through AirportLand to Madrid, then Chicago

Back in AirportLand heading to the States tomorrow morning. A stop in Madrid to see Megan and Christian.  On  a 45 minute flight that took off on time and landed early. And you can see the snack we were served. Focaccia and cheese and jamon and a chocolate!  (a two hour flight on US legacy airlines won't even get you peanuts!) #justsaying

Then we met up with Megan & Christian and eventually Oscar & Candela too- for dinner at an Asturian restaurant...

the dish below was an off menu item - borrage with some ham and egg... it was excellent!

my favorite of the four desserts we had - the flan de queso! But the (not shown) cabrales cheese was magnificent as well...

We parted ways and headed back to the airport for a short night before our morning flight ot the US - 

For the first time in my life, as I watched the map on the plane pop up with the words United States of America, I felt an overwhelming sadness. I have been away almost seven months and plan to be in Chicago for the vast majority of the four months I will be in the United States. I love my adopted home on so many levels. There are so many things there I would now find difficult to give up. Fast trains; slow meals; Sevillaño blue skies; life without a car; real markets; raw milk cheeses; a whole new country to explore in depth. (Been to 49 of 50 US states and most of the 100 largest cities - many of them repeatedly) And over 80 countries later I can say I truly have a "travel Jones" but until the last few years I was always happy to return. And it breaks my heart that I now feel sad.

I wonder if the person who designed the map program for Iberia Airlines was Canadian? 

So we have been home roughly 23 hours and we are  progressing well on all the "chores" we need to do to get settled in for the next four months- LOL - laundry done from the trip back and mail sorted and mostly handled - packages opened and things put away... the usual post travel things. We had early dinner at Lou's (LOVE their salad!) and I was in bed before 10 PM (dinner time in Sevilla) and up before 5 AM... I can't believe how much you can get done if you are up then- I had groceries ordered and set up for 9AM delivery LOL, started on getting the deck in order for the summer. talked to three neighbors I ran into, had breakfast and lunch by 10:30 LOL ... and now have completed the catching up with the blog about our occasionally harrowing but also completely fun last week in Spain this spring. A surprise meal with Julie, dinner with Helena, and a fun, if quick, visit with Megan & Christian... not to mention a bird's eye view of the Virgen Mary right off our balcony! Life is good!

a visit from the Virgin Mary !

So after hearing the brass band all afternoon, we found out why. One of the processions (likely to open Feria tonight  - I think at midnight) came by. I have an impressive video I might have to load separately but here "she" is arriving down Calle Bilbao from Plaza Nueva.  Look at the second photo first to follow along with my narrative. The men with the beige head coverings are one of the teams who haul the icon around the city underneath a huge platform.  The "float" is about to stop and the team of hauling guys change over. In the first photo you see the skirts lifted from the platform and teams coming and going. In the video (either the third part of this post or another post) you will see the platform be raised and the white shoes of the hauling team start to move the float forward to make the turn in front of our building. They made a lot of noise but I found it interesting since we are never planning to be here for Semana Santa (when this goes on multiple times daily for a whole week) it is edifying. All photos from our living room balcony.

and another with the swap out of the guys who haul the platform around - 

So an interesting afternoon...

final spring week in SVQ

Just before we left Spain for the summer, we got a surprise visit from friend Julie Maise-Ferry who was on a cruise stopover. She and Phil have been friends since 1970. We got to meet for a quick lunch before she was off to tour Sevilla 

then later that day, we were continuing on the farewell tour of our favorites before leaving for the summer. That night we ate at Augurio. Menu items marked. Still loving the pez mantequilla tacos and the steak tartare bombitas. All good.

Then the following day of our final week in the spring in Sevilla, we dined at Desacato.  It's May and the sunshades are going up over the pedestrian streets and the plazas. We headed out to dinner at Desacato, another stop on the farewell tour (goodbye to Daniel!) We couldn't pass up sharing their fabulous tarta de queso. Items marked on the menu except the special main Daniel had made up for us of tuna belly (marvelous) and the tuna cheeks (Phil liked it - me, not so much). The weather was perfect for an evening stroll.

 

So our final day in Sevilla we decide to go out for lunch- (no food left at home)

After a difficult Friday (taxi strike in the AM with resulting HUGE traffic jam) dealing with administrative tasks. The history of our first appointment this week (Monday power outage while we were in the waiting room.... rest is history) Wednesday return appointment  with one part accomplished but the second part (a different office) their computers still not working from Monday outage. Thursday a national holiday - offices closed. So Friday the last working day before we departed for the States on Sunday morning we returned (delayed by taxi strike traffic jam) but found that the files given on Wednesday were not complete regarding the second task. So lawyers sent an email to a nearby copy shop to be printed and picked up by us (Phil! who could walk faster.) The government office close at 2 PM. I was holding the guy at "Mesa 6" with an explanation of how my husband was coming down the hallway with the missing paperwork. He said NO can't do it. It's after 2 PM. Phil arrived at 2:01 literally.  Then, after much talking on the phone with the lawyers and the police officers talking to the lawyers and the lawyers calling the officers' boss he gave us the papers we needed in order to leave the country and return. It was, thankfully, a cool day because given the taxi situation we might have had to walk home for the second time this week. But because it wasn't a power outage we were able to take the tram to just steps away from our home.  

So all of this is a roundabout way to get to Saturday lunch. I wanted comfort food. We had eaten here before but never on a busy day - Feria starts tonight.  So bottom line, the meal was disappointing but it was quick. 

Now we are readying ourselves to BEGIN  the journey to Chicago. First leg - to Madrid Sunday noon, then an overnight there. Then the following morning, a flight to Chicago on Monday. Tonight, last toss of food from the fridge, beds stripped for the summer. All those "close for the season" tasks to be done before we leave.   Poco a Poco.......

Our final farewell tour meal was VERY Sevillaño. Jamon Bellota Iberico, served with toasts and triturado (grated tomatoes with oil and garlic). Followed by tuna tartare (not shown) and boquerones en vinagre. Finally we both chose the arroz seco de Ibericos. A last stop at MITO rounded out our evening. The restaurant was completely packed by Feria-goers shortly after ten o'clock. We headed out about 10:20 and over to MITO. Much to do before the car picks us up at the crack of 11AM tomorrow.  We haven't left yet and we are already missing Sevilla. 

a few more things in Spain as we had some surprises before we were off to Madrid and then we had a good time with Megan & Christian and Oscar & Candela in Madrid so keep reading---

the new IDs saga continues

 So a few posts back we mentioned the power failure in all of Spain and Portugal. We were in the waiting room of the policia nacional at the Plaza España. It was a Monday. We were re-appointed for Wednesday and we had two tasks to accomplish with the gestor Valerie. 1. Get our fingerprints and photos done for new ID cards (to be issued in a month) and 2. get a paper called a "regreso" so that we could leave the country and return despite not having our new ID cards as they would not be issued before we left and they must be picked up in person because they use your fingerprint as the mechanism to verify you match your ID card. 

So off we went to meet Valerie and we completed the first appointment very quickly. We had to go to another office to get the paperwork filed for the "regreso" and - unfortunately their computers were still not operational post power outage. So Valerie took all the paperwork did a power of attorney on the spot. And went off to find out if she could get the first step of this process completed. Somehow she got the process done at the post office. 

So Thursday was a national holiday (May Day) and Friday we went off with the new papers to see the guy at Table 6 at the Policia Nacional to get a printed document of "regreso". And then things began to fall apart. The taxi strike that morning had us arriving later than desired as the office closed for the weekend at 2 PM. We got there around 1PM and they guy insisted we were missing documents we had given Valerie on Wednesday and she had filed them in order for the other office to issue the documents that we had brought with us on Friday midday. 

So frantic calls to the lawyer resulted in them emailing the papers that hadn't made it in the Mr Table 6's file to a local copy shop - Phil ran over there and got them printed (we are talking like 50 pages of full copies of our passports each!) At 1:55 I went back to Table 6 to tell him my husband was on his way back with the documents - he knew we were leaving the country on Sunday. He was having none of it. He said it's 2 PM and WE ARE CLOSED. Phil had told me to cry so I did my best hysterical crying and Phil walked in literally at 2:01! He still said no way but the lawyer got on the phone with him and with a colleague of his and also with his boss and - bottom line - at 2:40 we walked out with the documents. 

Again - I will remind you cab strike that day- so we decided it was now time to learn the tram system (which was NOT working the day of the power failure)  and that was how we got home - the tram to Plaza Nueva and steps from there to our building. Below - photos of the location of the Policia Nacional Office of the Extranjero.

The below photo is the part of the Plaza where the actual office is located - about halfway Left to Right about four arched colonnades in from the tower. 

so that was our Friday adventure!

power failure

So our last guest for the 2024-2025 season arrived Sunday morning.  We went to dinner at La Cayetana. 

So the next morning we went off to our fingerprint adnphot appointment for our ID cards to be made up now that our visa has been renewed for the next two year cycle.  We took a cab and met with the gestor Valerie. we went into the waiting room and were given a number. while waiting the power went out. Valerie got a call from the lawyer that there was a power failure all over Spain and Portugal and France. ARRRGGGHHH - we were so close. Just waiting to see someone to finish the paperwork that we need to leave the country next Sunday. Finally the police got everyone cleared from the waiting room by making appointments for them.  We were there about two hours total and went out to find the streets clogged with traffic (no signals) and no cabs available (who would want to sit in traffic anyway.)

So we bit the bullet as they say and started to walk home slowly slowly. It was 85* and sunny and sort of humid. Sidewalks were packed with people as all transit methods except buses were out of  service- no trains, no trams (stopped literally in the middle of the street.)  We were totally fried when we got home an hour later. But the apartment wasn't too hot (we had unfortunately turned off the AC before we left) because it was still cool from earlier in the day. 

We had plans for a merienda with Janet & Mike (people we met just last week) but there was no cell service for phone or texts and no internet - as - no electricity. luckily our phones were well charged and so we could read and play games - Phil worked on Duolingo. We texted Janet & Mike who live on the east side of town beyond Alfalfa. But we didn't hear from them.  Our power came back on around 5:40 almost exactly five hours without anyway to cook, and wanting to limit forays into the fridge etc. 

We saw that our texts were going through to various  folks out of the country but not Janey & Mike who were without power for much longer than we were.  around nine we went to dinner where we had reserved (Manolo Mayo) only to find the restaurant dark. Many had closed after X hours. We saw that MING was open and headed there (beating a rush of lots of others who were happy to find a place to eat at all.  When we walked home around 11:30 the street lights were out on Mateo Aleman so obviously things were not back to normal roughly 12 hours after the failure.

some of the things we had to eat at MING

so on we go- tonight Oscar won't be with us- watching a "football" match with his buddies. So our Wednesday meal will be the last one for this visit. Fingers seriously crossed on our appointment tomorrow and the resulting success of the fingerprints and photos for the new ID cards. Stay tuned...