Long time comming

http://www.tonycamblor.com/avilesday3/avilesday3/index.html

Ok, I have fallen really behind in my blogging duties. I am going to play a little catch up here. On the third day in Aviles we started by eating the same breakfast the locals eat, cookies. Yes, in Spain many people eat cookies, not too sugary, for breakfast. I don't think it is too different from the American way of eating cereal and milk, maybe even less sugar is consumed this way, these cookies are not very sweet. Then we went to the local market to get the ingredients for supper later in the day. The local market runs till noon or so, and has just about everything you can imagine. Stand outs were the fish or olive selections. Then we went to Gijon for some sights. We checked out some of the touristy areas while dad was getting his driver's license renewed. The views from the hill on the west end of the beach were incredible, and we explored the oldest portion of the city as well before dad called us to meet. After we went back to the house in Aviles, Jennifer and I decided to explore the local hills on bike. We rode up the super steep hill that leads out of Aviles opposite the port, and rode on several ridges till we ended up at the beach. Jennifer convinced me to ride up to the top of the bluff, and we found a beautiful spot in a park overlooking the coast. The burro in the photo doubled as the lawn mower. The owner just moved him around to where the grass needed trimming and that was that. 

What a great ride

Here are the pics to go with Jennifer's notes. Some of the first ones
are from supper the day before. This is the best cycling I have yet to
do in my life. There is no direction that you can look and not be
amazed by the view. Enjoy, we did.

http://www.tonycamblor.com/avilesday2/index.html

MAY 18, 2008 • CYCLING IN NORTHERN SPAIN • (Happy Birthday Dad!)

We rode our bikes to Luanco. It is difficult crossing the river from
Aviles by bike when you don't have very good directions. We tried
following the street signs, but they were made for cars and we ended
up on a major highway. We finally got off at Piedras Blancas and asked
someone at a gas station directions. He actually gave us pretty good
directions. We rode past Salinas and hugged the river until we found
the bridge. There is also a walking path along the river. We took
AS-238 to Luanco which was a direct route, but it wasn't very busy. It
was a beautiful country road with houses filled with yards of flowers.
They must propagate flowers here… they have thousands of dollars are
flowers in their yards. It's incredible.

Luanco is a beautiful small town on the ocean with small beaches and
restaurants overlooking the ocean. There is a path along the water. An
older man was feeding these big fish some bread. The photo
opportunities of this bike ride were endless. Every view was amazing
whether in the country or the city. I especially like the tight
streets lined with older buildings. The buildings are abundant with
flower boxes and clothes lines.

From Luanco, we went along the coast on smaller country roads to a
lighthouse (Cabo Peñas). It looks flat on the map, but it is far from
flat. Up and down with beautiful views. Tiny towns along the way. At
the lighthouse was a path along the ocean with more sculptures. There
were other cyclists, too. We returned to Aviles along the northern-
most country road and crossed the bridge through the industrial area.
We rode for 3.5 hours bike time and 45 miles. It never rained on us,
although it was cool.

Gonzalo and Elia prepared fabada (sp?) for dinner… large bean soup
with chorizo. We're still working on that giant bread, too. After
dinner, Gonzalo, Elia, and I went for an hour and a half walk around
town and along the river path. We walked until 10:30 pm. The streets
are still populated with people at this time.

Best ride ever

We agreed that today's 50 mile ride was the best ride either of us has done for that length. Details and more pictures to follow.

Aviles, Asturias

Because Jennifer is doing such a great job of documenting our trip, I
will defer to her to tell you the details. Read if you are interested,
or just follow the link to see the pictures posted to the web. The
picture viewer is a little different than the other ones I used
before, you click on the picture to make if big, then use the arrow
keys to switch to the next picture. The pictures take a minute to
load, and the appear in random order. I think we will switch back to
the other method tomorrow.

http://www.tonycamblor.com/avilesday1/index.html

MAY 17, 2008 • TRAVEL TO the NORTH OF SPAIN

We were supposed to pick up the bikes at 8:30 am, but all three of us
slept in (well, we were walking up until after 10 pm, so no surprise).
No one had set an alarm. The bike shop called us asking where we were!
So we weren't able to pick up the bikes until almost 2 pm because the
bike shop guy had some errands to run. We went back to sleep and woke
up around noon! It felt good to catch up on sleep. We packed up the
car and headed over to the bike shop by car. Yes, this was the first
time we got into a car since our arrival to spain. Gonzalo has a Honda
CRX and is very uncomfortable driving it around Madrid. It doesn't
seem particularly difficult to me to figure out how to get around…
although, the street signs are on the sides of the buildings and not
always the easiest to see while driving.

Elia met us at the house. She was traveling with us and we're staying
at her house/condo in Aviles. She is Gonzalo's friend since high
school. Elia speaks ZERO English. Before this, we weren't engaging in
much learning of Spanish, but now, we needed a crash course. We have
to keep telling her to slow down so we have a chance in comprehending
something. Most of the time, we need Gonzalo to help interpret. Or we
end up waving our hands sculpting what we are trying to say, but
unsure if either is understanding a thing. During our 450 kilometer
drive to Avila, we taught each other a few words… sky blue is "cielo
azul". And poppy is amopola. Hierba is grass. It was funny how Elia
had difficulty saying "grass." In Spain, the "s" and "z" sounds are
said a "th". So azul is said here "athule." So grass with the ss was
difficult for her! We also passed by some grape vines. I called them
"uvas" and she explained to me that there weren't grapes on them, just
vines, so they were "parras."

Ok, enough Spanish. Back to the bikes! We went to this bike shop's
garage (storage garage) on the northeast side of Madrid. While waiting
for the guy to show up, we walked over to an Italian coffee shop. I
got something as close as to what I get at Starbucks… I had to mix my
own sugar and it was tiny… maybe 8 oz. Tony's cafe latte was even
smaller… a shot size. The bike guy met us over there on his bike. My
bike is a blue GT 50 cm bike (a little big for me) with 53/39 gearing
and Tony's is a Jamis. We put on our own pedals and seats. We loaded
them up on a rack on the back of the Honda.

We stopped in the Villa de Rueda at the Bodega Museo Palacio de Bornos
for a snack. They had many vinos (wines), quesos (cheese), aceita de
oliva (olive oil)… gigantic 3 gallon containers, and chorizo. We ate
some jamon sandwiches (ham). We also bought some pan (bread), queso,
and turrones (almond & sugar peanut butter-like dessert) to take with
us.

On the drive, we saw some castilles (castles), little towns and big
towns, sheep, horses, arid flat lands and mountains, green grass,
poppies, old churches, sun, rain, trains, windmills, and solar panels.
We went through a number of tunnels through the mountains and after
the last tunnel, the mountains went from rocky and arid to very green
and lush with many trees.

The cities of Oveida and Aviles are very industrial cities. The steel
industry used to be big here. There is a river that runs next to
Aviles where industry set up shop years ago. Aviles is fairly large
with numerous 6 story buildings lining the streets. It is also
mountainous here. We rode our bike up one of the city hills that
overlooked the city. Up there were quaint homes along narrow, winding
streets. There are cats roaming the streets and we saw one that looked
exactly like our orange cat, Murphy! I was hoping that he wasn't some
angel Murphy and that Murphy is ok. :)

Elia's house is on the third floor of one of this 6 story building on
the corner or Jose Cuerto and Avda de la constitucion in Aviles. It is
right next to a large "futbol" stadium (soccer). Her house is fairly
large with several bedrooms and two baths, a large living/dining area,
and a nice kitchen. She has been remodeling it with beautiful tile
work. There is art on all the walls. Simply, yet very nicely
decorated. Elia and Gonzalo fixed dinner. They served some unique and
marvelous tasting queso, tortilla (omelet w/patatas) the best chorizo
I've had yet, ensalada with olivas, and gigantic pan.

Elia was wearing a shirt that had an English phrase on it. She did not
know what it said. It had maybe spelled "mayde". We asked her about it
and she said that she bought it at the Chinese Store across the street
for cheap (Wal-Mart ala Spain, but very small stores packed with
junk). That was so very funny.

When we arrived at Aviles, Gonzalo was unsure of the parking situation
and dropped us off on the street with our bags. For me, this felt like
mass confusion as I was afraid if I walked two feet from our bags that
they would walk. We hustled our bags up the stairs and Tony and I
quickly got dressed to go for a bike ride. It was 8:30 pm and so we
had about an hour before dark. The temperature here is cooler… I wore
arm warmers and tights. We rode out to the ocean to Salinas. This was
a cute little town on the ocean with houses on tight streets and a
long tiled path along the ocean. The path led out to a viewing point
with some interesting Miro-like steel art. From here, we had a good
view of the town and a lighthouse across the bay. The sun was starting
to set at this point, so we took a couple photos and headed back for
home. Well, my tire started to feel like I was going over bumps. The
tire was coming off the rim and wasn't seated properly. Tony fixed it
quickly and we didn't have any more bike problems. My fit wasn't great
since we didn't have much time to mess with it (just make it good
enough not to hurt). It was on our way back we climbed up a hill to
view Aviles. I really like the towns on top of the hills. There is no
shortage of hill climbing around here!

Our internet connection is worse than in Madrid. We have to plaster
the computer to the window, and even then, there is an intermittent
signal. Today we plan on riding out along the ocean near the
lighthouse. It is raining off and on, but this seems to be the climate
pattern here.

what kind of marmalade is that?

In the last of the photos from the walking tour, there is a shot of a
pastry with marmalade. It was delicious, squash marmalade, like pumpkin.

Jennifer's notes from yesterday

This is a link to the photos of the day http://www.tonycamblor.com/madridtour/index.html

Walking Tour of Madrid • Thursday, May 15, 2008

Well, we woke up after 10 am, ate some tortilla patatas (potato
omelet) that Gonzalo made for us. We've also been eating a good share
of chorizo (spanish sausage). Also drank some Naranja (orange juice)
for breakfast. Entonces (then), corremos (we ran) to this nearby park,
Parque Santander. Gonzalo walked around the track while Tony and I
ran. This park had a 1 kilometer running/walking track around the edge
with a small golf range, jardin (garden), campo de futbol (soccer
field) en el centro (center). Tony and I took two laps around and then
ran down some streets to try to get to this other park, Parque del
Oeste. Well, I think my new bike position has killed my running. We
got 25 minutes into our run, and my quads were feeling like they were
going to rip out of my knee. We slowed down more and stretched, but it
didn't help. So after 30 minutes of running, we started to walk. We
walked back via Starbucks (yes, they are here, too). It is kind of
chilly here, so I got a hot drink (carmel macchiato… con leche
desnatada (skim milk). Everyone was looking at me in my running shorts
and tank top, so I asked the barista if people in Spain don't dress
like this to run? And she said that "most people in Spain do not run
for sport."

We met up with Gonzalo at his condo and took a bus down to the old
center of Madrid at the Plaza del Sol. We walked to the Plaza Mayor,
where I got assaulted by a woman insisting I needed a massage (I
probably did, but not sure I wanted to be strong-armed into paying for
one!). The plaza was filled with people and it looked liked there was
a band setting up for this evening. This Plaza reminded me of one in
Venice I'd been to (ok, can't remember the name at the moment, but it
was a famous one). There are pigeons all around, but not a sea of
pigeons as I remember in Venice.

We walked along Mayor Calle (main st) to Plaza de la Villa where there
was another statue and a nice garden. Down one of the narrow alleys,
we found the bike shop! Yea! But, boo, it was closed on this holiday.
We'll be back tomorrow. I can't wait!

Then we walked down to the Palacio (palace of the kings). The current
king does not live there because it isn't modest enough for him. Maybe
we'll tour the inside at some point. Along the palacio, there were
small marionette street shows that the kids were watching… one of the
Beatles. The kids were dressed up in period clothing. There was a park
where with a maze of hedges.

We then finally made it to this big park, Parque de la Montana, Parque
Tempelo Debod, Parque del Oesto… these all connected together. The
temple had Egyptian carvings from around Christ's time. I didn't pay
too much attention to the history, just enjoyed the carvings in the
stone. :) Within these parks, there was a fantastic rose garden. We
also had drinks at this restaurant in the park. I had a horchata (kind
of root) drink… it tasted like a cold, blended jicama drink. Very yummy.

Then we walked back to the house. I have to say something about cars
in Spain. People walk everywhere here. There are cars, but they are on
average smaller models in than in the U.S. We've even seen some
Toyotas that we can't get! (Ok, you know I'm mad now). There's also as
many Smart Cars as you would see Toyota Prius' in the States. They're
so little! I haven't, however, seen a single Prius. ??? Not sure why
that is. There's a Toyota dealer two blocks from Tony's Dad's. Maybe
I'll pop in and see if it's even buyable here...

More photos from Spain

We made it to Spain

We flew out of Knoxville, to Washington Dulles, to Frankfort, to Madrid. Whew! We were tired in Frankfort, till we bought one of these great sandwiches. They were made in advance, and piled on top of each other. The whole case was full of different varieties, we chose the dark wheat with cheese and salami. Dad met us at the airpot in Madrid, and we took the super nice subway to his house, about a 30 minute ride. After we got situated in the house, which is on the top floor of the building, we walked for a few hours around the northern part of the city. The streets are filled with people walking, taking care of business. Thursday (May 15) is a holiday in Madrid, so all of the shops will be closed tomorrow. Dinner was a tapa and a delicious fried calamari sandwich at a shop by the house, mmmmmm  mmmmmmm

Pictures from the Pinning ceremony

Well, I graduated. I'm so happy. Jennifer took many photos from the
two ceremonies, here is a link to the nursing school pinning ceremony.

http://www.tonycamblor.com/pinning/ranc08.html