Ocupados

Hi friends! Long time no talk, sorry about that (again, this apology is directed at our most loyal followers, our moms). Things have been fairly busy since they Haywoods left. As I mentioned in our last blog, we found a new place and since the move we've been without internet. In other news since my last post, I GOT A JOB!

It so happens that my job is with Adam's firm. For those who don't know what I do (I know this includes friends and family who've never quite understood), I'm in Business Development meaning I work on client recruitment and retention. The firm's office here is quite large and it's been a very experience thus far. I don't see Adam often as he spends most of his time at clients' offices, but I'm sure we'll be visiting our office cafeteria for some fish & chips together soon enough.

I started working two weeks ago, a whole 36 hours after we moved, and to say I was too exhausted after work to update the blog would be an understatement. Six months off can really take a toll on a girl. Since becoming a working gal again, I've learned to manage and appreciate public transportation (I take the bus) and now find myself using words like "blimey" and "buggar." I'm sure there will be more to come as I dive deeper into British life. Things feel entirely different now that I'm working and with us being in our new place (which we love and will get a separate blog post). I can't believe we're 6 months in and 1/4 the way through the secondment (British term for Adam's rotation/contract here which has an original and initial tenure of 23 months-no concrete thoughts on if we'll extend at this point).

Prior to all of this fun, though, we went to Madrid! To be honest, Madrid wasn't high on our list of places to go. We've been interested in Spain (Barcelona is on our list), but neither of us could think of any monument or famous site to see in Madrid. However, we found very cheap flights from Birmingham and a Hilton requiring minimal hotel points. We'd been looking for cheaper trip options to save funds for moving later in the month so we thought, why not? Also, upon planning I realized Madrid was known for two of my favorite things in life - tapas and sangria. End result - very pleased.

We flew into Madrid on a Thursday afternoon, checked into our hotel and found our way to the metro (subway) fairly quickly. It was pretty easy to navigate (clear to read map, nothing like that of NYC, which I abhor), and very cheap - 2 euros to get all the way into the city, which was about a 30 min ride. We walked down Gran Via (Madrid's shopping central) to Plaza Mayor for some wine and people watching. This area is fairly central and has people milling around constantly - it's like a town square, very cute. We then made our way to La Latina quarter where we browsed some local shops and grabbed dinner. We went with local favorites - I had oxtail and Adam the suckling pig (he won in the food contest that night). Madrid life is LATE. Lunches aren't until 1pm or later and dinners at 9pm. This took some getting used to, but we enjoyed sleeping late in the mornings to compensate.

first Taco Bell we've seen out of the US - no, we didn't try it

Plaza Mayor

Friday morning we had breakfast at the hotel (shout out to Hilton Honors program for the freebies) and made our way into town to the Palace. The Spanish monarchy is still active (their royals are quite young and chic) and this palace is stunning. It's updated and very well maintained. The art and decor are amazing and it's incredible how many rooms you actually get to tour! I say this having been to Buckingham and having been a little disappointed when I was only allowed into approx. 3 rooms. We then made our way to San Miguel Market which was a favorite of mine. It was loaded with locals and tourists and the rows were lined with savory snacks and sweets galore. Oh, and the best sangria I've ever had.  I could've stayed there for hours. We wondered around town a bit more before making our way to El Retiro Park. This is Madrid's version of Central or Hyde Park, etc. There's a large man made lake in the middle where you can rent row boats and listen to local musicians. We sat in a cafe on the edge for a while and enjoyed the weather and the culture. For the evening we made our way to the Literary Quarter which is known for live music and night life. We didn't find a particularly lively music scene, but we did stumble into one of the meat markets to taste some of the fresh pork (pigs legs hang literally everywhere in Madrid) and found a local bar with Spain's futbol match on (Ronaldo and the Real Madrid weren't playing that wknd).

Royal Palace

Royal Palace

El Retiro

Fresh meat

Saturday was our favorite part of the trip. Since we didn't have much we were dying to see in the city, Adam had the idea to train out to a neighboring town for the day. We somewhat randomly selected Avila, which was about an hour out. It was utterly charming. The city is known for being home to Spain's oldest Roman and Gothic architecture and to this day it's surrounded by a gate that you can walk along and enjoy amazing views of the city. The cathedral was massive (biggest I've been to date) and stunning. It's walls consisted mostly of a stone called blood stone. As you can imagine, it's reddish in color, but each stone has several shades and varies so when placed side by side, it's gorgeous.

Enjoying roasted chesnuts in Avila

Avila Wall/Gate

Avila Cathedral

The Spanish are extremely friendly and welcoming. Adam can speak a little Spanish, but even when at a loss for the words, they kindly helped us get what we were looking for.  The culture is also very relaxed. No one seems to be in a hurry to get anywhere or to do anything so it felt like a true vacation/city break for us. Sunday we caught an early flight back and had the day  to recover before commencing packing (and my last week of freedom).  We do a lot of 4 day trips as we've found 3 days is often just the right amount to sight see, building in time for travel.  We also do our best to not have to leave at the crack of dawn and try to get back on a decent hour when returning so we can rest and prep for the week ahead.

As I said, I'll post soon on the new place and new neighborhood. After that, I imagine I'll have plenty to write about as we have a few fun events planned for November. We'll be visiting Budapest, Hungary this week and are so excited! Adam's parents went while here and loved it, so they've given us some travel tips. The weekend after that we'll be getting together with our two sets of American friends and going to Harry Potter studios! Finally, November is when the Christmas Market in Birmingham opens and we can't wait to do some holiday shopping, plus it's a favorite of Brummies as it puts all in the Christmas spirit.

Daylight savings ended last weekend (a week earlier than in the states) so it's getting dark around 5pm.  Britain is known for it's short/dark days in the winter and I've been dreading it's approach with each day that passes. However, we have less than 50 days now till we are back in the states for a visit. Time flies when you're having fun! Till next time... Cheers all!