Fiestas del Pilar 2013

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.


As every year, Zaragoza celebrates its annual el Pilar festival, which is the largest of the year.  It is our third one in Spain since 2010 and we do maximize the things it offers.  This year, I again dressed up in a traditional Aragonese dress and processed for about 3 hours down the main streets to the plaza of el Pilar, where we place the flowers on a massive structure dedicated to Virgin Mary.  This year the procession was one of the largest: over 330 thousand people participated in the Ofrenda (the offering) and another tens of thousands watching the event.

The festival goes on for a whole week, complete with concerts, massive amount of events for all ages, an amusement fair, a huge ferris wheel that was setup downtown for the first time this year, and bull fighting.
We went to see corridas (bull fights) a few times this year and one was quite amazing, featuring Jose Padilla, el Cordobes and el Fandi.  El Cordobes had very close call with two of the bulls but luckily did not get gored... Whewwww....

After a full week of color, food and experiences we are resting and getting ready for our windy winter season which is inevitable now.  While the weather has held nicely, with temperatures up to 25C, it will soon cool off and we will be into the short winter stretch.
But as we know, the winters here are sunny, which beats the rain any day....

MotoGP and mountains

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.

This fall, after starting the school and work, it was time for a few new adventures.  There were two particular events that left us with memories to last: excursion with our Belgian friends to valley of Anso and Hecho, which are valleys in the Pyrenees and are considered some of the most spectacular, with villages that only relatively recently were connected to the modern civilizations; and my trip to Alcañiz, which is a host town to Moto GP, featuring world famous track and event.

Our trip to Anso and Hecho was superb: we explored little villages, had typical Spanish comida (lunch) featuring migas (meal made of breadcrumbs, garlic and mushrooms) wine and local lamb, participated in local village fiesta, which included its street bull run and drank some really amazing Pyrenees beer, which is not typical to encounter in Spain (beer here has much to learn from Canada).  We climbed a mountain on the Oza de Selva, hiking about 5km up with elevation change of about 670 meters and enjoyed a hidden lake at the top, as well as spectacular vistas of Spanish and French Pyrenees.  It was an unforgettable track, the girls did super well and on the way back I even managed to pick some fresh juniper berries for gin tonics to be made the next day.

Then, at the end of September, I had VIP tickets to the Moto GP event due to our company being one of the main sponsors of Moto2 team, which is a 600cc category.  Event was real fun: 3 full days of motorcycles, unbelievable noise, tire burning, crashes, winners, food and celebrity riders.  As part of out VIP experience, we got to stay in the same area as the riders, eat there and talk to people that love the sport.  Our team was made up of Pol Espargaro, Tito Rabat and Axel Pons, son of Sito Pons, 1992 moto2 world champion and owner of the team.  We got to meet Sito, the three riders and got to watch them race both on the track and out of their team box on pit lane.
Aside from our team picking up 2nd and 3rd place in the event, we also met Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, who were competing in the MotoGP category, where Pedrosa crashed in the final due to his teammate clipping his back tire accidentally.
It was a great event, complete with great show, food and weather.  It took me a few days to regain my hearing, but it was all worth the trouble.  Hoping to go back next year.

As the school year was starting, we organized a “take your children to work” day at our offices.  If was a very nice event where families and children got to see where their parents work, bounce on bouncy castles, get their faces painted and have a few snacks.  We had over 600 people show up, and the event was very welcomed by our staff.  Since HP provides technologies for many animated movies, this year’s theme was TURBO, a new animated movie by Dreamworks.  Kids like these things and were able to take pictures looking like snails.  Now they have no excuse when asked where their daddy works (mind you, I still have not found a great way to explain exactly what I do to themJ)…  

Friends in Spain

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.

This summer, just before we packed our bags for Canada, we had a few groups of our very good friends from Canada come and visit us.

In May: Stu and Jen with their boys Fin and Parker came to Spain for three weeks, us being their home base for over a week.  They are super friends and it was very exciting to us when, after a dinner at their Victoria home a year ago, they decided to book their tickets and come to visit us.

It was an epic visit: food, wine, touring, pool, padel... They explored Zaragoza with us and then they did a stint in Madrid, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Segovia and Barcelona.  We loved having them in our place and having the opportunity to connect with their great boys.  In fact our girls had instant play pals so it allowed us to have a bit of adult space.  The visit was so natural and normal, that the only thing that seemed weird was when we were standing on our terrace and it was Spain and not Victoria.  But these are nice weird things...
Highlights: visit the top of el Pilar cathedral tower, la Seo cathedral, padel tourneys between me and Stu, shopping puerto Venecia, chilling, Castillo de Loarre.

After Stu and Jen and the boys left in mid June, Cathy and girls packed up and left for Canada on July 4th.  In the meantime I went to a Spanish wedding of a coworker of mine, visited a military base in Zaragoza to see C-130 Hercules planes and flew Hercules training simulator, spent a weekend on the beach in Valencia and made preparations to receive our other set of friends: legendary (in Spain, because of all my stories) Marc and his wife Heather and Maddie and Ben.  They came mid July, traveling from France and stopping in our place for 5 days.

We opened with a Valencian paella, lots of Spanish and French wine and Pacharan, a Spanish sloe berry liqueur.  Needless to say, Advil gel-caps came in handy the next day.

We had a super time.  We cooked, shopped, toured, played, pooled and just talked.  The weather was very hot and sunny, so Spain stereotype of summer delivered.  It was especially a great opportunity to connect with Ben and Maddy, as they are now older and much more independent.
Highlights: food and wine, pool games, el Tubo tapas experience which included several glasses of very good but inexpensive sherry, shopping puerto Venecia and just plain ol' chillin.

After our place, they left for south of France and Italy.

Now time to pack bags and head for Vacation to Canada.

School Year End 2013

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.

I can hardly believe another school year has come to an end.  Grace and Tessa both had very good years academically and in their extracurricular involvement.  Tessa continued for a third year with her Rhythmic gymnastics which she really enjoys.  She is getting more flexible and really enjoys the performance aspect.  At the end of the year they did their big exhibition and it was great to see how all the girls grow and change each year.  This year Grace took modern dance and loved it.  She loves to dance at home and this gave her a new creative outlet.  In May her group performed 3 dances and she did really well.  In addition to this performance she and all the girls in her class auditioned for the big “Fiestas Colegiales” and they won the spot to perform in the main theater in front of 800 people.  Their dance routine was choreographed by one of the girls in her class and they had to practice independently at recess and lunch.  The results were fabulous and Grace is confident and really enjoyed performing.  Lastly she was also in theater this year and the short year end play, which her class wrote, was also great.  So we are feeling very fortunate for all the creative arts opportunities our girls are having.

In June Grace decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday in Spain for the first time.  She invited 3 friends to an Adventure park to go on the Sky Trail which is a ropes course.  Although it was a little scary all the girls, including Tessa, did really well and overcame some fears.  We then went to McDonalds and Grace received some lovely gifts.  Tessa’s social schedule has been very full as she received 3 birthday party invitations for the last week of June.  The nice thing is that our whole family is invited to one and it becomes a lovely end of the year party to see friends before we head to Canada. 

Aside from these events, we also had Anatolijus’ mom visiting from Lithuania, which included some traveling around Aragon, cooking some Lithuanian ethnic foods (Russian pelmeni J) with new molds Edita brought, some valencian paellas and some school art projects with the girls, for which Edita acted as support crew.

A special occasion this year was the INTERNATIONAL Padel Tournament in our apartment complex.  We, Canadians, being the INTERNATIONAL component.  Unlike last year, where Anatolijus and I came in second to last, this year, while Anatolijus lost again (must be nerves), I ended up packing a consolation round trophy!  So now we have 2 trophies won by foreigners in the land of Padel inventors (Anatolijus at the moment is also 3-0 in HP Padel tournament, hoping to clench another masters title this year).  Despite his loss, Anatolijus cooked a Valencian paella which was juried by the curious neighbours, who first could not believe he could actually cook one, and then the fact that it actually tasted like a Valencian paella!  So the cook-off was a total success, represented neatly by Canadian flag featuring Anatolijus.

So now we are starting to pack and make plans with family and friends at home and we feel very fortunate to have had another great year here in Zaragoza.

Feria de Abril: Sevilla!

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.

Last year we went to Sevilla for Semana Santa, which is Holy Week.  It is one of the most traditional religious events in Spain and it topped any other event we have been a part of.  Once we came back, everyone was asking me "have you been to the Feria de Abril? Have you been to Feria? You must go!". Funny thing is that every single person telling me to go had not been there themselves. 

Of course, put a challenge in front of me....

The thing about the Feria de Abril is the fact that the festival happens slightly outside of town, on the Seville fairgrounds.  If you really want to be part of things, you must be invited into a private caseta, which is one of over a thousand private "tents" setup to host the friends and families of the caseta owners.  Casetas range from small, hosting about 50 at a time, to ones hosting thousands, National Police, for example, or political parties.  All Casetas represent companies, associations, fraternities and have been in the families for decades.  Every year the owner must renew the "license" in a very bureaucratic way, and if they don't do it, they lose their rights forever, as the waiting list to get one is the size of the list for the Victoria golf course times 100. 

So a year ago a plan was hatched: I told everyone I knew that I wanted to go, but needed a caseta.  They all laughed because outsiders getting invited into a family caseta is not something that happens.  But then again, I am not an outsider when it comes to making things happen.

A very good Spanish friend of mine, Jose Antonio, told me that he thought his family had a caseta in Sevilla, so he was going to ask.  He did, and immediately he and I were invited to come.  He has never been to the Feria, and it was a great excuse for him to go see his aunt and uncle who own the caseta and his 5 cousins.  So I booked my hotel, train, and packed my suit, which is a must to hang out in the caseta, and waited for the day.  Feria happens a few weeks after Holy Week and is the biggest party in Spain. 

I left Zaragoza on Friday morning and in just over 3 hours on the fast train I was in Sevilla.  I arrived to 32C,  sunny and not a cloud in the sky.  I left my things in the hotel and went to the Feria.  On the way, I encountered many women dressed in traditional Sevillanas (Sevillian flamenco dress) and I could tell this was going to be fun. 

The entrance to the fairgrounds are adorned with a huge gate that is different every year and the new design is chosen through a competitive selection process.  This year the entrance was fashioned after the Plaza de Espana square, which was featured in the Star Wars II.  Inside, you are met with a feast for your eyes and your nose: thousands of women dressed in the Sevillanas, men, women and children on horses, all dressed up in special outfits.  Truly - it is like going back several hundred years.  Needless to say, my camera shutter was overheating from all the action - so much to see and capture.

As my friend Jose Antonio arrived in the afternoon, we headed to his uncle's caseta, where we were warmly greeted and told the key things to know about drinking and eating all in balance, and how to feel like VIPs, as they told us we were their guests, and that meant everything was taken care of.  The next two days and nights were full of sights, smells, tastes and experiences.

Some of the key highlights were meeting Ana Rosa Quintana, who is married to my friend's cousin.  She is a very famous TV personality, so pictures were in order.  Later we met Alvaro Palacios, who is a major wine maker and innovator in Spain, we also met the CEO of Tuenti who sold the company to Telefonica for 70M and a number of other celebrities that I did not recognize.  In the end, they are just people and we just happened to party with them.

On Saturday, we were treated to a horse drawn carriage, dressed in our Sunday bests, to take us to the corrida.  The bullring in Sevilla is very famous and we had the best seats in the house: right behind radio announcers, by the gate where the bulls are let out.  With a few cigars, millions of pictures and a spectacular show in the Mecca of the bullfighting, there was nothing missing.  We were living it up.

A special mention goes to Jose Antonio's aunt and uncle, who were super hosts. They made sure we were well taken care off, with food, manzanilla, rebujito,  vino fino, pescadito frito, and jamon.  A very special thing happened, where I got to meet a local Sevillan artist who painted the walls of the caseta with pictures of bullfighting and a famous bullfighter.  I had a lovely conversation and commented how much I loved the paintings.  Just so happens, the uncle kindly cut up the walls of his caseta after the Feria, and I now have 4 huge paintings in my house!  In exchange, I sent some very nice pictures of him and his wife and some pictures of the cousins encased in nice frames.  We were all very happy with the exchange of experiences and hospitality.

In the end, the experience was as my Spanish friends told me - an experience of a lifetime.  The only difference: I lived it :)

Tengo ganas para volver!

Ole!

Parent's Visit 2013

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.

This year my parents arranged to come for their third Spring visit to Zaragoza two weeks early so they could be here for Grace's First Communion.   The weather here has been untypically wet and cold, like the rest of Europe, in fact it was the wettest March since 1947!!  Due to the inclement weather and the fact that this was their third visit we did not do any touristy things in Zaragoza.  We did do a lovely day trip, on a nice day, to Tarazona which is about 1 hour away, located in the Borja wine region (capital of Grenache grape varietal) close to Moncayo Mountain.  The main reason we went to Tarazona was to see the cathedral which has been restored and is in the Mudejar style (Muslim/Moorish).  The restoration is amazing and unlike most places we have visited they are prepared for, and want visitors to come.

Interestingly, on our way we decided to take a detour to a small village that gained a lot of notoriety last summer.  The news showed a wall painting of Jesus that an 80 year old woman tried to fix, but in doing so distorted the picture making Jesus look like a monkey.  The story literally went around the world but was misleading as the news made it sound like some random woman went in and ‘defaced’ the picture of Jesus.  The real story is a bit different and it was told to me by my friend Marta whose family is from that village and knows the woman.  The woman has volunteered at the church for years and has often touched up the paintings on the walls as they are deteriorating.  Marta said her daughter Christina has often sat in the church watching her do this work.  On this occasion apparently there was too much humidity and the paint ran creating the now infamous image. The painting is called Ecce Homo and we, like thousands of other people, we went to visit it.


When we left the village we took a beautiful country road and came to a lookout with a spectacular view of the snow covered mountain, villages and countryside.  One advantage of all the rain this year is that everything is totally green and lush, very uncommon for a desert.  Our last stop was at Monasterio de Veruela which is a beautifully preserved monastery which also has an excellent wine museum.  It teaches a lot about Granache which is the famous grape of this wine region.

Here in Spain our Spring break is always around Easter so this year we planned to explore Barcelona with my parents because, although they have flown into it three times, they have never seen any of it.  In order for all of us and the luggage to get to Barcelona we had to rent a car for a day so we decided to visit Montserrat on the way.   The drive up was spectacular and although the church was small it was very beautiful and we saw the Black Virgin which is a famous part of Montserrat.  Due to some unforeseen time constraints our time here was quite short, however it was enough to know we would like to return to see and do more.

The rest of our journey to Barcelona went very smoothly and after returning the rental car we arrived at our aparthotel.  Our apartment turned out to be beautiful penthouse on the 9^th floor with glorious views, a deck and very comfortable beds.  We had a 180 degree view which included Tibadabo, the towers of Sagrada Familia and the Mediterranean Sea.  It would be fair to say we hit all the highlights and luckilly the weather improved so it was sunny and 23C - perfect for touring.  One of the nicest meals we had was at an Argentinian restaurant we had not planned on going to.  We had seen a lovely Indian restaurant that we wanted to go to so when we arrived at 8pm (very early by Spanish standards) and it was empty, we were surprised when they said they were fully booked with reservations.   All was not lost as just two doors down was El Punt which he heartily recommended.  We were welcomed with open arms (almost literally) by the owner who took very good care of us.  Meat is the main thing on the Argentinian menu and it was very good.  In addition mom had a wonderful goat cheese salad heaping with raisins, nuts and seeds.  We also enjoyed a lovely Argentinian Malbec.

In Barcelona we visited Tibidabo, Sagrada Familia, the Beach, Montjuic, la Rambla, Port Olympic and Parc Guell.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time and were all quite tired after 4 days, on our final day the rain moved in.  Anatolijus decided to return to Zaragoza on an early morning train and after lunch I put mom and dad into a taxi to head to their airport hotel and then Grace, Tessa and I headed to France…..

In the apartment complex we live in we have become good friends with a French family who are living in Spain but are from Toulouse which is only a 4.5 hr drive away.  Anne was home for Easter holidays so invited us to come for a couple of days.  In addition to enjoying spending time with Anne we were also very interested to go and see her house which has just recently been restored and renovated.  In the countryside close to Toulouse Anne’s family has a castle, a real castle.  It was so wonderful to hear about the history, to see where Anne grew up in the other ‘side’ of the castle and to now see how she and her husband Hugues have created a beautiful home full of history, warmth and charm.  I enjoyed tending to the fireplaces, walking the country roads, buying fresh artisan bread baked in a wood burning oven.  We visited a 15^th century flour mill that is still powered by water like it was 4 centuries ago.  The flour is 1 euro a kilo and the owner scooped it into a brown paper bag for me, put a label on it and then wrote down the transaction in pencil in his little book.  Also the pancakes I made with it were out of this world.  To drive home the girls and I drove a spectacular route that took us through French villages, up into the Pyrenees and then through a tunnel back into Spain.  The drive was 5 hours with stops and because we are having so much rain the countryside was emerald green and the scenery gorgeous.  We arrived home Thursday afternoon just in time to get settled and receive our next set of visitors.

My mom’s cousins Barb and Don Basserman arrived safely on the Friday afternoon although I was getting worried as it was getting later and later.  At one point I was sitting on the couch and thought, "I need to take the recycling out and maybe they will be driving by or I will see them." So I walked down my driveway and out the gate and the first thing I see is a tall, white haired man walking towards me.  Yeah it was Don Basserman!!!!  I was so happy and we couldn't believe the timing.  The first night we made 5 different Spanish dishes for them to try and we talked late into the night.  It was a special time of sharing and hearing stories of their lives that we did not know.  The second night we invited friends to come for dinner and the two couples got along like a house of fire.  On the Sunday we went for a day trip to the medieval town Alquezar and even did a side trip to find a small village Colungo where they make their own liquor also knows as ‘fire water’.  We saw the ‘stills’ and had a few samples and purchased a few to have at home.  On the Monday the Basserman’s headed off to Barcelona and we so appreciated that they included us in their travel plans.

Grace’s First Communion

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.

When we were home for our first summer after moving to Spain, Grace was hesitant about returning to Zaragoza as the transition to a new country, language and school had been difficult.  Interestingly, the one thing that had caught her attention was that in Grade 3 she could start Catechism classes and after two years she would be able to have her 1^st Communion.  She was very interested and excited and about this which helped when we returned to start our second year.

Grace goes to a Jesuit school and the Catechism program is organized by a teacher, supported by the priests and taught by volunteer parents.  So from Oct – May every Wednesday from 5-6pm for Grade 3 and until this past February Grace attended her Catechism class.  The groups are small, with 5-6 children each, and 2-3 times a semester parents are invited for a chapel service to see what they are learning and to support the process.  Participating in catechism is voluntary although it is interesting to note that all of the 26 kids from Grace’s class joined.  When asking about this we learned that the First Communion in Spain is an incredibly important event and families treat the celebration like a small wedding.  All the components from the dress, photographs, luncheon reception, gifts and guests are a part of this day.  It is also true that for many the religious significance has been lost and many families do it because it is a ‘cultural’ tradition and many children want it because they score great gifts.  Our school went to great lengths to emphasize the spiritual and sacramental significance and even sent notes home asking us to talk to our children about not focusing on the gifts.  To give you an idea of an average communion gift for a 9-10 year old, they often receive PlayStations, IPads, jewelry etc.

So last October we began planning for Grace’s First Communion which was on March 16^th 2013.   The first thing to secure was the restaurant for lunch and we were told that as soon as you say it is a “First Communion”, the price goes up (doubles).  In fact we discovered that, not surprisingly, this event is big business and can end up costing a small fortune.  We were not willing to pay ‘double’ the price as it just did not seem reasonable so we took a different approach.  When we went to meet with the food and beverage manager of a very nice hotel we explained that we were a Canadian family who had relatives coming to visit (true: my parents were arriving) and we wanted to host a lunch for them with our friends.  So out came the menus with reasonable prices and an excellent selection of dishes.  We booked a private dining room for no charge and explained that we would be bringing in homemade cupcakes to serve our guests.  Perfect – more on this later. 

A small book could be written on how we chose the dress, hairband, shoes and commemorative book marks that we had to have printed; not to mention the clothes for the mother and sister of the ‘celebrated’ one.  Again we were trying to find a balance between participating in this important Spanish celebration while not getting pulled into all the ‘you have to…’ when it didn’t feel comfortable to us.  In the end we feel very good about the Canadian/Spanish balance we found and the experience was wonderful and very special.

The Big Day

Grace was very excited and very nervous about the service.  During the practices the children were asked if they would like to read during the service and, although nervous, Grace volunteered as she really wanted to participate and fully be a part of the service.  The service was held in the church sanctuary at our school, we have our own parish and priests. Again to give an idea of how important this event is, the service was for the 26 children in Grace’s class and there were over 1000 people in attendance!  The church was full to overflowing and if you do the math that is approximately 40 people for each child – wow!  Also in keeping with the Jesuit tradition all the children wear an off white hooded robe so that the focus remains on the sacrament and not on fashion.  With so many people in the church, a professional photographer is the only one allowed to take photos and he captures the moment the child receives the bread and also takes photos before the service (see photos).  Grace spoke very well and we were told she sounded very Spanish, yeah!! And during the priest’s homily she offered a number of answers on her own.  It was a very emotional and meaningful experience for Grace and it was lovely one to witness.

After the service at 1pm we headed directly to the Hotel Hiberus which is a new modern hotel on the Ebro River.  The weather was unusually cold so we couldn’t use the lovely sundeck; however the restaurant is all windows so it was bright and nice.  As we walked in we went through a larger room that was beautifully decorated with stands of champagne and flowers etc into our room which was plain, but lovely.  As we were standing and chatting, the party arrived to the other room and Grace said, “Mommy look: it is Juan from my class, he is having his communion lunch right next to ours”.  The funny thing is we could clearly see the difference between family lunch and 1^st communion; however the fabulous food all came from the same kitchen and we knew how different the prices were.  At our lunch we hosted 23 people including ourselves and 10 of those were children so the kids had a great time playing together.  As I said the food was fabulous, we had a traditional Spanish menu which includes 1^st plate, 2^nd plate, dessert, wine, water and bread. 

In terms of gifts we asked our friends to not buy electronics but to give Grace something to remember her communion in Spain.  She was showered with the most beautiful pendants, earrings, bracelets and one fabulous electronic (Google Galaxy 7).  The jewellery was mostly representing the Virgin of El Pilar which is our Basilica and is the center of one of the largest celebrations in all of Spain.  She now, at 9 years old, has a collection of jewellery to be envied.  It was wonderful to have Cathy’s parents here and also to realize what a lovely group of friends and surrogate family we have developed here in Spain.

The Spanish are known for long celebrations so after the lunch we invited everyone back to our house for gin & tonics – a must, following a meal here – as well as wine and finger foods.  The day ended around 10pm when the last of the guests left and we fell into bed satisfied that we had participated in a very Spanish tradition that enriched our experience and understanding a little more.

Cathy’s parent’s arranged to come 2 weeks early to be a part of this event and with friends from Valencia also invited 23 people joined in our celebration.  A highlight of our stay in Spain, for sure!

Early spring blog

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.



Skiing in Panticosa 2013
One of the great things about where we live is that it is only a 1.5 hr drive to the Pyrenees.  Anatolijus has been snowboarding a number of times but the girls have never tried it.  So on the weekend of Jan 28-29 we headed up to Panticosa to give it a try.  it has been many years since I last skied and although I remembered it was lots of work I forgot that it would be even more with two kids.  Tessa took a one hour ski lesson and did really well getting the hang of it quickly.  Grace wanted to try snowboarding, like her Dad, and also did really well.  We stayed in our favorite rustic hotel and ended up being invited over for dinner to friends' of ours from Zaragoza who have a place in Panticosa.  A great weekend all around.

Calatayud
On Sat. Feb. 16th we decided to do a day trip to Calatayud which is a 50 min drive from Zaragoza.  The castle is really a ruin but we did fine a beautifully restored cloister in the main church of the town which had many relics and a lovely 15th century amber decorated box from Lithuania.  The town is not particularly beautiful especially because many things are being renovated or rebuilt.  We had lunch in a restaurant Anatolijus found on Trip Advisor (an aside: Anatolijus is now a Senior Contributor on Trip Advisor due to all the reviews he has written).
Lunch was definitely the highlight of the day, we had the classic Spanish menu which includes first plate, second plate, dessert, water, wine and bread.  In Zaragoza a good restaurant will charge 15-18 euros, but here it was only 10.50 per menu and Grace and Tessa shared.  The food, wine and service were fabulous and the price shockingly low - huge value and worth the 50 min drive.

As we were getting ready to head home when we came across a dress store that was displaying beautiful communion dresses in the window.  A child's First Communion is a huge deal here in Spain and the celebration is similar to a small wedding.  This is especially true of the long, white dresses many 9-10 year old girls wear (prices also range from 300 to 1500 Euros!).  Grace's First Communion is March 16th and although we had already decided to not go with the elaborate dress, Anatolijus thought it would be fun for her to try some on.  So in we went for some 'dress-up' and the lady said we could take photos.  Grace loved the feeling of the princess dresses but in the end is happy to be wear a simpler dress.  Enjoy the pics!

WOW I am 7 years old!!!!!
This year Tessa had her first friends birthday party in Spain.  She invited 8 girlfriends and her sister to go to Clip N'Climb, a wall climbing facility that provides the food and fun.  Her party was on Thursday Feb 28 from 6-8 pm, a very common time here in Spain.  The other common thing is for all children to contribute 10 euros and one mom goes and buys a couple of gifts.  It works out very well as the birthday girl gets 2 or 3 lovely things that they really wanted.  Tessa's friends bought her a beautiful Merida costume from the movie Brave and a Monster High doll - she was so thrilled.  Also Tessa loves cake decorating so we made a cake and she designed and decorated her cake all by herself.  The results were great, especially for a first time.  Her friends also thought so and congratulated her.  On her actual birthday, March 1st, Tessa went out for lunch to Sakura, a Japanese restaurant, and for dinner she asked her dad to make her his awesome schnitzel.  All in all she was well celebrated!


St. Jean de Luz, France
In Zaragoza March 5th is a holiday although no one remembers what it celebrates, the main point is that the girls had a four day weekend so we went away for three days.  We love the Basque country and have visited San Sebastian numerous times so this time we headed a little further north into France and the quaint town of St. Jean de Luz in the French Basque region.  St.Jean is situated on a big bay and has an active fishing port.  It also has beautiful sandy beaches and we were very fortunate to have fabulous weather and a hotel with our deck right on the beach.  It was sunny and 21 C so we were able to eat lunch outside, walk on the beach and have aperitifs on our sundeck.  We also drove 20 mins up the coast to Biarritz, stopped into a beautiful church and lingered by the ocean to fill our souls.  St. Jean de Luz also has great shopping so we bought some lovely things and felt very relaxed and refreshed.

Stay tuned for Grace's communion blog coming soon!

New Year's Eve in Madrid

Click this link to see pictures from the latest blog.

Click this link to see pictures from other posts.

This year our Christmas holiday was not as fun-filled as usual as we were plagued with illness.  Tessa was sick from Dec 24-31, Grace from Jan 1-9 and Cathy from Jan 7-13.  In between Christmas and New Year’s we had planned to go to the mountains but with Tessa not well we cancelled those plans.  We then decided to go to Madrid for 3 days to stay at a hotel and do a day trip to Toledo.  To our dismay Tessa continued to have a fever and so we cancelled and rebooked, planning to go from Dec 29 - Jan 1st.  On the Sunday morning Tessa was still not well but we were all 'sick' and tired of being stuck at home so we delayed our departure but left for Madrid at 11am.  Tessa slept a lot of the way so we headed straight to El Escorial which is the castle of Philip II and is from where the Spanish Inquisition was conducted.  The castle is huge and quite austere and also very interesting.  It has a great collection of art and one of the halls boasts huge murals that depict in great detail military tactics, formations, armour and strategy.  It is said it is here that Philip II learned about military techniques.  Another highlight was the beautiful library: it is a testament to the royal family’s value of education.  Tessa did very well making her way through the tour but was definitely done by the end.  She was in bed asleep by 7pm and the next day she clearly was not up for a trip to Toledo (besides, there was a very think, all-engulfing fog, that swallowed the entire Madrid area, so Toledo in a cloud would have been a loss; saved for another trip).

The next day was foggy and cold so we did a short trip into Madrid to have lunch at a highly recommended pizza place (Pizzateca) and then, with Tessa napping again, we drove to Mejorada del Campo.  This small village 20 km outside of Madrid is famous for the cathedral that has been built by hand by Don Justo for the past 50 years.  Don Justo was planning on becoming a monk but a diagnosis of tuberculosis made that impossible.  He had to leave the religious community and he was so distraught that he could not commit his life to God as a monk, he decided to build a cathedral to show his devotion.  It is truly amazing what one person's commitment and vision can create.  Anatolijus and I went in and met Don Justo who was having lunch with a friend.  He encouraged us to look around and at 88 years old all his years of labour show.  The cathedral is amazing and it has all the components of a true catholic church.  There is the crypt, cloister, domes, upper choir stall, altar, stained glass windows and side chapels.  We had seen him featured on a documentary and were delighted to see his creation.  You can click here for a commercial that made this cathedral famous!

Our "misadventures" continued on Dec 31st when we miscalculated the Spanish time schedule.  Usually it is impossible to get food at a restaurant before 9pm so we hung out at the hotel until 7:40pm and then went over to a Mall to a restaurant.  When we drove into the empty parking lot we knew we were in trouble.  It turns out in Spain everything closes early on New Year's Eve, including restaurants.  The only options are paying a lot of money for an all-inclusive evening at a special restaurant or eat at home.  So, with no food in our possession we got back in the car and after making a wrong turn onto the major highway we found an El Corte Ingles which is a major department store with a grocery store.  We were just about to park when Tessa noticed a McDonald's, promising never to tell anyone we ate there on New Year's Eve. We started to walk over and realized the lights were out and the people leaving were the staff.  In Spain McDonald's closes at 8pm on NY Eve!  Our last hope was El Corte Ingles so we walked in at 7:56pm and the security guard told us they closed at 8pm so we should go 'muy rapido".  As we walked in they started turning off the lights so all four of us ran and started grabbing food off the shelves.  Prepared salads, cold meat, pickles, bread, chocolate, fruit, cookies, peanuts, licorice.  The manager was waving her hands at us to come to the checkout and 'get out' so we quickly complied feeling relieved we had something for dinner.  Back in the hotel room we popped open our bottle of French champagne, which we had brought, and enjoyed our feast thankful to have some dinner. 

Welcome 2013.  Hope the rest of it is better than the end of 2012.