Off we go into the wild blue yonder!

It was good getting on the plane at LAX Sunday morning and leaving the financial meltdown, the heated battle of the presidential campaigns and the relentless 24 hour news cycle of the USA far behind. For the next 8 days I’ll be somewhere else thanks to American miles and Sheraton points and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s good to get away.

''Madrid is a mountain city with a mountain climate. It has the high cloudless Spanish sky that makes the Italian sky seem sentimental and it has air that is actively pleasurable to breathe.'' Hemingway wrote that and he could have been describing the view out of my airplane window as we landed this morning. It reminded me of landing in Denver actually…a city on a flat, dry plane. It’s actually warmer in Madrid in the winter and you don’t have the Rocky Mountains to the West but the look, upon landing, was similar. We had a delay in Florida because of weather so I had been traveling for almost 24 hours when we landed at 10:30 AM Madrid time. I’m excited to be here even though I’m a little groggy after the 8 ½ hour overnight flight from Miami. It’s good to know I can still do a red eye, seated in coach and still get off the plane under my own power (just walking with a slight limp at this point).

First, the fact and figures about Madrid…

Madrid, the capital and largest city in Spain, has a population of around 3.2 million people (5M with the surrounding suburbs) and is located in the interior of the country on the Meseta, a sparsely populated tableland which makes up 40% of the country. Its the plain of Spain that Professor Higgins goes on about in My Fair Lady. By the way, the rain in Spain doesn’t stay mainly in the plain. The wettest part of the country is actually the northern coast. The elevation of Madrid is 2,100 feet and the climate is continental…hot summers…fairly cold winters and it’s dry.

According to the Lonely Planet, “Madrid’s charm revolves around two extremes. This is a refined city known for it’s cultural life. Where else in the world could you find three of the world’s best art galleries – the Prado, the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen – within a stone’s throw of each other? At the same time, Madrid has become synonymous with having a good time and carousing until all hours.” Now I know why my daughter is here...she’s always been interested in art.

Speaking of Heather, she met me at the airport and it was great to see her again. I haven’t seen here since January and she looks great. When I tell people that I have a daughter that’s teaching English in Spain they get that far away look in their eye and say something like “Wow, wouldn’t that be great”. For those of you who like to live vicariously through others, I’ll be telling you all about the lifestyle of a young English teacher in Spain as we go along.

I’m staying at the Westin Palace Hotel (thank you Starwood) and it’s a beautiful place in the heart of old Madrid close to the Opera House, Retiro Park and not far from Plaza Mayor. The Thyssen is across the street and the Prado and Riena Sofia are right down the block...not a bad location. You can check it out right here (and make sure to click on the photos of the local area): http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=79

After checking in and catching a quick shower, we headed for one of Heather’s private English classes with Laura, a woman at an internet advertising agency called “The 101”. They specialize in website design for companies all over the world and Laura is constantly being called upon to present to and deal with English speaking clients. Laura, like so many people here in Spain is on a crash course to become fluent in the language that is spoken in business meetings and conference calls around the world. Heather is really good at what she does. We did roll playing, dialogs and word exercises. She made it fun and the hour flew by. This private teaching thing looks like a great way to make a living.

I’m now back at the hotel, posting this blog and getting ready for dinner at Botin, http://www.botin.es/, the oldest restaurant in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records and one of Ernest Hemingway’s favorites. In the last pages of ''The Sun Also Rises'', Hemingway said ''Botin is one of the best restaurants in the world''. Sounds good to me. Our reservations are for 10:00. Check back Wednesday for…

o Our dinner with Ernesto.

o A look at where the bulls and matadors play.

o And, just another day at the world’s great art museums.

Hasta la vista!

“To be prepared is half the victory” - Miguel de Cervantes

Why do all these towns sound so…Spanish?

This blog begins in downtown Los Angeles. At this point you may be wondering why LA? Isn’t this blog supposed to be about a country 8 time zones to the East? Given the Wall Street situation, am I suddenly trying to do this on the cheap? Patience, dear reader. I’m starting in LA to illustrate how closely Southern California is linked to the country I’ll soon be visiting and also to visit a great Spanish restaurant on Figueroa Street called Ciudad (city in Spanish but you probably knew that). Ciudad, by the way, is owned by Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, Food Network’s “Too Hot Tamales”. I’ve been going to their restaurant in Santa Monica, Border Grill, for years and I thought it would be a good idea to prepare for the upcoming Spanish cuisine with tapas and a few glasses of vino at Ciudad before I left the US. For those of you unfamiliar with the word, "tapas", according to my handy Wikipedia, “is the name of a wide variety of appetizers in Spanish cuisine. According to legend, the tapa tradition began when Castile's King Alfonso the Wise recovered from an illness by drinking wine and nibbling small dishes between meals. After regaining his health, the king ordered taverns to serve their guests food along with wine and the tapas became a kind of loophole in the law to allow drinkers to imbibe alcohol.” Well, I’m all for that and who’s going to argue with someone called “the Wise”? At Ciudad the tapas are great, the Protocola Temprarillo Laguardi 2006 is terrific and you can check it out the place right here: http://www.ciudad-la.com/

But I digress…back to early California…

It doesn’t take a history major to figure out that an area with cities like San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego (to name a few) may have ties to Spain. I found a great website from UCLA which lays out the “Spanish Incursion” into our area long before there was a border to illegally cross. According to the site, in 1765, “José de Gálvez arrives in Mexico as Visitor General of New Spain. Periodically insane—thinks he is God, Montezuma, or the King of Sweden—he launches an ambitious program of colonizing Alta California.” God, Montezuma, the King of Sweden? Great! We were off to a wonderful start. Actually, that really explains so much about this place.

Later in 1769, Fray Juan Crespi lead the first group of missionaries, local natives and soldiers overland from Baja California and on August 2nd he named the area that is now Los Angeles "Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Porciuncula" (Our Lady of the Angels of Porciuncula). Here's a shot of Juan who looks like he isn't enjoying his time in the Southland. Somehow I thought the guy who discovered LA would be a little more upbeat.

Thank God he didn’t name the place after himself or we would have been forever known as “Crespi City” and I suppose the Valley would be known as “Extra Crespi” which is probably true in August. If you would like to check out our Spanish roots look here: http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Chumash/California_Spanish.html

I’m heading to Spain to visit my daughter, Heather, who after graduating from San Diego State with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Spanish, decided that teaching English in Spain sounded like more fun than trying to improve the mental health of Americans so she has been living as a teacher in Madrid since last January. Actually, last summer, she left the city and worked as a camp counselor in the mountains north of Madrid. She spent 3 months hiking, swimming, canoeing, camping, singing songs and making s'mores (or the Spanish equivalent) with a bunch of 10 year-olds. Not bad, huh? When I was her age, I was hanging out in exotic places like Spokane, Washington and Missoula, Montana on the radio working my way toward the big markets. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time but it wasn’t quite the Spanish countryside. As a parent, I’m very proud of her and relieved to know she can actually survive in the world and make her own way. She’s not living at home while she “finds herself”. She may not exactly know who she is but she’s out in the world trying to find out like the rest of us. This is a great thing for a parent.

As I sat at Ciudad, I thought about all the things I would like to do over the next few weeks. Some people go on vacation with one thing in mind and that’s to “relax and do as little as possible”. That’s not me. I like to cram as much as I can in the limited time I have in these places and in Spain I would like to see the sights and experience as much as I can. Suddenly, Spain is quite fashionable. Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow just launched a PBS series called “Spain, On the Road Again” and you can check out the show here: http://www.spainontheroadagain.com/. And, Anthony Bourdain just did an episode of “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel which raved about the new Spanish “culinary gems”. Well, I’m nothing if not trendy or at least able to take advantage of a timely situation. I won't be hanging out with Mario, Gwyneth or Anthony but I promise to bring you the hippest info I can from the new “it” destination.

I leave for Spain on Sunday morning flying through Miami and arriving in Madrid at 9:00 AM Monday morning. Let the fun begin! Check back Monday for…
- My first impressions of Espana after a red eye flight across the Atlantic.
- Lifestyles of young English teachers in a foreign land.
- And, retreating to a royal retreat.

Hasta la vista!