Sheep Guarding Llama

We thought that Liesl was going to be okay today after getting a long night’s sleep but she said that her neck was still hurting her today, too.  That’s not good.  She did seem to be a little better, though.  Dominica had her do ABCMouse for school today for a few hours.  But Liesl basically spent the entire day in the guest bedroom laying down trying to feel better.

Because Liesl was not feeling well, we really had a pretty slow day.  Could not go anywhere.

In the early afternoon, Luciana came upstairs and casually said that her stomach did not feel very well.  But that was it, a casual comment as she walked by.  She did not act sick or complain or anything.  Just this really casual, in passing comment about her stomach.

Then, in the early evening, Luciana suddenly got sick while hanging out in the bed with Liesl.  It was pretty horrible.  All over the bed, the iPad that they had been using, all over herself, me when I ran to get her, the floor, the bathroom…. it was pretty bad.  Thankfully she did not act like it was too awful.  She didn’t act sick before it happened and the moment that it was over she said that she felt fine!  Talk about a trooper.

Luciana agreed to go lie down in the living room.  Dominica made her a bed there and Luciana was asleep in minutes.  We spent a lot of time cleaning up.  Dominica had to do an emergency, nighttime load of laundry.  We had to take a chance on putting the laundry out on the line at night as there was no way that it should wait until tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.

Dominica spent the evening in the living room watching over the slumbering Ciana.  She got a lot of sleep.  Impressive how easily she can sleep while sick.

We thought that maybe she was fine and that that was it once she slept for a long time and Dominica thought that maybe she could sleep in her own bed.  But just before it was bed time she threw up again – and tried to stay asleep!  She fought us when we tried to clean her up.  Talk about a heavy sleeper.

So Dominica slept on the same floor as Luciana.  Liesl slept down in the basement with me.  Liesl thought that that was great fun.

I fell asleep on the early side.  Liesl was up watching her iPad when I fell asleep.  I have no idea how late she was up.

Got up at seven this morning and spent much of the morning on the laptop up in the kitchen getting finally caught back up on SGL.  Lots of updates to get posted today.  Dominica got up around nine and Luciana shortly thereafter.  Liesl slept until the afternoon!

It is bright and sunny today, still chilly, and very windy.  Dominica was getting desperate to have a chance to do laundry so even with the high winds she decided that she had to take the opportunity and give it a try.  At least, in theory, the clothes will dry quickly with all of the wind.  Hopefully no rain comes, there are clouds that look a little ominous but mostly it looks like it will stay sunny.

We have more than one thousand pictures posted to Flickr now from our time in Spain.  I spent a lot of time this morning uploading images from my iPhone so that I could clear that down as it was storing a lot of pictures.  I am nearing twelve thousand pictures on my Flickr account.

Today was a very slow day for us.  We just stayed in and kept things very relaxed.

This afternoon, while just sitting at the kitchen table, Liesl did something and really hurt her neck.  It was very sudden.  She was fine and the next moment her neck was in real pain.  It seemed to just be muscle pain so we gave her Ibuprofen and hoped for the best.  We are guessing that a good night of sleep might be all that she needs.

We got to bed on the early side tonight.  After a while Liesl came downstairs after Luciana had fallen asleep and crawled into bed with us because she was having problems sleeping.  She fell right asleep.

Today is our last day in Córdoba.  Our awesome landlords did not make us check out this morning like we have had to have done everywhere else that we have stayed but were able to check out whenever we wanted.  So we stayed until mid-afternoon.

It rained last night, thankfully I heard it and got up and closed the windows so that it would not rain in on us.  Dominica and I loved our corner bedroom where we could have windows, very large ones that you can step out of onto the balcony, open on either side.  And they have cool double doors that allow you to block out the rain while still allowing a ton of air through.  These are really designed for the summer to insulate against the summer heat, Córdoba is the hottest city in all of Europe, after all, but work great for rain too.

It was cold and dreary this morning when we got up.  We wanted food and were afraid that it was going to rain again.  We loved the food at Casa Rubio so much that we went right back there again this morning.  We were unsure if they would be open as early as we wanted to go there to eat so Dominica sent me out to walk down there and see if it was open before we dragged Liesl out of bed and had the girls walk there.  They were open, so we got ready and went to lunch.

Lunch was awesome too.  We got the same potatoes that we had loved two nights ago and the aubergines too.  Liesl got the fish that they had liked.  Luciana tried “Choco Frito” which she has not had since we were in Barcelona in 2012 but she loved it then.  It is fried cuttlefish in the style that calamari is often done in the U.S.  She loved it, it is very similar to calamari so that worked out perfectly.  Everyone loved their food.  It started raining just a little bit while we sat outside having lunch.  We were all huddled under the umbrella.

After lunch we went to a local artisan ice cream parlour that we had found on our wanderings yesterday.  The ice cream was great and it started to pour while we were eating it.  So we stayed inside and got coffee to wait for it to die down a little.  It was really coming down.

Then we went back and packed up the apartment, it was raining but not heavily.  We left there at two thirty waiting for there to be a break in the rain that had started while we were eating.  Unfortunately we barely stepped outside before it started to pour again.  We stood under some trees trying to reduce how wet we were getting but we were pretty wet by the time that we got to the garage with the car.

Getting out of the city was pretty easy.  Instead of heading to one of the big roads, we took the N-432 to the south east out of town.  This turned out to be an excellent choice because the entire drive was very slow and casual with almost zero traffic and spectacular views of Andalucia.  It was a great drive and it was shorter in distance and better gas mileage than if we had taken the highway and only a few minutes longer.  It was a great choice.  We loved the drive.

We came through Granada and switched to the A44 that we normally use to get down to La Alpujarra.

After being away so much of the week we were all very happy to be back in our village and into our house where we could just relax.

We set up everyone in the living room and I got us “The Love Bug” and we had a family movie night!  This is the first time that Dominica or I have watched a show since before they all went to Disney World in the middle of March!  We have so completely adjusted to not having television or shows here that we really don’t even think about it at all.  There is always so much to do.

The girls loved “The Love Bug”.  They have never seen any of the Herbie movies before.  Liesl was especially happy that we had a family movie night.  I had to miss a lot of the movie as I had to make three pizzas for the family while we watched the movie.  THREE!  Talk about some hungry kids.  Each of the girls ate three quarters of a pizza on their own, or more.

After the movie was over we sent the girls off to bed.  Then Dominica and I watched the first episode of season three of “The Love Boat.”  Then it was off to bed for us too.  We were all pretty tired.

Today is our baby girl’s fourth birthday!  Every parent says this but it is just so hard to believe that four years have passed and our little baby is so old.  And who would have guessed that she would turn four while living in Spain?

We all slept in this morning, a lot.  We got up at ten.  The apartment is so comfortable and gorgeous with the morning light.  It is wonderful.  We still love it.

Once we got everyone up, Liesl was by far the last one to get up and the only one that we had to work to get up – Luciana was already dressed and ready to head out the door by the time that we were attempting to shake Liesl aware, our first order of business was heading towards the Cathedral of Córdoba, the Mezquita.  The Mezquita is by far the most famous structure in the city, the key tourist attraction and very amazing by any standard.

On our way to attempt to find it we started by going through the giant wooden doors near our apartment thinking that we could explore that way but found that that was a dead end – but oh so interesting!  Then we explored some back streets and ended up in a medium-sized plaza just after noon and felt that lunch while the getting was good was a wise plan.  Liesl ordered a cheese pizza, Luciana ordered fried calamari (of course) and Dominica and I got cheese bites and cream of vegetable soup.  It was good.

From lunch we headed on to the Mezquita which was totally amazing and well worth the trip.  The groves inside were really cool on their own and the outside of the building was staggering in size and so clearly very ancient.  The structure was originally a basilica, built in the 500s, during the Roman Empire.  So confusingly, it is so old that it started out as Christian (being Christian before Islam even existed) but then became most famous as the leading mosque of Western Islam for hundreds of years until the reconquista when it was turned into a cathedral and was made Christian again.  The structure is built on real Roman columns but most of the design is Arabic with the bulk of the structure having been built up during the Islamic period.  And then lots of newer Christian motifs added on top of that.  It was great and the kids had fun too, although we did not stay long.

Dominica needed to get back to the apartment after seeing the Mezquita but we got a little lost and ended up by the Roman Bridge over the Guadalquivir River before going back.  The bridge is really awesome having been built in the first century B.C. – so it predates Christianity!! – and used continuously since that time.  Well over two thousand years crossing the same river.  Unbelievable.  The bridge has been extensively maintained and much of it is newer but the bridge itself and some of the arches are completely original, still!  The Via Augusta used to run over the bridge, connecting Rome to Cádiz, two of the oldest cities of the classical world.  And it is full of people walking across it today.

We went back to the apartment, which took a little bit as navigating the city is a bit challenging and unlike most of our city stays, I did not have a chance to go out and scout the city ahead of time last night to get a lay of the streets and area so we are at a disadvantage compared to our normal pattern.

After a short time at the apartment, everyone was ready to go out again and this time we went, more or less, directly down to the Roman Bridge which we walked across this time.  It was very cool.  Luciana fell asleep before we got there as she was in the stroller.  She missed everything this afternoon.  Sadly there was a really nice playground at the far side of the Roman Bridge but Liesl was grounded from playgrounds so knew not to even ask about it.  It was very sad, though, because we could tell that she had seen it and it looked like a lot of fun.

Liesl really enjoyed getting to see the old Moorish water wheel and mill that was near the bridge.  She found that very interesting.

We did a little walking around and then got some ice cream while Luciana was sleeping as Ciana had gotten in trouble about asking for ice cream too much and was grounded from that today.  It worked well to do it while she slept so that she would not be overly upset.  She had no idea that we an ice cream trip.

While Liesl and I ate our ice cream and watched Luciana in the stroller while we sat on the steps of the Mezquita, Dominica went shopping for some Flamenco barbie doll dresses for the girls that she had seen at a little shop nearby.

Our next mission was to walk to the northeast a ways and find a plaza that Dominica was really interested in seeing, the Plaza Corredera.  The walk was about fifteen minutes and complicated by the fact that Apple Maps gave us directions to go places that you could not go.  So we had to backtrack a bit.

The plaza was pretty interesting.  Very large and neatly done.  Tons of restaurants there, but it was late afternoon and everything was closed for food and it was only coffee and wine.  So we got coffee and just relaxed for a while.  We stayed there until seven thirty and then started to head back to look for one of the places that we had found during the day that had Flamenco dinner shows.  Of course no scheduled show is really all that authentic but with our limited time and lack of knowledge there is really no way for us, especially with the kids, to find “real” Flamenco.  But we really wanted them to see Flamenco in Spain and this seemed like a great opportunity to do so.

We ended up having issues finding the place that we wanted to go and instead of getting there early or even having time to go back to the apartment and hang out for a while before going to the show we ended up racing just to make it to the show!  It took over an hour to find the place and we were very hot and exhausted when we got there.

We did not have a reservation so got stuck on the second floor away from the view of the show, which was tough.  But at least we made it before the show started.  I took the girls down and sat on the steps so that they could watch the Flamenco show, which they enjoyed a lot.  The food turned out to be excellent and we stayed long enough to see the nine and the ten o’clock shows.  The girls loved it and we were very glad that we had done it.

It was eleven when we got everyone back to the apartment.  Dominica went straight to bed.  The girls were hold up in their bedroom still watching YouTube when I went to bed after two in the morning!  I went out, right around midnight, and walked for two hours exploring the city.  This was my only chance to really walk the city and get to see it.

I walked north and found the more modern part of the city.  I walked the big pedestrian shopping areas which were packed with people out walking.  This might be the most lively late night city that I have ever found.  The number of people out and about late at night was really surprising.

I walked all over and then across the park and over past the university.  I explored the park and then back to the apartment.  I did four miles on my own tonight.

While out walking as a family, we did seven and a half miles today (so eleven and a half miles total for me today.)  Luciana did much of that in the stroller.  But Liesl walked the entire seven and a half miles with no complaining and no issues!  She is such a trooper.

I was up at eight this morning, an early day for me as my meetings at work start early this morning.  I need to be in the office pretty close to nine, much earlier than I am used to.  I showered and got out the door while everyone was still fast asleep.

I got to the office just after nine but quickly discovered that there was no one else there!  I ended up having to wait until after nine thirty for someone to arrive and unlock the office!  Apparently on Fridays they all come in at the very last second.  We had a nine thirty meeting that I was the only person who was on time for and we did not get started until nearly ten.

Nearly the whole morning was spent in the large, all hands meeting.  It went very well and was really informative.

At eleven thirty Dominica and the girls were ready to check out of the apartment.  So I left the office for a little bit to help them carry the luggage out and get it stowed in the car and ready to go.  Once they were all set and were free to just wander the city for the day I went back to the office and they went north on Fuencarrel to look for some large playgrounds that we had been told about last night that would be far better for the girls to play on today since they have many hours to spend there.

Dominica had originally planned on taking the girls to the zoo today, but that would be expensive and a lot of work for her to do on her own and potentially they would only get an hour or two there, which would be a big waste of the energy and money.  And the girls will be much happier, we assume, just playing on a nice playground.  So that was what they did.

The playground that they found was big and very nice.  The girls had a great time.  Liesl was the oldest kid there, as today was a school day, but there were lots of little kids and Liesl is an expert at fun games with little kids and so she actually developed a pack of little kids that followed her around!

At one point a little two year old accidentally threw sand in Luciana’s face and got it in her eyes which made for a very unhappy episode.  Thankfully Dominica had bottled water and was able to flush it out.

When they finally had to leave the playground, after hours of having been there, Liesl had a bit of a temper tantrum and has been grounded from playgrounds for five days which is very sad as we are heading to a city tonight that is probably full of them.

It was a very nice day in Madrid with the sun out bright and strong but the air decently cool.  As long as you were outside in the breeze it was a very nice temperature.  The office seems to be extremely stuffy and always warm.  But once outside it was very nice.  And we have gotten so little sun here in Spain that having a sunny day was a very nice change.

I left the office at four, I was nearly the last one there and needed to leave before the last people did as I did not know how to lock up the office.  I went to the book seller that was right out front and while Dominica and the girls made their way back from the playground I did some shopping.  I got three travel guides for Spain, in Spanish, and a big ancient history book for Liesl, also in Spanish.  It is her first St. George’s Day book!

We all went straight to the parking garage and met there, saving some time.  It turned out that our credit cards were not accepted there and I had to leave the garage for fifteen minutes or more to wander around Gran Via looking for an ATM in order to get enough cash to cover the $63 parking fee!  I am really not happy that Visa has not figured out universal access and just because someone takes Visa doesn’t mean that they take your Visa.  American Express is not accepted as many places, but anyplace that accepts it really accepts it.  So it is far less stressful and more reliable.

The drive out of Madrid actually went quite well.  It was pretty easy to get out of town.  Madrid has a really impressive underground highway infrastructure and we almost never had to drive above ground to get all of the way to the outskirts of the city!  We were underway in no time.

We tried taking the Radial 4 instead of the Autovia 4 which turned out to be rather expensive and I don’t think that it really sped us up getting out of the city, but Dominica thinks that it did.  Both roads seemed to be moving pretty quickly.

The drive south to Córdoba was very nice.  The road was clear and easy to drive and the scenery was very nice.  We got to see a lot of La Mancha that was new to us, including many additional old fashioned windmills like in the story.  We got to see a really pretty sunset during the drive.

Getting into Córdoba was very easy.  Unlike most any other city that we have dealt with in Spain this required very little European driving expertise or crazy navigation.  The roads were mostly easy and pretty straightforward.

We are staying in the old Jewish Quarter, the most ancient and well preserved portion of the city.  The person renting us the apartment is also renting us a parking space under the old city wall and was standing by the wall waiting for us as we made the turn off of the boulevard that lined the big park in the center of the city.  That made things very easy.

We followed out weekend landlady and she walked us (as I drove) to a tiny little garage door through which I had to drive down an incredibly steep ramp where the car barely fit and into a tiny parking garage where I had only inches to back up into a tiny parking space.  Dominica was really impressed that I was able to do it at all let alone go right in and park, straight on, with less than half an inch between the car and a pillar, backwards.  Getting out is going to be fun.

We walked to the apartment which was not too far away.  The landlady was there with her teenage daughter.  She was pregnant and due in a week which was a surprise.

The apartment was on Plaza Ángel de Torres which was really nice.  We had a little fountain and a little area with trees right outside our windows.  The apartment was on the third floor (fourth floor for the Americans who don’t count from zero) and was really large.  It was a two bedroom, two bath (with a shared shower that was really interesting) with a huge living space and tons and tons of windows and a couple balconies, one of which ran from the master bedroom, around the corner of the house and along the living room!  Everything was brand new and really gorgeous.  It is our understanding that we are the very first people to have rented this place – the owners only just moved out of it a few weeks ago.

We unpacked a little and pretty much immediately set out to find dinner as it was quite late and we did not want to miss out on a chance to eat as none of us have had a meal today.  I had a croissant at the breakfast meeting but that was it.

We had seen some restaurants on our walk from the park to the apartment so we just went back that way hoping that at least one of them would be open.   We were in luck, even though it was around ten there were four that looked like they were open all in one spot and the one had hours posted saying that they were open until close to midnight.  So it looked like we were going to be okay.

We scoured menus for a bit before deciding to try the Casa Rubio which was in the middle of the row and had the most interesting looking menu.  We would later find out from Jeff Rubio (my old boss at Citi) that this was highly ranked on TripAdvisor and later we would find out that this was the only recommended, affordable category restaurant on WikiTravel for the entire city!  So we really chose well.

Dinner ended up being really phenomenal.  Everyone enjoyed their food, a lot.  And we got some variety too, which was great as we have a tendency to get a lot of the same foods over and over again.  We got Dominica’s favourite food, patatas bravas but here they were more like a curry based than what we have had before and they were the best that we have had yet, really something.  We got a kind of hummus-like cheesy dip that was quite good.  We just dipped bread in that.  We tried the local Jewish Quarter specialty, aubergines (eggplant for the Americans) fried and covered in “sugar cane honey” called “miel de caña” here, but is really molasses.  They were amazing.  We would never have guessed that such a thing existed.  We are so glad that we tried that!  We just loved it.

We got calamari for Luciana but it ended up being whole squid, not rings, and not fried.  So she was not interested.  It had a nice, spicy red sauce on them and they were grilled.  Liesl happily tried it and liked it.  For the girls we ended up getting them tempura fried cod pieces that they both completely loved.  In fact, Luciana would demand that we return and get that fish again, too.

After dinner we just went back to the apartment.  It was nearly midnight and we were all pretty tired.  It had been a bit of a long week for us.  On the way back, across the street from our apartment, we found this really neat little street through an ancient set of wooden doors that was completely amazing.  Very Arabic in design, a fountain in the middle of the street and several places for sale in it.  Very cool, we will explore it tomorrow.

Our Internet access is great, for a change.  Rock solid (and it even works way outside in the plaza by the fountain) and no issues.  So all of our pictures are getting uploaded and we are easy to contact while here.