snacks / drinks and then purchase your seafood / produce / meats, etc. at the same time. We enjoyed a plate of various olives and some sangria, but we probably could have hung out in there for hours trying all of the delicious food. Next, we visited the Plaza del Sol, which was sort of under construction, but nevertheless, was impressive as well. For our last stop in Madrid, we went to wander the 300-acre Parque del Buen Retiro (which means the park of the nice retreat). In the middle of the park, was the Estanque Grande, which was a rectangular lake where you could rent rowboats and take in views of the King Alfonso XII monument which was right on the water's edge. We rented one of the row boats and enjoyed watching the bass jumping out of the water trying to snag some food. Mike did most of the rowing, because I almost crashed into another row boat once (since you have to row while facing backward). :) This wrapped up our short stay in Madrid and we caught our first overnight train to Lisbon.

The overnight train was a new experience for us. We went for the cabins with beds (versus just seats), hoping that we'd be able to sleep a bit. It definitely was not the worst night of sleep I've ever gotten, but I would not say it was the best either! We both slept with ear plugs in because the creaking of the train was quite loud, and there was a sort of rocking motion that could either put you to sleep, wake you up, or maybe even make you sick car depending on how you were feeling . Overall, it was worth it so we did not did not have to waste our entire day on a train! Once we got to Lisbon, we stopped at our hostel ... which we were very excited about. Yet this hostel had amazing reviews, and it was BY FAR the best place we've stayed Schm It had music room, where there was an old school radio playing really good mellow music around the clock. The music room had a sofa and a handful of bean bags where you could just 'chill' as they told us on our tour. There was also a great computer room with free internet, and a TV room with more comfy sofas and a nice TV to watch. Our room came with breakfast, where they would cook you eggs and toast as you showed up ... this was something we had not had in all of Europe so far! So, each evening the hostel would have an event that you could participate in for really cheap. On our first night, there was a wine night and you could try 9 Portuguese wines for only 5 euros.

During our second day, we decided to try hitting up a Portuguese restaurant that was in one of our tour books. Luckily, we had read a warning in our book that 'you eat it, you buy it'. The waiter would bring little appetizers and bread to your table. Each one might be 75 cents to 1 euro, but they can add up pretty quickly. We both enjoyed a yummy traditional pork plate. After this, we decided to try hitting up some beach time as we were having withdrawals from our relaxing stay in San Sebastian. We went to the cute little town of Cascais on the beach and hung out for a bit, but the wind picked up and sort of ruined our comfortability factor town, so we headed back to. On our second night in the hostel, there was a pub crawl preceded by a keg at the hostel. For 2 euros, you could drink beer at the hostel until the keg was gone. Then, for slightly more, you could join in on the pub crawl to see the Lisbon nightlife. We were just going to have a few beers and then call it a night, but we made friends with a couple from Brazil and we all ended up going on the pub crawl, which was a great time.

For our last day in Lisbon, we had signed up to rent this GPS guided tour in a golf cart. We showed up (barely) after the pub crawl the night before, and we cruised around Lisbon for a good 4 hours to see the sights. The golf cart would literally start talking to us based on where we were with the GPS. It would tell us directions and fun facts about the next landmark we were about to pass. Cart We felt it was well worth it and Mike really enjoyed driving around town in a golf. It was fun an electric cart, so many people were checking us out and giving a thumbs up after reading the cheesy '100% 0% emissions cart 'tag line on the side of the. :) We really enjoyed all of the tile work throughout Lisbon, and of course, some of the amazing bakery as well. The people were so friendly, which made our stay even more enjoyable. We caught another overnight train back to Madrid on our last day in Lisbon, and from there, we caught a 3 hour train to Barcelona.

Upon our arrival in Barcelona, we met up with Lucas and his dad, Javier. Lucas had stayed in Glenn (near where Mike is from) hometown last summer for 3 weeks, so we were really looking forward to meeting his family and visiting his. We went straight to downtown Barcelona and enjoyed a wonderful tapas lunch. Then, we spent a few hours wandering with Lucas, La Rambla, the pier and the Gothic part of town (which is where there are lots of great cathedrals and an artists quarter). We had a great time. That evening, we went back to Lucas' house and met the rest of his family, including two younger brothers and an older sister. Lucas' family was so welcoming and made us feel so comfortable about staying in their home. We had planned on staying for only a few nights, but they were so friendly that we ended up staying for a week! It was really a nice break from the hostel life we had gotten used to. His mom would cook us dinner every night, we felt like part of the family!

We slept in a bit on our second day, and we hung out with Lucas and his brothers for most of the day. We played Nintendo Wii and had a really fun time relaxing and feeling like we were back at home. Lucas brought us to a great little restaurant near his house that had the best patatas bravas (French fries with a spicy sauce and some garlic) and other yummy tapas as well ... that's the benefit of hanging out with a local ... they know exactly where to go! That evening, we were lucky enough to scalp some tickets for he match against FC Barcelona Atletica Madrid. Javier and Lucas joined us and we had a really great time! It was the ultimate European soccer experience for us, because the Barcelona team won the World Cup last year (along with every other cup championship), so they are considered to be the best in the world right now. We now have a new favorite soccer player, Messi (# 10). He is the equivalent of watching Michael Jordan play basketball ... he made it look sooo easy and he scored or assisted most of the goals.

The next morning, we went with the family to Sitges, a nearby town beach. They had a family get together planned and they invited us to come along. We did not realize it at the time, but the entire Ramon Pont family (the Pont family business is partners with the Carriere - Mike's Uncles - family business) was getting together - as they do on most Sunday-to spend time together. The entire family was amazing, and they all spoke surprisingly good English! The family had planned to take some photos of the kids together, and one of Ramon's sons (Quique) had invited Mike and me to go sailing with him. Without hesitation, we both nodded our heads in touch. We spent about an hour on the sea with Quique and Javier (Lucas's dad) and it was such a neat experience. Neither of us had been sailing before and it was such a different experience as compared to being on a jet boat on the lake. There were times when the wind would catch the sails and you would literally feel like the boat was going to tip over! It was great fun. After this, we spent a few more hours with the family and then we made our way back to Barcelona.

On the drive back to Barcelona Increasingly the weather got worse, and it was DUMPING rain by the time we arrived back to Javier and Cristina's house. Cristina and the younger boys had arrived back home shortly before we did, and she greeted us at the door with big boots on rain and some wet towels in her hand. We immediately knew this was not a good sign. She said that their entire bottom floor of their house was flooded! We spent the next few hours trying to help them get everything cleaned up Luckily, most of their bottom floor had tile flooring, so the water did not cause as much damage as it could have. But, needless to say, a flood in your house is never a good thing. We ended up having dinner that night at about 11pm, and everyone was a bit tired the next morning!

That next day, we checked out the modern cathedral Sagrada Familia. It was absolutely amazing ... unlike any other cathedral. It had a more modern design gothic look to it, and it was easy to see that the architect was influenced by nature in his. The building was still under construction. It has been in progress since the 1800s, and it is expected to be done in approximately 2030th There were currently 8 of the 18 planned towers built ... we took the lift up one of them. The views were great and it was amazing to see the detail that went into building the cathedral. It's truly a masterpiece. It would be so great to go back and check it out once it's finally complete. After our visit to the Sagrada Familia, we headed toward the Plaza Reial and grabbed some paella (rice dish with saffron and seafood) on the way, which was soooo tasty! Then, we went back to the house to relax for a bit with the family. Javier and Cristina have an apartment in Sitges for vacationing, and they offered for us to go and stay there for a few days. We were unable to resist because we had such a great time with their family in Sitges, just a few days ago. We also really wanted to see some of the Borges (the company that is partners with the Carrieres in CA) factories in Spain if possible. Before we knew it, we had 2 tours and an apartment lined up waiting for us in Sitges at the end of the day. We felt so lucky!

Javier and Cristina let us borrow their car to drive to Terraga (where the Olive, Sunflower and Grapeseed Oil factory is), Reus (where the groove packaging facility is) and finally to their apartment in Sitges. We had a really great time, and surprisingly we did not really get lost. It was amazing to see some of the countryside in Spain and the factories were both impressive to say the least. It reminded me a bit of my Rockwell Automation days to see just how some of their processes were automated. Very neat. In between our two tours, we stopped at a restaurant recommended by Cristina and Javier. It was called Casa Perez, so we knew that we really needed to try it out. The food was VERY good and the recommendation could not have been better. We started off with a tortilla (which is like an omlette) filled with cheese as an appetizer. This is quite common in Spain, and is cut up like a pizza. Then, we each got an entrée which included some meat and veggies (Mike got chicken and I chose the Llom, which is sliced pork) ... they were both delicious! Then, we headed onto our second tour, and finally to Sitges to get settled into the apartment. The apartment was soo nice. It had a wonderful balcony where we could relax and, of course, play cribbage. It also had a full kitchen, where we enjoyed cooking and eating in since we do not get to do this much along our trip. We relaxed on the beach during the day, and we stopped by Ramon and Reyes '(Lucas' grandparents) house in the evening as they had invited us to stop by when we were in town. It ended up Lucas and his cousins were coming to spend the night that night (as the next day was a holiday) and so we all hung out together and had a great spaghetti dinner at the Ponts' house. The holiday was called Festa Mayor and each town would celebrate their heritage and have a parade, fireworks, castels (where people form a tall tower by climbing up on one another). It was really neat to see. On our last day in Sitges, we enjoyed one more breakfast on the balcony and then we were on our way back to Barcelona.

On our way back to the house, we decided to check out the tower and amusement park that were just up the hill from Javier and Cristina's house. We went up in the tower, which offered some really great views of the city. It was about 200-something meters tall (600ft), but because it was on top of a large hill, it felt like you were miles above the city. We soaked in the views, and then decided to head back down to the house. We made our way back down the hill, and were about to make our final few turns to their house when a motorcycle cop pulled up in front of us. He looked backward into the car, and then backed up to us and said 'Sigue me, a la derecha'. I looked at Mike and said 'He just told us to follow him, to the right! "We had no idea why we were being pulled over, but we were a little nervous about the situation. He asked for the standard license, registration, insurance. We were digging through Javier and Cristina's paperwork trying to find the information they needed. Once they looked at Mike's license, they told us that we could not drive in Spain without having an additional international license card or something like that. We felt terrible because we had done a little research and thought we were allowed to drive in Europe, but we now realize that every country has its own rules and regulations for this. We tried to tell them that the house was only a short distance away, and we would drive the car and park it there, but they would not let us leave. The officers Went off for a little while and then came back to tell us that the car was not insured and they made a motion like the car was going to be towed away. We thought there was no way this was really happening, and we asked them to call the owners of the car to discuss this further with them before taking the car. Luckily, Cristina and Javier were both home and they came to our rescue. Javier was so worried when a police officer was calling him, thinking that we had been in an accident, that he was all smiles when he showed up They talked to the officers, and it turned out that there was just a mistake in the insurance paperwork, but that the car was definitely insured. They had pulled us over because there is a mandatory mechanical check that you have to get once yearly, and the sticker on the car was outdated. Cristina and Javier talked the officers out of giving us a 600 euro fine for driving without the correct license, which was huge! They walked away with a small fine for the outdated mechanical check and we were SOOO happy that the car did not get towed away. Another thing to add to our 'most interesting experiences in Europe' list, to say the least. We enjoyed a final dinner with the family and Got a good night sleep in order to catch an early train the next morning to Nice, France. All in all, Barcelona was a wonderful place to visit, and we owe Javier and Cristina for the amazing hospitality!

More to come soon! :)

Love, Mike and Kristin