"Normal" weekend in Madrid (does not exist)

For lack of a better word, I will say this is my first "normal" weekend in Madrid in about 5 weeks.  WHAT?!  I know, right?  Ever since my birthday I have been going, going, going, and I finally decided to slow down (but just a little) this week/weekend.  I also started running again in Retiro, which I haven't done in years and I'm kicking myself for not taking advantage of the precious park.

Well, its been raining here in Madrid, boo.  It feels more like fall these days than spring.  This weekend is a puente...well those of us at IES don't have a puente, but the rest of the world does.  Since Tuesday and Wednesday are holidays (one national and the other a Madrid holiday) a lot of people don't have school/work on Monday either.  So essentially its a 6 day weekend for me, (minus the 3 classes I have on Monday).  


This weekend I decided it was finally time to go on that hike I had been meaning to go on since I got to Madrid.  I'm starting to feel the semi city suffocation and have strong yearnings for fresh mountain air.  So, rain or shine, it was decided that I, and whatever friends wants to join me, would go on a hike to Manzanares el Real, about an hour bus ride from Madrid.  It goes along the Manzanares river, which runs through Madrid.  It was great.  Just what I needed to get out of the city.  We took the bus to the little pueblo, and unfortunately the tourism office was closed so we couldn't get information on how to proceed to the hiking trails.  Regardless, we started walking, asked around a few times, and eventually happened upon an information and education center that gave us a good idea of where to go.  

Manzanares el Real

horse we found along the way

Map of the area. We started in the bottom left and looped around to the right to follow the river back down

The trail was called Canto Chochino

We started on the trail, surrounded by pine and trees in a kind of forested area.  The plan was to climb up and then make our way down to the river valley.  It worked, minus a few detours along the way.  We also got some great views along the way!  It was good mix of walking/hiking and there were plenty of boulders and rocks to climb up and around.  I even got a boo boo on my leg by slipping down a rock (since it was so wet and slimy) but that made me happy, since it can't quite be a Lily hike without a booboo or two.  

View. Too bad it was so cloudy

The really pretty, squishy mosses

In the middle of the hike we came across a little restaurant in the middle of the trail.  We stopped and had our haphazardly shared picnic lunch: bread, cheese, bread sticks, carrots, fruit...

The little restaurant

Slippery rocks.

View from the tall rock I climbed. You can see Maddie (the little speck) down by the water.

Another view from the rock.  David is the little speck in the middle.

We eventually made the loop and came back to the opposite side of the little pueblo and walked through it to get back to the bus.  After the great day of hiking, we all passed out on the bus ride back, woke up, scrambled to the metro, where I got to dance the macarena with a bachelorette party that inhabited our car, and then made it home, sprinting all the way since I had to pee really really badly (I love my camel-back bladder, but trips with it always seem to end this way).

poppy-like flowers.

The hiking crew.  Me, Maddie, Molly, Julie, David.

Woke up Saturday very tired.  It was also raining and cold, so I called it an inside day and did some much needed homework to prepare for finals.  I had lunch with Pilar and Sergey, and Pilar made an interesting pasta salad she had told me about before.  One of the weirdest combinations I have had: macaroni pasta, imitation crab, apple, canned pineapple, corn, cheese, yogurt sauce, and gula. So now is probably where you all are asking, "Whats gula?"  Well, Pilar tried to explain and I understood that it came from the sea.  So then when I looked it up, the best translation I got was, are you ready...? MINI EELS!  They totally looked like it too, like little wormy parasites or even gray and white short noodles.  Didn't taste bad, and it wasn't too hard to eat, especially mixed in the pasta.  Pilar also made her famous strawberries, but true to form, she has to somehow manage to take the nutritional benefit out, so she blends some strawberries with sugar and pours it over the cut up berries.  They were already so sweet, making the sauce is completely unnecessary!!  

Pasta salad.

close-up of gula 

After lunch, I took a nap, like a good Spainaird.  Then I got so stir crazy I decided to go for a paseo in Retiro.  I can't believe how much the park has filed out! With the moisture and water from the rain and the sun popping through, I felt like I was in a jungle!  Everything is so lush and green and it felt GREAT to be out in the fresh air. 


On the way home, I stopped in for a haircut.  Scary, I know.  The first time in 3-4 years that anyone but Aunt Yvonne has cut my hair!  Anyway, it was a professional place, but also students maybe do some the haircuts... Interesting experience.  Yo pay for every little thing, wash, shampoo, conditioner, cut, dry, styling, and I was given a silly disposable smock to wear under the normal covering they give you. I got my hair washed, always a relaxing feeling and something I've missed since normally my haircuts take place in Aunt Yvonne's kitchen or on the patio.  Then they wrapped me up in a silly turban/disposable towel.  It wasn't too hard to explain how I wanted my hair cut in Spanish, but still a little nerve wracking.  The lady who cut my hair kind of scared me with her style.  I would call it a butcher.  There wasn't much finesse and she cut pretty large chunks at a time.  I think it looks okay, but since I didn't spring to get it dried and styled, we'll see tomorrow when I wake up.  Also, in the end the lady who washed it put conditioner in (an extra 3 euro) so I was short 95 cents at the end.  But I think since I'm a foreigner (and so darn cute!) the desk lady let me slide.  


Today, I went to church! I've been kind of laying low around the house and I think Pilar feels bad that I haven't been going out as much as I normally do (but I really need the rest) so she invited me to go out with them after mass and after i went on a run.  As I was running, I thought, why not just join them at church?! So I ran home faster than normal, got ready in no time, and joined Pilar, Sergey, and Jorge (Sergey's cousin) at church.  Pilar's parents were also there.  It was a nice experience, I didn't understand much since I didn't really try too hard to pay attention.  We sat in the balcony and there was group that played guitar during the songs, which was really nice.  Then we went to a bar for a drink, and then, I broke the one rule I made here...Never go to a chain that I can go to in America.  We went to Burger King.  Kill me. Sergey really likes it, so thats where we went for family Sunday lunch. Oy!


But I guess if a weekend in Madrid had to be low key and semi normal...this would be it! 

Ach ja! A beautifully delicious relaxatious weekend in the Meifeld!

typical Meifeld view....cute houses, castle, fields, vineyards, (clouds).

Not surprised that I’m feeling a low after an incredibly beautiful weekend in the Meifeld with the 4 essential F’s: friends, family, food, and farms.  Before I go into how great the weekend was, and display just a smattering of all the pictures I took, I have to recount the sad news so that I don’t leave you all feeling sad and depressed after reading this post.  I miss my mom.  Well, I miss my dad and brother, and Winnie, and my house, and my room, and my friends.  Since the whole fam was here, I have been on this rollercoaster pretending to be in school, but really just spending time with my family.  Saying goodbye to mom was easy the first time, I knew I would see her in a week.  Saying goodbye to Stan, then Dad, one at time was also hard, but somehow knowing I would see mom soon made it easier and didn’t quite allow me to realize that I wasn’t going to see them for so long.  Saying goodbye to mom again was really hard.  Don’t get me wrong, I am so so unbelievably content here, but after 3 weeks of family time its hard to let go.  I thought I was invincible and could live on this adventure trip forever, and really, I still think I can, but its definitely harder missing the people back home.

Enough of the sob story, now on to my weekend in Germany!!  Mom and I met at the Madrid airport, she had flown in from Sweden the night before and I came from school.   Katie picked us up from the airport and we were already on our way to the Meifeld, a farming region just an hour and a half outside of Frankfurt by car.  We drove along the Rhine, admiring castles along the way…really, there were too many to count. I don’t know why the old Germanic tribes needed so many castles, but they are really quite impressive.  I got to feed little V dinner during the drive, and it was great to have the two daughters (me and Victoria) in the backseat and the moms (still weird to call Katie a mom) in the front.  We arrived in Rüber, Jo’s hometown of about 900 people situated in the heart of the Meifeld.  Honestly, I didn’t see more than 3 people in the whole town all weekend (excluding our party).  Rüber was also founded pre year 1000…pretty darn old!  

Wilkommen a Rüber!

Feeding little V in the car.  Who said baby-food mustaches aren't in?

We settled into Jo’s family home and were warmly welcomed by Herr and Frou Scherhag, more commonly known as Heribert and Maria.  They live in a house that has been in the Scherhag family for years; it was inherited by Heribert when he took over the farm.  It is surrounded by fields boasting lots of different crops, but the most noticeable is the rapeseed, which dots the landscape with blankets of yellow fields interspersed throughout the farm land.  The house is comfortable and cozy, or “Gemütlich” in German (one of the few words I learned this weekend.)  The house has been added on slowly, so there are newer parts, like the living room with the big open window to the field and the bedrooms upstairs where mom and I slept.  It is a solid house, but you can see the seams and changes in the floor and walls where new rooms were added. Seeing all the changes gave the house a cute character. The barn, where the horses and pigs were kept and all the storage space for the products of the farm are still there.  Katie gave us  tour of the kelar (cellar) and the attic, the house was actually really huge!!!

The view from my window in Jo's sister's old room

Heri and Maria are awesome.  Heri is a typical large German farmer…if you can picture it.  He is quiet, big, and super friendly!  He has retired from farming, but since has become the deputy mayor of the area, endowing him with a set of keys to pretty much get into any public space, which came in handy later in the weekend.  Maria is so funny!  She 1) makes great German food 2) is completely carefree and chill 3)has a great sense of humor 4) is also a pretty tall lady.  The last day when mom was saying thank you and went to hug her, she straight up picked mom up off the ground and swung her in the air a little bit.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that!  We all managed to communicate through mom’s broken (but pretty good) German and Katie and Jo translating. 

We had a yum dinner of vegetable soup and 8 million different kinds of wurst! Then I slept like a baby, having been deprived of sleep for the last 3 weeks and also being in a quiet, dark, warm room in a farmhouse made it pretty easy.

In the morning, we were greeted by an awesome spread for breakfast, a basket of sliced breads and rolls (all grainy and hardy and YUMMY), different kinds of cheeses, veggies, home-made jams from Heri’s Berg (the plot that he still has as a hobbie farming area to grow whatever he wants), honey (the best honey I have ever tasted, white and grainy, and sweet…), tea, coffee, meats, butter, veggies… This breakfast was not an exception, as we had the same spread every morning, and everyone morning I went through the same dilemma of having too many options and combinations to try that I ended up eating everything in sight. 

typical morning spread. I wasn't joking...note the bread, jams, honey, cheese, meat, and veggies! Sofie, Victoria's giraffe, was not for eating

That day, mom, Katie and I went on a hike from Burg Pyrmont, where Katie and Jo got married, to Burg Eltz, another castle not too far away.  It was a great hike!  We chatted the whole way and I learned lots of interesting things I never knew about Katie, and mom.  Unfortunately, those cannot be shared on the blog and get to stay in my memory. We stopped at Burg Eltz for kaffee und kuchen.  Then Heri picked us up and we went home.

Burg Pyrmont

one of the many confusing trail markers

one of the friends we found along the way

Tractors are a new favorite obsession.  But I have yet to ride on one...

Another friend we found along the way

I don't know whats weirder...the beetle or Katie

Map along the Mosel River where we were

We turned the corner and TADA! Burg Eltz

Kaffee und Kuchen, round one

 That night Jo came! We had more yummy food, and accidentally stayed up late, trying some German beers and cracking walnuts with my hands. 

The next day we did another hike through the old mill area.  The weather was a little more finicky and it ended up raining, but just before we went out in the open field.  Then it cleared up perfectly for the rest of the day! 

a little chapel along the way, so the farmers could pray for a good harvest

Katie and I, doing the bauer (farmer) thing

 At the end of the hike, we came across all these old mill houses that are no longer in use but have been renovated into homes.  Each one had a description with the old owner, dates when it was built and producing grain, and the current owner. 
 

Old Mills

A friend we found along the way of that hike...

To end our hike, we had kaffee und kuchen, round two.

apfel kuchen

Katie + kuchen

hazelnuss

hazelnuss + chocolate + nutella 

Then we hiked through the vineyards to get back to the car, which was awesome, and I can only imagine what it looks like in the growing season when its all green!  It was also right next to the train track!

Katie and mom excited when the train went by

Jo's friend...

Contraption for the farmers to get up and down the vineyards.  Mom driving with Jo as cargo

 To finish off the day, we went and had some wines from the region, mostly white.  It was to celebrate my 21^st birthday.  One of the wines we had was a rosé that tasted like flowers!

 The night, Maria served us a hearty German meal.  Heri was very happy.  We had a roast, the best mashed potatoes I have ever had, and sauerkraut!  It was soo good.  Don’t worry Stan, I made sure to eat enough for the both of us…so you can pretend you got to eat it too.  You would have loved it! I went to bed that night so tired and full, vowing to never eat again. 

I also didn’t mention Victoria enough yet, who is just the cutest ever!!! I also feel like she and I have bonded these last few times I’ve seen her, and I can’t wait to babysit and tell her all the stories Katie told me this last weekend… ;) We did get to spend a lot of time together, even though Katie left her at home during our hikes so she could hang out with Oma and Opa. 

The next day, Sunday, we all went out to brunch in a neighboring town, Polch, where Heri is from.  Maria is from a town just on the other side of Rüber.  We had brunch in an old farmhouse restaurant and then saw the house Heri was born in.

!!!!!!

The girls!

Gumby baby

There were so many tulips in bloom everywhere!

 We also went to the old synagogue (perks of having the keys since Heri is deputy mayor).  It was very cool to see the synagogue, which had been destroyed during kristalnacht, but the fire had been put out by the fireman of the town, and the original ceiling was able to be restored. A very special experience.

Synagogue

 Then we made our way to a carnival that was happening in Polch since it was some catholic festival day.  Katie and I rediscovered our youth and went on the bumper cars and another ride.  We also bought some carnival snacks; candied almonds and mom got some black licorice gummies.  I also got the raspberry German candies that Omi used to buy us in the German Deli in LA. 

Bumper cars

Candy stall

I got to driver between the little towns! First time driving in Europe! But dad, these stick shifts are so much easier to drive!

Couldn’t help but think about Omi and Popi all weekend!  Wish you both could have been there too! It was nice to get back in touch with my German roots, and Omi, I understand why you love German food so much :)