Well, here we are. Let's start with a brief chronology of the trip to our new place:
7/22: We left Boston at about 9:45pm after checking in at about 6:30. We were the only people checking in that early, so dealing with our HUGE bags (plus backpacks, ski bags, guitar, and carry-ons, not to mention 2 kids and THEIR carry-ons) was not really a problem. Every bag weighed in at about 2 pounds under the limit (thank you bathroom scale!) so no extra charge for overweight baggage. While waiting for our flight I read the first chapter of The Fellowship Of The Ring to Ben and Chaia. The flight was nice, movie screen on each seat and ok airline food. I only wish that we all slept more (Ben got the most, at about 4 1/2 hours).
7/23: We arrived in Zurich on time and passed through Passport control quickly ("So how long ARE you staying in Europe?") only to wait for our plane to Madrid (delayed 2 hours, boo..). Finally arrived in Madrid at about 4:00 pm, and Ximo was waiting for us. Ximo is one of my oldest friends, and drove 3 hours from Valencia in a rented vehicle that looks like a laundry truck with ads on the side. We got a snack in the airport (1st café cortado of the year!!) and headed off to Zaragoza.
On the way to ZAZ (that's short for our fair city) we stopped for a walk, and found ourselves in Medinaceli, a little, historical hilltop town with an impressive display of 15th century architecture. Typical of Spain's use of old sites, the palace of the duque de Medinaceli was being used as a museum of modern art (photo above). Very cool contrasts. After our walk we reboarded the S.S. Drycleaner and continued on to ZAZ (Ben and Chaia finally fell asleep at about 8:00).
We arrived in ZAZ at about 10:30 and began asking directions to the part of the city where we will be living until next July. After a couple of people got us to near our street (Ximo is blessed with the ability to ask ANYONE for directions), the next guy simply told us to follow his car, and he drove/directed us for the last several blocks. We even found a place for the laundry truck on our street, about 50 feet from the door!!
OK, up go the bags (it took 2 elevators and most of us walking the stairs), into the apt (which is HUGE, but more on the "piso" in the next post) and quickly down to the street to look for food. We found 2 Turkish restaurants across the street, and feasted on doner kebab. Then the backside of jet lag hit. The kids, excited from the trip and not at all tired (in their "Bethel" world it was only 7pm), stayed up until about 2:30. so did we. Finally some sleep! Until...
7/24: (BTW, my thirty-twelfth birthday)...7:00 I woke up. Really. 7:00 AM. Grrr.... Well, time to begin the unpacking. I unpacked, went for a walk, bought bread, got $$ from an ATM, bought a coffee, and went back to unpack more. At about 10:30 everyone else began to wake up. We unpacked, let the kids play a bit, I went out to get enough food for breakfast, and we ate a bit. Then we took a little walk around, opened a bank account next door, and went to lunch (I swear, all we do here right now is eat, clean up after eating, go shopping so we can eat, and talk about what to eat next).
With a little help, Ben ordered everyone's lunch at a restaurant opposite the Basilica de nuestra señora del Pilar. Good food cheap, and everyone felt pretty good. then back to the piso for a nap (ahh, glorious siesta, how I've missed you...). Later we went shopping for towels, trash bags, and enough groceries to get us started.
OK, that will do for the first entry. More tomorrow (when I will write about the heat, the granizados, aljafería, and more.
