There's something I totally forgot to do after the Madrid narrative. The souvenir board!! So here it is.
The two things I did collect. First, the Madrid metro map. Since I'm a fan, its on the board. The second is a Real Madrid mascot thingy. I'm not a fan really, but since I went to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium it was a small matter to nip into the Real Madrid store and pick up the furry little guy. 
One last thing about El Tigre..When I said ample portions of food are served, I meant ample portions for me. Why do I bring this up? Well, when the Europeans were describing the place to me, it was a little comical.
The French: When you buy a drink its very filling, man. You get a large beer (using both hands to symbolize a tall glass) and lots of food (using both hands to symbolize a wide plate). Very filling.
The Germans/Austrians/Belgians: Its a tiny glass, man (using two fingers to symbolize a shot glass) and you get some food (using fingers of one hand to symbolize a morsel of food).
Side splitting stuff, chaps, side splitting stuff. Pity I didn't get any opinions from the Italians and the Spanish. All these folk live on the same continent but are so incredibly different. Kinda like the situation back home in India, except that here I'm the outsider, so I see the funny side.
Anyway, I'm back. After two and a half unforgettably brilliant weeks in London. So the next few posts are going to be all about that. I've been moping around ever since I got back. Blame it on Vacation Withdrawal Symptoms or whatever. But things are getting back to normal. The weather is very very wintery. The frost remains on the streets and sidewalks (because the temperature is still below zero) which makes it fun to watch everyone walk gingerly around the place as though the spikes from Price of Persia are going to slice upwards through the ground. Of course when they slip everyone just goes "Whoa!!!" with a silly expression on their face. The frost also leads to all new fantastic ways of braking the ol' bicycle. Interestingly its only the guys who put their feet on the ground to brake. Haven't seen a woman brake...yet. (For the uninformed, ice on the streets=brakes are useless. Sure, they work and the wheels lock up and all that. Here's the nub: Locked wheels still skate freely on ice. Its a ghastly feeling when you're on the bike, but its real fun to watch). By the way, I took a toss last night. No bones broken, so I'm counting myself lucky. Maybe I should stop laughing at other people. Maybe.....
The two things I did collect. First, the Madrid metro map. Since I'm a fan, its on the board. The second is a Real Madrid mascot thingy. I'm not a fan really, but since I went to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium it was a small matter to nip into the Real Madrid store and pick up the furry little guy. 
One last thing about El Tigre..When I said ample portions of food are served, I meant ample portions for me. Why do I bring this up? Well, when the Europeans were describing the place to me, it was a little comical.The French: When you buy a drink its very filling, man. You get a large beer (using both hands to symbolize a tall glass) and lots of food (using both hands to symbolize a wide plate). Very filling.
The Germans/Austrians/Belgians: Its a tiny glass, man (using two fingers to symbolize a shot glass) and you get some food (using fingers of one hand to symbolize a morsel of food).
Side splitting stuff, chaps, side splitting stuff. Pity I didn't get any opinions from the Italians and the Spanish. All these folk live on the same continent but are so incredibly different. Kinda like the situation back home in India, except that here I'm the outsider, so I see the funny side.
Anyway, I'm back. After two and a half unforgettably brilliant weeks in London. So the next few posts are going to be all about that. I've been moping around ever since I got back. Blame it on Vacation Withdrawal Symptoms or whatever. But things are getting back to normal. The weather is very very wintery. The frost remains on the streets and sidewalks (because the temperature is still below zero) which makes it fun to watch everyone walk gingerly around the place as though the spikes from Price of Persia are going to slice upwards through the ground. Of course when they slip everyone just goes "Whoa!!!" with a silly expression on their face. The frost also leads to all new fantastic ways of braking the ol' bicycle. Interestingly its only the guys who put their feet on the ground to brake. Haven't seen a woman brake...yet. (For the uninformed, ice on the streets=brakes are useless. Sure, they work and the wheels lock up and all that. Here's the nub: Locked wheels still skate freely on ice. Its a ghastly feeling when you're on the bike, but its real fun to watch). By the way, I took a toss last night. No bones broken, so I'm counting myself lucky. Maybe I should stop laughing at other people. Maybe.....
